“You knew that,” I argue, rubbing at the tightness in my chest.
This is bad. Really bad.
He clears his throat, looking over my shoulder. “Your mum is the one who leased my property, not you. Therefore, you are trespassing.”
“But you knew,” I yell, tears gathering in my eyes.
“You had three-months’ notice, Miss Wilson. I’m legally allowed to do this.”
“What is going on? Why are you doing this? You knew I was here. I told you when Mum got taken in sick and I transferred the direct debit to my account. And I’ve never received any eviction notice.”
“I have records you received them,” he replies sharply, and I feel Rebecca step closer to me, one hand at the bottom of my back.
“You mean you received a fat pay-cheque from a Mr Black to kick her out.”
I inhale sharply, taking a step back. It’s true. I can read it on his face. “How could you do this to me? Where am I meant to go? You’ve thrown everything out here,” I cry out, watching as a man drops a washing machine. I wince, closing my eyes as the metal clangs and rattles. I know it’s broken.
“That is not my concern. Please remove your belongings before I have to call the police to report you’ve been fly tipping.”
“You put it there,” I angrily snap out, clenching my fists.
I watch as he gives a chin lift to someone over my shoulder before stepping away. I turn, finding the bane of my existence watching on with a smug smirk, leaning against the tree.
“You!” I screech, tears pouring down my cheeks as I race over to him.
He steps away from the tree, bracing himself. And I see the flicker of surprise when I don’t stop and instead press both of my palms against his chest and shove. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“You arsehole,” Rebecca hisses, slapping him around the face.
“I advise you not touch me again,” he bites out, and two men in jeans and leather jackets step out, looking at us sharply. I take a step back, feeling cold all of a sudden.
Trying to ignore their presence, I turn to Andrew. “Why? This is because of you.” I force out a laugh. “Why else would you be here except to gloat?”
His jaw clenches, and his eyes narrow into slits as he bends a little, getting in my space. “I warned you not to fuck with me. Did you think I wouldn’t know you sent a fake copy?”
“Took you a few days,” Rebecca snarkly replies.
His lip curls in disgust as he twists his head, addressing her. “What this has to do with you, confuses me. But make no mistake, Miss James, I will take you down along with Evelyn.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Had any trouble with your phone and computer recently?”
Rebecca pales because she has. She called me the night I got back from the beach with Wyatt to say something was wrong with her electronics. Everything had been wiped. Luckily, all her work and important stuff was never saved to the hard drive.
“You bastard.”
“Don’t,” he warns, a threat lingering in the air.
“You’ll leave her alone,” I bite out.
His face doesn’t soften, but he does give me a twisted smile. “Of course. I’m not finished with my disgrace of an offspring.”
“I’m not your offspring,” I snap.
“Get me what I want, and I’ll stop.”
I shake my head, pitying him. “You don’t get it, do you?”
“And what’s that?”
“I have nothing left to lose,” I scream. “You’ve taken my mum, my home, my life. It’s gone. You even managed to turn Mum against me. Telling her I’m poisoning her. Really.”
His gaze turns to Rebecca briefly, a cruel smile twisting his lips. “Oh, I’m sure there is much more.”
I don’t need him to admit what he has done with words. I can read it perfectly from the satisfaction all over his face.
“And what happens when you take everything? Do you think it will break me?” I ask, not waiting for an answer before I continue, the lies pouring from me. “It won’t. It will only make me more determined to ruin you. To pay back everything you’ve done to me tenfold.”
He snorts, turning his nose up at me as usual. “You wouldn’t.”
“With nothing left to lose, yes, I fucking would,” I whisper, letting him see how truthful I’m being.
“We’ll see,” he says, before giving a chin lift to his men.
I watch as he gets into the car and pulls away, before leaning into Rebecca, crying into her shoulder.
Her arms go around me. “It’s okay, Evie. You can come stay with me.”
“I couldn’t do that to you.”
