Finding Eva (Highland Creek Series) (29 page)

Aaron didn’t know how he got through the rest of the day, his anger fueling most of his actions. After leaving Eva, he stormed to Bryan’s office, not knowing what to do. Bryan sat and listened to Aaron as he explained the whole sordid affair. He didn’t say much, just offered his apologizes, and told him that if he wanted Eva back he was going to have to find a way to get her. He didn’t want her back. Why the hell would he want someone who obviously wanted nothing to do with him anymore? He thought about the party, and although he was sure something happened to change her mind, he didn’t know how to talk to her. Plus, if she really cared about him, she should have come to him with any issues that she had. She made all the decisions, like he accused her of doing. From the very beginning all he wanted to do was help her deal with the stuff, shoulder some of the burden, but she was too damn independent to want any help from him. This was just the nail in the coffin of a relationship he stupidly thought would last forever.

“Hello?” he answered the phone the following morning, putting his thoughts of Eva out of his mind for the time being.

“Aaron, how are you?” Great. All he needed now was crazy-ass Marcia needing something from him. It was a perfect example of Murphy’s law; when shit went bad, it went real bad.

“I’m good, Marcia, trying to figure out why you are calling me when I told you that we have nothing else to say to each other.” He told her last week he didn’t want to represent her as a client anymore, but she clearly didn’t get the message. He didn’t know why he was surprised she was calling today; she never got the hint before.

She barreled on, as was her habit throughout their whole relationship. “I know what you said, but I need to discuss the ticket with you.”

“I thought I told you to get your new lawyer to handle that.”

She sighed heavily into the phone, causing him to roll his eyes at her dramatic flair. “I know, but I am a little worried because it’s coming up soon, and I don’t want to have to deal with a new lawyer.”

“Marcia, it is a simple traffic violation. This is something that a paralegal can handle; I don’t know why you can’t just tell the new one.”

“There are things that I have to tell you that pertain to the ticket. I don’t want to have to worry about a new lawyer trying to handle it; you would be doing me a big favor by taking care of it.”

He stared at the ceiling, knowing he was going to hate himself for helping her, but he couldn’t help it. Not only was he not going to leave her high and dry, but he was interested in knowing what the hell she was talking about.

“Ok, Marcia, I need you to listen and listen very carefully. I am going to meet you at the café for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I am hungry and that is where I was headed. Second, you are going to tell me what the hell is so crazy about this ticket that you feel like another lawyer can’t handle it, and then I will decide whether or not I will take it.”

“But—”

“There is no but,” he cut her off, “those are the terms. I don’t know why you insist on having me, but you are not going to continue to play me when I have told you to seek new counsel. You get one meeting and one meeting only. Don’t complain or I will not meet with you at all.” He was done with her crazy-ass antics, and he didn’t want to pretend to play nice when he was still hurting over Eva.

“Fine,” she answered sullenly, and he hung up feeling like he would regret this.

I should have listened to my instincts
, he thought as he left lunch with Marcia. She had added very little, and he knew it was just a ploy to see him again. He was done with her, having already been through the wringer with one woman in the past couple of days, and planned on telling her so in the sidewalk. Aaron turned to tell her to stop calling and the bat shit crazy woman kissed him on the mouth. This was not a gentle kiss, but one meant to seduce. He felt nothing, and she just made him feel sad for her. How pathetic to continue to chase after a man who made it clear he didn’t want you. He set her aside when he heard a voice he didn’t think he would hear again.

“I thought you said we had something going.” He inwardly cringed before he turned to Eva, whose eyes were shooting fire. He knew if looks could kill, he would definitely be dead.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he tried to explain, even as he felt a hand creep up his arm. He stared down at Marcia, who smirked at him before she turned to look at Eva. He shook his arm free from her as he glared down and looked up to see Eva walking away.

“You can’t pretend like you care now! You’re leaving me, remember!” he shouted, frustrated at both her unwillingness to have a legitimate conversation with him and the situation with Marcia.

“Damn right. Best decision I’ve made in a while!” She stuck up her middle finger at him before getting in the car he saw was packed. She drove off in a squeal of tires, clearly bent on getting the hell out of Highland Creek.

“Darling.”

He prayed for patience, forgetting that Marcia was still standing there. “What the hell was that about?” He couldn’t be nice, not when that crazy bitch continued to try to seduce him despite telling her no. Repeatedly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with wide-eyed innocence. She had that look down pat, and she loved to play that card throughout their relationship.

“You know what the hell I am talking about. You need to leave me alone. I want nothing to do with you. I fired you as a client. Find another lawyer and lose my number.” He stormed off toward his office wondering how in the hell his life went so wrong in the past forty-eight hours.

