“Yeah sure. I’m a hot mess, always have been. I’m surly and rude.”
“You don’t see yourself at all, do you? Everybody lights up when you’re around. They want to please you.”
“Because they’re scared of me.”
“Because they look up to you, and they want to have you smile at them. You have a gorgeous smile. Hell, I’m just speaking for myself, but I live for those moments when you look up at me through your lashes and give me a sly smile like Bella. Then there are your grins. When you laugh, hell, that just brightens a room.”
Evie’s eyes got wide at the way he was describing her. Nobody had ever said anything close to that. Her one and only boyfriend had said she was moody and scary.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“I’m not moody and scary?”
“Well, sometimes you’re scary. But I like it. Keeps me on my toes.”
This was way too much to handle. He hadn’t been kidding, he really liked her. She picked up her plate and glass and headed to the kitchen. He followed her.
“So, are you going to tell me about your trip to Tennessee?”
“After the dishes are done. How are you feeling?”
“Pretty good. I should be able to go home soon.”
“Hmmmm, we’ll see about that,” he said as he opened the dishwasher. “Why don’t you head to the living room. I’ll be out in a minute.”
She went directly to the big plate glass window. Over the tree tops, she could see a little bit of the ocean. The sun was setting, and it was gorgeous. Big gentle hands slid down her arms, and she leaned against Aiden’s chest. They stood that way until the sun slid beneath the ocean.
“You’re lucky, this is a beautiful view. Did you always live in houses like this?”
“Not hardly. We had a two-room house in Chicago where I grew up. Dad was a cop, mom was a housewife. It was exactly like they wanted it.”
“How do your aunt and uncle fit into the picture?”
“Uncle Leonard was my mom’s cousin, but he was like a brother to her. He was pissed that she wouldn’t have anything to do with the family’s money. But their business in Veracruz was shady, to say the least.”
“Your dad must have loved that,” she said wryly.
“Not so much.”
“Uncle Leonard has made it legit in recent years, but that was after Dad died. I didn’t have any contact with the Canul side of the family growing up.”
“What about your mom’s parents?”
“She was orphaned when she was a child. She was raised by Leonard’s parents. That’s why they were so close. It really was a blow when she turned her back on them and clung to my dad.”
“So you’re mostly an O’Malley.”
“I was. Now I’m a mixture of Canul and O’Malley.” He moved them both over to the sofa, and they got comfortable. “It’s a long story.”
She leaned in to him. “I’ve got time.”
“It’s ugly.”
She heard a tremor in his voice. He’d only shown that level of emotion when she’d been hurt in Turkey. Shit, this was going to be bad.
“Handsome, I can handle ugly.” She raised his arm, and then placed it around her shoulders. Of course, he was careful of her. She nestled in beside him, offering him comfort.
“We had it good,” he began. “We were a tight unit, the three of us. Dad was former Navy, and he had a lot of friends, from his Navy days, and on the force. Their wives were Mom’s friends. Me, I had the guys from school, but I also had friends from the neighborhood. We didn’t live in the greatest section of town, but Dad liked it that way. He said that it was good that you policed where you lived. It gave you credibility. I always thought he was right.”
Aiden paused. He was lost in thought.
“I had the best parents in the world, then there was Sam Chang, he was dad’s partner. He and his wife NiNi were like a second set of parents.” Aiden’s thumb brushed idly against her collarbone.
“Dad and Sam were working on a big case. Hell, they were part of a task force, but it was a gang that was in our neighborhood. The Deuces. I even knew some of the guys. So did Dad. He was second in command on the case.”
God, she didn’t like where this was going.
“Derek, he was the head of the gang, he warned Dad off. Like Dad was going to listen. There had been so much violence in the neighborhood, it had to stop.”
“How long ago was this?” Evie asked as she burrowed in closer to his side.
“Twenty-one years ago.”
“You were fifteen?”
“Yep.”
“So what happened?” she asked softly.
He didn’t answer for a long while. She held her breath.
“There was an away game. Normally Mom and Dad would have come, but Dad was putting in overtime, and Mom didn’t drive. When I got back to the school that night, Dad wasn’t there to pick me up. I had Aaron’s mom drop me off.”
“When I went to unlock the door, it was already open. I thought maybe they heard me coming up the porch steps. I called out, but nobody answered.” She felt him shudder. She didn’t say anything, knowing he had to get it out.
Aiden started talking in a monotone voice, almost as if he were delivering a police report. Almost like his dad would have. “The living room was in shambles. Shit all knocked over; there had been a fight. Then there was a smear of blood leading down towards the bedrooms. Mom and Dad’s door was closed. I opened it. Dad was duct taped to a kitchen chair. His eyes were taped open. There was a knife sticking out of his head.”
“Mom was tied naked, spread eagle on the bed. I knew what had happened. They’d made Dad watch. She had a knife sticking out of her stomach.” His voice broke for just a moment. “Blood was everywhere.”
He swallowed, then continued in that flat voice. “I took a blanket and covered her and called Sam. I don’t remember anything else that night. I woke up at Sam and NiNi’s house.”
