Page 25 of Hades

“What is your favorite show?”

She shakes her head. “You always latch onto the weirdest things.”

“Are you going to tell me or not?”

“Criminal Minds. Between that show and what I do for a living, I’m pretty sure I could get away with murder.”

For some reason, her favorite show doesn’t surprise me. In fact, it makes sense that a girl who grew up in an MC would enjoy a show like that.

“Noted.” I nod, biting back a smile.

Her eyes narrow. “Have you ever seen it?”

“I’ve seen a commercial or two.”

She shakes her head in disbelief as her leg begins to bounce. “I can’t deal with you. My brother needs to reassign someone to me. I can’t handle this.”

“You can’t sit still, can you?” I ask, changing the subject.

Evelyn rolls with it, though.

“Not since I started my first year in residency. If I’m slow, it can cost someone their life, and I refuse to let that happen just because I’m not quick enough.”

“It’s deeper than that.”

While I think that’s what she fully believes, I know it’s more than that. Since the first day I met her, Evelyn has always been surrounded by people. If she’s alone, she finds a group to go talk to.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because I’ve watched you. I know you don’t like being alone.” I shrug.

Her shoulders tense. “I’m not alone. You’re with me.”

“Yeah, but you really don’t like me. We aren’t friends, and you don’t know me. Not really, at least.”

Evelyn walks over to the couch and sits down, giving me her full attention.

“Why do I have a feeling that you know a little something about that yourself?” she asks, calling me out.

Turning, I press my back against the window frame, crossing my ankles and my arms over my chest.

“Because it was hard as fuck transitioning from being my brother’s right-hand man to a nomad. I spent more than two decades with my brother by my side and had that ripped away in an instant.”

“You knew that would happen when you fucked her,” she points out.

It takes everything in me not to flinch. She’s not wrong, though. I knew what would happen, and I still don’t regret it.

“That doesn’t change the fact that the transition was hard. I felt like I was missing a limb for a long time. The silence was uncomfortable. The only thing that helped dull it out was riding.”

I don’t know why I’m telling her so much, but for some reason, she pulls it out of me. Makes me confess things I have no business sharing.

She studies me for a bit before she speaks.

“I love my mom, but our home was always quiet. It felt like the house was too big for just the two of us, even though it wasn’t. It didn’t matter how loud I turned up the TV or how much bass blasted through the speakers, I felt like I was alone, and I hated it. I loved going to the clubhouse because there was always something going on. When I went to college, I would study at a bar because my brain would relax enough to let me learn. If I went to the library, though, I swear I had the worst case of squirrel brain ever.”

“That’s why you chose the ER. Things are always happening and at a fast pace,” I say when she trails off.

She nods.