Chapter 44
Raphael
Eva unlatches the lock on the back gate and steps fearlessly into the yard. I shadow her closely, protectively, ready to defend her but hoping to god I don't have to. These bastards better take it easy on my girl.
Brooks is sitting on the patio and glances over at us from over the top of his reading glasses. His nostrils flare as though he's sniffling rotten fish.
He brings his gaze back to the Soduku puzzle in his hands. "Silver, you're trespassing on private property," he warns without even granting me the courtesy of making eye contact. "I may have to exercise my second amendment right if you come any closer."
My heart patters at the threat even though I know that Bob hasn’t touched a gun since he left the military. But sometimes finding out that your daughter is involved with your best friend can drive a man to becoming a fan of firearms. You just never know with people these days.
"Brooks, we need to talk," I say stepping up to the side of the patio. He doesn't look at me. He just keeps his focus on his puzzle. "This has gone on for long enough. We need to have a man-to-man."
He picks up his phone and taps at a few buttons. He sneers at me as he brings the gadget to his face. "Laurie, would you be a sweetheart and bring me the gun. We have an intruder in our backyard." He listens and nods solemnly as Laurie’s high-pitched interrogations spill out of the receiver. I glance over my shoulder just as she peers out through the kitchen window.
"Oh daddy, stop it." Eva marches straight up to him and snatches the phone from his hands. She ends the call and slams the phone onto the table.
"Have you lost your mind, girl?" Brooks pushes to his feet and looks down at her with a deep furrow to his brow.
I march up onto the patio, stepping in between them. "We're here to deal with this situation. Head on. Like adults. Please don't make this difficult."
"Eva – I need this man off of my property!" he roars, eyeing his daughter. "And unless you're here to tell me that you're ending this disgusting relationship, you need to leave too!"
Laurie comes rushing across the patio. Her hand falls to Eva's shoulder. "Sweetie, are you okay? Have you been eating? You look tired. You haven't been sleeping well, have you?" She inspects her daughter with motherly concern in her eyes.
Eva gives a little smile. "Mom – I'm fine. Really."
"Stop coddling her," Brooks rebukes his wife with a venomous stare. "Don't encourage this bullshit!"
"Be reasonable, Bob..." Laurie begs her stubborn man. "Let's just hear them out. Please."
Brooks is as red as a raspberry. "Reasonable? This is my baby girl! My best friend is sleeping with my baby girl!"
Fuck. This. Shit.
I'm done hiding. Done loving her in the shadows. She deserves a man who will stand on the mountaintop and proclaim his love for her for the whole world to hear. I'm that man. Fuck anybody who can't get on board with it.
I step right into his face. "She's more than just your baby girl! She's a woman! And I'm in love with her. I'd go to the ends of the earth for her. This isn't just about sex. I need her by my side. I need to be with her."
Brooks' hateful glare turns on me. "I don't give a fuck what you need. You're an old fucking pervert."
I take a deep breath. If it were up to me, I wouldn't even be here trying to make things right with this asshole but he's Eva's father and she loves him. He needs to grow the hell up and stop hiding behind his self-serving temper tantrums.
"What do you want for your daughter, Brooks? Do you want her to be happy? Do you want her to be with someone who loves her? Someone who would go to the ends of the earth for her, kill for her, die for her? Because I'd do all that for Evangeline. All that and more. You're not going to get in the way of the best thing that's ever happened to your daughter."
Laurie cries softly. "We trusted you, Raph. How could you do this? Our girl has her whole life ahead of her. You're stealing her future."
"Mom, you don't know what you're talking about," Eva shouts angrily. "Raph saved me in more ways than one."
"Oh, Eva..." Laurie reaches out to touch her daughter's cheek but Eva slinks out of her grasp.
"No – it's time that you and dad know the truth,” Eva says with hard-headed determination.
"You don't have to do this, Eva. You don't owe them an explanation." I brush a shiny lock of hair out of her face.
This will be hard for her. The whole reason she ended up at that auction was because she was afraid to face her parents and ask for their help when she ended up in trouble.
She shakes her head. "I have to. It's the only way they'll understand..."
