“What the fuck, Eve?!”
“Where is Bella?”
“Jack and the boys are watching her. So, again, I ask; what the fuck?”
“Baby …”
“Don’t! You’re covered in fucking blood!”
Oh yeah, he’s pissed.
“It’s not mine,” she said evenly.
Adam threw his hands in the air. “Well, thank fuck for that!” His eyes bore into hers. “Why did you keep this from me?”
Eve’s brows furrowed in confusion. How did he already know?
“I got a fucking call from Donovan, Eve.”
Fuck. That, for sure, pissed him off more. She knew Adam didn’t trust Billy’s feelings for her.
“What did he say?”
“I want to hear what you have to say!”
“Baby, I’m covered in blood. I watched a man die today …”
“It really sucks that that isn’t the first time that’s happened to you, Eve. What sucks even more is I am, once again, the last fucking one to know!” He roared.
Eve dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands. Exhaustion, dread, regret—so many damned emotions hit her at once—she no longer had the strength to deal with it now. “I’m sorry.”
Adam expected excuses, a fight, even a defiant Eve. Not this broken woman before him. This wasn’t how Eve was. She was strong, determined and confident. Flawed, yes. But, his perfection. His anger was conquered by this weary Eve. He came to her, silently picking her up and carrying her to their bathroom upstairs. Adam gently sat her on the closed toilet seat and began undressing her.
“I liked that shirt,” she said quietly when he threw her baby blue, silk shirt in the trash.
“I’ll buy you a new one,” he murmured, reaching to turn on the shower. “Up.”
Eve stood, wondering how her legs were working when she was so bone tired.
Adam stripped her, throwing all of her clothes away. He was sure the blood would come out, but Eve wouldn’t need reminders of this day. He took his own clothes off, then wrapped his arms around her.
“Hold on to me.” Even her grip around his neck was weak, he thought, as he lifted her and walked her into enormous shower. Normally their shower was one of their favorite places to make love. With its light emperador marble and pulsating, ambient lighted shower heads that surrounded them from calf to head, it added another element of sensation for them. Tonight, though, Adam just hoped it washed away what was hurting Eve. He placed her on the bench that lined the wall, turned the shower heads towards her, and grabbed the sponge and body wash.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
It felt good having him wash her. She didn’t want to talk or think, she just wanted to feel him. Eve shook her head when he reached up to wash her face free of blood.
He cupped her face in his hands when it was clean. “You have to tell me what’s going on, beautiful. I can’t be on the outside again. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Her voice was so small, so quiet, so unlike Eve, it scared him. She’s been through so much, he wondered if she had finally hit a point where she couldn’t take anymore.
“Let’s get you to bed.”
He moved to get up, stopping when she held on to his hand.
“Hold me.”
Adam sat next to her, pulling her onto his lap. He cradled her there while she wept silently.
“I asked Lexie to watch Bella here at the house. Indefinitely.” Adam set Eve’s coffee cup in front of her. He made it extra strong today. She had tossed and turned most of the night, so he felt she could use the pick me up.
“You don’t think she’s safe with me.”
It wasn’t a question, but he answered anyway.
“I don’t think you’re safe, but I can’t control what you do.” Unfortunately, he added silently. “I can control what my daughter does.”
“Your daughter?” Eve couldn’t blame him for being worried, but damn, that hurt. She should actually be relieved. He was handling this a lot better than she thought.
“Our daughter,” he amended. “I don’t want her at the gallery until we know what’s going on. And, I mean we, Eve. You need to start talking to me.”
“Baby, I was going to tell you everything.”
“When, Eve? After it’s all over with and you finally let me out of a room you’ve lock me in?”
Eve flinched at the sarcasm and hurt in his voice. She should have been prepared for him to bring up that night Maurice was shot in her bedroom.
Eve had taken Adam to the secret studio she had had built in her apartment in the city when her neighbor, Mrs. Jenkins, warned her that Maurice was in the hall. She locked him in there to keep him safe, and Adam was livid when she finally opened the door. It took her months of apologizing—and, copious amounts of sexual acts—for him to forgive her. Even trying to explain to him that because she had just learned how to let him in her heart, the fear of losing him was too much for her, didn’t work.
“It was forgeries and vandalism, Adam, not murder. At least not until yesterday. I wanted something solid to tell you before coming to you and ruining your week.”
“Ruining my week?”
“You have been so happy, amant. You got this great account, was offered partnership, decided to venture out on your own. I didn’t want to spoil that with my shit.”
Adam stared silently at her for a moment before sighing.
“We’re married, Eve. That means whatever we’re going through, good or bad, we share it. For better or worse, remember? We don’t keep things from each other. Especially things this important.” He went to her and tilted her chin up to look at him. “You could have died yesterday. I would have lost my wife, and Bella, her mother, and I wouldn’t have had any clue as to why.”
His voice was rough as he tried to swallow the lump that formed. Thinking about what could have happened scared the shit out of him.
“I’m sorry, baby.” Eve reached up and kissed his mouth gently. “I honestly thought this was just some stupid incident from either my competition or some whacked out religious group. I didn’t think it would come to this.”
