EVES: (Carsonbrothers, #2)

by Dyble, S R

  "You're pregnant, Eves. That doesn't mean you have to suddenly become a prisoner and not have fun. I know, and that's exactly why you need the distraction."

  "I know, but with the current situation..."

  "That's exactly why we should have one, help take our minds from it all."

  "What, wait. You just said I need a party and now you're saying we should have one?"

  Lilly nodded, "You're not the only one in need of a distraction. I think it will do us both some good."

  Her words brought back the subject of her and Nick to the forefront of my mind.

  "You can talk to me, you know, about Nick?"

  Rolling her eyes Lilly swayed, "We agreed not to."

  "That can change, Lil', if you need to talk to me."

  "Honestly, Eves, I just wanna forget all about Nick."

  I gave her a tight smile and nodded.

  "We should have a party," I said and it made her eyebrows raise.

  "Just the two of us in our PJ's crying over The Notebook," I added, trying to make a joke.

  My body rejected it and didn't even allow me to take joy in my sarcasm.

  "In the current situation, I'm proud of you for trying to make a joke," Lilly said seriously.

  "Thank you," I gulped.

  Part of me wondered if I'd ever be happy again, but the thought of my baby meant I had to be happy. Despite Kit crushing my heart, my baby was—and still would be—a miracle.

  "Back to the party, my parents leave again tomorrow. They won't mind us having a party," Lilly interrupted my thoughts.

  "What, they're leaving again? They only just got here."

  Lilly's parents were news reporters, or at least Lilly's mum was. Her dad was her cameraman.

  "Yep, to Cornwall this time. They shouldn't be too long, only a few days."

  I nodded and sat on Lilly's bed just as Lilly's dad called up the stairs.

  "Food is ready!"

  "I should probably tell your parents I'm pregnant straight away in case I throw up on their table. I feel proper sick," I said while looking over at Lilly.

  I took the steps down the stairs very slowly, the thought of revealing to Lilly's parents that I was pregnant had me nervous. Just as we reached the kitchen door Lilly held onto my hand to comfort me.

  "Don't be nervous, Eve, they'll-"

  "BOO!"

  We both gasped and jumped back as Lilly's dad jumped from behind the wall and scared the shit out of us.

  "Dad! You can't do shit like that she's preg-" Lilly stopped mid-sentence and covered her mouth with her hand as each of Lilly's parents stared at me.

  Up until then Lilly's Mum was at the stove, but was now walking towards us.

  "You're pregnant?" she asked me.

  I smiled awkwardly and nodded, "Yep! Thirteen weeks."

  "Wow, I didn't even realise you were seeing anyone," Lilly's dad said.

  "Yeah," I sighed, "it's been rather a quick thing."

  "I'll say," Lilly's dad laughed which earned himself a smack on the arm from Lilly's mum.

  We each smiled because, even at the worst of times, Lilly's dad could make us laugh.

  "I'm only joking!" he said before moving forward to cuddle me.

  "Congratulations, Eves.”

  I smiled, thanking him and then looked back at Lilly's mum as she neared me.

  She was a beautiful woman, and besides her eyes, it was clear where Lilly got her good looks from.

  "Sometimes I still see you both as those two young girls playing with my pots and pans on the kitchen floor, I forget you're both women now."

  I nodded, "My grandma said something like that."

  She grinned and moved forward to hug me. "Congratulations, Hunny," she said before kissing my forehead.

  Then she chuckled and wiped away the print of lipstick she must have left there.

  "Right, let's eat and celebrate," Lilly's dad said before heading off into the garage.

  The garage was set to the side of the kitchen and I knew what he was going to get. They kept all of their special alcohol in there, and he came back shortly after with a bottle of wine. I'd taken a seat at the table with Lilly and was inhaling the beautiful smell coming from the cooker. Despite my broken heart and feeling somewhat repulsed by the thought of eating, I couldn't help but close my eyes inhaling the smell of the food.

