Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Violet
I’d had the best date of my life. It was everything I had ever wanted. Sweet and sexy. Fun. He was easy to talk to, and he’d opened up to me. Something he likely rarely did with anyone. I had felt special. The date had been about to end with fireworks, and then my aunt and uncle showed up and ruined it all.
Evander’s walls slammed down before my eyes. His gaze grew as hard as his jaw. He’d break his molars if he ground his teeth any harder.
“I haven’t told him about the trust,” I said, my voice shaky. I sounded guilty. “Our business—” I winced. Business? Could that sound more emotionless? Emotionless had been my life before Evander. “The way we know each other isn’t about the inheritance, exactly. I don’t need to claim the house and property.”
“Oh.” Linda’s mouth formed a confused line. She glanced at Darin, who was regarding us with his brows drawn together. An uncomfortable chuckle left her. “I’m sorry. I thought you two were dating.”
“No,” Evander said with a flinty tone.
I let my eyes fall shut. Ouch. “The house has nothing to do with what’s going on between us,” I said deliberately, trying to meet his gaze.
The yellow flecks in his eyes sparked. He didn’t believe me. My heart sank. I was just another one of his exes who tried to use him.
“I see.” Linda lifted her arms to encompass the property. “Your crop looks great, and I can see from here the work you’ve done on the shed. I imagine with the nicer weather, you’re not working on the interior as much as before. Just let us know what you’ve done, and we’ll take it off the rent like we discussed.”
“You can inspect it if you want,” Evander said. Everything about his mood was flat. Carefully restrained.
I swallowed the acid creeping up my throat. “The house has never looked better.” As if I’d seen the inside before.
“Right,” Darin said and cleared his throat. The discomfort between me and Evander had to be noticeable. “I heard you planted pumpkins.”
“Ten acres,” Evander said in that monotone voice. “After harvest, I’ll move out.”
I flinched. He’d just leave. Because he thought I was using him for what? After all we’d talked about tonight and in the kitchen, what did he think I was after?
No matter what I did, I was falling short of his expectations. The familiarity crawled over my skin. Wasn’t this how I’d lived for the last seven years? Only to be replaced within months by someone who was nothing like me .
“You’re not renewing your lease?” Linda sent me a beseeching look as if to ask if there was anything I could do. Like marry him and live here for a year until the house was mine? Was she worried about finding a new renter? Evander was a dream tenant. He’d leave the property better than when he’d moved in. He probably even downplayed what he’d spent on materials he’d used fixing up various rooms.
“No.” He gave me a look and a blip of smoldering emotion showed through. He was enraged. Betrayed. Hurt. Let down. All the negatives because of me.
He was thinking about himself. Protecting himself.
I couldn’t blame him. But all the same emotions were coursing through me. Where he’d made me feel so damn secure, now I ached. I was lonely and tired. I was tired of wanting one type of relationship with a man only to have it teased and yanked away.
I’d gotten my hopes up that there was something real between us. A foundation that could build into so much more. There hadn’t been one with Willis, and I’d been an idiot to stay so long. I had teetered on doing the same with Evander.
“Perfect timing.” The burning in my throat grew. “I can work on finding someone to marry by the time you move out.” I was lashing out, but dammit. The pressure in my chest eased slightly.
Rage flared in his eyes, blazing hot. “What?”
I shrugged but smiled at my aunt and uncle, satisfied that I’d gotten to him. Evander thought I was playing games, so I’d play games. “I’d hate for you to find a new renter, and I guess since I’m looking for a place, all I have is what? Six months? That’s enough time for a love connection. ”
I didn’t need a love connection. I only needed to make a point to Evander.
“Yes. Sure.” Linda squeezed Darin’s arm, a signal I’d seen her use when I was younger. A way to say she was ready to go. “Keep us updated. Uh, both of you.”
They got in their car and drove off. I waved, my smile as fake as the relationship I thought had been starting between me and Evander.
Once they disappeared down the road, I stuffed my hands on my hips and faced Evander.
He opened his mouth, but I talked over him. “I know what you’re thinking. I lied. I’m just like the others. Blah, blah, blah.” Surprise filled his face. Emboldened, I continued. “I really liked you. I liked you that night we met. And it’s only grown since then.” I barked out a sardonic laugh. “After dinner, I thought we were going to build something real. A cozy little family.” Sadness threatened to creep in. Tears burned the backs of my eyes. “You’re almost the perfect guy. Except for when you make me feel like crap.”
He reared back like I’d slapped him.
He claimed to want the truth, but he didn’t like hearing it. “You know what? I’m done feeling like I have to constantly prove myself, or I’ll lose everything. You insist on leaving, then leave. Just know it’s your decision. None of it has to do with me. But if I’m so easy to forget, then maybe I’ll find someone who can help me get my trust.” I stomped toward the house. “Then I’ll get the house, and I can drop him after a year,” I called over my shoulder.
I had no plans to find a man who’d marry me for a year. The thought of another guy brought a resurgence of the nausea. I was probably a fool to think the threat of moving on would bother him, but it wasn’t fair I was the only one hurting.
Inside the house, I went straight for my bedroom. I grabbed my bag and flung it on the bed. My boobs protested the use of my pecs. They’d been deliciously sore and ready for his touch earlier. Now they were as cranky as me.
I started gathering my clothing and stuffing it inside the suitcase. Time to return to my family. They wouldn’t turn on me like Evander.
“What are you doing?” he asked from the doorway.
