Unbroken: The Loss Mission: Book 3 (Soulmates)

by Jay T

  “Whose is this?”

  He smiles proudly. “Mine. I picked it up this afternoon.”

  He’s been truck shopping already huh? “Nice ride.”

  “I didn’t think the beater with the heater was nice enough for you. I had to upgrade.”

  Huh.

  I sit in the passenger seat but decide I’m sick and tired of not knowing where I stand with him. I scoot closer as he pulls out of the parking lot. He reaches over and puts his arm around me. I place my hand on his thigh, but I start to move it slowly inward and upward then back down again.

  Evan clears his throat. So, I do it again. He takes a deep breath through his nose. The heat from the truck is warm, warm enough for me to turn it down. Evan glances down at my free hand and back at the road but I move my hand again. He shifts in his seat and takes a breath through his mouth. I’m toying with him and I know it. I love that I can make him respond to me like this but he’s fighting me and I want to know why. My right hand reaches across and touches his waist as I push past his suit, shirt, and undershirt. I gently brush the skin across his hip bone toward his abs and he finally looks away from the road ahead of us and down at me. There’s a deep burning fire there and it takes my breath away.

  Evan suddenly taps on the brakes. There’s a road ahead and he turns on the blinker. Dead End Road. There are hardly any houses here. He drives fast down the empty road to the end where there are only vacant lots around. My fingers play at his side the whole time. “Eva,” he says breathless. “You have to stop.”

  As if a bucket of ice water has been dumped onto my head, I pull my hands back and move away to the passenger seat. Evan gets out of the truck and slams the door behind him as he begins to pace. I cross my arms and wait for him in the truck.

  Minutes later, Evan gets back in the truck. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I’m just trying to protect you.”

  “Whatever,” I mutter. “Let’s just go. I need a drink.”

  He puts the truck in gear and takes off but he’s not headed towards the beach.

  He drives us back to town and pulls up to a fast food restaurant. “What do you want?”

  “Nothing, I want a beer.”

  “If you’re drinking, you’re going to eat first. I’ll order for you if you don’t tell me what you want.”

  I glare at him. He knows what I want. “Chicken strips,” I finally mutter.

  Evan orders chicken strips for both of us and we eat them in silence.

  His phone beeps. He looks down at it, his face gets red, and he deletes something before turning it off and setting it back down.

  “Was that the girl from the other morning?”

  “What girl?”

  I look at him.

  “No, I have no idea who that was.”

  “Clearly it was inappropriate,” I say.

  “I deleted it.”

  I want to ask more, but I don’t want to know and I don’t want him to have to lie to me.

  “Ready?” he asks.

  “Yep,” I respond.

  53 evan

  “What made you want to leave the dance early?” I ask, trying to lighten the mood. Somehow this night has gotten far off track and I want nothing more than to set things straight. We’re headed back to the beach now that we have some food in our stomachs.

  Eva shrugs.

  “Was something wrong?” I don’t need her to answer the question; I know she didn’t feel right. But I don’t think Eva knows the extent of that connection yet.

  “It was fine,” she says.

  Oh, dear lord. There’s that word “fine” again. We sit in silence as we approach the beach.

  “Was it that guy?” I finally ask.

  “He grabbed me and it didn’t feel right,” she says.

  My hands tighten on the wheel. I figured that’s what it was. It doesn’t make hearing it any easier though.

  I can’t fix everything for her. She has to be able to do it on her own or this will all be for nothing.

  “There’s a bag of clothes under your seat,” I tell her. “It’s going to be cold out there tonight.”

  “It’s fine. I’m sure Andre will give me his jacket.”

  I bite my tongue. She’s going to test every shred of patience I have with her tonight, isn’t she? I grip the steering wheel harder.

  Between clenched teeth I say, “Amy got the clothes for you. I don’t think you’ll need to take anyone’s coat.”

  We make it to the beach. There are quite a few people here already. The bonfire is just getting underway halfway up the sand. I pull up and park next to the picnic area. It’s completely dark outside but there’s enough light from the full moon to see Eva clearly.

