Swirl: The Complete Collection (BWWM Interracial Romance) (Books 1-3)

by Lexi Lewis

  Now he was vibrant and intelligent, and Eve wasn’t sure how much of that was her doing and how much of it was just Devin’s true nature shining through. The last thing she wanted was for their father to dim that light that her brother had, but at the same time, there were definitely things that he would need to know. Things Eve couldn’t teach him. And it killed her that he didn’t have a parent left that could give him the guidance she’d had from their mother when she was his age.

  That more than anything was the reason why there was a little voice in the back of her mind that made her feel like she was being unreasonable when it came to Jason. Devin had asked about him a few more times since the last time they’d really talked about it, and she knew that he probably compared himself to his friends who had fathers and found himself lacking.

  Do you really want to fail to give him something else?

  God, she was really starting to hate that voice in her head. It usually made her think more reasonably, but now… Now it was making her feel bad. Eve didn’t want to be the reason Devin didn’t have something else. She was only trying to protect him, and ten years old was still so young. Certainly he was too young to decide whether or not he wanted to meet his abusive father, wasn’t he? There was a niggling suspicion that Michelle didn’t think he was too young at all, and Eve wondered if the two of them had talked about it before. Or if they were going to talk about it while they were out together.

  “Eve?”

  She blinked and looked up, noting that her hands were still smoothing through Devin’s short curls and that she hadn’t heard a thing he’d said.

  “Sorry, kid,” she replied, making a face. “Off in my own little world.”

  He looked at her with concern. “You okay? You look all frowny.”

  “Yeah,” she replied, hugging him close to her for a minute. “I’m fine. Promise. Just… thinking about a lot of stuff. Stupid grown up stuff, you know.”

  “Blech. Grown up stuff is boring. It’s all about kissing and holding hands and stuff.”

  That startled a laugh out of Eve and she let him go, arching an eyebrow. “And what do you know about kissing and holding hands, young man?” she asked, voice mock stern. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  “Ewwww, no! Gross.”

  There was a knock at the door then, and Devin glanced at Eve, waiting for her nod before he raced over and opened it, throwing himself at Michelle with the same enthusiasm he did every time he saw her.”

  She laughed and let him hug her before stepping back. “Don’t you look very nice? Did you dress yourself?”

  “Of course I did,” Devin replied. “I’m not a baby.”

  Eve smiled and got up, going to the door. “Hey, Aunt Michelle.”

  Michelle smiled at her. “Eve. Good morning. I’m sorry you had to get up so early on one of your days off.”

  She shrugged. “No biggie. He’s excited, so. I was…” Eve sighed. “Devin, go get your shoes and coat on, okay?” She waited until the little boy had raced off before she looked back at her aunt. “Do you think it would be safe? For him to know his father?”

  The older woman looked surprised at the question, but she nodded. “I think that Jason’s remorse for his actions is real. I think he knows that there’s nothing he can do to undo what he did, but he isn’t going to repeat it. I think… I think he just needs a chance.”

  Somehow Eve had already known that Michelle was going to say that, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear. Every bit of her was rebelling against the thought of Devin coming within five feet of Jason, but she was aware that she had a bias that was making her so adamant that he shouldn’t meet him.

  “Eve, no one’s suggesting that you turn the two of them loose together. You can supervise the visits. You more than anyone know what he’s capable of, and you’ll know what to look for,” Michelle said.

  Yeah, that was true.

  “I’ll have to think about it. I mean, it’s definitely not ideal, and I’d rather just say that he can’t come anywhere near my brother, but… Devin wants to meet him. I keep telling him that our father was terrible, but he’s at that age where he wants to find things out for himself, and I don’t want to be the one who stands in the way all the time. I don’t want him to wonder what he’s missing. Especially not when he’s already missing so much because of me.”

  Michelle made a soft noise and then stepped forward to hug her. “You’re doing an amazing job, Evelyn. Never doubt that. Even when Devin lived with me, he wanted you. When we’re out together now, he talks about you all the time. You’ve made his life so much better, and he rarely seems to be conscious of not having the things other kids have. Because he has you.”

  Eve felt a little bit like crying, but instead she just hugged Michelle back, feeling lighter than she had in days.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, stepping back when she heard Devin clattering out of his room.

  “Don’t mess with my toys,” he warned his sister, narrowing his eyes.

  Eve laughed and shook her head. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Have fun, squirt.”

  She watched her brother and aunt head off down the hall to the elevator and then sighed, shutting the door and leaning against it. It wasn’t going to be easy to watch her brother get close to a man that she just didn’t trust yet, but maybe it was time for them all to grow up a little.

  For a moment, she was struck with a profound longing to talk to her mother, and there was a wave of grief as it hit her all over again that she couldn’t ever talk to her again.

  With a sigh, she pushed off from the door and headed back to her room, throwing herself on the bed. The prospect of having the place to herself had been nice at first, but now it was too quiet, and she couldn’t stop thinking.

