He chuckles, lets out a sigh, and stands. “I have to go.”
“I know.” I scoot off the bed. “Jesus, you’ve gotten huge. Tallandjacked.”
He smirks, but his expression turns serious again just as quickly. “Don’t forget my offer, Evangeline. I mean it. If you change your mind, you know I got you, right?”
I look away to hide the fresh tears threatening to escape. “And you know I’d never be okay with you doing that for me.”
He nods, wraps his arms around me, and pulls me in for another one of his deadly hugs, which is something that’s never changed about my cousin. Ever since I was little, I remember him hugging like it could be the last time. Like he might never see me again. And I guess, with lives like ours, he might not.
My voice is thick when I say, “It’s Eva now, by the way.”
He pulls back to look at me, brows furrowing. “Eva?”
I nod, and he gives me a crooked smile.
“I like it.”
The floor creaks, and a sliver of light pours into the bedroom.
My head whips toward the sound. My heart catches in my throat.
Easton stands in the open doorway, eyes darkening as they flit between me and Alejandro. Horror floods me when I realize I’m still wrapped tightly in his arms.
Click-clack, click-clack.“I suppose I’ll need to wake Eva for school at this point.” Bridget’s voice travels up the stairs, growing closer, closer. “Surely, she’s in a coma by now if she’s still sleeping.”
My cousin drops his arms.
I open my mouth. “Easton ...” His name is barely a whisper.
Easton’s jaw ticks, but he gives nothing else away as he slowly replies, still staring right at me, “She’s up.”
“Are you certain?”
“Pretty damn sure.”
My heart thumps in my ears at how near her voice is now. She’s almost reached the top of the stairs. I look at my cousin, who’s standing as solid as the walls encasing us, attention fixed on the hallway. Prepared for anything.
“Go,” I rush to say, nudging him. My words are shaky, breathing rough. It’s bad enough Easton’s seen him, but Bridget? It would be prison or death, for one of them. “Alejandro, go.Please.”
Easton touches the doorknob, and the searing heat of his gaze cuts straight through me. Then, he pulls the door shut and disappears.
I hear voices on the other side of the closed door at the same time my cousin yanks the window open. Whatever Easton says is enough to convince his mom to walk away. I want to be relieved at the sound of her heels fading, but agony spills into my lungs in tidal waves, preventing oxygen from coming through.
All I see is the look on Easton’s face.
Betrayal.
The crack tearing my heart in half is a kind of pain I’ve never felt.
Eva
Rain slaps the windowpane as I pull on a worn pair of black boots. Eyeing the clock on the wall, I slip the shard of opal under the waistband of my jeans and untuck my hair from beneath my leather jacket. If I hurry, I might be able to catch Easton before he leaves for school. I almost forget to snatch my backpack off the floor before I exit my room and take the stairs two at a time.
Nerves swirl inside when I see him sitting at the kitchen island, his back to me. He’s knee-deep in college courses, fingers hammering away on his laptop. I inhale slowly as I walk, and the second I realize I’m fidgeting with my belt loop, I force my hands to drop to my sides. I’ve neverfidgetedin my life.
Once I reach the empty barstool beside his, I pause.
His typing halts, head comes up slightly, but he doesn’t look away from his computer screen. The heat of his body pours off him in waves, making my skin hot and cold all at once.
