by L. P. Maxa
I jerked my head around, shooting my dad a what the hell glare. He held his hands up, his eyes wide. He was as surprised as I was.
“The two of you better start talking because I am very close to losing my shit.” My beautiful and always put-together mom was now standing in my boyfriend’s living room, her hands on her hips.
“Cher, we—”
“No.” She pointed her finger at my dad. “I’ll deal with you later.” She turned to me. “Why is there a bandage on your head? Why are you two keeping me out of whatever is going on? What happened?” Her voice cracked on her last question. She wasn’t mad, she was worried.
“I, uh, my ex-boyfriend tried to rape me.” I let everything out in a rush, my words running together.
My mom’s face crumbled and she immediately started to cry. She came to sit next to me, pulling me into her arms. “Baby girl, are you okay? Let me see your head. Are you hurt anywhere else?” Through her onslaught of tears she was checking my stitches, inspecting my arms. She noticed the bruises on my neck and fresh tears spilled over.
“Nick, why don’t you and I go grab some dinner?” My dad got up, his voice thick with emotion. He kissed the top of my head, and then took my mom’s hand and asked her to walk him to the door.
“I won’t be gone long, little bird.” Nicky lifted my chin with his finger, kissing my lips in a way that would have been slightly inappropriate had my parents still been in the room.
My mom came back in and sat next to me, taking my hands in hers. “Start talking, baby girl, please.”
“It’s kind of a really long, messed-up story, Mom.” She was already a crying mess, what was going to happen when she heard the rest of my tale?
“Please let me in, Evie. No matter what it is, I want to know.”
“Okay…” I drew out the word as I shifted on the couch, getting comfortable. “I got addicted to Adderall and painkillers. The Adderall was prescribed, but I took much more than I was allotted. The pain pills helped me calm down enough to sleep.” I wondered if any of this felt like déjà vu for Dylan James? She’d known my dad before he kicked the drug habit and the partying. I’d read a few articles that had pointed to as much.
“I only started dating Collin, my ex, because he could easily supplement my pills when I ran out. And I always ran out. He was never a nice guy. At first it was kind of fun though. We were so toxic, but my whole life was toxic. After I reconnected with Nick, I started to see exactly how far I’d fallen.” I smiled—simply thinking about him made me happy. “I knew Nick before the pills and the parties. I met Nicky when I was nothing but a quiet bookworm who missed her parents.”
“He helped you? Nick? This is his apartment?” She looked around the loft, like she was searching for her own answers.
“Yeah, he brought me here and he helped me detox a little. He took me to a doctor that is helping me wean off the Adderall, and together we found a therapist to help me cope with the addictions.” And the life I was leading, and now, the fact that my ex had drugged and attempted to rape me.
“When did the attack happen? Why was your dad contacted and not me?”
“Last night.” I scoffed lightly. “I can’t believe it was only last night, it feels like weeks have gone by.” I took a sip of water from the hospital jug I’d brought home with me. “I went to the officers’ dinner for our chapters. I felt like it was important that I face some demons, you know? I told Collin, my ex, that we were done. He took it much better than I thought he would, which in hindsight should have been my first clue something was off. He asked me to stay until after his speech was over, and then he’d have his driver take me home.” I wiped at my face when I felt tears falling down my cheek. I hadn’t realized I’d started to cry. “He drugged me, but at the time I thought I was ill. I went into the bathroom, and started to throw up. He came up behind me…Nicky stopped him, he got there in time, and he pulled him off me.”
If it weren’t for Nick I’d have been raped, by someone I’d once trusted, while I was bending over a toilet throwing up.
Nick had saved my life, over and over again.
He was everything to me, he was my calm in the storm.
My sanctuary.
“Baby girl, I’m so sorry.” My mom hugged me tight, whispering over and over how sorry she was that this happened to me. That I had to go through such a terrible experience. How she was here for me.