“Does this have to do with your father?”
Eve exhaled, harshly. “I don’t know. If you had asked me before yesterday, I would have said no, it’s impossible. But, now? I just don’t know.”
“Besides Donovan, who’s on this?”
“Charlie. Especially after Branson’s murder. And, James.”
“You called James?”
Adam appreciated the fact that James helped Eve with Tony, but having a criminal involved wasn’t ideal for Adam. Particularly when Bella was with Eve most of the time.
Eve rose a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “I trust him, Adam,” she said, reading his thoughts. “And, I thought he could find information if the paintings were being sold on the black market.”
Their brief staring contest was interrupted by the chiming of Eve’s phone.
“It’s Lainey,” she told Adam before answering. “Good morning. Did you sleep okay?” Eve sat heavily in the chair, fighting fatigue that wanted to swallow her up. She felt guilty for putting Lainey in the middle of a dangerous situation. Again. Jack was probably pissed at her. Which sucked, because Jack and Eve’s relationship—for what it was—had began to be cordial after Eve took a bullet to save Lainey’s life. Though Eve knew he would always blame her for Lainey’s involvement in the first place. Even so, a mutual—silent—peace agreement was made for Lainey’s sake.
“Good morning. Yes. You?”
“Mmhmm.” Eve hadn’t slept well, but she didn’t need Lainey worrying about her.
Lainey hesitated, then drew in a shaky breath. “Eve, I told Jack everything that was going on.”
“Good.” She glanced at Adam who sat next to her, and was watching her intently. “He should know everything.”
“Well, now that he does, he doesn’t want me going in to the gallery. At least not until they find the
shooter. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s understandable.” She was disappointed, of course. But, honestly, could she blame Jack for the request?
“Are you going?”
“I’m not sure, yet.” Adam hadn’t made the same request. Would he? And, would she comply?
“Did you talk to Adam?”
“Yes.”
“Is everything okay?”
Eve paused as she looked at Adam. She saw in his eyes that he was hurt and angry, but he kept calm when talking to her. Calm before the storm? God, she hoped not.
“Yes. Honey, Lexie will be here in a little bit, and Adam and I need to finish talking. Can I call you later?”
“Of course! I hope you don’t go to the gallery, Eve. If you do, please be careful. I’m going to worry about you.”
Eve couldn’t respond in the way she would like to Lainey, so she just said her goodbyes and hung up.
“Does Jack know?” Adam asked as Eve set her phone down.
“Yes.”
“And? How does he feel about it?”
“He doesn’t want Lainey going to the gallery until we know something.”
“Is Lainey agreeing to that?”
“Yes.” She saw the pain in his eyes, and knew he thought she wouldn’t do that for him. For some reason, knowing he felt that way, saddened her. “Ask me.”
Adam frowned. When the confusion lifted, he knew exactly what she meant.
“Will you stay home?” He took her hands in his. “Please? Stay home where I know you’ll be safe?”
“I will.”
Relief filled his face so quickly it almost knocked the breath out of her.
“Can I ask you something, Adam?” When he kissed her knuckles and nodded, she continued. “Are you going to start yelling at me, or punish me at some point? I’d rather know now instead of waiting for it.”
To her surprise, Adam laughed. “Is that what you’ve been waiting for?”
“I have. I waited for it last night. Now, I’m sitting here, my coffee is getting cold, I need to go wake our daughter up and get her ready for Lexie, and all I can do is think about when you’re going to react to all of this.”
“This is my reaction, Eve.”
“Adam, you made me beg for forgiveness the last time I kept something like this from you.”
“Oh, I’ll make you beg, again, and I’ll definitely punish you. But, that will be when we have more time. As for now, this is my reaction.”
Eve’s pulse picked up quite considerably when Adam told her he’d make her beg. Seriously, Adam’s “punishment” in bed was almost worth getting shot at. Still, he was just too damn calm for her to believe this was it.
Adam rose from his chair, bringing her with him, and wrapped his arms around her.
“I got the call, then I saw you with blood all over you, and I was pissed, Eve. So pissed I wanted to say things to hurt you as much as I was hurting. Then I saw that you were already hurting. Your life has been full of pain, beautiful. I don’t want to be a part of that pain.” He kissed her temple. “Just don’t keep anything else from me, yeah?”
Eve took Adam’s face in her hands, and brought his mouth to hers for a mind-blowing kiss. In that moment, with her kissing him like that, Adam could forgive Eve for anything.
“I’m glad you didn’t go in to the gallery today, Eve.” Lainey took party favors out of bags, and stacked them on the table.
“Adam asked me not to. After everything that’s happened, I owed him at least that.”
Lainey glanced over at Eve. Her mood had been off today, rightfully so, Lainey thought, but still not like Eve. Lainey wondered if Adam was more upset than Eve told her.
“Are you two doing okay?”
“We’re fine.”
“Eve, you know you can talk to me, right?” Lainey didn’t want Eve to think just because Lainey was having these feelings, Eve couldn’t come to her about Adam.
“I know.” Eve stopped unpacking bags and sighed. “He was pissed at me. Seriously pissed, and I don’t blame him. But, he stopped. Just stopped being pissed. I guess I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“Did you ask him about it?”
