Thank you for taking care of me.
I needed this.
I needyou.
I don’t even realise that we fell asleep until the sun starts to peek through the blinds of the living room and the front door opens. Neither of us have spoken to the rest of the group since we left suddenly. They must have heard about it from the morning news and came straight here.
We fell asleep sitting up, so when the girls came rushing into the room, I gently pushed apart from her making my way to the pillar between the open living room and kitchen. No matter how upset she is, I want her to tell her friends whatever is going on between us on her terms. I don’t want them to assume anything that she’s not comfortable with.
“Scarlett,” Kennedy coos quietly, climbing onto the couch next to a sleepy Scarlett. She smiles weakly before she wraps her in a hug. “We heard. We’re so sorry.”
I watch as Kennedy fusses over her that I don’t realise Wren’s hand on my back. I turn to her and she’s a lot shorter than me, so she blinks up at me, her green eyes filled with concern.
“Is she okay?” she asks me quietly. I shrug, nodding gently.
“She will be. I think she’s still in shock,” I explain. Wren pulls her bottom lip between her teeth in worry as she turns back to Kennedy and Scarlett.
“Thank you. You know, for taking care of her. She’s our girl and she pretends to be tough, but sometimes she needs someone to look after her. We try when we can, but she’s not easy to deal with, but you calm her. I think you make her feel safe and she needs that.”
“I do?” I ask, shocked.
What me and Scarlett have done up until now has been anything but calm. I've always wanted that peace that we once had when we were kids, but I thought it never came back. Unless things look differently to her, I wouldn’t know what Wren’s talking about.
“Yeah. She would never admit it, but I’ve seen you guys sneaking around and I assume you’re enabling her compulsions for finding out what happened to her dad. If she was doing this on her own, she’d be freaking out. But she hasn’t been. I think you’re good for her. In whatever way you want to take that,” she says, turning to look up at me. “You should get some sleep too. You look exhausted.”
I smile at her and when she walks over to fuss over Scarlett on the couch, I turn around and slip out of the door, finally sighing a breath of relief. Today has been one long fucking day and I can’t wait to get back into my bed.
I make it about five steps out of the building before I hear Scarlett running and shouting after me. I turn around and there she is, a blanket wrapped around her shoulder, her hair a mess, her face still tired, but she smiles at me weakly.
“You were going to leave without saying bye?” she pants, tilting her head to the side.
“Well, your friends came back, and it seemed like you needed some time alone,” I explain, instantly moving my hand to the back of my neck nervously. She studies me for a few seconds, not sure what to say. I just stand there until she jumps into my arms, her arms around the blanket wrapping around me, covering us both in the warmth.
She tightens her arms around my neck, and I feel every single part of me come alive. I wrap my arms around her small waist, pulling her as close to me as I can. I should not be getting hard right now. Especially after everything that has happened in the last few hours, but she just smells so fucking good all the time.
“Thank you, Evan,” she whispers, her mouth and her hot breath against the rapid pulse on my neck. I finally believe I can breathe again. “For everything.”
“You’re welcome,” I say back. “For everything.”
30
Evan
“So, that’s it? He’s just gone. Dead.”
After not sleeping properly for four nights, the last thing I want or need to deal with is my dad and my uncle. I’ve been sitting in my dad’s office for almost an hour, and he keeps asking me questions about Gio. I answer them and then he asks more, usually the same question. Something is not adding up to him, which is the last thing I can focus on right now. My priority is being there for Scarlett.
Since Gio’s death, reporters have decided to keep quiet about it, claiming that the only thing that has happened isVosshas lost a vital member to their team.
What they don’t say is how B&Co believe that Gio was the one smuggling the drugs into the business, and he died in an accident, tying up the story neatly. Motives are still loose, but they could make sense. He wasn’t a leader like Mateo was. He wasn’t in the spotlight. He lost his wife and his close friend the same night. Maybe he wanted more, and he wasn’t getting it. It just doesn’t make sense that he would try and put Scarlett in danger, enabling her on his concerns and worries about the business, knowing that she would try to figure it out on her own. I’ve had days to get my head around, but it still seems so foggy.
“I just don’t believe you’re telling me that our lead suspect has just died. It would have been one hell of a story,” my dad says, sighing as he looks through the window into the frosty forest of the backyard. “Do you know who killed him?”
I shake my head. I’ve been trying not to relive that night. The last thing I want to remember is all that blood, her screams…. “No, it seemed like a freak accident.”
“Seemed?” He quirks an eyebrow as he turns to me. I rub my sweaty palms against my trousers.
“Well, I don't know for sure, obviously. Everything happened so fast. It makes sense that it was an accident. The only person who would want him dead is Mateo and he’s not even alive fully himself,” I say, voicing my theories aloud. My dad nods slowly before recounting the story I’ve told him three times.