  "I got you a J2O. It's a shame you can't have a drink with us to celebrate," Lilly's dad placed my drink in front of me before going to open the bottle of wine.

  I smiled before thanking him and gulping down the delicious liquid.

  "So, you'll have to bring your new lad down so we can meet him," Lilly's mum said and Lilly's dad agreed with a hum as he took a drink of his wine.

  Glancing across the table at Lilly, her eyes met mine and I decided I wasn't ready to talk about what had happened between me and Kit, so I just nodded. I already knew that Lilly's parents didn't know anything about me being kidnapped, and I'd have to tell them about that too. Explaining that and keeping Delta out of the equation was going to be as hard as not telling Lilly. It was killing me not being able to talk to her about it. If I didn't tell them about my kidnapping soon, they'd only find out through my grandparents. Now should have been the time to tell them, but talking about the whole ordeal would mean talking about Kit. I wasn't ready to talk about him any more than what I already had.

  * * *

  "Fine," I said once we were back in Lilly's room.

  "Fine?" Lilly looked around at me confused.

  "To the party."

  "Seriously?" Lilly lit up like a kid granted their own way.

  "You do realise you didn't need my permission to have a party, right?"

  "There would be no point in having a party without you there."

  I smiled. "Maybe just a few people, nothing too big?"

  I already knew that I was regretting this. I'd just split up with Kit, I was pregnant and now we were organising a bloody party. I must have been mental.

  "Course, we'll only invite like twenty people. If it gets too much for you, you can come up here and lock the door."

  I nodded, that made the whole thing sound more appealing.

  "Okay," Lilly beamed, "we need to find something hot for you to wear."

  "Seriously? That's the first thing you're thinking about?"

  Lilly sighed and took out her phone.

  "Fine, I'll start inviting people."

  I nodded and looked her over.

  "Wait, you're not planning on hooking me up with someone are you?"

  She full-on gasped at me.

  "What, so you can go catch an STI whilst you're carrying my niece or nephew? Are you fucking mad?"

  As serious as her sentence had been, I still couldn't help but smile. We weren't related by blood, but Lilly was my sister and the fact that she’d already named my baby her Niece or Nephew, made my chest swell. It made me feel even more guilty for keeping things from her. Not telling her what had happened when I'd been kidnapped or why was killing me. That, alongside the knowledge that Kit was cheating on me, I wasn't quite sure on how I was even holding it together. Thank god Lilly was here, without her I'd have been totally alone.

  The first guest had arrived, and I took one look at them, smiled and then headed back upstairs.

  What the frig was I doing?

  The longer I sat there, the more people I heard arriving.

  How on earth had I agreed to this?

  I sat staring around the room, trying not to think about the inevitable. But everything lead me straight back to it and I couldn't help but think about Kit cheating on me and everything we'd been through. I cried and held onto my chest as waves of emotion washed over me, leaving me almost breathless and gasping for air. It took me a while to calm down and once I did fully, I sensed someone standing at the door and I smiled the best I could at Lilly before she came in.

  "Eves, if you want them all to leave, they're gone." She sat on the bed and wrapped her arms around me.
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  I shook my head, "I'm fine."

  "I'm sorry. Doing this was a stupid idea, I don't know what I was thinking," she said.

  "What do you mean?" I sniffled.

  "It was impulsive - craving attention so that I don't feel like shit anymore. You're pregnant, I shouldn't have persuaded you to do this with me."

  "You know you can talk to me, right? About what happened with Nick."

  I kept on saying it, hoping Lilly would find some comfort from talking to me about it.

  She nodded, "I know. I just don't really wanna, does that make me sound awful?"

  I shook my head, knowing all too well how it felt to just not wanna talk about it. I just prayed that whatever had happened between her and Nick wasn't serious. I wasn't able to look at Nick the same way anymore. I guess I didn't have to worry about that anymore, I probably wouldn't be seeing him that frequently. The thought that I wouldn't see any of Kit's brothers again made me cry and I cursed my hormones. I knew I would see them again, I was pregnant with their Niece or Nephew.

