Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance Book 2)

by Lisa Helen Gray

Paisley falls into my shoulder and I catch her. “Woah, are you okay?”

  “Paisley,” Landon yells, jumping up from his chair and rushing over to her, pulling her into his arms. “You need to take your insulin.”

  “I know. I left it in the house,” she murmurs, her voice shaky.

  The hard glint to his eyes sharpens on Jaxon. “This conversation isn’t over. It’s not just us two who want blood, it’s the entire family, so whether you like it or not, we’re going to help.”

  They step towards the door, but before they can open it, it flies open, revealing the twins and, to my shock, Trent and Jacob, the youngest two of the Carter family. Jacob Carter goes to school with Colton and Theo, whereas Trent was a year above them before he left last year.

  “Why the fuck do you smell of smoke?” Maddox snaps at his younger brother, Trent. The two look alike yet there is a softer look to Trent. Give it a few years and that will no longer be an issue.

  Grinning, the boys all share a look, but it’s Jaxon who speaks up first. “What the fuck have you two done now, because I swear to God, I’m not in the mood.”

  “So, you don’t want to hear that we sorted out your problem?” Theo, the cockier of the two speaks out.

  I share a look with Eli, the blood draining from my face. The two are always getting into trouble, even without meaning to. I dread to think what they’ve done this time.

  “Trent, make sure you let Maddox take you home. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Landon warns, leading Paisley out.

  “Does he not care that they smell of smoke?” I ask, arching my eyebrow.

  Maddox shrugs. “They’re Carter’s; they can take care of themselves, and by the sounds of it, they did something you jackasses couldn’t.”

  “And you,” Trent adds smugly, arching an eyebrow at his brother.

  Maddox slaps him around the back of his head before taking a seat on Evie’s desk.

  “What have you done?” Jaxon asks, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  “You know when that guy tried to set the warehouse on fire?” Colton asks, waiting for Jaxon to nod. “Well, it got us thinking about how fire worked, how it’s contained during bush season in other counties and, well—”

  “Fucking hell,” I mutter, taking a seat.

  “We contained it to one building,” Jacob rushes to add, grinning like a fool. “It was kind of cool really. Up until the canisters exploded.”

  Trent nods, his expression serious. “I nearly shit myself when the walls shook. Thought we were goners.”

  Smashing his bottle of Jack up the wall, Jaxon stands. “What the fuck did you do?” he roars.

  Theo and Colton have the brains to flinch and step back, whereas Trent and Jacob grin wider, like they’re watching a lion roar from within a cage and think it’s cool.

  “We set the factory on fire, the one Andrew Black owns up on Hoo Brooke.”

  “He doesn’t have one there,” Jaxon snaps, the colour draining from his face. “You’ve just set fire to someone’s business, you fucking dipshit.”

  Theo grins, shaking his head. “Where you went that one time was his front business. It seems Mr Black is up to no good because we found another warehouse under his name, not the company’s. I’m also thinking that’s where his main office is.”

  “You can’t be serious,” I demand. “We had him thoroughly checked.”

  I think.

  “Clearly not good enough,” Jacob mutters, scuffing the tip of his trainer across the floor. “We found it within hours. It wasn’t hard.”

  “Yeah, you guys are old, probably didn’t think to check out other places,” Trent adds.

  I glance at Maddox, who looks too smug for my liking. “Do they realise we have pigs?”

  Gulping, both boys take a step back, clearly having heard the rumours that we feed our enemies to the pigs. Colton, however, takes a step forward, reaching into his pocket before throwing something small at Jaxon.

  “We got that out of the office before we heard the sirens and got out of there.”

  “What if you had gotten caught?” Jaxon snaps, twisting the USB between his fingers.

  They all shrug, but it’s Jacob who answers. “From what my sister said, you guys didn’t tell the police anything of your suspicions on who it was, so another building being set on fire in the same day isn’t going to cause alarm. They’re probably expecting more to happen and will assume it was the same kids.”

  I shake my head at the devious little shit. He is nothing like his sister, Charlotte, who is as crazy and as sweet as they come.