“You don’t have to explain yourself, Eva.” I just want to save her from the storm of pain she’s about to willingly step into. Simon is behind bars where he will stay for a very long time (Daniel Trotten and the rest of my legal team in coordination with the FBI will make sure of it). There’s no risk of this mess going public. The FBI will keep her name out of the investigation and hearings. I have written guarantees assuring that. So she has no reason to tell her parents the truth.
"Understand what?" Brooks demands with a stomp.
Evangeline pulls in a deep breath. "Daddy, you're gonna want to sit down for this. And you may need to refill that scotch."
Slowly and without taking their eyes off of their daughter, Bob and Laurie sink into the lounge chairs next to each other.
Eva starts at the top, explaining to them how she racked up an astronomical debt with her modeling agency when she stopped booking enough modeling gigs to cover her expenses. She tells them that she chose to sell herself at an auction instead of facing their admonishment and reprimands. Laurie bursts into tears and by the time Eva gets to the part where I bought her to save her from the other buyers, Laurie looks like she might be in need of a sedative.
Eva's heart is breaking as she tells her parents the story, but my brave Kitten pushes through, until the part where I burst into her jewelry store yesterday right before Simon hurt her.
She crouches in front of her mother and they lock fingers, crying together. "He loves me, mom. Raphael loves me. Please tell me that you see that."
"Oh sweetheart..." Laurie nods, looking to her husband. "I think he does. I think that Raphael does love you..."
Bob is silent, his expression tight, his eyes dark. He sits there unmoving.
"Daddy, say something..."
He doesn't budge. He sits there, his whole body frozen aside from his twitching jaw.
Eva stands and goes right up to him. "Daddy!"
Still no response.
"What kind of man are you?" she spits out. "So what if Raph is your best friend? He's the man I love and to me, that's what matters most."
“Eva, don’t do this," I tell her sternly.
“Neither of you own me," she says defiantly. "I get to decide. Daddy, I don’t need your approval. I want to be with Raph. He wants to be with me.” She steps in front of me and wraps my arm around her waist. Her eyes are on her father the whole time, daring him to protest, to object to our relationship.
Bob finally stands. He approaches his daughter, grasping her by the shoulders. He speaks in a strained voice. “Eva do you have any idea what would have happened to you if…?” His admonishment trails off, smothered under the weight of his emotions.
“If Raph hadn’t been there to rescue me?” She gives him a hard look. “I don’t like to think of what would have happened if Raph hadn’t been there.”
He looks me in the eye, his lips pressed flat, his expression hard...And then, he sticks out a hand to me. "Thank you," he chokes out. "Thank you for saving my little girl."
Surprise warps my brain. I find myself taking his hand and shaking it. Eva looks up at me. When the surprise melts from her face, she’s absolutely beaming. Laurie pulls her away into an embrace just as Brooks collapses into me with a bear hug, thanking me profusely. Then he grabs Eva as Laurie and I exchange a squeeze.
I've got to say, it feels good to have reached some sort of common ground between us all. I love these people. They've been in my life forever. It's just that our relationship is changing now.
Bob's eyes are misty when he looks at me with an earnest expression. "I'm really sorry for being a dick, man."
I smirk at him. "I'd say we're even as long as I get to call you 'dad' when I marry Eva."
Laurie tsks, wrapping her arm around her husband's back. "Too soon, Raph. Too soon."
I tell him, "Better get used to it, because we're going to be one big, happy family. In the very near future." Eva laces her arm through mine and I kiss her on the forehead, not giving her parents another second to acclimate to our relationship.
Bob sighs. "You've always been family, Raph...I just never envisioned that my son-in-law would be six months older than me." He laughs ruefully. Then his face goes serious. "All jokes aside, if you hurt her, I'll kill you."
Pounding a fist into my chest, I say. "And I'd willingly accept my fate." With a sober face, I give him a guarantee. “I won’t hurt her. You have my word.” I look down at Eva nestled against my side. “And she has my heart.”
Her smile lights up the evening sky. All is well in the world.
"I feel like I owe you two dinner," Laurie says. "How does my special meatloaf sound?"
I groan inwardly, but hold on to my smile. "Sounds good to me." Eva titters into her hand.
Brooks leads the way across the patio, followed by Laurie. "Come on in, guys," he waves us inside. "I'll call Prescott and Annaleigh while Laurie gets started on the food."
Eva gives me an excited grin and squeezes my hand as we step into the house. And just like that, I know that everything we faced together was worth it.