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“Seriously. Just go.”
The alarm bells are back in my head, deafening. Seth and I aren’t best friends, but we live in the same apartment, and we look out for each other. Always have. Until now. “I’m good.”
He closes his eyes for a second, looking exhausted. Does he really want me to go? Is he hiding something from me?
Dammit, I don’t need more bad shit today. “Spit it out, Seth. I’m not in the mood for games.”
“And you think I am?” He opens his eyes but doesn’t look at me.
“You know something. Who beat you up?” I stand at the foot of the bed, scowling at him.
He sighs. “Promise that you—any of you—won’t go on a rampage to avenge me or some such shit. I’m alive, and I’m fine. Promise me.”
I exchange a look with Jesse. Shane isn’t meeting my gaze. Fuck this.
“Who was it, Seth?” I fold my arms over my chest.
He scowls back, obviously not missing the fact we didn’t promise him anything.
We wait him out. I can see he needs to talk about it in the way his hands clench and unclench on the bed. But I don’t expect what he says, not one bit.
“Evangeline.” Seth breathes out slowly.
“What did you say?” I must be going mad. That’s not her name he spoke. Or maybe it’s another Evangeline. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“After they beat me up,” Seth says, “they told me, ‘this is from Blake. This is for Evangeline.’ And they laughed.”
The world goes gray for a second. “Are you sure?” I ask and my voice sounds hollow and thin in my ears. “Are you sure they said that?”
“I’m sure,” Seth says, and that’s it.
I’m gonna fucking lose it. This Blake had people beat up Seth for Ev, my Ev? Because she was afraid of Seth?
“Micah…” Seth’s voice seems distant.
Blake. Her ex-boyfriend. Or maybe not so ex?
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I realize I’ve been backtracking when I hit the wall. This can’t be happening. Ev was the one person I believed in. This is my fault. I chose to ignore the clues, thought she’d explain her fears. That she’d be honest with me.
Oh God, not Ev. Not this.
I distantly hear someone calling my name. Seth. Or Jesse.
Not now. Can’t deal. I open the door and stagger out. I’ve no idea where I’m going or what I’m gonna do.
And it doesn’t matter one fucking bit.
***
I walk the streets like a ghost. I pass through my usual haunts, and I hear people greet me, but I have no voice left in me. No coherent thought.
Ev.
Could I be wrong? Could there be a misunderstanding? Didn’t she say she was scared of her ex-boyfriend? Was that a lie?
Or was it the truth? Am I missing something, a big fat clue staring me in the face?
I finally end up at Damage, and Zane gives me a wary look from his booth as I enter, half-frozen and numb. He talks to me, but I can’t make out the words.