  “You can thank us now,” Trent speaks up, losing his grin when Maddox leans over to slap him again.

  “Don’t be cocky just yet. You might have stolen a USB with porn on,” Maddox chuckles.

  They all cast a glance at the USB, their eyes scrunching in disgust.

  Colton shivers. “He’s fucking old, so it’s bound to be some random kink or sick shit.”

  “What is on it?” Eli asks.

  Theo rolls his eyes at Eli. “We aren’t doing all the work, you know. Look yourselves. We’re going out.”

  “Hold up,” Jaxon barks. “It’s late, so what you’ll be doing is going inside and either helping Mum or playing your Xbox.”

  “But—”

  “No buts, Theo. I mean it. If I find out that you’ve snuck out again, I’ll take all your privileges away.”

  “Well, we want the new Call of Duty game for helping,” Colton argues, crossing his arms over his chest. “Maybe then we’ll have incentive to stay in.”

  “Charge it to my account,” I tell them, watching them high-five each other.

  Before they go to leave, they turn to the Carter boys, a cunning look in their gaze. “You still going to that party tomorrow?”

  Jacob, the youngest of the two, nods. “We’ll be there.”

  “Well, now that’s cleared up, I’d better get these two back,” Maddox announces. “But this isn’t over. Like Landon said, it’s not fair if you keep payback from us. They could have killed her.”

  He doesn’t realise they could have done more than kill Lily; they could have killed their unborn child.

  “He’s right, Jaxon. We can’t do anything tonight. Lock that USB up and tomorrow we can go through it,” I order.

  “And I think, for the time being, we need to hire some security. Ours is tight but having the extra help wouldn’t hurt. I’ll speak to Liam in the morning,” Eli announces.

  “I could kill him,” Jaxon seethes after Maddox has left, and I know he’s talking about Black.

  “Let us deal with this, Jax. You need to take care of Lily. She’s going to need you,” I tell him, flicking my gaze to the others.

  Luke and Isaac have remained quiet, but it isn’t because they don’t have anything to say, rather they are seething on their triplet’s behalf. That doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention. They are.

  “Lily’s fine though, right?” Eli asks, watching us closely. It’s up to Jaxon to tell them, not me, and by the expression on his face, he wants to keep it to himself. Most likely until Lily has told her family.

  “Yes, but she was shaken up. I’m going back home. Her mum and dad are with her right now. I didn’t want her to be alone.”

  “Then go,” I order, before turning to the others. “I’m going to jump in the shower then head over to The Ginn Inn. Who’s coming?”

  They all grumble a yes, and I grin, wanting to get smashed. After today, it’s well deserved.

  Maybe after a few, I can get rid of the image of Evie’s haunted expression.

  *** *** ***

  Getting Evie out of my mind is going to be much harder since she’s sitting at a table in the centre of the bar. This is the last place I would have thought she’d go to, but there she is, in the flesh, sitting opposite another female.

  Maybe she really did forget she had somewhere to be.

  My back stiffens when I notice her puffy, red eyes. She has been crying. Why that bot
hers me so much, I don’t know. Before I can go and see what is wrong, Eli is grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the bar.

  “You don’t want to go over there,” he assures me, quickly peeking over my shoulder at them.

  My eyebrows draw together. “Why?”

  “Because it’s girl time, and whenever a bloke gets involved in girl time, it only ends badly.”

  Realisation hits me. “Is this about the time Isaac interrupted those girls chatting so he could flirt, and you were forced to sit for an hour listening to her rip guys to shreds?”

  “Fuck you,” Isaac snaps. “She was so pissed she began to give me pointers in bed. Me!”

  Laughing, Luke slaps his brother across the back. “Was that the chick who told all her mates you couldn’t get a boner?”

  Eli, having ordered our drinks, bursts out laughing. “Holy crap! Was that true?”

  Sulking, Isaac snatches his pint off the side, spilling some over his hands. “You would lose all feeling down there if you had someone snapping orders at you. If she fucking relaxed and went with it, she might have woken up with a smile on her fucking face.”

