Ever: The Ever Trilogy, Book One (Volume 1) (16 page)

Toby looked down at me; his brow creased in alarm.

“Meet Jessie’s mom,” I whispered, not taking my eyes off the approaching figures.

Jessie made her way outside and stood next to me, eyes narrowed and defiant, showing only a hint of fear behind them. Toby protectively positioned himself in front of us. My mom and dad were walking out the front door and soon joined us on the lawn.

“Susan, honey, is everything okay?” My mom’s voice: ever calm and collected, even in such moments of stress. Her hands were up in front of her in an almost calming, surrendering stance, as she tried to diffuse the strange situation.

“Oh, don’t you worry about her,” the guy spat as he motioned toward Jessie’s mom. “She’s just fine, ain’t ‘cha, honey?”

“Ye—yes, but … let’s just go, okay?” Her words were slurred, of course, and her large travel cup of
who-knows-what
sloshed around in her hand.

“Mom, please. Just go. I’m staying here tonight.”

Susan looked at Jessie with pain in her eyes and then looked back at her boyfriend.

“Please, Roy, let’s go home. I’ve got some frozen pizzas—”

“I don’t want no god dammed frozen pizzas. Your girl here needs to know … I don’t take too kindly to people disrespectin’ me. This here’s a lesson only I can teach. She needs to learn respect like you had to, honey.” He licked his lips, reaching for his waist. As I watched him unbuckle his belt, my eyes widened and my heart rate picked up.
Oh my
god. He’s not actually going to … .

Toby stepped away from us, his shoulders rigid, and his fists clenched tightly.

“Oh, look at this, Susie, a little hero. What’cha gonna do, hero?”

“It’s time for you to go. You don’t want to cause any trouble.” Toby’s body was tense, and his voice was strong with an edge to it I hadn’t heard before. But it was obvious that this guy wasn’t about to back down.

“Oh, don’t I? Don’t I want to cause any trouble?” He exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke in Toby’s face, and I swear Toby was just seconds away from hitting him. But instead, he just cocked his head and continued standing in that protective stance between us and Susan’s boyfriend.

“It’s time for you to go. I won’t ask again.”

My dad was standing next to Toby now, and I have to admit, he wasn’t nearly as intimidating with his glasses and his hunched over shoulders from so many years in front of a computer. But I was beyond proud of him anyway.

“Well, look at this. You gonna fight me too, old man? I just came for what’s mine.” He looked past my dad and Toby at Jessie standing next to me. “C’mere, you little bitch. Daddy wants to teach you a lesson.”

My dad and Toby were both ready to fly off the handle after Roy’s latest remarks, but somehow, Jessie managed to push past them, venom and rage shooting out of her like sparks.

“
You
are
not
my
daddy
, you disgusting piece of trash.” Jessie’s voice was slow and deliberate, anger emphasizing each syllable, and her pointer finger poking Roy’s chest with each word. Then she pointed her finger in Susan’s direction without taking her eyes off Roy. “
She
is
barely
my mother, and
you
are just some
nasty
thing she picked up in some
nasty
bar.”

Her hands clenched into tight fists and dropped to her sides. I watched her take a deep breath, and time slowed to a crawl as I watched what happened next.

“Oh! Get your hands
off
me—” Jessie’s words were cut off as her mom’s boyfriend reached out and grabbed her arm with one hand, punching her hard across the face with the other.

Everything was a blur after that. My mom and I were down on the ground, helping Jessie up and trying to get her inside the house. Jessie’s nose was bleeding, and tears poured from her wide eyes. My dad was yelling something to us, but I couldn’t tell what it was over the drunken sobs coming from Susan. Susan, who didn’t rush to her daughter’s side, but instead just stood by the truck, wailing and screaming indecipherably.

As we headed for the door, I looked back in time to see Toby dodge a swing from Susan’s boyfriend, quickly responding with a punch of his own. Clearly having the upper hand, and not at all hindered by alcohol, Toby’s fist connected to its target with a loud
crack!
Whether Roy was hit hard enough to go flying, or his drunken state made him clumsy, Susan’s boyfriend flew back into the truck and crumpled into a heap on the driveway, unconscious.

My dad grabbed Toby, pulling him back toward the house.

Susan ran to her boyfriend’s side, trying to rouse him from his slumber.

“Roy! Honey, honey!
Get up,
baby! Oh my God! What is
wrong
with you people?” Susan shrieked at us. “Look what you’ve done to him!”

As if it was our fault.

As if we were the ones who just showed up on
her
doorstep looking for trouble.

She was more concerned about the asshole who just hit Jessie than she was about Jessie. I was once again disgusted and amazed by this sorry excuse for a woman. This sorry excuse for a mother.

She doesn’t deserve Jessie.

B
y Friday afternoon, Jessie’s black eye was on the mend, though no amount of makeup could truly cover up the strange yellow tint of her healing skin. After a long discussion with my parents Sunday night, Jessie had insisted that they not call the police and had convinced my mom and dad that she didn’t want to press charges against her mom’s boyfriend. Reluctantly they agreed, but they went to have a chat with Susan first thing that next morning. Once Susan sobered up, she was distraught over the situation and swore that she would never see that man again. Yeah. I guessed we’d just have to see if her word was as good as her choice in men.

Toby had been out of town since Monday morning, so I could barely get through the afternoon, knowing I would see him again soon. I couldn’t help myself—I kept checking the clock and looking over at the fence between our backyards in anticipation.

Jessie and I were lounging in my patio chairs, enjoying the sunshine, looking through newspapers, magazines, and the Pennysaver. Since we had decided not to live on campus, we were trying to find the
best
apartment for the
least
amount of money—which could be a crapshoot in Los Angeles.

