Chapter Thirteen
Nick
I couldn’t stop thinking about her. And believe me, I’d fucking tried. She walked away from dinner about three hours ago, but she’d been on my mind ever since. Part of me wanted to go look for her, part of me wanted to call my uncle and have him get her dad up here to deal with her ass. Evie James was in a world of trouble, and I doubted she even realized it.
There was this gnawing ache in my chest that I couldn’t explain away as anything other than concern. The girl I’d spent that one amazing night with was gone, and in her place was a pill-popping mess. And it hurt. I hated that I cared the way I did, I hated that she still had a hold on me. I’d been unable to turn her away two years ago, and I’d been unable to do it again today.
My cell started to vibrate in my pocket and it took me a second to fish it out. “Bleu. What’s up, man?” Thank god. I could use the distraction.
“Where you at right now?”
I looked down at my dog, a giant pit mix, smiling at her like a proud parent. “Taking a nighttime stroll down Greenville with my favorite girl.” And trying like hell to get a certain long-legged disaster out of my fucking messed-up head. “You closing up shop?” Bleu worked the late shift tonight. We switched off every other Friday. “You want to meet for a drink?” I turned around, hopeful, and headed back in the way we’d come.
“I think you need to get down here, bro.” He paused for a second, like he fumbled the phone or something. “That chick you inked earlier is back, and she doesn’t look good.”
“Evie?” What the actual fuck? I took off in a jog, Ollie playfully bouncing beside me, happy to be running.
“Yeah, she came in about five minutes ago, asking for you. I told her you were off tonight, and then all of sudden she started shaking.” There was another pause. “I don’t know if I should put a drink in her hand or call an ambulance, but either way she seems real fucking pissed.”
“No. No drinks.” I answered quickly. She most likely had too much in her system as it was. I knew she’d headed to that party the second she’d left me at dinner. So now there was no telling how bad off she was. “I’ll be there in three minutes.”
I made it to the shop in two. Evie wasn’t my problem, and maybe if I reminded myself of that every thirty seconds it would finally fucking sink in. Until that happened, though, I’d make sure she didn’t slip into a damn coma.
“Hey. What’s going on? Are you okay?” I hated how worried I was. I hated the fear in my voice. I’d spent one night with this chick. One fucking night two damn years ago. Why was I instantly so tangled up in her like no time had passed at all? Like I hadn’t woken up to an empty bed and a goodbye note?
Evie stood, her face pale and her eyes dark but hard. “Am I okay? Well. I was okay.” She threw her hands in the air, her thin arms swinging wildly. “Before I walked into this godforsaken tattoo parlor, I was doing just fucking fine. I had everything under control. I had a system. And it worked.” I took a step toward her, and she backed away, shaking her head. “I was fine. I was fucking fine.” Her voice cracked and my heart followed suit. “But then I came in here, and I saw you. And you saw me.”
I knew what she meant. I didn’t simply recognize her; I looked at her. I saw all her fears and faults, all her shortcomings, all her lies, and all her suppressed truths. I saw everything that was wrong in her life, and I brought it to light. And in doing that, I’d fucked her up. She was a shaking hot mess in my tattoo parlor, and she was angry at me. I’d crumbled her perfectly constructed persona and she wanted me to pay. I could see it in her eyes. There were tears, but behind them, there was fucking fire.
Well. Bring it on, little bird.
“It’s my fault, right? You’re here to tear me a new asshole because I refused to let you get away with your rock and roll act. Because I saw what a goddamn mess you’ve turned into.”
“Fuck you.”
“No, princess. Fuck you.” We were toe to toe now, neither of us yielding.
“Nicky, man, come on give her—”
I cut my eyes to Bleu, silencing him with a glare. I had Evie right where I wanted her, and she had no idea. “Your disaster of a life is not my fault. It’s yours. You chose to let this world change you. You chose to medicate yourself into a damn-near stupor. If I cared, even at all, I’d call your parents and tell them to come get your skinny ass.”
That’s what did it; the mere mention of her parents is what broke her. I had an inkling it might. I remember the way she talked about her family, how she and her cousins kept their parents in the dark about every negative thing in their lives. Here in Dallas she could hide how fucked up things had become. She could put a smile on when she Facetimed them, she could email them her good grades and her good deeds. But in person, there would be no denying how bad off she really was.
I caught her when she collapsed, easily lifting her into my arms. “There we go, little bird.” I closed my eyes for a brief second, inhaling her scent. The oranges were still there, but so was the vodka. I whispered against her hair, “Now you can rest.”
“Dude. What the actual fuck just happened?” Bleu was standing to the side, holding a squirming Ollie while she showered his hands with doggie kisses. “Who screams at an upset chick like that, bro?”
“I do, apparently.” I shifted her in my arms. “She’s high as a fucking kite. She needed to crash and I knew if I got her worked up enough, she would.”
“Are you sure she doesn’t need to go to the hospital? Maybe have her stomach pumped?” He released his hold on Ollie and the dog immediately came over to me and leaned against my leg, sniffing at the sleeping girl in my arms.
“It’s too late to pump her stomach. I assume, since she wasn’t coming down well, that she’s out of whatever pain pill she typically takes.” I headed toward the door, Evie in my arms and Ollie trailing obediently behind me. “I’m not coming in the rest of the weekend. If Hawkins can’t cover, close up shop.” I’d call Waylon and let him know what was going on. This location of Revival Ink belonged to me, and I paid him back monthly for it. It was mine to run as I saw fit, but I felt like I owed him an explanation. And to be honest, I needed his advice. Waylon had lived a hell of a life, and something told me he’d know what to do.
***
“You’re a bit of a traitor, you know that? I thought chicks were supposed to be jealous of other chicks?” Ollie sent me a bored look and then closed her eyes again. “There is another woman in our bed. Why are you happy about it? I’m not even sure if I’m happy about it.” She didn’t even bother to open her eyes that time.
Evie had been asleep under my covers for about four hours now, and Ollie had been curled up beside her the whole time. I’d checked Evie’s pulse a few times and it seemed strong and steady. Her breathing was even and she didn’t have a fever. It was simply a bad crash. It made me wonder how many times this had happened before.
Probably not many. I was sure she had plenty of people willing to keep her supply of pills right where she needed it to be. Her damn cell had gone off so many times on the nightstand that eventually, I’d silenced it. Some dude named Collin had texted and called; she had some missed texts from a Maykin and a Chasity. I knew none of those people were her family members, so I didn’t bother making sure everything was okay. She wasn’t at the party, and she wasn’t at home. Either they were worried about her, or they were nosey AF. I didn’t trust any of her friends here in Dallas because every single one of them had let her sink into the half person she’d become.
They weren’t real friends.