“It’s what friends are for. I told you to move in with me from the start. We can clear out one of the rooms.”
“What did I do to deserve this?” I sob, letting her lead me over to my belongings.
“Nothing. Nothing at all, love. We can fix this.”
It’s a mess outside. With my belongings and even with two cars, there is no way we will fit everything in.
“Let’s get as much as we can into my car before someone comes to loot it.”
“Why don’t you call Wyatt to come help?” she asks.
“No,” I rush out, sharper than intended. “He can’t know.”
“Bab, he’s going to find out eventually.”
“But not now,” I tell her, reaching for a case she had kindly filled with my clothes.
She lets out a sigh before grabbing stuff too. I try to keep the tears at bay, swallowing past the lump in my throat as I pick up my personal belongings from the pile they made.
It’s embarrassing. I’m being watched by everyone, all of them muttering amongst themselves, trying to guess what I have done. When I haven’t done anything.
I’m humiliated.
After another twenty minutes, my car is bursting. Even my passenger seat is rammed to the roof with stuff.
“We need to call someone. My car is full too,” Rebecca whispers, wiping sweat off her forehead.
I look at the pile still there, feeling utterly defeated. I didn’t even realise me and mum had this much stuff, so many personal items, but it’s all there for the entire street to see just how much we hoarded.
“I can’t call him,” I whisper, then tense when I hear tyres screech to a stop, thinking it’s Andrew again, coming for round two.
I step away from the car, my eyes going round when I see Wyatt in the passenger side of their work truck with Eli in the driver’s seat.
“What the hell is going on?” he asks, looking around at the mess, then the stuff piled into my car.
I give him a smile that probably looks more like a grimace. “I’ve been kicked out.”
His brows draw together. “What for?”
“Did you miss rent? You should have said. We could have helped,” Eli admonishes.
My cheeks heat as I duck my head. “No, I paid rent on time. He said because it was under my mum’s name and not mine, I was trespassing.”
Wyatt doesn’t look convinced, and he proves it when he steps forward, pulling me into his arms and saying, “But I thought you said he didn’t mind you were taking over the rent?”
I shrug, biting my lip. “It doesn’t matter. I’m out. They’ve finished bringing my stuff down and have changed the locks.”
His arms tighten around me. “Fucking pricks. Wait until I find the landlord.”
I turn in his arms, placing my palm over his chest. “Just leave it,” I plead, feeling utterly drained.
He searches my gaze, for what, I’m not sure, but after a second, he leans down to capture my lips in a kiss. When he pulls back, the creases between his eyes soften out. “Why don’t you stay at the bed and breakfast. I can load up the truck with the rest of the stuff and put it in Paisley’s container. She doesn’t use it since she opened the bed and breakfast up.”
“That’s a great idea,” Rebecca butts in, stepping in close. She avoids Eli’s gaze and
gives me a wide smile. “This gives us a chance to clear the spare room out at mine and make it yours.”
I burst out crying, dropping my head against Wyatt’s chest as I cling to him. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes,” he whispers, swaying me side to side.
“Everyone is being so kind to me, and I don’t deserve it,” I tell him, pulling away as more tears slip free. I take a step back, shaking my head when he goes to grab me. “No. No. This is too much. My mum… well, it’s my mum and she’s sick. I don’t know how long she has left and she’s the only family I have left. And now this.”
“Hey,” Rebecca whispers, taking a cautious step closer. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Will it?” I ask her, knowing she’ll get the deeper meaning. She heard him. He isn’t going to stop. Not until he’s got what he wants.
He just won’t get it from my hand or my doing. There is no way I’d betray Wyatt like that. I love him. And Andrew deserves everything he has coming.
“Yes. Now why don’t you go sit in the ca—”
“I’ll take her to the bed and breakfast if you’re okay to stay here with Eli until my brothers can come help.”
