Finding Eva (Highland Creek Series) (12 page)

He took in her bloodshot eyes and slumped shoulders, not knowing what to do with her. Sure, she had gotten a little upset at her mom a couple of times, but never to this extreme. “Um …”

“Why are you crying, babe?” Her eyes filled again at the sound of the silly nickname.

“A couple of reasons.” She wiped her eyes as he came and sat by her.

Slinging his arm around her shoulders he pulled her close and pressed a kiss into her hair. “Want to tell me about it?”

“I have just had a crazy couple of weeks, and today took the cake. The stuff with my mom has made me a psycho whiny bitch and I don’t know how to get it together. Then my best friend Gwen calls me saying she is coming here; she found out the other day her husband has been cheating on her. Then there was that stuff with you, and I locked my keys in my car. Gwen has a copy; I just need to get into my house.”

“What stuff with me?” He would zero in on the one thing that was relevant to him, and the only thing he would be able to change.

“Today, I went to see you in your office and I saw your girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” He looked genuinely confused, trying to figure out who she would have seen. “I don’t have … oh.” His eyes widened when he thought of who visited him today. “When did you come in?”

“About an hour ago.”

He started laughing, causing her to pull away in outrage. “I don’t think that’s funny.”

“Sorry, but you are jealous of my sister.”

“Your sister? Wait a second, I never said I was jealous.”

“It’s written all over your face, babe. Come here,” he pulled her into his arms again. “It’s ok if you’re jealous. I like it.”

“You would.” She chuckled as he kissed her head again. “It was just after that kiss yesterday it pissed me off.”

“A possessive woman. I like it.” He wagged his eyebrows.

Her eyes narrowed into slits. “Shut up.” She normally wasn’t the jealous type; she figured he was the one making her crazy.

He arched an eyebrow. “Is the crisis averted?”

She rolled her eyes, figuring he was referring to her earlier mini breakdown. “I’m done crying, if that’s what you are worried about.”

“It was, among other things. I am still trying to get back to the other night.” He moved toward her, trying to capture his lips in a kiss. She turned her head at the last second so he caught her cheek instead of her lips. As much as she wanted to invite him inside, she still had too much to do before Gwen was here.

“That’s going to have to wait until later. I don’t know if we’re still on because Gwen will be here.” His face fell comically, and she knew what he was thinking. They were never going to get to have sex. That was just something else to add to the long list of why Eva’s life sucks right now.

He stood up to leave, taking in her bloodshot green eyes, puffy from all the crying, and mascara running down the side of her face. He rubbed his finger down her face and she leaned into his touch, seeking comfort. Call him crazy, but she still looked gorgeous to him, and he knew he needed to get out of there before he did something crazy like beg her to go inside with him. “Well, I guess we can meet up some other time because I know you are going to want to be here for your friend. But for a taste, since I’m clearly not getting any tonight …” He grabbed her face, claiming her lips quickly and possessively. He couldn’t help himself; he had to get a taste before he left.

Her mind went blank as she focused on the taste of him, opening herself up to more. His hand snaked up her back to grab her neck as he tilted her head back, giving him access as he pressed little kisses along her pulse and down the slim column of her neck. He groaned, slowly pulling back, as she stared at him with wide eyes and short, panting breaths. Her bruised lips caused him to adjust himself as he felt his slacks tighten even more.

“As much as I would love to stay…” he kissed her again, hard and quick as he walked off the porch “…I have to go and finish some stuff at the office. I will call you later.”

“Ok.”

He slapped her ass before he walked back to the truck.

“Hey, Aaron!”

“I have to go to the office!”

“I know, I was just going to tell you I still need to get in the house.”

A
aron walked into Bryan’s house later on that evening desperate for a beer, food, and some conversation with his brother. He had gone back to the office after calming Eva down, but he was unable to get a lot of work done before he finally threw in the towel. Bryan met him at the door with an open beer, knowing exactly what Aaron needed.

“How are you?” Aaron asked after they sat down on the couch to get comfortable. He really wanted to know about the divorce, since that was the only real issue going on with Bryan at the moment.

“Good, better than I was. The lawyer told me that we should be done in the next little bit. I know that’s why you’re asking. It’s the only reason anyone asks how I am doing these days. I have suddenly become that guy whose wife left him. No one knows what to do or say. They think I will get offended if they mention it because they think I must have done something wrong to make her leave. Little do they know what it was really like living with Ashley.” He clenched his jaw, reaching for his beer.

Aaron shook his head ruefully. “Well, I do know. I remember what it was like for a while, so I don’t know if I should be sad for you or congratulate you.”

“It is what it is so I tend to focus on the positive. I have my baby girl who loves me unconditionally, and I didn’t get scalped in my divorce. I just want to raise my daughter. I can’t help that her mama is crazy as a loon, but she can have one parent that’s stable.” He drank deeply, needing a beer to get through that next statement.

Aaron was proud of him. Bryan had always been a great older brother and he always looked up to him. He always took any situation and made the most of it, something he was clearly doing by taking care of Kelly by himself.

Bryan held his hand up, stopping the conversation about Ashley; he always did that when anyone asked about his marriage. “Enough about me. I get so damn depressed thinking about my life right now. What’s up with you? How’s your girl?” It wasn’t what he said but the way he said it that had Aaron thinking he was fishing for information.