Like Aiden, she didn’t remember when they started, but Evie tears were streaming down her face. Aiden was holding her tight. It hurt, but she didn’t care.
“It didn’t end there, Eva.”
“Tell me.”
“The task force had a plan in place to take down Derek and most of his high level crew. They said that in a month after they had the head of the snake, they would take out the soldiers who had done that to my mom and dad. But I couldn’t wait.”
“What did you do?”
He looked down at her, his blue eyes ice cold. “I used my contacts to find the four guys who’d done it. I stalked them. I killed each and every one of them.”
“You were only fifteen,” she gasped.
“Didn’t matter.”
“It took me two weeks. It put a wrench in the task force’s plans. Chicago PD was pissed, they were sure it was me, but they couldn’t prove it. Meanwhile, Derek was gunning for me, which was fine, I was after him. But his reach was long and far. Sam reached out to Uncle Leonard and got me down to Veracruz.”
Evie twisted around so she could look into his eyes. “You were only fifteen.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered if I’d been twelve, it still would have gone down the same way.”
Looking into his arctic blue eyes, she believed him.
“You see it now, don’t you? Well, it’s more than that I’m just a killer.”
She jerked as if she’d been hit. “You’re not a killer!”
“Careful, Kitten. Don’t hurt yourself.” He put his hands on her waist and moved her so that she was cradled on his lap. “Make no mistake, I hunted those four men down, and I killed them in cold blood.”
“If you hadn’t, I would have,” she muttered. “Is that why you broke things off with us, you thought I would care about that?”
“Well, you should. For God’s sake, Eva, think about the type of man you’d be getting involved with.”
“A good man. A decent man. A man I would always want at my side. The man w
ho came and rescued me. You’re a hero.”
He barked out a laugh.
“I’m the furthest thing from a hero imaginable.”
“Is that why you did the one-eighty in Tennessee?”
She watched as sadness engulfed his face. “No. Something happened three months ago.”
“What.”
“NiNi was killed.”
She gasped. More tears fell. “Not Sam’s wife. Oh Aiden, I’m so sorry.”
“Derek had been paroled last year, so I was sure that the Deuces had started up on their promises of retribution.”
“But that wasn’t what happened?”
“No, Sam called right before I left for Turkey. It was a random act of violence. They caught the killer, he had nothing to do with Derek or the Deuces.”
Evie tried to think through everything Aiden hadn’t said.
“Are you saying that you were trying to protect me?”
“Eva, Sam was small potatoes compared to me. I was the big get. That meant anybody close to me had a huge target on their chest. Hell yes, I wanted to protect you,” he said vehemently. “Plus there’s the added fact that I’m just not the man you thought I was.”
“Gah!” She struggled to get up, but he held her gently, stopping her from going anywhere. “Let me up!”
“Eva, you’re going to hurt yourself.”
“I wouldn’t if you would just let me up. I refuse to be held by such a stupid man.”
“Calm.”
“Fuck your calm. Stop with the one word commands. I’m not a dog.”
“Please, Eva, I’m begging you, you’ll hurt yourself. And I really need to hold you.”
Shit, he’d said the right thing. She calmed down and settled back on his lap.
He rubbed his cheek against hers. “Why am I stupid?” he asked in a whisper.
“Because even at fifteen you were a hero. You stood up for yourself. For your parents. You’re everything I’m not. If anything, you should run from me.”
“There isn’t anything you could tell me about yourself that would make me think less of you. You shine. Telling you this has helped chase away the darkness.”
“At least you fought,” she said forlornly.
Chapter Fifteen
Aiden’s gut clenched. He breathed in through his nose. Evie not fight? He couldn’t imagine it.
“Tell me, Kitten,” he coaxed.
“It was after Dad went to prison and Drake went into the Navy. Things were totally out of control. I had to quit school. Trenda had already graduated, thank God, but she and I were both working because Mom wasn’t. We were trying to support the household.”
“How old were you?” he asked quietly.
“Older than you were.” Her tone was bitter.
“How old?” he coaxed.
“Sixteen.” She sighed. She didn’t say anything else; she seemed lost in thought.
“So what did you do?” he finally prompted.
“I started working as a maid. Trenda started waitressing at the truck stop outside of town. Maddie was fourteen, the twins were eleven, and Piper was six.”
Aiden couldn’t imagine that kind of responsibility heaped on such young shoulders. “Didn’t anyone help out? Relatives? Friends of the family? Neighbors?” He couldn’t help the bite in his tone.
“Granny Laughton was already so old and frail that she couldn’t help. The neighbors thought we were trash, except for the lady who ran the food bank. Thank God for her.”
“There was nobody else?”
“Uncle Huey,” her voice was so low he had to strain to hear her.
Aiden remembered the rotten piece of garbage. He had ended up in prison. He’d been in cahoots with Evie’s dad, running drugs in Sevier County. Goddammit. He’d known. He’d known deep down that the fucker was evil as soon as Drake had told the story of him siccing the dog on Maddie.
“He did more than not help, didn’t he?” Evie gave an imperceptible nod.
“What did he do?”
“Trenda and I just weren’t paying attention. Maddie thought she could do something to help the family. She was just a baby but she was trying to help. She was only fourteen Aiden,” Evie’s whisper was filled with pain.