  I lean my back against the bar, smirking when Evie pointedly avoids eye contact. Her friend, however, doesn’t have the same qualms when she glances over her shoulder, giving me a smirk and a small wave.

  “God, she’s gorgeous,” Eli breathes, and my jaw hardens as I glare at him.

  “Stay the fuck away.”

  Taken aback by my sharp tone, Eli turns to me, smirking as his eyes go round. “I’m not talking about Evie. I’m talking about her friend.”

  Her friend?

  I turn back to the table, taking a closer look at her friend. Yeah, she’s alright, but she doesn’t hold a candle to Evie. No one could. She is pure beauty.

  “Looks like we’re not the only ones looking,” Luke muses.

  Finding what he’s talking about, I down half of my pint before taking in a deep breath. Two guys are sitting at a table in the corner, both foaming at the mouth as they ogle the girls.

  “Not a fucking chance,” I mutter, before turning back to the bar. “Yo, Jim, do us some shots and another round of drinks for that table.” I point to where Evie is sitting, and he gives me a nod in confirmation.

  Eli, on the other hand, groans. “This is going to end badly.”

  I shrug, giving him a quick glance. “You can either sit there all night or join me.”

  Evie’s eyes go round when she spots me heading her way. I don’t know why, but it has me smirking. I love her reaction to my presence. It makes my dick hard. She’s fighting so hard to not want me, but I’m good, and soon, she won’t be able to resist.

  Her body locks and her gaze doesn’t move away from me. When her friend realises Evie is no longer listening, she turns to see me approaching and begins to laugh.

  I arch my eyebrow at the two guys about to approach and snigger when both of their shoulders drop in defeat.

  Yeah, move the fuck along.

  “Evelyn,” I greet when I reach their table, pulling a chair from the table one over and dragging it over to theirs.

  “She really hates being called that,” her friend murmurs.

  I grin. “I know.”

  “Um, what are you doing?” Evie asks, glancing over at my brothers, who drag a table closer to join us.

  I shuffle my chair closer, waiting for a reaction, when I say, “What does it look like we’re doing?”

  “Interrupting a private conversation,” she sasses, a rebellious glint in her eyes.

  Jimmy times his arrival perfectly, setting drinks on both tables. “I’ll put it on your tab.”

  Eli hands drinks to the girls. “Here you go. Bottoms up.”

  “I’m not one to turn down a free drink,” her friend announces, taking a swig.

  “Why do you look upset?” I ask Evie, keeping my voice low as I lean in closer.

  Instead of answering me, she takes the new drink placed on the table and downs it.

  Laughter spills out of me. Tonight is going to be fun. She doesn’t know it yet, but I plan for her to open up, and what better way than liquid courage. She is making this so fucking easy and she doesn’t even know it.

  I just don’t want her too drunk because I have plans. Plans that don’t involve an inebriated or unconscious Evie.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  WYATT

  Evie wasn’t just one type of drunk, she was a bunch. At first, she tried to act like she wasn’t drunk, even going so far as to say she wasn’t drunk. This was after she spent an hour pretending we weren’t here and instead chose to drink her problems away. It took us a while to get her to join the conversation and get her out of her sour mood. It was cute to see her try to pointedly ignore me. I would have believed she didn’t want me there had it not been for her body language. Her breathing would pick up and goose bumps would break across her flesh each time I got close, and whether she knew it or not, she would lean into me whenever I got close to speak to her.

  Then there was the hyper/happy drunk Evie. She and her friend, Rebecca—who introduced herself once she came to the realisation Evie wouldn’t—made their own dance floor and got Jimmy, the owner, to turn the music up. It didn’t end there. Much to my surprise, some of the other punters started to get up and dance.

  When she got to the crying drunk, we switched her vodka to water, which is when we were met with angry drunk Evie. My T-shirt is still drying from where she threw her drink all over me, all because she didn’t like that I was too good looking. There was also something about hating her blood, but I ignored that. She was lucky it was water because this is my favourite shirt.

  Now it seems we have wisdom drunk Evie. She slouches forward, her chin resting on the palm of her hand.

