“I love you,” I say.
“I love you, too, but you’re freaking the shit out of me right now. Come on.” He begins trying to exit, so I let him go.
“Alright, you two need to tell me whatever this is,” he says once I close Sarge’s door behind me.
“I …” Closing my eyes for a second, I dig for courage. “I discovered a checkbook hiding in my office, taped inside the back wall of a file cabinet. Upon investigating, I found evidence to support that Krystal was embezzling from Casteel.”
Ev’s eyes dart to Sarge’s. He nods at Everett with a weary, sad look, backing up what I said.
“I can’t fucking believe this,” he says.
I go to touch his arm, but he jerks away.
“I know it’s a lot to take in.”
“I meant I can’t fucking believe you.” His eyes narrow on me and fill with fury. “All along I’ve known you were jealous of her and insecure. You’ve worried that I still love her, yet I’ve done nothing short of giving you all of me.”
“Everett, she has proof.”
My eyes flood with tears as his words stun me.
“Proof she has somehow concocted. How can you believe her over Krystal after all the years she was in our family, not to mention the countless hours she put into this place?”
“How can you believe her over Krystal?!” I shout, wondering if I heard him right. “This after you tell me you’ve given me all of you?”
“OK, you both need to calm down, and Everett, you need to let us explain to you what we found.”
“I don’t need to do shit since I know my wife wasn’t a thief. She wouldn’t have betrayed me that way,” he says, pointing to Sarge.
“But I would, right?” I ask as tears fall to my cheeks.
His eyes slowly turn back to me with a glare full of hatred that I didn’t know he could find in himself.
“How pathetic, Reese that you need to hurt me and tarnish her name to feel secure,” he says.
I hear the smack and Sarge jumping from his chair before I realize what I’ve done. Everett’s head is turned to the side, the red mark clearly evident on his face. He turns back to me, and I get a glimpse of sadness and confusion now mixed with his fury.
“I guess I am pretty pathetic. Pathetic to have believed a single word you have said to me. ‘Trust me, Reese’ is all I ever hear.”
“And I was obviously a fool to trust you,” he sneers.
“Everett, you’re going to fucking regret this, so shut your damn mouth!” Sarge yells.
I throw my finger out.
“I gave you my heart and spent countless hours trying to save your ass from losing this whole fucking business and going to jail.
“Well, you’ll have plenty of time in your cell to think about how perfect your wife was because if you don’t say she did this, then that’s where your ass is going, and I hope hell is waiting for you after.”
I storm from Sarge’s office and grab my purse. When I get to the car, I don’t even recall fleeing from the store. I’m shaking uncontrollably as I sob, livid that I ever allowed myself to be this vulnerable. Why did I ever let him in?
Everett
A growl roars from me as I tear into my office and clear everything off of my desk with the powerful strike of my arm. I grab hold of my head and envision pulling my hair out. I can’t remember a time when I felt this angry.
“What the hell is going on?” Roman asks from my doorway. I glance back and see Travis, too, the look of panic and confusion on their faces.
“Get the fuck out!”
“You should listen to him,” I hear Sarge say. “Everett you need to calm down. I’m sure customers can hear you,” he adds before he shuts the door behind him.
“Get out, Sarge.” I’m pacing my office with a firm grip still on my hair. He walks over and slaps a folder on my desk, so I turn away from him.
“When you calm down enough to drive without killing yourself, you need to go home and read this. The proof is still going to be here whether you accept it or not, but I guess you’re calling me a damn liar, too.
“You know, I pray Reese forgives you when you come to your senses. She’s the best goddamn thing to ever happen to you, but there’s a part of me now that doesn’t believe you deserve her.”
He leaves, and I slam my fists onto my file cabinet. I have fucked up. I feel it. My past was a fucking lie, my present is a nightmare, and I just threw away my future, like it never meant shit to me.
Chapter Thirty
Reese
“I told you that if this blew up in your face, I’d let you drag me around by my hair like a caveman, so here you go,” Becca says, holding a chunk of her hair near my face.
I’m on my stomach in bed. She used her key to get in and is sitting next to me. I don’t respond or look at her. I’m numb. OK, I’m trying to feel numb. My heart has splintered, and the pain is suffocating.
“Sis, please talk to me. You’re worrying me. When did you even shower last? How are you going to pay your bills?”
I finally dare a glance at my sister about the time she’s swiping tears from her cheek. I can’t keep letting her suffer, too.
“I’m going to use my dream savings until I get my shit together. I have no dreams now, so why save it? I’ll always be single, so I don’t need a house for a family.”
“Reese,” she says with a whine. “I can’t take this. I feel responsible since I told you to have this fling, but what breaks my heart the most is that now you two love each other and are hurting.
“Trav said Everett has been missing for four days, and everyone at Casteel is worried about the both of you.”
The catapult of pain and worry slams into my heart, breaking the splinter into pieces. Then the anger rains over it like salt on the wound.
The thought of Everett somewhere alone or dead from the devastating news he received makes me desperate to help him, but to feel that for him after the way he treated me infuriates me.
