"Close enough to protect her when Ethan decides she's become a problem.Which he will, sooner or later."
The idea of being near Evangeline every day, of watching her build a life with those kids while keeping this secret, is both everything I want and complete torture.I rub the heel of my palm against my sternum like I can dig the ache out.
"She just ended her engagement," I point out."She's vulnerable, grieving, trying to figure out how to take care of five kids.The last thing she needs is me complicating things."
"The last thing she needs is Ethan deciding she knows too much."
He's right, and I know it.The safest place for Evangeline right now is close to me, where I can watch for threats and respond accordingly.But if I lose her like I lost Calla…
It's going to destroy me.
"There's something else you need to consider," Tempest says as we walk toward the clubhouse."When this comes out, when she learns the truth about what Ethan was really doing, she's going to need someone to lean on."
"She barely knows me."
"She knows enough.I've seen the way she looks at you, brother.The way she responds when you're around.There's something there, and you know it."
"There's attraction, sure, but that doesn’t mean she’ll trust me enough to be someone to open her wounds to."
"Doesn't it?"Tempest stops walking and turns to face me."Look, I know you've been carrying a torch for this woman for years.I also know you were too honorable to make a move while she was with someone else, but things have changed."
"The timing is still shit."
"The timing is what it is.If you wait too long, if you let her convince herself she's better off handling this alone, you might lose your chance to protect her."
The possibility that I might fail to keep her safe makes something cold and desperate claw at my chest.Whatever happens between us personally, I won't let Morrison hurt her the way he hurt Calla.
"What do you think I should do?"
"Be there.Be present.Let her see who you really are underneath all the leather and attitude."Tempest's expression is serious."And when the time comes to tell her the truth, make sure she understands that you're not the enemy here."
"Even if it destroys any chance I might have had with her?"
"Even then.Because keeping her alive is more important than keeping her interested."
He's not wrong.Whatever my personal feelings, Evangeline's safety comes first.Those kids need her.I need her, even if she never knows it.
But the thought of watching her face when she learns that the man she almost married was using her to legitimize a criminal empire, that her brother died because he was getting too close to the truth...
It's going to break her.And I'm going to be the one who has to pick up the pieces.
We're almost to the clubhouse door when my phone buzzes with a text.Evangeline's name on the screen makes my pulse kick up like I'm a teenager with his first crush.
Evangeline:
Jake's having nightmares again.He keeps asking for his uncle Hades.Can you come back?
I stare at the message, my heart doing something complicated in my chest.She needs me.Not because there's a crisis or emergency, but because a scared little boy wants his uncle to chase away the monsters.
If only she knew about the real monsters circling her world.
"Problem?"Tempest asks, reading my expression.
"Jake's having nightmares.She wants me to come back."
"And you're going."
It's not a question.We both know I'd walk through fire if she asked me to.