E
va collapsed on the floor as soon as she shut the front door, crying uncontrollably. She called Gwen, who knew a little bit about what was going on from their earlier conversation with her. She had told Gwen what she had seen and heard that the party, but she hadn’t told Gwen she was leaving. Gwen thought Eva should talk to Aaron, something she was not going to do. Why would she talk to him? He was the one who said he didn’t want her. The last thing she wanted was for her to say that he only thought of her as a summer fling, something he made very clear judging by the conversation he had with his sister.

“Gwen … I did it.” She sobbed in the phone.

“Did what? Why are you crying? What did he say?”

“Nothing!” she screamed, all her emotions running over uncontrollably. “I told him I was leaving and he asked me if ‘he was just the local boy I fucked.’”

Gwen said nothing, and Eva didn’t want to think about the fact that she hadn’t been completely honest with her. It was just details, and Gwen was currently on a need to know basis. Plus, Gwen kept telling her she should talk to him, and she wasn’t willing to put herself out there like that. Not if she knew there was a very good chance at rejection.

“Oh, Eva,” she said when she finally spoke. “I am sure he didn’t mean that. That boy is crazy about you; even Conner said he has never seen him this hung up over a girl. You must have misunderstood.”

“I didn’t! And whose side are you on anyway.” Eva knew she was being defensive but she couldn’t help it. Her feelings were hurt and her friend doubted what she was saying.

“You are my best friend, and I have always been on your side, but something is not adding up,” Gwen continued calmly, probably deciding Eva was upset enough for both of them.

“Well, I don’t know what you want me to say. I started packing up my stuff the other day because I am going to sell the house. He came in during the middle of that and basically accused me of only trying to have sex with the local boy. Then he flipped out and told me he was done trying to convince me to stay.”

“Ok look, I don’t know what is going on. I thought you guys were solid, and I am not getting anything out of you tonight because you are too upset. Do this: get your stuff together and come home tomorrow. Sleep it off tonight and then drive in the morning.”

“I have to finish getting the stuff done with the house. I am selling this fucking thing; all it represents is heartache and the fact that I am not good enough. I wasn’t good enough for my mom, and clearly I am not good enough for Aaron.”

“Eva, I really need to you to calm down. You are a little emotional right now and not thinking straight. You will have time to sort through the house later. Just come home. Don’t make any decisions about the house at this moment, and we will decide later on.”

Eva thought she was doing just fine, but she didn’t feel like arguing with Gwen. She would drive up just to prove her point, and Eva just wanted to be alone.

“Fine,” Eva said, basically hanging up the phone on her best friend. Gwen was wrong, it wasn’t that she was being irrational, it was that she felt like her heart was shattering into a million pieces and she didn’t know if she was strong enough to pick them up. She had tried to be strong, but what was she supposed to do when the person she felt was her forever viewed her as a summer fling? She had nothing to say to him and continuing to try to see him would only prolong the pain that she felt. He made it sound like he wanted to be with her forever, but she overheard him with his sister saying you don’t get serious with a summer fling. She would just have to move on the best she could, and one of the ways that was going to happen was by getting the hell out of here as soon as possible.

She didn’t know how she made it through the evening, but somehow she was able to compose herself enough to pack the next morning and get home. All she wanted to was go home and hide for the next two weeks when she had to be back at school. Her plan to get a quick lunch at the café was foiled when she saw one of her worst nightmares coming out from what appeared to be a cozy lunch. There was Aaron, looking just as good as he did yesterday, with Marcia on his arm.

Clearly, it didn’t take him long to get over it since his lips were locked with Marcia’s. How dare he try to make it as though she was the one to blame for ending the relationship that had been blossoming between them? It just pissed her off, but she didn’t know where the snarky bitch came from when she said, “I thought you said we had something going.” She saw him flinch, but he shouldn’t have because it was his dumb-ass that told her they had something going on but was kissing his ex-girlfriend less than twenty-four hours after she ended it.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he said as Eva saw Marcia creep her hand up his arm while he looked down at her lovingly. Disgusted, she turned to leave. How dare that fucking asshole expect her to stand there and watch him make kissy face with someone else? There was no way she was going to stand there and humiliate herself even more than she already had.

“You can’t pretend like you care now! You’re leaving me, remember!” She heard him scream at her retreating back.

“Damn right. Best decision I’ve made in a while!” She stuck her middle finger up at him before slamming her car door and peeling off.

She called Gwen on the way home to tell her she was on the way and asked her to give her a day. Eva didn’t think she would be able to deal if Gwen came by tonight. She wanted twenty-four hours where she didn’t have to think or talk about Aaron Sawyer. She did stop by her parents, who were surprised to see her home this early. She smiled and made something up about needing to do something for school, but her heart wasn’t in the visit. Thankfully they didn’t question her, despite whatever doubts they seemed to have about her story.