Chapter 36
RHETT
I’ve wasted so much time trying to fill the hole in my chest with meaningless sex. Turns out it wasn’t a hole. It’s a slot where Evie fits in perfectly.
Tomorrow she’s moving in with her dad. The three of us are having a goodbye dinner tonight. It was Evie’s idea, and Hayden and I are just going along with it.
That’s something I’m still getting used to – calling Evie’s dad by his first name.
I smile when I park my car outside Evie’s building and see Hayden and Evie getting out of his car. They notice me too and wait for me to catch up with them.
“Good, you’re just in time,” Evie says as she presses a quick kiss to my lips and shoves a bag into my arms.
She rushes into the building ahead of us, and before I can follow, Hayden says, “Hold up.” He waits for Evie to be out of hearing distance before he continues, “It’s Evie’s birthday in two weeks.”
“Yeah, I wanted to ask if you’ve made plans.”
“We come from different worlds, and it’s time they meet. Your group of friends and my team. Evie deserves to have everyone celebrate her birthday with her.”
“I can arrange that. What do –” A chill races down my spine and my eyes lock with Hayden’s.
“Evie,” he breathes as he breaks out into a sprint.
Halfway up the stair, we can hear her screaming.
“Daddy!”
“Rhett!”
My heart is beating out of my chest by the time we reach her apartment. I don’t know what I expected but seeing Evie standing on the couch with a frying pan in her hands is definitely not it.
She glares at something on the other side of the couch and figuring it’s a mouse, I move closer.
Hayden walks toward Evie as I head to see what has her cornered.
“Daddy,” she says as she drops the pan and throws her arms around him. She clings to him like a spider monkey and as I get closer the reason for Evie’s strange behavior groans.
“I didn’t know he was in here. He scared me, so I whacked him with the pan I was holding. Did I kill him?”
“Who the fuck are you?” I growl at the guy who’s holding his hand to a bleeding spot on his head.
Hayden sets Evie down on her feet and growls, “Stay right here.” He stalks around the couch and grabs hold of the guy's neck, hauling him into the air.
“Who is he?” Hayden asks Evie.
She shrugs and looking a little guilty she whispers, “A mistake. In my defense, I tried to fix the mistake once I knew better.”
I watch the interaction with fascination, not worried about the mistake that’s being strangled by Hayden.
“That’s why I’m here, Evie. Do me a favor?” Hayden waits for her to nod before he continues. “Go to your room and close the door.” His eyes flick to the guy, and his eyes turn to murder. “Daddy will take care of the mistake, and I don’t want you to witness it.”
We both watch Evie walk to her room. She glances at us from over her shoulder, and mouths the word, “Sorry.”
Before she closes the door, she says, “Don’t kill him. I don’t want to have to forfeit my deposit on this place because there are bloodstains on the carpet and walls.”
“Evie. The door,” Hayden says giving her a pointed look.
“Yes, Daddy.” She shuts it quickly.
I look back to the guy who’s becoming more lucid.
“Rhett,” Hayden says as he drops the guy back onto the floor.
“Yeah.”
“You want to learn a neat trick?” Hayden asks as he crouches down by the guys head.
“Sure.”
The guy finally snaps out of the daze Evie knocked him into and seeing Hayden’s threatening face, his eyes widen.
“Do me a favor,” Hayden says, never taking his eyes from the guy. “Grab a spoon from the kitchen.”
I walk to the kitchen and open the drawer.
“You want the big spoon or little spoon?” I call back to him.
“Big spoon.”
“That would’ve been my choice as well,” I say as I bring the spoon back to Hayden and hand it to him.
The guy tries to sit up, but Hayden’s hand slams into his throat and pins him back against the floor. With his free hand, he brings the spoon to the guys left eye socket.
“What the fuck are you doing in my daughter’s apartment?”
A garbled string of words fly out of the guy's mouth.
“Did you understand any of that?” Hayden asks.
“Didn’t make a lick of sense to me.”
I cross my arms over my chest.
Hayden starts to apply pressure by pressing the spoon under the guy's eyelid.
“Dude you better talk,” I warn him.
“I used to date her,” he screams. “Stop! Please stop. I just wanted to scare her. I wouldn’t have hurt her.”
“Your name,” Hayden hisses.
“Kyle.”
“Well, Kyle, today’s your lucky day. Not only will I allow you to keep your eye, but I’ll also call you a cab.”
I frown at this.
“Can’t we hurt him a little bit?” I ask, wanting to make him bleed for trying to attack Evie.
Hayden pulls the guy to his feet.
“Rhett, because I like you, I’ll let you throw a few punches while I call the cab. How does that sound?”
“Like a deal, I can’t pass up,” I growl as I grab hold of Kyle and the second Hayden steps back, my fist connects with Kyle’s jaw.
Kyle’s grunt makes Evie call out from behind the door. “No blood on my carpet!”
“Don’t worry, babe,” I yell back as I deliver another blow to the fuckers face, “I got this!”
I’m disappointed when Kyle passes out after the third blow. I let him drop to the floor.
Hayden shakes his head while staring down at Kyle.
“You’ve got a good, solid punch,” he says.
“Thanks,” I say, grinning at the compliment.
“Next time hit a little softer. Then you can torture them for longer.”
“I’ll remember that.” I point to his phone. “Who did you call?”
“Cops. That reminds me.” He rushes to the bedroom and opens the door, “You can come out now.”
Evie comes out, and the second she sees the blood, her hands fly to her hips, and she scowls at me.
“You said you got this,” she says.
“I do. I’ll get a cleaning company out.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Evie, when the cops get here, you’ll need to give a statement. The basic thing we’re all going with is that we walked in, the idiot attacked Evie, and after a fight broke out, we managed to subdue him.”
When the police show up, Kyle is already conscious again. We each give our statements while they arrest him.
By the time things calm down and they haul Kyle out of the apartment, it’s too late to start cooking dinner.
“I vote that we order in,” I say as I pick up the bag I set down on the table earlier.
“I second that,” Hayden says.
“I’m outvoted, not that I mind,” Evie grins.
We order pizza, and while we’re eating, we go over the details for the next day.