  “Fine,” she says smartly. She leans forward in her seat, reaches back, and pulls down her zipper and slowly starts undressing, right in front of me. My breath catches and I can’t look away. She works her dress off and I look around to see if anyone else has caught the show.

  Sit on your hands. Sit on your hands!

  I bite my lip as she drops her dress on my lap. She is perfect in every way. Her black bra and black lace panties are almost see-through. I can’t pull my eyes away. She pulls out the bag of clothes under the seat and puts them on. When I think I can breathe again, I hand her back her dress. She rips it from my hand, shoves it in her bag, opens the truck door, gets out, and slams it shut behind her as she stalks down to fire without waiting for me.

  I have to take many calming breaths before I can get out of the truck. I look around and when I see the coast is clear, I quickly change out of my tux and into jeans and a sweatshirt, and toss my suit into the truck before slamming the door.

  I slowly follow Eva to the fire. She’s upset I’m keeping her at arms’ length and she doesn’t understand why. I stand beside her around the fire and she turns so her back is to me. How am I going to fix this? I can’t leave for tour in two days with her still mad at me.

  Brent and Amy pull up in Brent’s truck and park next to mine. Amy hops out and Eva turns to go meet her. I toss a log on the fire as Brent makes his way to me. He hands me an unopened bottle of beer. I gladly take it, open it, and toss the bottlecap into the fire.

  “Trouble in paradise?” he finally asks looking over at the girls.

  “Yep.” I say and take a long drink.

  “I don’t understand what the problem is. You clearly really like each other. What are you doin’ man?” he asks.

  I ignore him and take another long drink.

  “She just needs a little lovin’ if you get my drift.”

  “Don’t make me punch you,” I growl.

  My beer is gone. “Where’s the cooler?” I ask.

  “Back of the truck. Help me bring it down?” Brent says.

  “Yeah,” I look up and see the girls sitting at the picnic table next to the truck.

  We walk up and I heft the cooler without Brent’s help. Instead, I ask him to bring down the chairs in the back on my truck.

  Eva already has a drink in her hand and she’s toasting over a Jell-O shot with Amy; it looks like a few other girls have joined them. There are more and more cars and trucks showing up every minute. Robert and Tristan said they weren’t going to come to a high school bonfire since they’ve already graduated so I don’t expect to see them tonight. But it was cool of them to come perform with us.

  I set the cooler down by the fire and take a chair from Brent. Brent sets his up and tosses the rest on the ground. More and more people start to gather around the fire. The wind is blowing and I fight the urge to shiver. I reach down and throw another log on the fire. I open another beer and spot a bottle of vodka in the cooler. I open it and take a large swig before offering it to Brent. He takes it and takes a long swig before handing it back to me. I stash it away in the cooler. I stare into the fire, drinking and fuming.

  54 eva

  Someone pulls up in the sand, opens all the doors of his truck, and turns on loud music. All around us people are laughing a
nd playing. The fire crackles and pops. I honestly never thought I’d be here, with my fellow high school classmates after a homecoming dance. What a change in just a few short months.

  “So, what’s going on with you and Evan?” Amy asks.

  I resist the urge to cry by taking a long drink of my beer.

  “Shit. That bad huh?” she says, concerned.

  I shake my head. “I think I’ve been pushed into the ‘friend zone’.”

  “What? That doesn’t make any sense? What’s his problem? Maybe he can’t, ya know, perform?” she says.

  “No, it’s there. It works. Just not around me,” I tell her.

  “How do you know that?” she asks.

  I think back to not too long ago in his truck before he pulled over and yelled at me. “I just know.”

  “Maybe he has his reasons.”

  “They better be freaking good,” I say bitterly.

  “He hasn’t said anything? No reason what-so-ever?”

  “The only thing he’s said is, ‘Eva, I’m trying to protect you,’” I say with as much annoyance as I can muster and roll my eyes.

  Amy sighs but doesn’t say anything else.