  The idea of having Reese over was seeming better and better the longer she laid there staring at the ceiling, and she finally sighed and pulled out her phone, giving him a call.

  When there was no answer, she frowned. When she’d talked to him the night before, he’d said he’d be in all day and that she should call if she wanted. Maybe he was just in the shower or something, so she waited another ten minutes and then called again.

  Nothing.

  Eve had always liked to think that she had pretty good intuition. Maybe it came from basically being a parent now, or maybe it was a result of always having to know when to hide when her dad was going to be on a rampage. Either way, there was a hum of anxiety in her stomach, and she didn’t like it.

  Sitting up, she tried one more time and sighed heavily when the call went to voicemail.

  What was she supposed to do about this? She supposed she could go to his house and try to make sure he was alright, although she was going to feel silly if he was just sleeping or something and hadn’t been near his phone. But her instincts about this kinda thing were rarely wrong.

  Her phone buzzed, and she looked down, expecting to see a text from Reese. Eve frowned when she didn’t recognize the number.

  This is Paul. Is Reese with you?

  Paul was messaging her? How did he even have her number?

  With fingers that shook a little she typed back: No. I don’t know where he is.

  The single expletive she got in reply put her stomach in knots.

  CHAPTER 11: THE FACE OF FEAR

  Reese had done a lot of stupid things in his life, and he’d had a lot of experiences that were questionable and made people wonder about his sanity. He’d jumped off of various things on boards and bikes, and even one memorable time he’d leapt off a building with nothing but a massive inflatable cushion thing on the ground below him.

  He liked adrenaline and pushing himself to the limit between excited and scared out of his mind.

  But this? This was definitely on the wrong end of that scale, and Reese wanted to go back in time and slap himself for even thinking that coming to talk to a madman bent of hurting him was a good idea.

  Because really. What had he been thinking? He’d gotten
caught up in his love of the sport and had assumed that Chris Hamilton probably felt the same, and now he was standing in the middle of Chris’ apartment with a gun aimed at his face, and he didn’t know what to do. Was this something people got trained how to handle?

  If he’d stayed in school like his mother had wanted would he have learned basic ways to disarm someone who looked like he had every intention of blowing his head off?

  God, it was kind of amazing the things that went through someone’s mind when they were actively trying not to wet themselves. But maybe that was just him. Reese wasn’t sure how much time had passed since that gun had been swung up into his face, but it was still there, and Chris’ arm wasn’t even shaking yet.

  Reese opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

  Chris laughed at that, apparently amused. “What? Run out of cheesy lines to say? Are you only charming when a bunch of people are fawning over you? How can that be? You’re Reese Abbot. You’ve got a silver tongue and have been blessed by the gods of extreme sports. You never have nothing to say. You’re always prepared. You always. Come out. On top. Don’t you? But maybe not today. Maybe today is the day that Reese Abbot takes a little fall.” He chuckled and looked down at the cast on Reese’s leg. “Another fall, I guess.”

  He was aware that he should be doing something to try and diffuse the situation. To get Chris to calm down and realize what he was doing, but for the first time that he could remember, Reese was actually paralyzed with fear.

  Think, you idiot, he scolded himself mentally. He had to do something. Part of him wanted to believe that if Chris wanted him dead, he would have shot him by now, but he couldn’t bank on that. Maybe he was one of those kind of villains who liked to monologue first and shoot later. That always worked out poorly for the people on TV, but Reese had never been more aware in his life that this wasn’t television.

  Or that he wasn’t invincible.

  He’d survived the fall and the injuries that resulted from it, but he wasn’t so arrogant as to think that he’d survive a bullet between the eyes or something.

  “Chris,” he said finally, voice coming out raspy. “Think about what you’re doing. This isn’t gonna get you back in the games. It’s gonna get you a one way ticket to prison if anything. Just…think about it.”

  “Oh, I’ve done nothing but think about it. I want to get back into it, Reese, I really, really do. Do you know how much I wanted to be like the greats when I was a kid? I practiced every day. I saved my lunch money and allowance for two years so I could buy my first BMX bike. I asked for a skateboard every year for Christmas, and I finally got one when I was fifteen. It was the best feeling I’ve ever had. All I wanted was to compete and be able to stand up there on the blocks and wave to the people who supported me. That’s all I wanted. Don’t tell me you don’t know how that feels.”

  Honestly, Reese’s reason for wanting to compete was different. He had never cared overly much about the accolades or having adoring fans. It was about the thrill and the speed for him. It was about knowing that he was going faster and higher than he’d ever gone before.

  “No,” he said softly. “I never did it for those reasons.”

  “Oh, please,” Chris scoffed. “I saw you. I saw how good you were how you schmoozed with all the pretty ESPN reporters and batted your eyes at the crowd. Don’t act like you didn’t like the fawning because I know you did!”

  “It wasn’t about that! It’s never been about that for me. I love the sport, Chris. I love being able to move my bike or my board like an extension of myself. It’s about the skill and the action for me, and it’s never been about the trophies or the fans.”