  "Don't cry, Eves."

  "Tell my bloody hormones that. I only have to drop a damn sweet wrapper on the floor and I start crying."

  Lilly smiled, which made me feel somewhat better.

  "Let's go make the best of this shit storm? Just me and you, as always."

  I nodded and hugged Lilly before frowning when I saw Nick standing in her doorway, looking in on us.

  "What the hell are you doing here?" Lilly demanded after following my eyes to him.

  She stood up and glared at him.

  "Oh, I let myself in just like the other thirty to forty people in your house..."

  "What!?" Lilly marched forward and pushed past him. I followed after her and as I brushed past Nick, he took my arm and made me look at him.

  "Are you okay?" he asked after seeing my puffy, red face.

  I nodded and walked away from him.

  "Oh, my fucking god."

  I only had to leave Lilly's room to see the landing full of people, never mind the rest of the house. Bearing in mind, Lilly's parent's house was a huge modern building designed by an architect. It wasn't lacking in space, but for the first time ever it looked crowded. The sight alone made me nervous. I didn’t know any of these people and as I stared individually at their faces, I tried not to delve too deep into my thoughts out of fear that I may have seen a face I recognised and feared. I followed Nick after Lilly down the stairs and stood on the first three steps as Lilly continued forward through the crowd of people. Every girl in the space around us squealed when we heard a loud smashing sound over the music. It made my body jolt as my anxiety rocketed tenfold. I thought about heading back upstairs and locking myself in Lilly’s room as she’d suggested. The knowledge that she was alone in this crowd of people made me do otherwise.

  "Stay here," Nick said before he quickly left my side and pushed through the crowd.

  Now alone, I brought my hands up to hold onto myself as the music thumped. I wanted to be strong, and it made me feel so pathetic that I felt so uncomfortable surrounded by all of these people.

  All of these complete strangers…

  Narrowing my eyes at them I could see Jax shifting through, although he wasn't hard to miss.

  Like all of his brothers, he was well built and his good looks made him number one eye fucking material amongst the girls around him. He was like a magnet for female attention and as he approached me, I saw every girl sizing me up as competition.

  "Hey, beautiful," he said close to my ear.

  The music had somehow gotten even louder.

  "What are you doing here, Jax?"

  "I just came to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," he smiled. "Plus, I like to party too."

  "Who, Nick?"

  Jax looked back at me, confused.

  "You haven't seen him yet?"

  I was about to question him again when I saw Kit walking through the crowd. He looked as if he was looking for someone and I concluded that it was me once his eyes had landed on mine and he made tracks towards me.

  Oh, hell no.

  I took my chance to quickly shift, and I pushed myself through the crowd of people until I felt like I was far enough away. In the kitchen, a set of guys had set up a drinking game. I stood dumbfounded as one guy stood on the counter, pouring alcohol down a pipe into another guy's mouth. After a few gulps, he spewed it all over the floor and I quickly placed my hand to my mouth as the room echoed in disgust. I was thankful my early symptoms of pregnancy had passed. Otherwise, I probably would have been sick.

  "Aw, hell no!" I heard Lilly shouting as she came into the room.

  Hoisting herself up onto the kitchen counter, she shouted across at me to go and turn the music off.

  "I'll do it," I heard Kit say after feeling his hands on my hips.

  I watched for a second as he walked away and then suddenly the music was cut and I looked back at Lilly.

  "Everyone out! This party is over!" she shouted over everyone chatting.

  A few people groaned and started to make a move but it wasn't until I heard Nick shouting in the hallway that everyone started to shift.

  * * *

  It had been a disaster of a party. In only a short amount of time, the place had been trashed.

  The place was a tip. All of the bedrooms in the house probably needed an ultraviolet light to dissect them of semen. Every bedsheet needed to be washed or burnt, no doubt. Every room in the house had been occupied even after such a short amount of time.

  Did people just come to parties to fuck?

  At least three piles of sick had been cleaned up and Lilly refused to let me help with any of them. The last lot was a large section on the kitchen floor and as Lilly got up to fetch the kitchen paper Nick, Kit and Jax walked into the room.

