“I’m sorry, baby,” I said, hoping I hadn’t lost her.
Only the movement seemed to snap her from the depth of her thoughts, her head tilting as she came towards me slowly. The tears still streamed down her face as a sob, which shook her entire body, broke the silence and then, without warning, she launched herself at me, arms around my neck, lips crashing into mine. All of the air left my lungs as I caught her, arms wrapping tight to hold her to me, grounding her - and maybe myself too. Her mouth was soft and desperate, her grip firm as if I might escape. The irony was almost laughable. Everything around us fell away until it was only Evy -myEvy - and her lemon scented curls, the smell of all she was - whispers of rain and early morning dew - consuming me.
“I’m sorry I left,” she said against my mouth. “I was coming back. I was coming back.” She repeated and it was all I could do not to fall to my knees right there and beg her to be mine forever.
“Can you have this discussion somewhere else?” Seb’s low rumble cut through the bubble Evangeline and I were in and her gaze swung to his.
“What areyoudoing here?” Her annoyance would have been funny if I didn’t realise exactly where we were and how much I wanted her out of this place.
“Evangeline!” Seb scolded. “What am I doing here - what the fuck areyoudoing here?” He looked at her and then to the floor behind me where Marcus was slowly standing. Reactinginstantly, I pushed Eva behind me, her hand in mine as I turned towards him. I still wasn’t clear on what the fuck was going on but I knew she wouldn’t be here without a solid reason. He was obviously a liar and now a threat to her.
“You better fucking hope I don’t come back here, Marcus.” I sneered, gesturing for Eva and Seb to walk ahead as I left The Cellar, hopefully for the last time.
CHAPTER 38
Eva
It was well after midnight before I could finally breathe. Well after midnight when I’d relayed everything I knew, everything I thought, everything I still wasn’t entirely sure about but didn’t want to hide anything else. My dress was long discarded, replaced with a pair of sweatpants and a jumper, my hair thrown on top of my head.
Andy and Arna dropped us home, leaving soon after but Seb and Marls stayed. And I was glad for that. Cooper deserved to see there were so many people who genuinely loved him. People who were on his side and I wasn’t sure how he was going to react when I told him the terrible things I suspected his father had been involved with.
I explained how the numbers never added up. The missing barrels. That one specific label. And then I explained how it was always Grant logging those items. The ones which I could never quite get to add up. I explained how he'd been dismissive when I tried speaking to him. How he’d tried to confuse me with distillery terminology because he couldn’t convince me of his garbage, and it was then I started to put things together.
When Sebastian asked what that had to do with Marcus, I explained how Xavier had to come help me at Golden Spades.And once we had our suspicions, he followed Grant. Turns out Grant uses Marcus’ gym to store stolen product. I showed them his message confirming he’d seen Grant at the distillery again tonight loading barrels into a truck. An order that hadn’t been in any sales reports I’d checked over the past four months.
I went on to detail the last few weeks of vigilante detective work, culminating with the moment I overheard Preston on the phone tonight. The moment when everything unexpectedly came together.
Sebastian cut in with a dry smile. “Damn. It seems like her eavesdropping skills have saved us more than once.”
“They haven’t always been great,” I sighed, remembering conversations I’d heard which possibly weren’t for me. Conversations which I may have blown out of proportion or misinterpreted. But tonight, that wasn’t what had happened. Tonight, it was as my brother boldly claimed, a saviour. Although it wasn’t without casualty.
“Guess that explains that bottle of whiskey which tasted the same. I bet they’ve been undercutting you with your own product.” Seb said and Cooper watched him, his brain processing.
“And that was when I knew,” I said, needing to get it all out. “I was confident it had all been a ruse and Marcus and Grant were involved but it wasn’t until tonight that I realised Preston was too.” I stared at Seb to avoid looking directly at Cooper as I told him his father knew everything. I just didn’t have all the proof. Cooper watched me silently. He hadn’t asked any questions, nor had he interrupted, and I was desperate to hear his thoughts. Desperate to comfort him and talk through it all but more than anything, I really just wanted to know if he was okay.
I was tired of watching him fight so hard against people who didn’t warrant his loyalty. And even now, he sat still through all of it, face unreadable. Silent.
Sebastian and Marls exchanged a glance, then stood. “We’ll call first thing in the morning,” Seb said, pulling me into a quick,tight embrace. He then shook Coop’s hand, murmuring he was there for whatever he needed before they quietly left.
And then it was just us.
I turned to him, heart in my throat, and still, he didn’t move, didn’t speak.
“I’m sorry,” I said, stepping towards where he sat on the lounge. “I’m sorry you’ve had so many people in your life who didn’t fight for you. Who made you believe you didn’t deserve their honesty and their time. People who lied to you. Took from you.” He looked at me, still guarded, but I knew he was listening. Knew by the way his face softened, by the way he exhaled deep and long.
“But I’m not them,” I whispered. “Iwillfight for you. And I will always be honest with you. Which means... I have one more thing to tell you. Something I should have told you years ago.”
His eyes finally met mine, and in them was a glimmer of hope - fragile but real. The first spark of emotion I’d seen in him since we came inside, and I opened the floodgates.
“We were supposed to fool everyone, but I think I fooled myself most of all.” I said with a self-deprecating laugh. “Part of me has always loved you, Cooper. Since I was a little girl. You were always the one. Saving me from being alone, from being sad, from people who tried to hurt me. And for a long time, it made me feel helpless. Like a burden. I loathed that I was the younger sister who needed saving all the time. But then I realised… you didn’t do it just because you had to. You did it because you wanted to. It’s who you are. It’s in your blood to protect.”
I took a breath, forcing those tears to stay away.
“Maybe love isn’t something youfind. Maybe it’s something you realise. Something you had within your grasp only you were too scared to ask the right questions.”
A tear slipped down my cheek and I didn’t bother brushing it away.
“I know this will surprise you, but I’ve asked a lot of questions in this life, and the answers always come back to you. And it’sokay if you don’t feel the same. Really. But I need to get it out. To tell you that I’m in love with you.”