I jumped and let out a yelp. He was wearing boots. How was he so quiet coming after me? He had to be seething with emotion, but he was stealthy as a…a trained soldier.
“Leaving.”
I glanced over, and it was enough to send my pulse racing. I wasn’t scared, but the sight of a grouchy man with his veiny arms crossed in front of his chest, blocking the doorway, unlocked fantasies I didn’t think I had. He could pick me up and carry me wherever he wanted to, and I’d let him.
Pack more, lust less, Violet.
“We haven’t gotten the results yet.”
I pushed my hair off my face. “I know what they are. You’re the one who wants proof.”
He set his mouth in a flat line. His roiling energy filled the room, but he was a poster child for calm and collected. Dealing with me was apparently nothing like being in battle.
“So,” I continued, “there’s no reason for me to wait around. If you want to tamper with the results, go ahead. It doesn’t matter to me if you want to claim your paternity or not. I’m ready to raise this baby on my own.” I prodded my temples. “I think I’d prefer it. I’m sick of men taking their hang-ups out on me.”
“You’re lumping me in with him again.”
“And you’re lumping me in with her,” I mocked. I never thought a guy as tough appearing as Evander could pout, but here he was. “You’re a category all your own. You know why? Willis treated me like I was beneath him, but he still put me on a pedestal. He just made sure his was higher. You kicked that pedestal out from under me and made me feel worse than nothing.”
His scowl deepened. “I’m the one who’s been lied to.”
“I wasn’t transparent about the landlord business. I get that. So sue me.” That was childish, but I could pout too. “I didn’t tell you about the stupid trust my grandmother made for all her properties because it’s none of your business. I couldn’t stop you from renewing your lease, and I didn’t want to. That’s all I’m guilty of. This?” I waved my hand down my torso. “Was as unplanned for me as it was for you. A baby is going to disrupt my life more than yours, personally and professionally, no matter how much you decide you want to be involved.”
I zipped up my suitcase. I’d gather my toiletries on the way out. I wasn’t muscling past him more than once.
The wheels of the bag hit the floor, but he didn’t move. “Where are you going?”
The only home I had at the moment. Billings. I’d figure out the rest there. “You have my number. You can call with the results. Or not.”
The troubled line of his mouth deepened. “Are you leaving town?”
“Not your business. ”
“If you’re the mother of my baby it is.”
Mild surprise cooled some of my irritation. That was the closest I’d ever heard him accept he was the father. “The baby will be your concern. Not me. And since it’s not born yet, I’ll do what I damn well please.”
“I’m not stopping you.”
I dropped my gaze to the floor where his feet remained planted on the hardwood.
After a heartbeat, he moved out of the way. “Someone should know where you’re going this late at night.”
Eight o’clock was not that late. Yet I was tired, and a long drive while my stitched-together life fell apart again was not something I looked forward to.
“I’m going home.” Home tasted sour. Billings was no longer my home, and it hadn’t been for a while, but I had a rental that was sitting empty. Until I heard about a job, Billings was my base.
He followed me to the bathroom. “That’s a six-hour drive.”
“We’ve been over that before.” I snatched my toothbrush and toothpaste. Juggling everything one-handed, I unzipped part of my suitcase and crushed them inside.
“Jesus, Violet. Just stay here until morning.”
The urge to drop my suitcase and do as he said was strong. I wanted to be with him. But he wasn’t the only one who had developed a trust issue. “No.”
“You won’t get to Billings until two in the morning or later.”
I finished in the bathroom. He was blocking the doorway. I pointedly looked at his boots again, then up to his face .
His mouth made another line, and he stepped out of my way. “Then stay in town.”
“I’m already paying rent. I can’t add more motel rooms on top of it.”
“Goddammit, Violet.”
I ignored him and swung into the living room. Thankfully, I’d kept my crochet projects in a bag by the couch so it didn’t scatter and make his meticulous decor look cluttered. I looped the bag over one arm. That was it. Time to go.
My heart wrenched, and I swallowed a sob. I had been really happy here. I got to know me again, and not the me that I was expected to be in California. The solitude of Coal Haven became an oasis for me.
“You’re not listening,” he said. “Just stay and leave in the morning.”
“I heard every word.”
I faced him. He was in the middle of the path to the front door. I wanted nothing more than to go to the bedroom and tuck in for the night. Replay our kiss and the things he said about my boobs. But madness waited down that road. It wouldn’t change Evander, and I wasn’t the one who needed to change him. He was who he was. If I stayed, if I tiptoed around him and his past trauma, he wouldn’t take accountability. The stories he told me were heartbreaking, but they were his issues. I refused to let them become mine.
Evander had troubles with women who clung to him and wanted to use him. Now he could deal with a person who could walk away and be just fine.
“I’m a big girl. I’ll let my brother know I’m traveling.” I’d tell him why. It was time I built my support network. I’d done what I came to Coal Haven to do. “Otherwise, let me know what you decide when it comes to your parental rights.”
This time, I didn’t silently ask him to move. I charged toward him, the suitcase wheels rumbling loudly on the hardwood.
He jumped out of the way, and my heart hung heavier. He was more upset than any man I’d ever dealt with, and his anger was because of me. But he was still being more respectful than anyone. Willis had sobbed and unloaded my luggage as I packed it. I had threatened to call my dad and brothers if he didn’t stop. Then he’d used manipulative tactics afterward. And I let him.
No longer.
I was done with men.