Page 116 of Stolen Fate

Evelyn

I had fallen for him.

What started as a slow, hesitant embarkment of the relationship turned hard and passionate so quickly, I was left to wonder when it had started.

Was it during our first kiss?

Or our first time together?

Or perhaps, it was that first time he smiled at me and I thought things would always be okay as long as he was smiling at me like that.

I didn’t know.

And I didn’t care.

Because for the first time in six long years, I was happy. And I was fucking terrified about it.

Happiness was such a fragile thing, and I didn’t know how to hold onto it, or even if I should.

I had to tell Jace.

I had to tell him what happened six years ago and show him all of my broken pieces in the hopes he wouldn’t leave because of it—because if I thought the events of six years ago had broken me, Jace and Elliot leaving might just be the thing to shatter me completely.

I laid in bed and stared up at my ceiling just as the morning sun had started to peek through. I didn’t have a lot of time to stare at the ceiling and not do anything. I had maybe an hour, tops, before I had to wake Elliot for school.

He was doing so well. It had been three days since Jensen’s visit, and three days since Elliot had come into my room.

A part of me missed having his warm body pressed against me at night so that I could protect him from all the bad stuff in the world, but another, bigger part of me was glad to see the little boy I fell in love with getting back to his boisterous, happy self once more.

My phone ringing brought me out of my musing, and I frowned when I caught sight of Ethan’s name. My heart pounded against my chest. I hadn’t gotten any calls from Ethan since I moved to New York, but it probably had to do with all the text messages he sent that went unanswered.

I had wanted to heal, and as horrible as it sounded to say it, I didn’t think I could heal unless I temporarily cut off all contact from Ethan for the time being.

And it had helped so far.

Only now he was calling me at almost six o’clock in the morning, and I couldn’t think of a reason unless there was some sort of emergency. What if something had happened to our dad?

I picked up on the third ring and brought the phone to my ear. “Hello? Ethan? Is everything okay?”

“Ah, sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to worry you,” Ethan said, his voice soft and hesitant.

“Why are you calling at this time? Is Dad okay?”

“Yes. Dad is fine. Although Emilia has been bugging me about getting Dad and Alice together. Do you know anything about that?”

I rolled my eyes, but I was grinning. Yes, that sounded like Emilia. She obviously hadn’t given up on the idea of them together. “She’s worried about Dad,” I said.

“She’s a pain in my ass.”

“Hey! I heard that!” My little sister’s familiar high-pitched voice came out from the background.

“You guys are up early,” I said.

“Yeah. I’m taking the little brat hiking.”

“Oh, that sounds fun,” I responded, though there was an ache in my chest. I didn’t know why I was feeling that way, but the fact that everyone was moving on with their lives, and with each other, while I was so far away, left an empty feeling inside of me that I couldn’t get rid of.

I knew I had been the one to put that distance between us, both physically and otherwise, but it still didn’t help.

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