“Did you talk to Conner?” That was the only way he would know about Eva’s freak out.

“Yeah. He came by the office after he left you two. He told me a little bit about what was going on and that you were trying to calm her down. He is really worried about her and said this wasn’t something he expected from her.” Connor and Bryan worked together at Highland Creek Construction, with Conner focusing mostly on the plumbing work, so it made sense that Conner would see Bryan.

He shuddered when he remembered the sobbing mess he encountered when he got to Eva’s house. “She was pretty scary when I got there, but I was able to calm her down. All this stuff with her mom is really getting to her and I think it just came to a head today. I don’t know what to do. I offered to help her but she told me no.” Aaron shook his head, drinking his beer as he thought about her refusal.

Bryan paused mid-drink, knowing Aaron’s personality. “What do you mean you offered to help her?”

“I told her the other night at dinner that I would go through her mother’s house with her and try to find out why she left her daughter.” Bryan stared at Aaron before he started laughing.

“You can’t help yourself, can you?” Bryan asked after he was able to compose himself.

Aaron cut his eyes at him, not seeing anything amusing about his previous statement. “What are you talking about?”

“You are always butting your nose in other people’s business. I got a phone call today from Reagan about the very same thing; she said that you were harassing her about her new boyfriend.”

Aaron didn’t know where that came from. He and Bryan had a conversation about the idiot boyfriend three days ago. Neither one of them liked him, so when he saw an opening when he talked to her yesterday, he took it to express his concerns. “He is an asshole. Someone has to look out for her.”

Bryan gestured with his beer. “Look, I don’t disagree with you about the boyfriend. But I am not butting into her life because it is none of my business. You, on the other hand…” he pointed his finger at Aaron “…find all kinds of ways to interfere with people’s lives. Have you thought about the fact that maybe she doesn’t want your help?”

Aaron felt the need to defend himself; everything he did was to assist those around him. “Who doesn’t want a little help now and then? And not all my interference is bad.”

Bryan shook his head in disbelief. “Remember Stella?”

Aaron tapped his lips with his finger, considering the question. “Which Stella?” Aaron knew whom Bryan was talking about, but Bryan always used her as an example as to why he should leave people alone.

Bryan rolled his eyes, letting Aaron know he wasn’t fooled. “Stella from school? You know the girl that you made the butt of everyone’s joke?”

Aaron’s mouth fell open, affronted. “I did not.”

Bryan looked at him like he was crazy. “You told everyone she had a coin collection!”

Aaron leaned forward, wanting to defend his actions. “I had a coin collection too. The girl was being bullied. I thought if everyone knew we were alike in some way they would leave her alone.”

Bryan stood up with his empty beer bottle, pointing down at Aaron. “You guys weren’t on the same level. She was a nice girl, but she wasn’t very cool. You were on the basketball team; everyone thought you were trying to make a joke.” He walked toward the kitchen, having made his point.

Aaron followed Bryan, talking to his back. “I wasn’t kidding.”

The glass fell with a loud clink in the trash can. Bryan leaned against his counter, scratching the five o’clock shadow on his chin. “We know you weren’t, but that poor girl was picked on for weeks.”

“I wasn’t for weeks,” Aaron mumbled, not liking the direction this conversation had suddenly taken.

“Stop. I had to stop a group of girls about to stuff her in the locker. It was ridiculous and what you thought was helpful ended up backfiring.”

“But …” Aaron wanted to defend himself, feeling like he was being picked on unfairly.

Bryan leaned toward him, shaking his arms in Aaron’s face. “Weeks! Stop meddling! Just stop. If Eva wants your help she will let you know.”

Aaron scrunched his face back and stepped back. “How did we get on this conversation? All I wanted was dinner and a beer.”

Bryan looked at him. “And …?”

“To see if you had any ideas,” he mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“I knew it.” Bryan laughed. “You aren’t getting any ideas from me. Leave the girl alone. The beer you have, and the dinner you will have to get from Mom and Dad. I’m going there after you leave to go eat and pick up Kelly.”

“That works for me. I’ll just be the tag along.”

“Where’s Mom?” Aaron asked his dad when he walked into the house.

He turned from where he was watching the ball game on the couch. “Well hello to you, Son. Nice to see you. I’m doing great. Thanks for asking.”

He cringed. “Oh, my bad. How are you, Dad?”

“I’m good. She’s in the kitchen with Kelly.” He heard a thumping of feet before Kelly screamed “Uncle A!” and slammed into his thighs, hugging him close.

He rubbed a hand down her blonde ponytail, lifting her for a kiss before setting her back down. “Hey, baby doll, your daddy is coming.”

“Daddy!” She jumped up and down happily when she saw Bryan walk through the door. He picked her up and was treated to a montage of her day, with Aaron taking that as his cue to find his mother.

His brother had been no help; maybe his mom would be a little better. He found his mother mashing up some hamburger meat in a bowl, smiling because it looked like she was cooking meatloaf.

“Hey, beautiful.” She turned and smiled before gesturing for him to come closer and kiss her on the cheek.

“How are you, baby?”

“Good, I was just coming to see if you had enough for one more for dinner.”

She went back to mixing the meatloaf. “I always have room for one more at dinner. I am making your favorite.”