  “Have you ever heard of the expression, ‘blood is thicker than water’?” she asks, only a slight slur to her voice.

  I grin, placing my pint on the table. “What about it?”

  “It applies to you, so you might not understand, but it’s a load of crap. Blood doesn’t make family. Becca is my family and we don’t share blood,” she explains, then pouts, turning to Becca, who is sitting closer to Eli and flirting shamelessly. “Do we?”

  “No, bab,” she answers, grinning.

  “What are your family like?” I ask, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her intake of breath has me inwardly smiling.

  “You don’t want to know. They’re—"

  “Why don’t you ask him his opinion on your thoughts about the earth,” Becca lightly orders, giving Evie a pointed look.

  She’s done this a couple of times tonight. Whenever I try to ask personal questions that involve family, Rebecca intervenes and diverts the conversation. When I asked if there was something wrong after Evie left to go to the toilet, Rebecca said Evie didn’t like talking about them, that it upset her. I tried to leave it alone, but dammit, I want Evie to open up.

  The dark cloud in Evie’s eyes disappears and she sits up straighter, excitement radiating from her. “The earth is floating in space, right?”

  That is not what I saw her asking. If this is going to be one of those crazy theories about whether or not the earth is round or flat, I’m out of here. One of my last flings truly believed the earth was flat and would rant constantly about it. I’m not sure I could go through that kind of torment again, no matter how drawn I am to the person.

  “Um, yeah?”

  Her brows scrunch together. “You don’t sound so sure.”

  Eli and Becca laugh, and I briefly narrow my gaze on them. “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “So, we’re basically floating on the earth’s gravity?”

  “Where are you going with this?” I ask, a smile teasing my lips, because she looks so damn cute when she’s being serious.

  “So, what if every person in the world got together and jumped at the same time? Would the earth shake? Would it be like a spring and bounce before resetting?”

  I’m stumped because as ra
ndom as the question is, I’m intrigued to know the answer, but since we would never get the entire population to try it, we’ll never know.

  “No idea,” I answer, still running over it in my mind.

  Rebecca leans across the table, grabbing a handful of nuts out of the bag. “She loves ‘what if’ questions.”

  “Yeah, because you should question everything,” Evie snaps, affronted. “I mean, if Cinderella’s shoe fit, why the fuck did it fall off? And what if the comet that killed all the dinosaurs was actually a UFO and we were aliens invading the earth?”

  “You really have thought about this,” I state, sniggering.

  She crosses her arms over her chest, letting out a yawn. “I have.”

  “C’mon, I’ll call a taxi and I’ll get you home.”

  “I don’t want to go home,” she whines.

  “I think you’ve had enough to drink,” I declare, shifting my unfinished pint away from her when she goes to grab it.

  “I’m not drunk.”

  Not as drunk as she was, no, but still intoxicated. I lean in closer, my breath fanning across her face. “Then you won’t mind me taking you home.”

  Scarlet heat caresses her cheeks as she lets out a breath. “You don’t want to take me home.” Her voice is barely a whisper.

  I wrap my finger around a silky tendril of her hair. “And why is that, Evelyn?”

  “Please don’t call me that,” she pleads, a shadow of sorrow and darkness filling the warmth of her eyes.

  “Then tell me why you are fighting this so much, Evie,” I order gently, tugging on the strand of hair.

  “I’ve called you a taxi,” Rebecca declares, sitting back down in her chair. I hadn’t realised she left. And going by the way she’s looking at my brother, she ordered them one too.

  “I love you,” Evie suddenly yells, her gaze locked on Becca. “You’re awesome. I needed tonight.”

  Becca high-fives her. “Right back at ya, bab.”

  “Taxi for Evie?” is yelled by the door.

  I grab her bag off the floor and help her to stand. “We’ll speak to you later.”

  “Don’t hurt her,” Becca warns, and I feel something hidden behind the words. A threat. A promise. I’m not sure. I don’t stay to study her expression or question her. Instead, I give her a sharp nod, pull Evie into my arms, and head for the door.