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“In the bar? I saw you arguing with someone.”
I shook my head, hating the lies still between us. “No one you need to worry about.”
“Evan…” she started, but I cut her off by kissing her hungrily. Becca pressed into me, seeking something more. This was what I could give her. Becca didn’t need to come here to chase away her demons. I could do that for her.
I wanted to be that for her.
Breaking the kiss, I buried my hand in her honey-blonde hair, curling it around her neck. “No more running, okay? I get you have secrets, and that’s okay. I’m not going to push, but if you need to forget or escape, you come to me.”
Her lips parted, and I readied myself for her excuses, but they didn’t come. Instead, she closed the distance, pressed her lips to mine, and smiled.
* * *
After dropping Becca home, I went straight home. My conversation with Merk had me on edge. Darryl had never had one of his lackeys approach me before with a ‘friendly reminder’ that I had a job to do.
Bastard.
The house was quiet. I checked in on Eli, watching him sleep for a second, and then I checked on Mom. I hadn’t noticed it at first glance, but there was a small envelope on the kitchen table with my name scrawled across the front.
I didn’t need to look inside to know what it was. I snatched it up and went to my room, anger burning through my veins.
He’d come here, to my house, to deliver more pot. What the hell was he thinking? Mom knew all about Darryl’s side business. Hell, the whole town knew. It was precisely the reason I’d distanced myself from Kendall when I’d started high school. I’d tried everything to stay out of their grasp, but they always found a way to pull me back in. First Mom and then Eli.
Darryl had offered to help out with bills and Mom’s medication when she was diagnosed with depression after Dad had left, but over time, she’d started self-medicating. Elaina and Darryl were all too happy to oblige in that department, dangling the threat of Eli being taken into care if anyone ever found out about her addiction. About the kind of woman she’d become.
My fists clenched at my sides. What choice did I have? We had no one else.
After shoving the envelope into my drawer, I stripped out of my clothes and climbed into bed. The room plunged into darkness as I hit the switch, and I traced the shadows dancing on the ceiling. Eli’s birthday was next week, and all he wanted was for Mom and me to take him for ice cream and then to the park. What kid’s only birthday wish was for his mom to spend time with him? It was wrong, so fucking wrong. I wanted to do something special for him, and I’d saved up some cash for the occasion, but I knew Mom wouldn’t appreciate me upstaging her. She’d rather throw Eli a tea party at Elaina’s and claim the credit. The thought of spending another day with them made me feel physically sick.
My cell phone vibrated, and I reached for it.
Thank you. For everything. Becca
I smiled, my fingers flying over the screen. Didn’t she get it? I was the one who needed to thank her. She was too good for me, for my family. Yet she’d let me in and given herself to me. Even after the way I’d treated her when she’d first arrived.
Just promise me, no more running?
Okay. Night, Evan.
I didn’t know why it was so important for me to hear her say it, but I was tired of chasing her. Of backing her into a corner. If she didn’t want to tell me about her past, fine, but I needed to know she was in this thing with me.Allin. Because good things rarely came around in a place like Credence, and Becca was good; I felt it in my bones.
And I didn’t intend to let her go without a fight.
* * *
“Three more days, three more days,” Eli sang as he danced around the living room. “Then I’ll be a biiiiiig boy.”
“Yes, you will, but you’ll still be Momma’s baby.” Mom ruffled his hair as she made her way to the bathroom.
She was already late for work, so I’d offered to drop her on the way to pre-K.
“But I don’t wanna be a baby anymore. I want to be a big boy.”
“Four is pretty big,” I said. “You’ll be as big as I am in no time.”
Eli ran and tackled my legs, whooping into the air. “And we can still go and get ice cream and go to the park, right?”
“Well, baby, Momma thought we could have a little party at Aunty Elaina’s.” She crouched down to him. “Won’t that be fun?”
