Page 12 of Hush Money
That she’s too good for a life where she’s afraid in her own home.
I stroke the back of her hand with my thumb, and I look into her eyes.
“You’re going to leave him, Eve,” I say just above a whisper. Her eyes widen and flit up to mine. I feel her palm clamming up under mine.
“I…I can’t afford to leave him,” she says. “It’s not that?—”
“Whatever you need is yours,” I tell her, and she slips her hand out from under mine, shaking her head like a maniac.
“No. Absolutely not.” She stands up, wrapping her arms around her body and walking toward the huge windows that look out over the city. It’s rainy today, and despite the crisis she’s having, I just want to wrap her up and carry her to my bed, stay cooped up all day, and ignore any and all of the responsibilities that we both wish would vanish into thin air.
I stand slowly, walking leisurely toward her. I get closer until my chest is only an inch or two from her back. I lower my head down so my lips are next to her ear.
“I told you, Evie,” I whisper. “Even when you had him, you still had me. And you still do.”
EVIE
My heart is pounding so hard in my chest right now that I’m pretty sure I have completely forgotten how to breathe. It feels like my throat is closing every time I try to breathe in.
Tanner.
The drinking.
Keaton.
The money.
Him.
It all feels like way too much right now, and I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t know how to do anything. What Iwantto do is sink back into him. Let him hold me up. Let him carry me through this apartment and throw me onto that big ol’ bed of his like a rag doll.
But clearer heads must prevail.
In all the years I’ve known him, I have prided myself on being the one person in his life who didn’t care about who he was or what he had to offer. It was always a joke, even when we were kids, that I would never let him pay for anything. I’d find places for us to hang out where we would be the least likely to be seen. Where no one would realize who he was. Where we could justbe.
So this? Him suggesting I let him fund mydivorce?And ten years after I’m pretty sure I ripped his heart out of his chest, no less.
No.
I won’t do it.
I can’t do it.
I wrap my arms tighter around my body. But when he steps even closer and I feel his warmth, all thatindependent womanstuff goes to shit. Because I let myself lean back on him, and he slowly snakes his arms around me.
“You have whatever you need,” he says again, and I squeeze my eyes shut, shaking my head back and forth on his chest.
“No,” I say again.
But he just squeezes me tighter.
“Yes,” he fights back.
“Why?” I ask after a moment. When he doesn’t answer, I turn so we’re face to face. “Why would you even…why are you doing this?” He reaches out and locks our hands together again.
“Because you deserve everything you want in life, Evie. And what I saw last night…that can’t be it.”
I wriggle free from his grasp and take a few steps.