I pulled back, trying to put a reassuring smile on my face. “I’m going to be okay, Mom, I promise.” I took a deep breath. “I won’t let him win. I won’t let him ruin all the progress I’ve made. I won’t let him ruin my happiness with Nicky.”
“You are so strong, Evie. So wonderfully strong.” She cupped my cheek in her warm hand. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I didn’t call Dad, Nicky did.” Nick. The believer in all things truthful and honest. “I told him I didn’t want to press charges on Collin because I didn’t want you guys to see how messed up I’d become.”
“Oh, Evie.” My mom shook her head. “That’s ridiculous, you know that. We love you girls, no matter what.” Which was pretty close to what my dad had said as well.
“We don’t like to disappoint you guys. Or make you worry. It’s always been easier to deal with things on our own and—”
“What’s that now? We?”
I felt like in the love and heat of the moment I’d started to overshare. I went beyond this one incident, and beyond myself. “Well, like a general we. Emmie hates to upset you guys too.” Sorry Ems, but it’s easier to throw your C term paper under the bus than Crue and Avory’s secret two-year love affair.
My mom wagged her finger in my face. “No more, okay? No more hiding things from us or trying to spare our feelings. We’re your parents. We love you. It’s our job to help you fight your battles. No matter how big or how small.” She pulled me in for another hug. “It’s us against the world, baby girl.”
I really needed to call Beau. I needed to tell him he’d been right when he’d come home. Keeping all the ’rents in the dark wasn’t okay. They thought they’d raised us right. They were secure in the fact that if there was an issue we’d tell them.
They trusted us, and they really shouldn’t have.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Evie
It was the next day, and we were all sitting on Nicky’s terrace. My mom said the vitamin D would do me some good. It was now June in Texas; the vitamin D was making me melt. I was sharing a lounge chair with Nick. We were sitting side by side to keep things PG around the ’rents. Which sucked. I was starting to feel better and I really wanted to be straddling his lap with his hands in my hair.
“Nicky, Smith tells me you’re a tattoo artist? That you work for your Uncle Waylon’s shop?” My mom wanted to know everything about Nicky. She’d asked him a hundred questions about his childhood already.
“Oh, well, actually I own this location of Revival Ink.”
“You do?” I pulled back so I could see his face, and he nodded.
“Evie, you didn’t know what your boyfriend did for a living?” My mom’s face was aghast with my lack of knowledge on all things Nicky.
“Well, I mean I knew he was a tattoo artist, but I didn’t know he owned the whole dang shop.” He wrinkled his nose, a smile on his face when he heard me say dang instead of damn…or fucking. As soon as my parents had gotten here, my potty mouth had cleaned itself up a bit, and Nicky found it amusing.
“You think that’s bad? She didn’t even know my last name until a few days ago.”
“Nick.” I backhanded his arm. “Would you stop?” Was he trying to get me in trouble with my parents?
“What?” He laughed, his hands held up in question. “I’m being honest.”
“There is a difference between being honest and telling them every single incriminating thing about our relationship.” I smacked him again, but I couldn’t fight the grin on my face. It felt good to play like this. I liked that my parents were getting to see th
is side of us.
My dad put down his phone. “He told me about your one-night stand too.”
“Evie.” My mom let out a shocked gasped.
“Ohmygod, Nick. Seriously?” This time I shoved him, biting my lips together to hold my giggles. “What is wrong with you?”
He reached out, wrapping his arms gently around me. “I wanted him to get a clear picture of our connection. I was trying to explain our story, trying to tell him that I’d loved you since the beginning.” He kissed my temple, making me melt.
“Oh I got the connection all right. Random hookup, detoxing, tattoos, and pit bull puppies.” He got to his feet, heading into the house, making himself completely at home in my boyfriend’s apartment. “Sounds about par for the course for a Devil’s Share love story.”
***
I was in Nick’s bed, my mom beside me. We were watching a movie, a chick flick that had us both in tears. Her phone rang on the mattress between us, Beau’s face on the screen.