  I finish my drink and have another before I look over at Evan who’s deep in conversation with Brent, Liam, and Ryan. They’re laughing about something. Evan’s smile is beautiful and contagious. Everyone around him wants to be a part of his conversation; they want his attention. He and Brent are laughing and arguing over something.

  Why does this hurt so badly?

  A girl touches Evan’s shoulder. He turns, smiles up at her, makes some sort of joke, and leans forward so his elbows are on his thighs with his beer between his hands. He continues talking to Brent. He looks over at me and catches my eye and he smiles sadly.

  Amy brought her own cooler with Jell-O shots and we pull them out as the other girls from our team join us. I pass out the shots as well as we toast and drink them. Then we do another.

  Someone turns the music up louder and we decide to join the rest of the party. Amy grabs us more beers and I feel my troubles begin to slip away.

  “I need to use the bathroom,” Amy says.

  I nod. I grab hold of her hand and tell Charlene, “Bathroom break.” She nods and follows us down the beach and up the path where the road stops. There are Port-o-Pottys there. The wind is blowing hard and it’s downright freezing up here. My teeth are chattering as I wait my turn.

  There’s movement on the road ahead and some other guys I’ve never seen before come staggering down the road towards the beach.

  There’s two of them. One of them elbows the other and nods at us.

  They’re clearly drunk. I grab hold of Charlene’s hand as the guys circle closer to us and pull her close to me. I’m very uneasy, maybe because of my past, or maybe because of the recent events I’ve been through. I’m realizing I’m not very trusting of people right now, as though at any moment, one of these people is going to turn out to be a demon and attack us like the ones in my dreams.

  “Hey, ladies,” the tall one who is, clearly the leader says.

  My stomach turns.

  Amy emerges from the bathroom and the door slams shut behind her as she stands beside us.

  “What are you guys doing out here by your lonesome?” the guy asks. “We came down to see what all the activity was about.” He’s getting closer than I’m comfortable with. Amy, usually the fighter, is quiet.

  The other guy reaches out his hand to touch Charlene’s hair and pulls on one of her ringlets. “Such pretty hair.” It bounces when he releases it and he chuckles and pulls it again.

  “Hey!” Evan yells. He’s stomping up the walkway from the beach, Brent at his heels.

  The guys turn and hold their hands up.

  “We heard there was a party, man,” the tall guy says.

  “Where’s the booze?” his friend asks.

  The tall guy turns back to me and tries to touch my face but I back up bumping against the outside of the Port-o-Potty. “Such pretty ladies here,” he says.

  My heart is pounding. I’ve had enough. He turns his back to me as if I’m not a threat and takes a step towards Evan who has nearly reached us.

  I’m not a damsel in distress and I’ll be damned if this guy is going to get away with this.

  I kick the back of his knees with my tennis shoes and he stumbles to the ground. I take the glass bottle of beer in my hands and break it over his head; he goes down like a sack of potatoes. His friend, in shock, looks at him as I yank Charlene’s beer from her hand and raise it, threatening him.

  He backs up, his palms held up, and bumps into Evan. “Woah there, you got yourself a feisty one don’tcha?” he says. Evan takes ahold of him around the middle, and turns him towards Brent who punches him in the jaw. The guy yelps and Evan tosses him to the ground beside his friend. Amy kicks him in the ribs for good measure.

  Evan holds his arm out for me and I slap at it as I storm away. I’m going for a walk up on the road or maybe for a run. I get up to the top of the road and the line of cars and trucks starts to thin out.

  He acts like he wants me, and then he pushes me away. The back and forth with my emotions makes me want to scream. He came all the way home to go to homecoming with me but he refuses to show me any affection; but he gets jealous when someone else does. I’m absolutely humiliated at his response in the truck earlier tonight.

  “Eva, hang on.” He jogs after me.

  I’m done! I turn on my heel and full on yell at him, “What do you want Evan?”

  He catches up to me. “I just want to know you’re alright,” he says.

  “No, I’m not alright!” I yell. “I don’t need you! I don’t need anything from you!”

