Page 29 of Reid
“Ham or turkey, Reid?”Evie called from the kitchen.
“Let me help you.”I started to join her, but she pointed the knife she held in her hand at me, shaking her head.I immediately held up my hands in surrender.“Okay, then.Both if you have it.”
Hiding her grin behind her glass, Everly patted the cushion beside her.Not needing another invitation, I dropped down close enough to snuggle into her.She rested her head on my shoulder, her eyes drifting closed with a soft little sigh.Kissing her forehead, I took her glass from her in case she fell asleep.
A sharp knock on the front door had her head jerking up and Evie yelping in surprise from the kitchen.I kissed Everly again and shot Evie a look that asked if she was okay, but her eyes were on the door as she sucked her index finger into her mouth.She must have cut it while she was slicing tomatoes.
Another knock came, followed by the door opening without anyone giving permission.I wasn’t surprised to see Chance walk in.He’d been pissed about something when we’d left the hospital earlier, but Evie wouldn’t even look at him as she’d climbed into the back seat of my truck.
“We need to talk, peaches,” he gritted out.“Now.”
She dropped her hand to grip the counter as she glared at him.“You don’t get to walk in here and make demands.I don’t care if you do own this building, we pay rent like everyone else, and that makes this our home.”
His face darkened.“Peaches?—”
“You didn’t even ask if my sister was okay.”
“Is your sister feeling better?”he amended.
“She’s right there, Chance.Ask her yourself.”Evie picked up the knife again and started chopping a bell pepper.I settled into the couch a little deeper, getting comfortable to enjoy the show the two of them were putting on.No woman outside of our family had ever put my cousin in his place before.Being an asshole attracted the opposite sex like moths to a flame, and he’d always been eager to take whatever women were ready and willing to offer, but no one had ever lasted past a single night.He never had girlfriends, only hookups.With Evie, however, everything was different.He didn’t know what to do with her and all the emotions she had unleashed in him.
Jaw turning to granite, he reluctantly shifted his gaze from her to the couch.I lifted my brows at him, and he muttered a curse under his breath before flicking his eyes over Everly for less than a second.“How are you feeling, Everly?”
“Much better, thank you for asking.”Everly glanced from him to her sister and back again.I could feel the tension radiating off Chance in waves, while, from the kitchen, all I got was coldness.“We’re about to have a light dinner.Evie is making sandwiches.Would you like to join us?”
I wasn’t sure who was more surprised by the invitation, my cousin or me.
“Love to,” Chance said at the same time Evie made a cute, growling noise.
“He’s busy.”
He flinched at the frost in her tone.“Peaches.”
“Thanks for stopping by to check on Evy, but my sister is tired.Bye.”She gave him one more hard look before turning her back on him to take plates out of the cabinet.
“Please, just talk to me.”
“Go talk to your mother,” she spat at him over her shoulder.
Ah, shit.Apparently, I’d missed something, and it obviously involved Rory.At the hospital, I had been so focused on Everly, nothing else had penetrated.Not that I was surprised Rory was causing trouble.I loved my aunt, but there wasn’t a more overprotective mother than she.It was borderline unhealthy and something that she and Matt had always argued over.Even with Chance being in his thirties, she was like a freaking bulldozer, moving anything she considered detrimental to her son’s happiness out of the way before it could touch him.For all the complaining she’d done over her son not settling down, now that he was interested in someone for more than a quick fuck, she didn’t appear to be thrilled about the possibility.
But then again, she’d already found the person she thought Chance should be with.
“Fuck,” he groaned, squeezing the back of his neck in frustration.“Don’t be like that.Ma doesn’t know you yet.Once she does, she’ll come around.”
“Yeah, no.I’m not subjecting myself to that ugliness.”She slammed the plates down on the counter hard enough to crack them, causing Everly to jump.“Sorry if I have more self-respect than the other whores you fuck around with.”
“Christ, Evie.You have to give me a chance to?—”
“I don’t owe you anything, least of all a chance to let your mother degrade me more than she already has.It’s not worth it.”She stared right at him, her eyes cold.“You aren’t worth it.”
“Evie,” Everly whispered, shaking her head as if to warn her sister.
But whatever she was trying to relay to the other woman was lost on me because I was too caught off guard by the way Chance shut down right before my eyes.His throat worked, his hands flexing at his sides.
“What?You didn’t expect me to have a backbone?”she demanded.“No one expected the broken girl to stick up for herself.Well, joke’s on you, because I’m done letting people stomp on my heart.Just because I once tried to kill myself doesn’t mean I don’t love myself enough now to demand that the people in my life treat me with basic human decency.The fact that you would let your mom talk about me like that without speaking up is all I need to know about you, Chance Reid.”
It hit me at the same time it did him.Those words that caused Everly to shudder had the blood draining from my cousin’s face.Evie had tried to take her own life.It felt like a physical blow that knocked the air out of me.My heart was with Everly—I had no doubt about that—but she was my sweetness’s sister.I cared about Evie because she was important to the woman who owned my heart.