She bites her lip, unable to stop her gaze from wandering to Eli. A flash of hurt hits her gaze before she masks it with a shrug. “Sure. She needs rest.”
I sniffle, leaning into Wyatt when he gets close again. “I’ll take her in her car. Want to clear the passenger seat for me?” he asks Eli.
“Yeah.”
Feeling numb, I can only stand back and watch as they get to work clearing the passenger side. The cold seeps through to my skin, causing my entire body to shiver as I stare blankly at the car.
Where do I go from here?
What will Andrew do next?
And why do I have a sinking feeling this is going to get worse before it gets better?
CHAPTER TWENTY
WYATT
“You don’t need to be here,” Jaxon announces, dropping a box into the storage locker beside me.
I wipe the bead of sweat from my forehead, turning to face him. “I do.”
I don’t, but I want to do this for Evie.
She passed out in the car on the way here. She cried until she exhausted herself into a deep sleep and didn’t even stir when I carried her into the bed and breakfast and into the suite where she will be staying. Paisley had already made the bed by the time we got there and it was ready for me to lie her down.
I quickly filled Paisley and Mum in, leaving the two most trusted people I know to watch over her while she slept. I hope to be there before she wakes up, but in case I’m not, I want her to have someone she can trust.
She doesn’t need to wake up and worry about all of this. We have it handled. After Rebecca pointed out what items to keep at the bed and breakfast and what to put into storage, we began to unload the rest into the container.
“She’ll want you there,” Jaxon points out as we make our way through the hallways to the exit. The fresh air cools my skin when I step outside and take a minute for a breather, leaning against the wall.
“I’ve heard her on the phone a few times to her landlord and he never mentioned anything. Not once that I know of. And she didn’t give me any indication she was behind on rent or anything.”
“You think there’s another reason?”
“I don’t know, man,” I reply, letting out a sigh. “You didn’t see her. She was a fucking mess. I had to pull over to calm her down at one point because she wasn’t making any sense. She couldn’t even get her words out or catch her breath. No one breaks down after one hurdle, not someone like Evie who has clearly been through a lot.”
“Maybe this was the last straw,” he comments.
I twist my lips. “I dunno. It seemed like there was more.”
“Here’s Rebecca. Ask her.”
Rebecca looks our way when she feels our stares. “Is everything okay?”
“You tell me. What was that back there?” I ask her, stepping away from the wall.
My brothers stop what they’re doing, Eli sitting on the back of the van with Luke and Isaac. Reid kneels close by, his elbows resting on his knees with his back against the wall.
She bends at the knee, dropping the box at her feet. “Her landlord is a dickhead. I got there before her and was going to let myself in. The door was open, and when the guy filled me in on what was going on and that I couldn’t do anything about it, I rushed into her room and began to pack her clothes. You know everything else. You turned up not long after they finished.”
“Yeah, but why? Was she behind on rent? Did she do something? Because I could have helped.”
“She didn’t know until she got home and saw her stuff all over the front garden and path. She pays everything on time. If you haven’t noticed, she’s kind of OCD when it comes to organisation. It was nothing she did; it was her landlord.”
“So why do I feel like I’m missing something?”
“You aren’t,” she replies, but glances down at her feet, not meeting my eyes. “She’s had it a lot tougher than most and she gets through it. How? I’ve got no fucking clue. She’s strong, but even the strongest need to breakdown a little.”
“That was more than a little,” I argue.
“Look, just be there for her. It’s all you can do. She’s deserves someone to be on her side.”
“So there’s a side?” I ask, trepidation running up my spine.
Her gaze darts from me to Jaxon, then to Eli before turning back to me. “What? No! You’re twisting my words.”
“I just want to help her,” I grit out, feeling helpless.
“Then help her. She’s never had anyone help her but me. She’s never had a team of people at her back to help pick her up when things get bad. Never. And right now, her world is a mess. Her mum is sick. They have no idea how long she has left. And now she’s been kicked out of the flat she shared with her mum. I’m the only family she has left, and half the time she doesn’t let me help. She’s used to people giving up on her or using her. Don’t be that person.”