“What did that motherfucker do?”
“He had a dry cleaning business, and they did pick-up and delivery.”
Aiden remembered it was a front for drugs.
“She did some deliveries,” he surmised.
Evie nodded. “I swear to fucking God, he arranged for her to get caught, so he could hold it over her head. But he had that crooked sheriff, Delmar Arnold, pick her up. They took her to county jail for the afternoon. She should have called us, but Huey visited her, him being family and all.” Evie’s eyes were dry and bitter. She looked like she might shatter at any instant.
“Then what?”
“He said that he could pay off the cops, but it would cost more than she could ever make just with the drop-offs.”
What the fuck would that monster make his fourteen-year-old niece do?
“I found her at home, she was sneaking through Trenda’s underwear drawer. I demanded to know what she was doing, and that’s when she broke down and told me everything. Including the fact that she was supposed to wear pretty lingerie for a modeling shoot at Uncle Huey’s trailer.”
Ice froze his veins. He could see the rage in her eyes. “I grabbed her arm and took her to Mom. I screamed at her; told her what was going on. Do you know what she said? She said Maddie made her bed and she had to lie in it.”
Aiden closed his eyes. It was unimaginable to him that a mother could have said something like that.
Evie must have seen his disgust.
“Exactly. You can’t even wrap your head around it! Do you know what I did?”
He shook his head.
“I slapped her.”
“Good.” And he meant it. She deserved a hell of a lot more than a slap in his opinion.
“Really? I mean she was my mother. Is. Is my mother.” Evie was breathing hard.
“For God’s sake, she conspired to kill Piper and Drake. She stopped being your mother the moment she hung Maddie out to dry. You should have punched her.”
Evie gave a dry half laugh. “Yeah, I should have, especially considering.”
He hugged her closer. “Considering what?”
“Aiden, you’re a miracle.”
Huh? That was confusing. “What are you talking about, Kitten?”
“I don’t feel dirty anymore.”
Fuck. Jesus. He wasn’t going to like this. “You’re not dirty. I told you, you shine. You’re pure.”
She gave a hollow laugh. “Let’s not get carried away. Let me finish this.”
“Spit it out.”
He knew though. She switched places with Maddie. Of course, she had.
“I drove over to Huey’s dirty little trailer. My aunt wasn’t there, or my cousin Harmon. Just Huey and the sheriff. God, I made such a mistake. The sheriff was holding a camera, and laughing his ass off. Said he got the feisty one.”
“I told them that the charges were bullshit, and I’d call the FBI.”
“The sheriff told me nobody would ever believe some white trash whore whose dad was in prison over the sheriff.”
“I was so stupid, I should have just run away, gotten into my car and run. Instead, I tried to make a deal with them not to press charges against Maddie. So fucking stupid.” He barely stopped her before she slapped her forehead.
“Hey, none of that. You were sixteen. You’d quit school to take care of your family. You were in way over your head. Your mother and your uncle had betrayed you.”
“Huey told me I could take Maddie’s place, and they’d call it a day.”
“I spit at him.” She stared off into space for a long moment. “It was the wrong thing to do.”
“The sheriff grabbed me from behind, and Huey took off his belt. They stripped me. Huey about lost his mind. But the sheriff stopped hi
m. Said it was bad for the pictures. The sheriff knelt in front of me. Actually knelt.”
She looked up at him, lost in memories. He could see that the moment had amazed her.
“Then what, Baby?”
“He told me what to do. His whispers were sly like a snake. His hands shook when he posed me.”
“He touched you.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.
“Not like that, just to pose me.”
“He touched you.” Aiden saw it all in his head, a sixteen-year-old girl, red welts all over her body, being posed by a fat man in a uniform.
“But I let them Aiden. I just let the sheriff touch me. Move me. Huey took the pictures. It was like I was in a trance. I only woke up when I heard cousin Harmon’s truck pull up. It was the same for Huey and the sheriff. They threw my clothes at me and told me to get dressed.”
Aiden forced himself to relax when all he wanted to do was clutch her close. But she was still healing, and he didn’t want to harm her.
“Huey grabbed me as Harmon came in. Said it wasn’t over. Said I had to come back the next day. That’s when I grew a brain.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told him I was going to call Drake. It was like I said a magic word. Ever since Drake testified against Dad and put him away, Huey had been scared as shit of him. I should have used his name from the get-go. Fuck, I should have called Drake, except he was told never to come back to town. But still, he would have for Maddie. I was so fucking stupid.
Finally, he could touch her and not crush her. Softly. He kissed the top of her head. “You weren’t stupid. You were young.”
“I still surf porn sites looking for my pictures.”
“You’ve got to stop that, Eva. It’s behind you.”
“You were brave. I just took it.”
“Are you kidding? You protected your sister. You’re fierce.”
“Stupid.”
He was getting frustrated. “Kitten, Piper’s eighteen, if she’d gone to that trailer, would you call her stupid?”
“She’s been sheltered. It’s not the same thing at all. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. I was dumber than a stump.” Her Southern accent was thick.
Her Relentless SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 10) Page 12
