Eve suppressed an eye roll.
Mainly because there had been a specific reason why she was there now. It wasn’t just concern.
It was necessity.
And she cut right to the chase.
“We need to get our stories on the same page right now,” she said.
Darius’s dark brow rose.
“About the real reason you’re with Mitchell Keys,” he guessed.
She nodded.
“And why I think it’s time I officially ask for your help.”
Chapter Twelve
“I kind of lied about why we left Seven Roads when we were kids.”
Eve was staring at the wall across from them. The hospital room’s TV had been off since Darius had been wheeled in after his surgery. No one had thought to turn it on after, even on low. Darius had never been someone who could sit in front of a TV with any real enthusiasm. He was more of a book or hands-on-project kind of guy. He had never been much of a fan of noise.
If Eve had to guess, she thought those ways of his hadn’t exactly changed over the years. He was single, living in his childhood home, working a job that forced him to ask more questions than answer. The only surprise was that he had taken on a roommate. Though, the younger man also seemed prone to talking less than more. At least until the young woman, Winnie, was in the room.
The three of them had spoken quietly earlier beneath the TV no one had even thought to turn on.
Then again, who was Eve to say if Darius had or hadn’t changed since they were kids? She had been gone.
Did people really change all that much from when they were kids?
Circumstances forced action—but change? Real change?
It was a question Eve had wondered throughout the years, usually in the quiet of the night, staring at the bedroom ceiling and trying to remember the little girl who had once lived in Seven Roads.
Now Eve let out a breath. This was a story she needed to tell him—she knew that—but that didn’t mean she was eager to do it.
Regardless of her feelings, Darius gave her the space to work through them. He was quiet as she tried to figure out the best entry point to the origin of her lie.
He didn’t even question why she was sharing his hospital bed.
He didn’t say anything at all.
Eve had already heard a bit of gossip in town about people often calling him cold.
That she didn’t understand.
Darius Williams had always been warm to her.
It was one of the reasons she hadn’t wanted to leave Seven Roads as a kid.
It was one of the reasons a part of her was glad to finally be able to explain why she had.
Eve adjusted her gaze to the spot across the room where the wall met the ceiling. Her memory yanked her back into the past.
“I didn’t know Dad was sick until we were in Texas,” she started, eyes straight ahead. “Maybe because he was never really at the house because of work when we were here, or maybe because, by the time he did start to hang around after Mom left, I was so used to being by myself I just didn’t see the signs. So when we got to Houston and he told me he’d been accepted into a drug study—his last chance at surviving—our life here in Seven Roads just kind of disappeared.”
Eve picked at the fabric of her hospital gown.
