“What the fuck?” I mutter.
It’s in Brooks’s driveway. Holy Mother of Fuck, the red fucking car is in Brooks’s fucking driveway! What does this mean?
I squint in horror, terror flowing over my skin. Who knows Brooks, who would also stalk my house? I could only imagine Eliza doing that, but there’s no way her entitled ass would drive that mangled piece of junk, and he wouldn’t have her over. He can’t stand her.
At least, I sure as hell hope it isn’t her.
I pull out my phone and scroll through my contacts to find Mom. I try to be patient as it rings repeatedly. I curse under my breath. Hang up and dial Dad, the stale air of the car prompting me to roll down the windows.
“Hello?”
“Mom!”
“Who’s this?”
“It’s me. I just tried to call your phone, but you didn’t answer.”
“Who is me?” she asks, her voice heavy with confusion.
“Emily!”
“Emily?”
“Yes...”
A pause before she says, “Sweetie, I think you have the wrong number.”
“Huh? Mom, I really need some help.” My voice cracks. “I need some advice. I don’t know what to do, I—”
“Ma’am, I already told you, you have the wrong number.”
I pull the phone away from my face and stare at it, confirming I selected Dad’s number from the list. “Is this a joke? Where’s Dad?”
“I think you’re the one pulling a joke here.”
“What? Seriously, Mom … Evelyn—”
A quick burst of laughter. “My name is not Evelyn. I only have one daughter, and she’s at cheer practice. I just got this number about a year ago, so maybe that’s who you were trying to reach. Please don’t call again.”
The call ends, my mouth dropping as I stare at the phone. Frantically, I go back to Mom’s contact. Call again. Maybe Dad got a new number, and that woman simply sounded like my mother. Or maybe she’s fucking with me, because I’ve been slacking off with the family business, which I wouldn’t appreciate. Not with the state I’m in right now.
My fingers tap on the steering wheel while the phone rings and rings, again not going to voicemail.
Finally, “Breasts and Legs Chicken.”
“Uh...” I say, processing the teenage boy’s voice. “Is … Lewis around?”
“Hold on, lemme check.” The phone crunches against something as his muffled voice yells, “Hey, Valerie, does a Lewis work here?”
My hand clamps to my mouth. What the fuck is going on? Stupidly, I look around myself, open the glovebox, examine the rearview mirror for cameras. Am I being punked?
“Sorry, no one works here named Lewis. Did you call the right location?”
“I—I’m sorry, I...”
“You there?” Pause. “Hello?”
I hang up, unable to find words to ask questions. I click my email, scanning the last few days for any communication from my parents about getting new numbers, but see nothing. I shake my head, deciding to worry about it later, because that’s the only explanation. I’ll just have to handle this myself the only way I know how, which is to march up to that door and confront the person myself.
A horn sounds from behind, jolting me. I’m blocking the street, so I pull off to the side and shut off the engine. Timidly, I get out of the car and make my way to the gate to enter the code. I smooth my hair as I quietly climb the steps to the front door, then run my fingers over my eyebrows.
Brooks opens the door with his head turned, laughing to someone behind him, but when he turns to look at me, his smile quickly vanishes.
“Hi,” I say, my voice shaky, twisting my hands.
“Uh...” He looks behind him before stepping onto the porch and pulling the door closed. His neck flushes as he scratches his stubble. “Wh—what are you doing here, Emily? I thought we agreed on space?”
“I know, I just...” I look down at my feet, my head shaking as I force myself to continue. “I just wanted to see you. And then I saw the car...”
His eyes move to the decade-old hunk of metal. “Oh.” He folds his arms across his chest, his pecs demanding my attention before I can meet his eyes. “Well, uh … now’s not exactly a great time.”
“Who does it belong to?”
His brows knit together, his hand moving up to his chin to rub it. “Please don’t do this.”
“Tell me … please,” I beg.
“Emily, don’t take this the wrong way, okay, but that’s none of your business. We aren’t together. We never were.”
I swallow the lump sticking in my throat, my lip trembling.
His hand reaches for mine. “Hey, don’t do that. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way, but what do you want me to say?” He shrugs. “Having feelings for each other doesn’t mean we had a commitment. In a perfect fantasy world, I would have wanted that. But shit was already difficult, and now I’m trying to process whether it was even genuine.”
“Of course it was genuine,” I say quickly. “I told you … that guy was a mistake, a misunderstanding. Look at me,” I motion with my hands. “I’m a fucking mess. I haven’t showered in days, I haven’t been eating. I care about you, Brooks. Do you even give a shit? Do you even care that I—that I think I’m in love with you?”
Instantly, I regret my admission. I want to fish the words from the air. Stuff them back down my throat.
His mouth opens as if to say something, but he doesn’t. His eyes soften, filling with something I can’t decipher, before they harden again. “I guess I just don’t know what all came from the book and what came from you. And I feel like I can’t ask you, because honestly, I don’t think I can trust you.”
“What book?”
His head juts back, a perplexed smile pulling on his lips. “Really?”
“Yes, really … what fucking book?”
“Wow,” his eyes widen before he tsks. “You’re not helping.”
