Page 27 of Chance
“You aren’t the boss of me,” she hissed, poking me in the chest.
“Say it,” I repeated, then whispered, “Please, say it.”
“I—”
Her phone started going crazy again at the same time there was a loud knock on the door.“Evie?Evie, open up.It’s River.”
My head snapped up at the sound of River’s voice, hearing a note of urgency.Evie pushed me away, scrambling across the room, grabbing her phone off the couch on her way to the door.“What’s up?”she greeted, throwing the door open.
River’s green gaze skated from Evie to me as I came up behind her.Narrowing her eyes, she shifted them back to my girl.“We’ve all been trying to reach you.Your sister had a medical emergency.I came straight here as soon as Mila called me.Everly is being rushed to the emergency room.”
Evie made a choked noise, stumbling forward.“What?Oh my God!Is she okay?”She started trembling.“No, of course she’s not okay.She’s in the freaking hospital.I have to go.She needs me.”
I grabbed her around the waist when she would have pushed past River.“Baby, go get dressed.I’ll drive you.”
With a yelp, she looked down at herself, realizing for the first time what she was wearing—and what she wasn’t.Pink flooded her face, and she ducked under my arm before running into the bedroom.
River stepped back, her eyes still narrowed to slits on me.“You got this?”
“I have her,” I confirmed.“Everly going to be okay?”
“Sammy didn’t give me many details.All I know is that she was helping Abi, Jos, and Mila get her to the hospital.”Her jaw went tight, and she blew out a breath.“There may have been something mentioned about your mother being involved.”
“Meaning?”I gritted out, already knowing I wasn’t going to like what she said.
“Meaning Rory’s name was mentioned.That’s all.I’ve got my suspicions, but that’s it.”She took another step back.“My only suggestion is for you to hurry and get over there.”
“Fuck.”
Evie
Despite having spentsome time in a hospital following my attempted self-deletion, I had never actually seen an emergency room in real life before.Medical dramas and movies made it seem like a nightmare, and that was exactly what I found myself walking into when I ran into the waiting room, desperate to get to my sister.
There were people coughing and hacking, and a teenager was vomiting into a blue bag.A guy in dusty work clothes had a dirty cloth wrapped around his entire right hand, quiet and pale as he waited, sweat dotting his brow.It was the crowd gathered in one corner that drew and held my attention, however.Mila was standing with Sammy, River, and two other women I didn’t recognize.
One of the women, a smaller blond, stood a little behind River and Sammy, phone in hand, typing something and then putting it to her ear.Frustrated, she pulled it away and went back to typing.She was older, close to the same age as the other woman I didn’t know who was speaking in a hushed, but obviously angry tone to Mila that I couldn’t hear.
After stopping to tell me about my sister, River must have come straight to the hospital.I’d rushed to wash my face and thrown on underwear, pants, and shoes.Fear had been choking me from the moment I’d heard something was wrong with my twin.By the time I was dressed, I was openly crying and shaking so hard I didn’t know how I was going to drive.
That basic skill was still fairly new to me.Evy had taught me right after I was released from the hospital back in June, but it wasn’t like I’d had to master it to get a driver’s license.Evy pretended to be me and took both the written and assessment tests for me.Driving down from Seattle, we’d taken all back roads with our Jeeps so I wasn’t overwhelmed by the heavy traffic of the interstate.
Chance put me in his truck before I could even turn toward my Jeep.I only struggled a little before giving in, knowing it was the quickest and safest way to get to my sister.That his nearness calmed a little of my growing panic wasn’t something I was ready to acknowledge.I needed to see for myself that Evy was okay before I even let myself think about all the things going on with Chance and me.
As I rushed over to the group, some of the conversation the other woman was having with Mila registered.“I’m going to press charges.”
“You go ahead and call Ben, Rory.But I’m going to give him full access to the video footage in my shop.”
The other woman scoffed, tossing her strawberry-blond curls out of her face.“I didn’t do anything to that girl but try to talk to her.”
“Bullshit.You walked into my store with the intent to intimidate Everly, thinking she was Evie.Your plan was to warn her to leave Chance alone, to scare her off.The only reason you didn’t accomplish that was because Jos showed up with Sammy and Abi.”Mila pushed into the other woman’s personal space.“That didn’t stop you from calling her a whore, though, did it?”
As I came to a halt a few feet away from them, several things registered at once.One, Rory was the name of Chance’s mom.Two, this woman had gone into my sister’s place of work and called her a whore.And three, she’d done it thinking Evy was me.
And what the heck was that about pressing charges?As in Rory was going to try to get my sister in trouble with the cops?
Fury like I’d never felt in my life flooded through me, colliding with every protective instinct I possessed where my twin was concerned.No one was going to hurt my sister as long as I was still breathing.
“Are you the reason Evy is here?”I demanded, pushing myself between Mila and Rory, getting in the other woman’s face.It didn’t matter that I had zero facts.
