Chapter 5
After Lucas had left the luau, Eve merely went through the motions of being a hula girl. Her mind was so far from the beach villas and luxurious palm trees that surrounded her. She didn’t notice that she had been carrying around an empty tray, or that she was swishing her skirt painfully offbeat with the ukuleles. Eve was in a trance filled with parties, billionaires, and the beautiful Hawaiian night. Before Eve knew it, the luau was over, and it was time to go home.
Eve couldn’t handle another lecture from Mr. Keko, so she snuck into the hotel’s basement early. She needed a moment to calm her head before she drove home. Eve changed into her street clothes and threw the hula girl outfit back into Hani’s locker. If she had known the stress and anxiety tonight was going to cause her she never would not have agreed to take over Hani’s shift. But even as Eve tried to convince herself that she regretted this night, she wouldn’t have met Lucas if she hadn't taken Hani up on her offer. There was just something about him that made her tongue-tied. When she closed her eyes, she still saw him towering before her, grinning white toothy smile and all, asking her to be his date.
Eve knew she needed to stop thinking about Lucas, but she couldn’t, especially during the ride home. After she had run past Mr. Keko to avoid any disappointing remarks, the acoustic love songs crooning on the radio fueled her lovesick daydreams.
As Eve pulled into the driveway of her small one-story home, she saw a light on in the living room. That was enough to pull her out of her ridiculous daydreaming and back to reality. She quickly locked the car and bolted to the front door. If her father had fallen asleep with the light on, there was a sure chance he hadn’t taken his pills tonight.
Eve glanced at the coffee table and saw four pills neatly placed next to the glass of water she had left out for her father. He was asleep on the sofa. His hand splayed out on the floor where the remote to the TV must have fallen from his grip.
“Dad," Eve said, nudging him from his deep slumber. Her mind refused to think about what would happen to him if he didn’t take his medicine.
“Oh Eve, you're home.” Walter Tollman's voice was soft and groggy. His green eyes barely opened, and his body slowly shifted itself into a sitting position on the couch. “I only fell asleep for a few minutes.”
Eve studied her father; his once handsome face looked skeletal and sullen. His bright eyes had sunk into their sockets. His former self had disappeared into this thin body, clinging to life through his weekly treatments and his daily pills. Eve barely recognized him these days.
“Dad, you forgot to take your pills," Eve pointed out. "You know you have to take them every day or …" Eve’s throat cut off her own words, swelling with the tears that grew suddenly in her eyes.
“Sorry, Evie. I’ll take them.” With a thick glug of water, Walter shoved a handful of pills into his mouth. The task was one of the only things keeping him alive, and it had been completed in about two seconds. Glancing over at the clock on the TV box, Walter’s eyes grew dark with concern. “It’s pretty late. Where have you been?”
“I was able to work some overtime. The resort had a luau tonight. I was a hula girl.” Eve carefully moved her father’s blanket and pillow so she could occupy the seat next to him. She sat cross-legged on the couch, waiting for her father to respond, but she saw his face go white with embarrassment. He always got like this when she talked about her job.
“Oh, how I wish you didn't have to work late. I feel bad enough that you gave up your scholarship just to take care of me. I just want you to be able to live your life.” All Walter had ever wanted for Eve was to be happy. To know how much his daughter was working to keep their family afloat was killing him.
“Dad, we've talked about this. Everything is going to be fine. I will take care of us for as long as you need me to, just like you always took care of me.” Eve hid the fear she felt in her heart about their situation. She smiled at him and leaned over to give her father a hug. The last thing Eve wanted to do was cause her father any more stress. His body couldn't handle it.
Eve remembered the resentment she first had when she had found out her dad was sick months earlier. She almost couldn’t bring herself to put her goals and dreams on hold indefinitely. But Eve loved her father more than anything, and now there was nowhere she would rather be than helping him get through all of his treatments.
Eve walked her father to his bedroom. After their goodnight rituals, and a brief cleanup of their living room and kitchen, Eve was finally able to relax a little. She knew she should go to sleep, but she was so preoccupied with all that happened. Her mind was racing far too much to go to sleep. Eve grabbed her laptop from her room and found a comfortable position on the couch. She knew what she had to do. Her fingers lingered over the keys before she finally typed Lucas Alexander into the search bar.
Immediately there were millions of results matching that name, everything from tabloid media pages to a government website. Lucas was everywhere. There was information on his entire family, and research done on his great-great-grandmother and grandfather’s business practices. Though there was so much to go through, she couldn’t help but click on the first result that came up. It was from a trashy tabloid magazine Eve had only let herself read a few times before as a guilty pleasure.
Eve immediately felt sick to her stomach, her head swirling at the picture of a man she thought was honest and kind. In the picture, Lucas was stumbling out of a bar, shirt unbuttoned and pants unzipped, with three beautiful women dressed in short skirts and revealing tops.
Eve didn’t want to believe what she saw, but the magazine spelled it all out for her. Lucas was a playboy. She leafed through at least ten articles, all dishing about Lucas’ wild past, and his serial dating habits. Eve knew that if she went to the party with Lucas, it could be her face covering the front of these magazines.
Softly shutting her laptop, Eve felt her body droop from exhaustion. Her mind panged with disappointment. She felt foolish for falling for Lucas right away. She’d fallen for his nice guy act the way he had wanted her to. Eve knew she had to find Lucas in the morning and tell him their deal was off. Eve didn’t have much, but she knew she would rather keep her dignity become a rich man’s escort.
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Part Of The Deal: The Brides Of Sugar Cove Page 7