  Evan is very still. There’s a quiet that passes between us like a heavy blanket. He takes a step closer to me.

  “Say that again,” he whispers.

  I want to spit it at him. But something between us has shifted. “I. Don’t. Need. You,” I say, emphasizing every word.

  A look I’ve never seen before crosses his face.

  55 evan

  I was talking about the show with Brent. He has a much different view than I do since he’s watching instead of performing. The girls left the fire and headed up to the bathrooms.

  “No, you guys totally have to do the balls song one of these times. It’s a Ryan and Liam staple,” he says.

  Eva. “Brent,” I say, “we gotta go.” I drop my beer and race towards the girls. I know I don’t have to tell him them twice; he’s on my heels.

  “Hey!” I yell. When they turn to look at me, Eva kicks the guy in the back of his legs and smashes a bottle over his head. It reminds me of her coming out of Hell, bloodied and bruised, ready to take on the darkness. She isn’t weak, she’s a fighter, she’s had to become one.

  The second guy backs into me. “Woah there, you got yourself a feisty one don’tcha.”

  Oh, you have no idea.

  I feel like Brent would want a chance to show off for his woman since she looks terrified. So, I pull the guys’ arms behind him and turn him to Brent who give punches him in the jaw. The guy’s knees give out and I let him fall to the ground, giving him a shove for good measure.

  I want to pull Eva close and make sure she’s alright. I hold my arm, but she slaps it away and storms up to the road.

  Well, she’s still mad.

  “Eva, hang on.” I jog to catch up to her.

  She spins on her heel and screams at me, “What do you want Evan?”

  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her yell at anyone besides her brother, Bryant.

  Quietly I say, “I just want to know you’re alright.” I’ve caught up to her.

  She screams again, “No, I’m not alright! I don’t need you! I don’t need anything from you!”

  What did she just say?

  My heart rate picks up and my breath catches. “Say that again,” I whisper.

  She doesn’t scream at me this time. Instead
she softens. “I. Don’t. Need. You.” she says, quieter.

  I feel as if all the pieces finally fit together. She’s no longer broken. She’s strong. She can stand on her own. If they take me right now, she would be alright. She would survive. She’s finally strong enough on her own. But now I need to know if she wants me.

  “Say the rest,” I beg her.

  She softens a bit more. Please say the rest. This is it. She will either let me in or push me out forever, right now.

  “Say it, Eva.”

  “I don’t need you.” She takes a deep breath and says quietly, “But I want you.”

  That’s the only thing I’ve ever needed from her. I close the distance between us as I wrap her in my arms. My right hand goes to the back of her head and my left to the small of her back. She looks up at me and I look down at her. Slowly, our lips meet for the first time. It doesn’t take long for me to deepen the kiss and pull her closer, as close as I can. My hands explore her body and she’s breathless under me. My hands move down to her hamstrings. I stop kissing her and pull. She jumps up and her legs wrap around me. I carry her to the closest truck and set her on the hood and her lips come crashing back into mine. I press myself into her and she responds. Her hands are in my hair, on my face, and down my back. I pull back just enough to press my lips to her jaw, up to her ear, and down her neck as her back arches and she presses further into me.

  “Eva,” I whisper.

  She isn’t letting up; she doesn’t want to stop and neither do I, but I need to.

  “Evan, no,” she says, out of breath.

  “I just need a minute,” I say. “I’m not going anywhere.” I kiss her neck again and she suppresses a moan.

  She releases her grip on my hair and I slowly pull back but not far enough to break contact.

  “I need to get us home.” I look at her.

  She smiles and pulls me to her again. I kiss her, so there is no doubt left, that I want her.

  “Wait right here,” I finally say. “Don’t move.”

  I run down to my truck, yell goodbye to Brent as I hop in and pull off the beach, careful not to hit anyone. I make it up to the road and the guys that had been harassing her earlier are walking towards her. I honk my horn at them and they flip me off. I drive past and open the door for Eva to hop in. She does.