Jessie paused to look at me, a question in her eyes.

“What is it, Jess? I know that look.”

“Well, you know, Ever”—she closed the Apartment Guide, briefly glancing over to the fence before turning her full attention to me—”you never really tell me anything about Toby.”

“What? What do you mean? Of course I do.”

“No, actually you don’t. I mean, sure, you talk about Toby
all
the time—which tells me how head over heels you are. And the way he stood up for me Sunday night shows how
chivalrous
he is, which totally makes me love him … but you never actually tell me anything
about
him. But he seems to be away a lot, and”—she paused, and I could tell she was trying not to sound
too
concerned, but I knew she wasn’t happy about how frequently Toby was absent from my life—”well, you know, you don’t tell me much. Like who he is, what he does, what he likes, et cetera.”

An image of Toby standing over Frankie’s lifeless body flashed through my mind. I shuddered and pushed it aside. After how amazing he’d been on Jessie’s behalf Sunday night, I’d told myself I wasn’t going to dwell on my silly nightmare.

So much blood. Frankie’s blood.

I couldn’t possibly tell her that I didn’t actually know anything about Toby, so I tried to recall everything I did know.

“He’s twenty-two.”

“Wow, that’s really unique and shocking, Ev. You’ve overloaded me with information.”

Okay, um …
“He likes the Black Keys.”

“Well, that’s easy enough. Doesn’t
everybody
like the Black Keys?”

“Does Greg?” I already knew he didn’t from Jessie’s very first email about him. She had been shocked and traumatized that
the one
didn’t like her favorite band.
That’s it,
she’d typed,
I can never see him again!

She’d gotten over that
real
fast.

“Well, well, touché Ever, you do have a point. Okay, so he has stellar taste in music, cars, and he likes black as much as you do. Maybe even
more
than you do.” She made a disgusted face and scrunched up her nose.

“He works with his dad. That’s why he’s away so much.”

“Oh geez, Ever, I
know
that. Tell me something I don’t know. I can’t imagine he’s as mysterious as he seems. That’s so cliché.”

I looked down at my hands, trying to think of all the things I knew about Toby. I felt strange—unable to recall more than what was already common knowledge. How could I be so into someone I hardly knew?

So much blood.

“Dammit!”

“What? Geez, Ev, relax.”

I looked up at Jessie, realizing I’d cussed out loud and trying to figure out a way to explain why.
Shoot.
I didn’t know what to say.

“Well then, it seems you need me. Don’t worry, Ev. That’s what best friends are for. I’ll investigate Toby, and you can investigate Greg! Ooh, this will be so much fun! And Greg totally wants to meet you!” She paused, looking off into the distance briefly. “Tonight. We’ll meet up tonight. Sound good?”

“Wait, Jess, I don’t know what Toby has planned tonight so—”

“Oh, Ever,
call
him, silly! Tell him that your very best friend in the whole wide
world
wants to hang out with him. I’m sure he’ll understand. And who knows, maybe he and Greg will hit it off and become best friends, too. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?”

As she gathered her copies of our apartment hunting materials and was getting ready to leave, she added, “Meet us at the Block, at … Fridays? I could totally go for some Green Bean Fries. Say, what, like five o’clock?”

She kissed me on the cheek and was out the door, clearly not waiting for an answer.

I hadn’t even talked to Toby since he’d gotten back, so I had no idea what we were doing yet. I hoped he didn’t have anything planned because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get out of a double date with Jessie and Greg now that she’d set her mind to it.

I headed inside to my room and picked up the phone on my desk to call his cell.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hey.” I felt myself blushing. I explained the situation to him, and he reminded me that our date was
my
choice tonight. That part out of the way, I figured I should give him a heads up about the best friend inquisition he was about to experience so he could mentally prepare himself.

He just laughed. “Okay, sounds good.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I can cancel—”

“You make it sound like she’s going to attack me or something.”

“Well … .”

“Right. I can’t imagine someone who dresses like a cotton candy machine could pose much of a threat, but I’ll take my chances.”

I was relieved he was so agreeable to the idea of a double date. I was looking forward to meeting the guy who finally got Jessie to commit to something serious. I assumed he must be pretty special. I looked at the clock and realized I was running out of time, so I jumped in the shower and got ready as quickly as possible.

When I stepped outside that evening, I noticed that Toby wasn’t waiting for me as he usually was.
Ha! I’m finally ready before him!
A silly victory, yes, but I allowed myself to celebrate. Until I looked at my watch and realized that I was actually about twenty whole minutes early.
What?
How had I managed that? I made a mental note to check the clock in my bedroom for accuracy when I got back later.

I crossed over our two yards with a cocky smile on my face. Ridiculously early or not, I was just happy I wasn’t late for once. I reached up to knock but stopped when I heard his father’s shouting coming from inside. My hand was suspended in the air, just inches away from the door. I knew I should either knock or go back to my own house and pretend I wasn’t twenty minutes early for our date, but I couldn’t help myself. I listened.
I’m a terrible person.

”You are interfering, Tobias! You have a job to do! Or have you forgotten?”

“I’m well aware of that fact, Ted, you don’t let me forget—”

”You are not some ridiculous lovesick
boy
, Tobias. You are wasting precious time. Can you even imagine the repercussions that could come of this little romance?”

Romance? Are they talking about me?

Curiosity killed the cat
, I chided myself.
Go home, Ever. This is none of your business.
But my feet didn’t move, and I didn’t turn away.

“She is getting in the way of our priorities.”

“
Our
priorities, Ted? Or
your
priorities?”

“It’s time to end it. I’ve allowed this silliness to go on for too long already. You were supposed to get yourself inside her
house
… .”