“What?” Still lost in her thoughts, confusion clouds her gaze, and I want to fucking shake her.
“You saidhe. Who are you talking about?”
She swallows and presses her lips together. “Okay. There’s a man. He’s been trying to reach her.”
My chest pounds as Eva’s words slip into my head.
A man. He wants me back.
“What man?” I push the question through my locked jaw.
“I met him at the anniversary party. Older guy, but nice-looking. Clean, handsome. Even if his suit was beyond pretentious.” She stares at me seriously. “Easton, he’s friends with her father. Like, her actualdad. By birth.”
My eyes narrow, and I wrack my brain. It doesn’t take long to recall the weird dude in a floral brocade suit. The sweat on his forehead and icy grip when we shook.Paul.
“How do you know he’s who he says? You just took his word for it?”
“Of course not. He had pictures in his wallet.Somany pictures—of Eva, of her dad, even her mom. The resemblance was so obvious; she looks just like her mom.”
Mom.
Dad.
My fingers rap on my jeans, as quick and erratic as my pulse. Eva doesn’t have family. She didn’t even have a birth certificate. It’s how my mom was able to adopt her so easily when no one came forward. So how would that man havepictures?
“What did he want?” I ask, knee starting to bounce.
“This is the good part. He wants to reunite her with her dad. See? Maybe it’s a tad self-serving of me to want to get her out of my sight once and for all, but can you blame me when the end result is for a good cause? I filled him in on her life now, but he already seemed to know most of it.” She shrugs.
I shake my head, slide my teeth across my lower lip. “Why would he say all this to you? Why didn’t he go straight to Eva himself?”
“Oh, but he tried. He said she won’t give him a chance to explain. She won’t even answer his calls or texts. He said he needed a little help so he could get her back home where she belongs. Which”—she swallows—“I guess brings us to yesterday.”
I wait not so patiently for her to explain. Something about this whole thing doesn’t add up.
“So, you know how I participate in SAT prep classes sometimes before school starts? Well, he was waiting in his car here again yesterday morning.”
“Again?”
She smooths her dress, looking down at the movement. “Yes. He came once before to try and talk some sense into her. I thought it was very smart of him. Anyway, he said he needed help to get a letter to her and showed me an envelope. He said the letter would explain everything and finally convince her to come back home. I figured,easy, right? I’ll hand it to her in class or, better yet, slip it into her locker so I don’t risk the chance of catching anything from direct contact.”
Gritting my teeth at that jab, I ask, “How do you know her locker combination?”
“Um, hello? ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ ring a bell? Anyway, for whatever reason, he wasn’t comfortable with that. He said this letter was his last chance to bring her home, and he didn’t want to risk it not getting to her, so he asked if he could put it in her locker himself just to ensure she would get it.” She rolls her eyes. “Whatever. That was fine and all, but the SAT prep class was starting, and there was no way I was risking losing my spot for Eva, no matter how noble the cause.” She lifts a shoulder. “So I gave him her combo.”
Pressing my fingers to the bridge of my nose, I squeeze and shut my eyes. “Of course, you did.”
She shifts in her seat, chewing the inside of her cheek. “The thing is ... once I got to the class, I realized I left my stupid book in my locker, so I had to go back anyway.”
I open my eyes to look at her, but she’s more hesitant than ever. “Get to the point, Whit,” I growl, struggling not to lose my shit.
“Okay. It’s just—when I walked up, I thought I saw him putting her water bottle back into her locker.”
“You,what?”
“Don’t look at me like that! He wasn’t holding the envelope anymore, so I figured he must have slipped it under the water bottle or something? So he was just putting it back?” She shuts her eyes briefly and exhales. “But then, at the end of the day, when Eva was at her locker, I looked inside and didn’t see an envelope, Easton. There were books, a hundred of those cheap hair ties she wears, and her water bottle.”
My throat burns with acid.