After the time I’ve had to think, I believe he flipped out because he knew we were telling the truth, but the bottom line is that he still chose her.
I need to gather up the pieces and put myself back together into the Reese who was strong and independent.
“Please take a shower and let me feed you. I’ll even use my own money. I have some since Travis is always buying me food.” An uncontrollable smile curves from my lips. “I knew that would make you smile, and I’d call you a name if I wasn’t so worried about you.”
I lie here, trying to decide if I can will myself out of bed.
“If you don’t get up, I’m calling Mom.”
“Now, you’re playing dirty.” I roll onto my back. “Fine, I will get up.”
“Oh, girl, you need a shower. I’ll go grab us some food and something sweet, too, while you take one.”
I wince from her words, recalling when Everett brought me carbs because I was having a rough day. How will I recover from this, and how did I grow to love him this much in less than two months?
Everett
The knock at the door stirs me. I slide to the side of the bed and slip shorts on over my boxers before I go to answer it. Instead of Dwayne, Travis is standing in front of me.
“What do you want?”
“Hello to you, too. Let me in, asshole.”
I sigh and move away from the door of the guest house. “How did you already find me?”
“First off, it’s the fourth damn day that your family has been worried sick about you. Becca told me yesterday that you brought Reese here once, but I didn’t know how to get hold of Dwayne to see if you were here. To my surprise, he tracked me down this morning.”
“He wouldn’t do that.”
“This was one time he said he couldn’t sit by and only listen. He knows you’re being an idiot and only had to see how you look at Reese once to know what she means to you. He also saw in an instant how great she is.”
“None of it matters. It’s over.” I take
a seat at the small kitchen table. Travis strolls over and leans back against the counter, crossing his feet and arms.
“Did you look at it?”
I’m silent, unable to say the words. The truth that is eating at me from the inside out is creating a desire to rip someone apart. There is not one damn thing I can do for revenge since Krystal even took that from me.
I attempt to swallow some of the anguish, shoving down the wretchedness and hostility that is only intensifying from his question.
“They were telling the truth. The proof is there.”
“Say it, asshole.”
I glare at my brother who seems to have grown a bigger set of nads. “I was wrong. Reese couldn’t have made it up. Is that what you want to hear?”
“I want you to say you fucked up, but that you’re going to do everything in your power to make it right.”
“I did fuck up, but this can’t be fixed. I saw how bad I hurt her. I can’t get the damn images out of my head. She’ll never trust me again.”
“You’re going to go tell Reese that you reacted from the shocking news and took out on her everything that only Krystal deserved. You’re going to beg, even if you have to get down on your knees, until she forgives you.”
“It won’t work. She didn’t want to get close to me in the first place. She was certain I couldn’t love her the way I loved my wife since Krystal was taken from me instead of me leaving her by choice. The things I said to Reese confirmed her worst fears.”
“But you didn’t mean them. Mom and Dad had a good marriage and Sarge and Roman do, so we all get that you’ve felt determined to show you had the same.
“But this denial you’ve had for years is hurting everyone, including Reese. Becca said she’s in bad shape, bro, and I guarantee that deep down, she’s praying you’ll fix it.”
The image of Reese hurting makes me physically ill. I want to hold her and tell her how sorry I am, but the thought of her rejecting me the way I did her is gut-wrenching.
“I’ll think about it.”
“No, you’ll do it. I would never wish her dead, bro, but Krystal was a coldhearted bitch.
“Reese is fan-fucking-tastic. You know it, so make her forgive you. Since when do you back down or take no for an answer?”
Reese
Sitting in my car, I change my mind at least ten times over whether I’m going inside Casteel or not. Regardless of what Everett did to me, I can’t bail on them without at least giving them guidance on what to do with this audit.
Sarge left me a voicemail after I fled the other day, telling me to take several days off and not make any rash decisions. Being in this parking lot is giving me a panic attack, so there is no way I could work near him.
Wiping my sweaty hands on my jeans, I grab my bag and go inside. I can’t even look toward the counter. Seeing the guys I’ve grown attached to already will only make this that much harder, so I head straight to my office and shut the door.
Without wasting any time, I comprising a list of what they can expect from the auditors. They have two options. Everett can come to terms with what Krystal did, get the authorities involved and tell the IRS.
Or they can keep their mouth shut and pray that the IRS doesn’t notice how much it appears they spent on cleaning services.
The second choice is a crime, but it’s not my problem. They get to decide how to handle this cluster fuck of a situation after I wash my hands of it.
Needing to speak to Sarge, I head into the hallway, praying the whole time that Everett isn’t here.
“Reese, hi.” Sarge sits straight up in his chair.
“Hi.”
“Are you doing OK?”
“I’ll live. Listen, I want to apologize for my behavior the other day.”
“You’re fine, Reese. I would’ve been disappointed had you not dished something back at him. He deserved worse in my opinion.”
“I can’t stay here, Sarge.” My head tilts back, my eyes finding the ceiling, and I hope, like every other time I do it, that it will prevent the tears from flowing.
“I hate it, Reese. We need you, and I’ve heard through Travis that Everett believes us. He knows Krystal was embezzling.”