  "We covered the bedrooms upstairs and checked the rooms downstairs. Everyone has gone," Kit said.

  Lilly nodded. "Thanks for your help. But this still doesn't make me like you," she said with her arms crossed.

  Even after the night we'd had she still looked beautiful.

  "I guess I'll have to earn it, Sweetheart."

  I heard Nick scoff then and dared to glance at him.Up until then, I'd avoided eye contact with all of them because I just wanted them to leave.

  "Don't you even say a word," Lilly warned him but instead of piping down Nick saw it as a challenge.

  Just as he started to walk towards her I began to warn him about the wet floor.

  The poor sod didn't stand a chance, the floor didn't even look wet and as he approached her he slid on the wet patch and fell backward. He fell hard on his back and my breath hitched in my throat just as he managed to save his head from hitting the hard floor.

  "Are you okay?" I asked quickly, standing deadly still.

  "What the fuck happened?" Nick asked blinking.

  We all saw the edges of Lilly's mouth twitch as she looked at him at her feet.

  "Oh, you think this is funny?" he asked.

  "I think this is fucking hilarious," she answered.

  Neither of us were expecting him to grab her sides, making Lilly squeal, begging for release. He had no intention of releasing her, he was tickling her until she was a fit of giggles. I couldn't help but chuckle as Lilly fell onto his lap, fighting to get away. Jax was smirking and shaking his head and I caught Kit looking at me. His stare was delving under my skin as he smiled at me knowingly. I shot my eyes away from him instantly and set my face straight just as Nick finally ended his assault on Lilly. She got up and stared down at him, a faint smile still clear on her face. As the seconds passed, I saw her face sadden, as if realisation had settled in. Nick saw it too and regret settled onto his face.

  What the hell was going on with these two?

  Lilly then looked around at each of us, specifically at me and Kit. She then walked by Nick who was still sitting on the floor. He looked really pissed and didn't go after her, but I did. Jax moved for me to pass, but he didn't. Instead
, Kit stood firm, waiting for me to near.

  "Get out of my way."

  "Eves-"

  "I'm not even nearly ready to talk to you, now leave, before I call the police."

  It was a dramatic thing to say, and I saw Kit's face change as shock coated it. It didn’t last long and within seconds his cocky expression returned.

  "You really think the police are going to bother me? Really?"

  "Dude, I think you should give her some space," Nick suddenly piped up and Kit's face set like thunder.

  "You mean like you give Lilly space? How's that working out for you, Brother?"

  "That's different and you know it."

  "Yeah," Kit agreed. "She's not pregnant with your kid, either."

  "Enough," Jax then stood in front of them just before I was about to speak.

  "We're leaving. Now isn't the time."

  I didn't think Kit's face could turn any more serious, but it did.

  "I think you should all leave," he said through gritted teeth.

  "We're not your enemy, Little Brother," Jax replied. "All of this tension, it isn't good for the baby. When she's ready, she'll talk."

  Was Jax talking about me?

  At that moment I wasn't sure I'd ever be ready to talk to Kit ever again. The mention of my baby made me feel heavy with guilt, because he or she shouldn't have to be born into such a hostile environment. Jax was right, eventually, I would have to talk to Kit, but right now I wanted him out of my face so I could follow after Lilly who had disappeared upstairs. As Kit's brothers moved towards the hallway area Kit was left, staring at me with such intensity. Then he moved forward and got so close that my breath hitched in my throat.

  Close to my ear he spoke. "You know I can't stay away from you, and I won't until you hear me out."

  I stood statue-still and gulped as he brought his hand gently to my stomach. It brought a wave of emotions to my eyes and he removed his hand and disappeared with his brothers. For a short while, I just stood there crying. I placed my hand to my stomach where he’d just removed his hand seconds earlier and a little sob broke free. Then, closing my eyes tightly I wiped my face clean of tears and looked towards the stairs where Lilly had gone.