What the fuck is happening to my life today? I start to speak, but the door opens, the face jarring, despite my suspicion it was her. Brooks’s head turns to Kate, her brows raised, lips pressed in a thin line.
“What’s this?” she asks, wiping her hand against her stained apron, looking amused.
Brooks lets out a breath. “Well, this is awkward. Again.”
“You crazy bitch,” I say through my teeth.
“Excuse me?” Her eyes flit from me to Brooks.
I step closer to her. “You heard me.”
“Whoa,” Brooks’s hand flies between us. “What’s going on?”
I push his hand away, stepping so close to her I can smell the cilantro oils that have touched her mouth. “She’s been stalking me.”
“Wait, what?” Brooks says, his head snapping to her.
She smiles defensively. “I have no clue what she’s talking about,” she says to him before turning to me. “Are you feeling okay, sweetie?”
“Liar,” I hiss. “That car,” I say to Brooks, my finger pointing to it, “has been riding by my house for weeks now. I didn’t know who it was, but that’s definitely the car. You can even ask Jared. I described it to him.”
His eyes move in a circle before they cut to Kate. “Is this true, Kate?”
She looks at him blankly before widening her eyes. “Do you really think I’d waste my time following some chick you know?”
“Ordinarily, no, but Emily seems to think otherwise.”
Yes. Yes, he’s starting to believe me.
“Everything all right up there?” a voice calls from the street. The mother in the family who walked by my car earlier smiles broadly at us, the father clutching his youngest child’s hand.
“Fine!” Brooks calls, shooing Kate into the house before pulling me inside and shutting the door. “Emily, you really believe Kate is following you?”
“I don’t believe,” I say, moving my hands to my hips. “I know.”
“Well, you’re wrong,” Kate says. “There mus
t be a thousand people in the area with that car. Or you’re just lying.”
I cock my head. “Yes, there must be a thousand people around here with that car sporting the very same dent on the side of it.”
She rolls her eyes, her face reddening as she spins to Brooks. “Are you just going to let her talk to me this way? Why is she even here? I thought you were done with her.”
My heart tumbles into my stomach when she says that. He’s been talking about me, about us … and not in a good way. “Wow, okay. That’s news to me.” I turn for the door.
“Emily, wait.” He grabs my hand. Spins me around. “Don’t leave yet.”
“Brooks, this is ridiculous,” Kate says. “You let some crazy girl into your house to make even crazier accusations against me, and you’re going to ask her to stay? Either she’s leaving, or I am. Your choice.”
He holds a hand up to her. “Just … just wait a minute, okay? Five minutes.”
“Unbelievable.” She turns toward the living room and disappears around the corner.
“Emily, what—”
“So, you’re seeing her now? Like … actually seeing her? What about everything that’s happened between us? I didn’t know space meant fucking another woman.”
“Is that what this is about? Are you making shit up to get rid of her?”
“So you are...” I say, tears pooling in my eyes.
“Are what?”
“Fucking her!”
His eyes close, a sigh leaving his lips. “No. No, I am not fucking her, but what you are doing is confusing me even more. I’m fucked up, Emily. I feel crazy right now. All kinds of shit is going through my mind, wondering if she actually followed you or if this is some fucking strategic move you came up with to get my attention. Do you not realize what that book has done to me?”
My shoulders lift in frustration, my hands rising and then slapping against my pants. “What book, Brooks? Tell me what the fuck you’re talking about so I can defend myself!”
He grunts, his fingers fisting his hair as if he wants to rip it out. He pulls me into the living room, and I roll my eyes at the sight of Kate standing near the bookshelf, staring at the framed panda drawing.
I have no idea what the hell is going on, especially with Emily’s selective memory, but this is entirely too much drama. I wanted a low-key day of relaxing by the pool, of eating Kate’s famous Mexican nachos. I didn’t expect Emily to show up at my door to tell a wild story and fuck with my head.
“Sit,” I tell Emily, motioning toward the couch.
Kate stands at the bookshelf, Ivy’s drawing in her hand, before I pull it away from her and set it back down. As I do, I can’t shake the feeling that I am missing something—something important. I note the careful strokes of the pencil, the way they sweep and curve with precision.
It’s … so similar to Emily’s napkin sketch—practically identical.
“So, what are we doing?” Kate asks. “Are we supposed to have a threesome now or something? I’m really getting pissed.”
“You’re free to leave whenever you want,” I tell her, “or you can find some patience and sit down.”
She huffs as I pull my phone from my pocket, her tongue grazing her lips before she takes the farthest seat away from Emily that she can.
I text the one person in the world I would never text without a good reason.
I need to talk to you about Ivy … ASAP. Do you know how to get in touch with her?
“Brooks—” Emily says.
I hold up my finger, the typing bubble appearing on my screen before Eliza’s response comes through.
You expect me to talk to you about Ivy when I wanted to talk to you about Emily and got no response? REALLY?
This IS about Emily. I don’t know how, but it is.
What?!?! What does that mean?
Kate stands. “Okay, if you want to sit there and text all day, I’m going to get out of here.”
“No, wait,” I say, putting my phone on the shelf. “I need to clear things up.” I cross my arms and look at Emily. “I am not having sex with Kate. Kate, I am not in a relationship with Emily.”