“He’s calling to talk to you.” My mom handed me the phone. “He’s called four times. He’s worried about you, baby girl.”
I’d had my phone turned off since I got home from the hospital. The police instructed me not to discuss the attack with anyone, and I knew that ninety percent of the people calling me were wanting to know what happened. Sure, they’d start off by asking if I was okay. But I had a handful of actual friends, and they’d all been in that bathroom with me when it was over.
I cleared my throat, knowing that Beau would keep trying until he got to hear my voice. “Hello?”
“Evs.”
The way he said my name, like he was relieved, it spoke volumes. “I’m sorry, I know I should have called you sooner. I just—”
“Do not apologize. We were all so worried. After my mom told me what happened…I needed to hear for myself that you were okay.” He sighed. “I guess okay is a relative term for you right now, huh?”
“I’ve been better.” I adjusted the ice pack on my knee. “But I’ve also been a lot worse, so there’s that.” Speaking to Beau made me remember that I’d never called Crue or Avory. Which made me feel guilty.
“Do you need anything? Is there someone I can kill or maim? Can I come up there?”
“I don’t think Nick’s apartment could hold any more people.” Especially since Bleu and Maykin tended to stop by once or twice a day.
“Either you come home for a few days so we can all hug you, or your boyfriend’s apartment is about to be overrun with Devil’s Spawn.”
“Beau.”
“I’m not kidding, Evs.” He paused, like he was trying to get his emotions under control. Which in turn made me start to feel weepy. “It’s us against the world, so either you come to the us or the us is coming to you.”
His words made me remember my discussions with my parents. I did need to go home. I needed to talk to Beau. He’d been right all along, and it was time everyone else fell in line.
“Okay, you win.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Nick
Evie’s parents had camped out in my apartment for three days straight. We’d watched movies, played board games, and put together a one-thousand-piece puzzle. They’d bought a giant blow-up mattress and slept on the floor in my room. Evie took my bed and I bunked on the couch. They were pretty cool about everything, though. They always went out for breakfast, leaving Evie and me alone for a couple of hours.
Today was the first day I’d been at my shop in almost a week. Bleu and my other boy Hawkins had held down the fort. They hadn’t burned the place to a pile of ash, so I was taking that as a solid win.
“Hey, little bird, what are you doing here?”
I smiled when Evie walked into my office, two green smoothies in her hand. I made a face when she handed me one, but took a long pull anyway. I’d do anything to make her happy, including drinking that disgusting stuff.
“My parents left a while ago and the apartment felt super lonely.”
“Could you be any needier?” Bleu peeked his head into the room, smacking a loud kiss on Evie’s cheek. He grinned, taking the smoothie out of her hand and sitting in the chair across from my desk.
“I can’t believe your parents actually left. I figured they were planning on moving in.” Not that I was complaining or anything, but I was ready to sleep in bed with my girl.
Evie perched on my lap, taking my drink since Bleu had confiscated hers. “Well, they left because I told them I’d come home for a few days.” She took a sip before continuing. “There is a plane waiting for me at the airport.”
“What? You’re leaving?” I sounded like a whiny bitch.
“You two are making me sick.” And Bleu called me on it.
Evie wrapped her arms around my neck. “I was hoping you’d come with me.”
“I would love to, but I haven’t worked in days. I need to go through all these expenses and—”
“I can do it.” Bleu slurped more of the blended veggies, the straw clenched between his back teeth. “Don’t give me that face.” He shook his finger at me. “I’ve been working here with you since the day we opened. And I’ve been doing everything by myself since you’ve been home taking care of Valley of the Dolls over there.”
Evie gasped, her jaw dropping open dramatically.
He rolled his eyes. “Tell me I’m wrong, Anne Welles.”
“Words fail me.” She sent him a sassy smile. “I’m genuinely shocked that you’ve read a book.”
“Watched the movie.” He grinned. “I figured if there were gonna be actresses mixing booze and pills I was bound to see some boob action. Man was I disappointed.”