“I’ll never be that person,” I declare, clenching my fists.
A flash of pity or maybe sadness crosses her face. However, I don’t get a chance to dwell because she takes the opportunity to bend down to pick up the box. “Then you’ll be good. Because if you hurt her, I’ll hurt you.”
I keep my gaze on her as she heads inside the containers before addressing Jaxon, my jaw hard. “Do you think that was weird?”
“No. I think you’re worried about the girl you are falling in love with and you’re freaking out.”
“I’m not in—”
“Don’t,” he sharply calls out, holding his hand out. “You’ll regret lying to yourself.”
“Go check on her,” Eli orders. “We’re pretty much finished here.”
I absently give them a chin lift before heading over to Evie’s car, letting myself in. Am I in love with her? Maybe. No. Yes. I don’t know. But I don’t need anyone to tell me my feelings for her are different than what they were towards previous girlfriends. With them it was easy. There was no connection and nothing to tie me to them, not in the way I feel tied to Evie. It’s a tie that would be hard to break or walk away from. The others, I didn’t blink before moving on. Some called me a prick, a wanker, but the fuck of it was, I didn’t care for them enough to be bothered. I didn’t lose sleep over them and I certainly never anticipated my time with them. It was always just great sex. With Evie, the sex is phenomenal, but it’s more. We have a friendship, an invisible bond that pulls us together, and I enjoy being around her. Hell, I could listen to her ‘What if’ questions repeatedly and never tire.
I tilt my head up, closing my eyes. I love her.
I love a girl who only lets me halfway in. It won’t stop me or scare me away though.
Fuck, I love her.
How the hell do you tell a girl you love her?
“Do not turn into one of those cheesy gu
ys you laugh at during a movie,” I scold myself as I drive to the bed and breakfast.
Oh God, I’m going to be that guy, the one who fucks it up when he tells his girl he loves her.
It could be worse: you could be the guy who cries when he reveals his feelings.
I put the car into park outside the bed and breakfast, leaving it in the space Paisley told me to use.
I acknowledge the woman walking out, tipping my chin to her before rushing inside. I take the stairs two at a time, jogging to the room I left Evie in earlier.
I relax against the doorframe when I see she’s up in bed, talking to Mum, who is placing a tray over her lap.
She still looks tired. Her eyes are red, swollen, and her cheeks are still stained with tears.
“You eat all that, missy. It will make you feel better,” Mum orders, handing her a napkin.
I take another step into the room. “How are you feeling?”
Evie startles when she lifts her head, relief and shame pouring from her when she meets my gaze. “I’m sorry. I—”
“Don’t be. We’ve sorted everything out now. You can stay here as long as you need.”
“I couldn’t. This is already too much.”
“Nonsense,” Mum scolds, stepping away to move some decorative items out of the way to make room for Evie’s.
“Mum, I’ve sorted that,” Paisley scolds, shaking her head.
“Eat,” Mum orders Evie, ignoring my sister.
I sit down on the bed next to Evie, treading carefully when I see her eyes swim with tears.
“Chicken soup? What happened to the corn beef hash?” I ask, watching Evie closely. She looks utterly dejected.
“It will be too heavy on my Evie’s stomach,” Mum mutters as she moves the dresser over a bit.
“Mum,” Paisley groans as she shuts the drawer now filled with Evie’s clothes.
“You don’t need to do this. Any of this. It’s too much,” Evie whispers, swirling the spoon around the bowl.
“I always look after what’s mine, Evie. And you’re mine whether you like it or not. And that means taking care of you.”
“I wish you felt that way about the hundred pairs of trainers you had as a kid that cost more than all my bills put together. Would have saved me money,” Mum mutters.
Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance Book 2) Page 20