“But you’re basically saying you’re having sex with her?” Kate asks, my eyes flitting to Emily and finding an expression of pain.
“I was. Did,” my head nods, Kate’s nostrils flaring in response. “Emily and I developed feelings for each other, but it has been complex from the start. I was interested in her before you and I reconnected. We always had chemistry. Regardless of you and I knowing we will never be anything other than—anyway, I should have been upfront about what was going on between Emily and me is all I am trying to say. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes soften, her lips pressing into a thin line. “Okay. I mean, why would I care? If you want to date her, go ahead.”
“You obviously do care, because you were driving by my house,” Emily says. “Why would a woman do that, if not out of jealousy?”
“Are you one hundred percent sure it was Kate?” I don’t know why I ask her, because I don’t even feel I can trust her.
“I’m one thousand percent sure. That’s the car, Brooks.”
“Oh-kay,” Kate quips, shaking her head.
“Oh my God!” Emily says. “I just remembered. I took a video!” She takes her phone from her jeans pocket, her fingers moving quickly over it before she holds it out to me. I walk over and grab it, my eyes settling on a quick clip of … Kate’s car screeching around the intersecting street.
I watch it again, and then pass the phone back to her, my eyes narrowing as I process that Emily was telling the truth. I look at Kate, her face paler than before, her forehead lined. “Kate? Do you want to explain to me why Emily was able to record you speeding away in her neighborhood if you never drove by her house?”
“Shit,” she whispers, her fingers reaching up to pinch her nose as she closes her eyes. “I know what it seems like, but—”
“But what?”
“Yes, Kate,” Emily says, tucking her light blonde hair behind her ears. “But what?”
I shoot her a look before turning back to Kate. “Well?”
She holds up her hands in defeat. “Fine. I drove by her house a few times. So what?”
“Told you,” Emily says.
“Okay … why would you do that?”
“Why wouldn’t I do that?” she asks, her shoulders slumping.
“What?”
“Do you actually believe there is a woman in this world who would want to be friends with you, Brooks?”
“I’m not following...”
“I fibbed about not wanting strings. I didn’t want to scare you off. When you bolted from the coffee shop, I had a feeling it was because of a woman. I had to know, so I followed you. I know I shouldn’t have, but I did. It was stupid, I get that. The other times, I was simply curious if you were with her—specifically, if you were sleeping with her. I didn’t know what you two were, because you didn’t talk about her, but I didn’t want to be the desperate girl who asked. I thought eventually you’d want me, too, but I recently figured out that you’re impossible.”
My eyes move to Emily, who appears satisfied with the explanation.
The doorbell rings.
I hold up a finger to them. “No fighting, please.” I walk to the door, and when I open it, Eliza’s feral eyes stare back at me.
Her stomach takes my attention for a moment, the bulbous sight such a foreign thing, before they trail back up to her face. “Yes?”
She glowers at me. “What the hell do you mean ‘yes’? You text me something like that and then stop responding?”
“How’d you get here so fast?”
“I was at my parents’. Thanks to your cuckoo girlfriend, Mark and I are … I don’t even care anymore. I have nothing to lose. She can threaten me all she wants.” Her face reddens as her eyes become glassy. “Anyway, I’ll elaborate later when I’m not crying my eyes out. But what does she have to do with Ivy?”
Rapid wo
rds are exchanged in the living room, and I rub my forehead. “Hold on,” I tell Eliza before I walk down the hall, finding Kate and Emily trading hateful words. “Ladies, please. Can you just not talk to each other for a minute? I’ll be right back.”
When I return to the door, Eliza has stepped inside, hands massaging her stomach. I try to push away the resentment I have toward her to focus on the real objective.
“Well?” she asks.
“Look, did Ivy have a cousin or anything? Or maybe a friend while I was gone in France?”
Her eyes narrow, arms crossing. “I don’t know anything about her family, and you know as well as I do that she didn’t have any friends.”
I frown.
“Why?”
“Nothing, it’s just … Emily drew something the other day, something that gave me this weird feeling, but I don’t know what the feeling means or is or … I don’t know.”
She peers at me. “I’m so confused.”
“I’ll show it to you.” I walk to the accent table nearby and pull it from the drawer. “Here.”
I pass the napkin to her, and she stares at it for a long time. “Emily drew this?”
“Yeah. Weird, right? I mean, you remember the pandas—”
“You mean the pandas on your shelf that Ivy drew, which you kept like some prized memento, but you never had the decency to tell me?”
“Do you want to go the decency route? Because I have a list I would like to talk about.”
She rolls her eyes. “Maybe she remembered the picture and subconsciously copied it.
She starts to speak again when a voice calls behind us. “Well, well … Eliza James,” Kate says.
“Eliza...” Emily mutters.
Eliza’s eyes widen, cutting to me before she steps toward Emily. “You know, if I wasn’t pregnant, I would kick your ass.”
I grab Eliza by the wrist as Emily takes a defensive step back. “Excuse me?”
The Evolution of Ivy: Antidote (The Evolution of Ivy, Volume 2) Page 25
