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Asher stared at me with horrified fascination.
“I’m going to marry her, and have kids with her, and give her everything she wants in life. You’ll have to kill me to stop me.”
“You want to marry Eve,” Asher scoffed. “Give me a break.”
“I don’t justwantto marry Eve, Iwillmarry Eve. No one will stop me. She’s mine.” I took a deep, steadying breath, attempting to drag air through my swollen nose. “We belong together.”
“And you already know this after a few weeks of sleeping in the same room together?” Asher huffed.
I shook my head slowly. “It’s been going on longer than that. Physically, since the start of summer…emotionally? I have no fucking clue. Since we were thirteen, maybe.”
Asher stared at me like I was a stranger he’d never met before. After a while, he spoke. “What happened to you, man?”
I let out a curt chuckle. “She did. Life did…a lot of fucking shit did, but none of that matters like it used to, because of Eve. I love her, Asher, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure she’s happy.”
“You’ve gone insane. Is this an elaborate prank? Are you and Marcus in on it together?” Asher scrubbed a bloodied hand over his face. His knuckles were bleeding. “I need a drink.”
I straightened up, pain lancing through my chest and face. “Let’s go and get one then.”
The next morning, I was on a flight back to Maine. I was exhausted, my jaw cracked ominously when I moved it, but I was lighter than I’d been in months. Years, really.
Things were good with Asher, and best of all was his confession that he wasn’t happy in Denver and wished he could come home.
“You want to come home, I’ll make it happen. You’ll be back on the team in no time.”
“Really?” Asher’s dark eyes crinkled with a smile for the first time since I’d arrived. “I guess I have no choice now. I have to be close to make sure you don’t fuck up with my sister.”
I laughed and clicked my glass against his. “Cheers to that.”
“I’m serious, Beckett. Don’t fuck it up.”
On the way back to the airport, I’d found a little jewelry shop with handmade stuff. There was a pretty solitaire aquamarine ring, with diamonds surrounding it. It would glow against Eve’s olive skin. I’d been studying it when the jeweler had chimed in.
“You have discerning taste. I call that our Cinderella ring. The color is reminiscent of that iconic blue dress,” the man droned on.
I’d turned it this way and that, admiring the way it caught the light. The Cinderella ring. He had no idea that his little observation had just made the sale. This was Eve’s ring.
It was already dark when I got out of the airport and headed for my car. It was over an hour’s drive from there to Hade Harbor, and anticipation to see Eve built with every passing mile. By the time I pulled up at the Chickadee Diner, I was burning with it.
I had her brother’s blessing, or close enough, I had a ring I couldn’t wait to put on her finger, and now, I just wanted her alone so I could get it on her hand. Whether she wanted to get married now or wait until after college, I didn’t care. As long as everyone knew she was taken, I could survive the wait.
I’d parked right in front of the long windows that lined the diner and could see inside. The top portion of the glass was frosted, but Eve’s body moved around, and I glimpsed her face every time she bent down to put a plate on someone’s table.
A rush of thoughts filled my head as I watched her. I didn’t want her working here anymore, busting her ass for meager tips and assholes who tried to cop a feel. I didn’t want her to work, period. I wanted her to enjoy college, study hard, do her ice girl dancing, and come home to me. I didn’t want her scrimping and saving and exhausted. I was going to take care of her, from now on.
A brief thought passed through my mind that Eve might like her independence. I could just imagine her saying it. Still, I couldn’t have her coming and going late at night on the bus. I doubted she’d let me drive her every time. I made a mental note to buy her a car. It was a start.
The other issue was Melly Martino, her mother. She couldn’t clean for us anymore, clearly. She was getting older, and Eve worried about her. It was time for Melly to retire somewhere pretty, with a garden and a sunroom, in the good part of town.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sight of some asshole on the way out the door, reaching out and smacking Eve’s ass as she worked.
I was out of my car in the next heartbeat.
The Chickadee Diner parking lot had a run-down area at the back for staff to park. Thanks to all the broken glass and overgrown trees, no one used it. I grabbed the man as he ambled out the door while he was looking for his keys and dragged him back there.
“Hey! You punk, what the fuck are you doin’?” The man struggled.
I let him go, and he nearly fell trying to keep his balance. He straightened and took me in. His eyes shifted around nervously, searching for safety in the form of witnesses.