“It doesn’t matter. His first thought was to protect her and destroy me.” I tilt my head back down to look at him, and the tears fall. “See, this is upsetting me, and I haven’t even seen him yet.”
“He didn’t mean any of it, Reese. It was a knee-jerk reaction to protect himself, not her.”
“I have to go. Here is a list of things you need to expect from the auditors. You are welcome to call me if you have questions. I hope for the sake of your company that Everett tells them the truth.”
I stand and quickly brush the tears away. “I wish you the best, Sarge. It’s been a pleasure to get to know your wonderful family.”
“Reese, please think on this longer.”
“I’m sorry, but I have to protect myself, too.”
Everett
My hands keep a firm grip on my Harley. The nervous energy rattling me has my body shaking. I park next to Reese with the hope that I will be walking her out.
As soon as I’m inside, Travis glances to me. He’s waiting on a customer, but gives me a nod and a smile, noticeably pleased that I showed to speak to Reese.
When he and I talked last night, he told me she was coming in today to organize files for the audit and to pick up what few of her belongings she has here. I have to prevent her from quitting.
I’m holding my breath as I enter the hallway. Reese’s door is shut, so I glance to Kyle’s. He scowls from his desk, and I imagine he’s pissed at me. Reese was taking the pressure off of him.
I come to a standstill when I reach my office. All the shit I slung from my desk is still on the floor, reminding me of what an asshole I am. I took off, leaving my brothers alone to handle everything.
I’m picking papers up off my floor, when I hear Sarge’s office door open. Glancing to the doorway, I see Reese halt. Our eyes meet, and the sorrow in hers is evident, but then she scrunches her forehead and glares at me.
“Reese.” It’s all I can get out before she’s scurrying away.
“Reese, wait.” Jumping to my feet, I run down the hallway, but she’s already out of sight. Moving lightning fast, she comes flying out of her office with her purse and sprints for the door.
“Reese, stop!” She doesn’t look back until she reaches the door that takes her into the store. For only two seconds, she locks eyes with me, but I realize she’s not stopping to talk. It’s to take that last look before she says goodbye to me forever. Or is it?
Her past words resonate in my mind.
“Please don’t ever stop catching me.”
She’s out of sight, yet she’s with me as her voice plays in my head repeatedly. I dart through the hall after her, chasing her through the store and out the front door. Damn, why couldn’t she have heels on today?
She shuts her door just before I reach it, so I pound on the glass. Startled she jumps and turns over the ignition, never once looking at me.
Reese drives off with my hands on the door. Son of a bitch. I hope on my bike and follow. We get to a red light, so I go around the car and pull up next to her, signaling for her to pull over.
She looks at me like I’m crazy and mouths an adamant no before she’s hitting the road again. This happens at two more lights. When we reach the fourth one, I get off my motorcycle and bang on her window.
She finally lowers it. “Have you lost your mind? You’re going to get yourself killed on this busy highway.”
“Drive to my house, and I’ll stop.”
“I’m not doing shit for you,” she says with disdain. The light changes, and she takes off. Horns are honking behind me as I hurry back onto my Harley.
Two cars get between us, and now I’m fuming, so when we stop again, I zip around them until I’m up next to her. I lean over and tap the glass.
Her eyes are round as she lowers i
t again.
“Everett, you never drive unsafe. Stop it before you get hurt!”
“I’m not stopping until you agree to go to my house.”
She huffs and blows out a breath of frustration before tightening her hand around the steering wheel.
“Fine. If you want to have a showdown, we’ll have one. I didn’t get to smack you enough times the other day, so let’s go.”
The light turns green, so her foot hits the gas pedal. I swerve in behind her, and I’m tailing her ass until it’s parked in my driveway. I won’t stop chasing her until she’s mine again.
Reese
Everett has lost his damn mind. I don’t know what he thinks he’s going to accomplish by leading me to his house. He must want a permanent imprint of my hand on his face.
After parking, I get out of my Volkswagen and slam the door. He’s in front of me, grabbing my biceps in seconds. “Please let me apologize.”
“I guess you didn’t hear me the first time. I don’t have to do shit for you.” I jerk away from him and start running. I don’t know where the hell I’m going, but I can’t give in to him.
Glancing back, I see he’s chasing me through his yard. I charge around his house, and I’m about to run down a hill toward the dirt bike track when he tackles me.
Instead of letting my face hit the ground, he somehow wraps me into his arms and rolls his body on the way down, taking the brunt of the impact. He’s flat on his back, and mine is to his front. I kick and scream, but his hold only tightens.
“You crazy asshole, let me go!”
“No, not until you hear me out.”
“Fuck off, Everett.” I kick at his shins and try to break free from his arms.
“That foul mouth of yours only turns me on, so fire away.”
I groan loudly. “Shut up and release me now.”
“No, you stubborn ass woman, and do you know why?” I don’t answer since I’m certain he’s going to share. “Because you ran, fancy face.” His voice changes, his toughness tiring out, but he can’t be sweet. That will only make my heart feel more.
Trust Game Page 21