  Chris shook his head and lowered the gun, hand starting to tremble. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  If he weren’t weighed down by his cast, he would have made a run for it, but as it was, he was probably just going to end up being a very slow moving target and he’d get shot in the back or something.

  God, what was he supposed to do? No one knew he was here, or even where here was. His phone was in his pocket, but he was pretty sure that if he pulled his phone out and started texting someone for help, he really would get shot.

  The thing to do would be to try and incapacitate Chris somehow, but that was going to take some thought, so he would need to keep him talking.

  Luckily (and how messed up was this situation that this was lucky?) there was a crazed gleam in Chris’ eyes, and it didn’t seem like it was going to be hard at all to keep him ranting long enough to come up with some kind of plan.

  “Sit over there,” Chris said all of a sudden, jerking the gun in the direction of the rather worn looking couch against the wall.

  Reese hesitated, and the gun came back up.

  “You heard me. I said sit.”

  “Okay, okay.” Reese raised his hands in surrender and then made his way over to the couch, keeping his head down but letting his eyes sweep over the room to see if there was anything close by he could use to defend himself with.

  Shabby as the apartment was, it was clean for the most part, though there was a glass bowl sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch that had promise. If he could swing that around or aim it at Chris’ head hard enough to knock him out, then he’d probably have a chance.

  He sat down on the couch gingerly and stuck his leg out in front of him, raising his eyes to Chris once more.

  “No one even knows you’re here, do they?” he asked. “I’m sure you didn’t tell Paul anything. Man, I wish I coulda been there to see that. When Paul told you he wasn’t who you thought he was. At first, I was pissed off that he’d gone and opened his big mouth, but then I realized that it was perfect. You thought he was your friend the whole time, and really, he was just going where the money was. ‘Course, once I get big, I plan to make him my agent, but it’s fine if he wants to go work for someone else first. He really is the best in the business. He wanted to find a way to get around working for you, and I needed someone close.”

  “Why me? Why didn’t you try to get someone else out?”

  “Partly because I just don’t like you. We’re from the same place, you shouldn’t be so ahead of me. Partly because Paul was easy to sway once I knew he wanted away from you.”

  Reese clenched his jaw against the angry retort that wanted to spill out. He was still so mad about Paul betraying him, but somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered the text from earlier that morning.

  Was Paul still worrying about him?

  It didn’t make sense, considering Paul was the one who’d got him in this mess in the first place. Or so he assumed anyway. At some point he was really going to have to give Paul a piece of his mind about this whole thing, but for that to happen, he had to get out of this alive.

  Determination filled him in a rush. He’d always been dead set on living, and this wasn’t going to change that. Not just because some madman with an entitlement problem was suddenly sure he could knock Reese out.

  There were too many things he still wanted to do. Too many people who wanted him around. His parents, Eve. God, Eve. She would never forgive him for coming here and getting himself killed, so he wasn’t going to do that. Not if he could help it, and he’d always been very good at getting himself out of trouble. He just needed to prove that now.

  “This is a mistake,” he said. “This isn’t going to get you want you want, okay? Just…think this through. No one’s going to believe that you didn’t have anything to do with it if I suddenly go missing or whatever when you come back to the games. Enough people know who you are and what’s been going on that you’ll be questioned. Do you think you can hold it together through that? Do you think you can really convince people that you had nothing to do with this?”

  Chris glared at him, but Reese could see the cracks in his façade. His words were having the desired effect.

  “I can shut anyone up the same way I shut you up,” Chris said, waving the gun around, and it was an effort
for Reese not to flinch.

  “So you’re going to go on a murdering spree? That’ll be subtle for sure. No one’s gonna notice that at all. Think, Chris. How did you get into the games in the first place? With skill and hard work. Not by trying to knock off anyone who offered a challenge.”

  Again, probably not the best thing to say because Chris snarled at him. “And look where that got me!” he burst out, taking a menacing step closer. “I played by the rules, and I got dropped. I tried. I tried to do it right, and no one cared. What’s the point of doing that again?”

  This would have been the part where he brought up integrity and the right thing to do, but something told him that Chris wasn’t really going to be responding to that.

  Taking a gamble, he started to ease himself to his feet.

  “Sit back down!” Chris snapped. “I mean it!”

  “Chris,” Reese said, keeping his voice calm and placating. “Just calm down, okay? Put the gun down.”

  “No! I’ll shoot you right in the other leg, Abbot, I swear to god.”

  Better than in the face, but Reese kept that to himself. He opened his mouth to say something else when the door was practically kicked open.

  They both turned and seemed equally as shocked to see Paul standing there, breathing hard. “Hamilton,” Paul said. “Put the gun down.”

  “You don’t get to tell me what to do!”

  From there, things were sort of a blur. Reese tried to move closer to the door, to get out of the range of the gun, but Chris was aiming for Paul now, it seemed. It was hard to know how Paul had gotten from the door way to between Chris and Reese, but when the explosive sound of the gun being fired went off, that’s where he was, and Reese watched as Paul jerked and then fell.