“Charming.” She turned to me, a hopeful smile on her face. “Well? What do you say? Ready to meet the rest of the family?”
I did want to meet Evie’s family. But more than that, the thought of being away from her for more than a few hours was almost too much to bear. I could have lost her. I wanted to handcuff her to my side so she was always safe.
Maybe I should talk to a therapist too?
“Okay, little bird, let’s go spend some time with all the Devil’s Spawn.”
***
When Evie said that there was a plane waiting for her, I figured something on the smaller side. I mean, we could have easily driven the three hours down to Austin. But when she instructed me to pull up inside a large hangar, I’d taken off my shades and dropped my jaw. It was a huge private jet.
“This is your family’s personal aircraft?” I climbed out of my Scout, grabbing both our bags from the back.
“It’s RiffRaff Records’. The plane belongs to the label.” Evie smiled politely at the older gentlemen standing by the steps. They tipped their hats to her. I assumed they were the pilots. “Hey guys, thanks for making a second run today.” When she got close enough, she hugged them both. “This is my boyfriend, Nick Barrens.”
I shook their hands, exchanging pleasantries, and then ascended the stairs behind Evie, checking out her ass the whole way. “You’re on a hugging basis with the pilots?”
Evie pointed to where I could drop the luggage. “We’ve had the same two pilots since I was born. My Aunt Lo hates to fly, so she said she wanted to be able to know and trust the people in control of her life while she was hovering in the sky in a metal coffin.”
“That’s a nice image.” I collapsed onto the long, light-tan leather sofa, stretching my feet out in front of me. “I’m not gonna lie to you, little bird, this seems opulent. I could have driven us to Austin.”
“Yes, but in the car, you would’ve had to keep at least one hand on the wheel.” She climbed in my lap, kissing me suggestively.
I took her ass in a tight grip, with both hands. “Hmm…I think I’m starting to see the appeal here.” I used my hold on her to make her grind against my quickly hardening cock. We’d had nothing but heated glances and stolen kisses while her parents were staying at my place. But here, we were all alone with an hour to do what we wanted.
/> “We’ll be taking off in less than five minutes, Miss James.”
Evie climbed off my lap, buckling herself in beside me with a sheepish look on her face. “Thank you, Albert.” The older of the two pilots winked and then stepped into the cockpit, closing the door behind him.
She helped me buckle in, the back of her hand brushing against my dick more times than necessary. “Are you trying to torture me, little bird?”
“Just trying to keep the mood until we get through takeoff.”
“The mood is fine. Keep your hands to yourself before I come in my pants like a teenager. It’s been like five days.” I wanted her body, no doubt. But it was more than that; I missed holding her. I missed kissing her and pressing my body against hers while we slept. “Tell me the order of the kids again, I don’t want to spend all weekend messing up names.” A distraction, until I could find a door and get her naked.
Evie reached over and pulled her cell from her purse, opening up her pictures app. “Landry is the oldest. She’s married to Brody and they have a son named Wyatt.” She was showing me a pic of a happy, gorgeous family, with a little boy who looked exactly like his dad. Blond hair, big smiles, and blue eyes. “Then there is Beau and Halen, in that order, and those are the two that are together. They built a house on the compound and Beau works in the art department at RiffRaff Records.” The photo was of a guy giving a girl a piggyback ride underneath a giant oak with a treehouse in it.
“And Beau is the one you’re closest to?”
“Yes.” She swiped the screen, bringing up the next picture. “The twins, Cash and Crue. This one, Crue, was dating our other cousin Avory, but they recently broke up. Cash is in Europe with his new girlfriend.” She swiped again. “That’s Avory and that’s her younger sister, Marley. Halen, Avory, and Marley are Dash Conner’s daughters. Crue, Cash, and Jett…” She swiped again, showing me a dark-haired kid wearing a ball cap. “That’s Jett. They are Luke Matthews’s sons.” She swiped a few times until stopping on an image of a young ballerina. “That’s Emmie, my little sister.”