“Yes. He told me that I had too much pain in my life, and he didn’t want to be a part of that.”
“That’s sweet, Eve.”
Eve made a sound, and went back to the bags. Bella’s birthday party was two days away, and Eve was glad to have something to occupy her mind. She wasn’t used to stepping back and letting others take care of things for her, but what more could she do for the gallery? It was still being cleaned up, the pieces evaluated or restored and Harris and James were working on the Branson connection. All Eve could do now, was wait. Not her best attribute.
“You don’t think it’s sweet?” As Eve thought about how she was going to steer clear of the gallery for however long, Lainey wondered about Eve’s ambiguous murmur.
“I do.”
“But?”
Eve blew out an exasperated breath, debating on how much she want to tell Lainey. Then she remembered that Lainey was the one other person she could be completely honest with, and know she will not judge. Eve peered out the kitchen door to make sure Lexie and Bella were not in ear shot. When she saw them engrossed in an educational game, she looked back at Lainey.
“I broke down, Lainey. I couldn’t help it, could do nothing to stop it. I just fell to my knees in front of him and broke down. I can’t help but wonder if that’s why he stopped being pissed. Perhaps he thinks I’m losing it.”
“Oh, honey.” Lainey’s heart broke a little hearing Eve talk about losing control. “He doesn’t think you’re losing it. Adam just understands you’ve been through more than your fair share of shit.”
Eve couldn’t help the burst of laughter. Lainey wasn’t one to curse a lot (unless she was mad), so when she did, it tickled Eve.
“I know, I’m just not used to him seeing me like that.”
“You’re married, Eve. He sees you, and loves you, for better or worse.”
Eve’s eyes cut to Lainey, again. “That’s basically what he said. You would think that almost two years in, I’d get that.” She knew she should believe in that, but that person who broke down is not who Adam married. He married a strong woman. Not some weak, emotional woman. It just wasn’t a pleasant feeling for Eve.
“You’ve held your emotions in for so long, Eve, that I’m sure it’s going to take a while to feel comfortable letting them out.”
Before Eve could respond, Bella tottered into the kitchen towards Eve, her arms lifted.
“Mama!”
Eve bent and scooped Bella up, wrapping her in her arms. “Hi, baby girl. Are you hungry?”
“Sorry, Mrs. Riley! I was putting up the game, and she just ran off! Fast little bugger!”
“Not a problem, Lexie. Have you had lunch?”
“No ma’am. I was going to wait until after I fed little Bella here.”
“Would you like a sandwich?”
“Oh! Ma’am, I can make something! I don’t want to take you away from anything.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m going to make something for Bella, Lainey and myself. I can certainly make you something. Do you like turkey?”
Lexie blushed shyly. None of the families she had ever worked for were interested enough in her to be more than cordial. She wasn’t sure how to react to Eve’s kindness.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Lexie? Please, call me Eve. I think you’ve worked for us long enough to be on a first name basis.” Eve smiled warmly at her, and watched Lexie tentatively smile back. “Is turkey good for you, Lainey?”
Lainey grinned, and nodded. Eve’s compassion never ceased to amaze her.
After lunch, Eve put the finishing touches on the guest list for Bella’s party. The list included Lainey’s boys, the other young ones Lexie teaches, Henry, Trudy and Stevie, Mikey and his mother, Pauly and his family, Billy and his wife and kids—much to Adam’
s disappointment—Charlie and his wife, and, to make things even more interesting, James and his family. Eve’s eclectic group made her smile, and wonder if she was the only one who had an FBI agent, a police captain and a criminal coming to the same party for a little girl turning one.
“What are you smiling at?” Lainey loved seeing Eve smile.
Eve handed Lainey the list, and knew she saw the same oddness.
“Well, it will certainly be an interesting first birthday party,” Lainey giggled.
“Maybe I should rethink this whole thing, and have a simple little get together with you, Jack and the boys,” Eve teased.
“I believe you’ve already given the deposit for the ponies.”
Eve laughed, but Lainey was actually right. Yes, she hired ponies. So incredibly silly, she knew, but she did it nonetheless. Adam didn’t even try to talk her out of it. Eve thought he secretly wanted the ponies for his little girl, too. Hell, he wanted everything for his little princess, which is exactly why he agreed to buying her a tiny tiara.
“You think I overdid it on the party.”
“No.”
“You should work on that, Lainey. It was not convincing at all.” Eve winked at her, tapping her on the nose before walking past her.
Lainey watched Eve post the guest list on the refrigerator, and couldn’t help but smile at the “art work” that also took up residence there. Bella may be one, but she was certainly Eve’s daughter. Those finger paintings had the makings of masterpieces. Of course, Lainey was probably as biased as Eve was when it came to Bella, but that didn’t detract from the cuteness of the little drawings.
Lainey was also a little surprised by the amount of things on Eve’s fridge. Everything had always been so neat, so pristine when it came to Eve, that seeing a bit of chaos was just odd—and endearing. It made Lainey’s heart beat a little faster for Eve. Crap.
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