Losing Eva (The Eva Series Book 2) (15 page)

“What are you doing?” she asked, yawning.

“I’m packing for you, sweetheart.” Petey said trying to smile.

“Why? Where am I going?” Carly asked trying to sit up. Her head hurt, and she winced in pain.

“You’re going to a hospital. You’re going to live there where they can take care of you better,” Lily said gently.

“Oh, James. What is wrong with me?”

Petey looked at Lily, his eyes wide.
Oh God. She thinks I’m James.
“James? Who is James?” Petey asked trying not to reveal the panic in his voice.

“My husband, of course, silly.” Carly said smiling. “I don’t want to go to the hospital. I want to stay here with my sister. I don’t want to leave Lily.”

Lily felt the tears welling up in her eyes. “This will be best for all of us, Carly. The hospital will be able to take care of you best. I don’t want you to leave, either.”

“Carly? Who is Carly? I’m Ellie.”

ADAM WAS HUNG OVER.
Again.

The day in court to finalize the divorce was hard. It was much harder than he thought it would be. He almost didn’t go.
If I don’t go, maybe it won’t be real. If I don’t go, I can still change my mind. If I don’t go, maybe I will wake up tomorrow and it’ll all be a dream and Sophie won’t be dead.

When he finally did arrive in court, he was fifteen minutes late and smelled like gin and beer. The judge shook her head, but the process was short and painless. And then they were divorced.

It was easier than Adam thought it would be. No sobbing, no tearful good-byes. It was simple and short, and when it was over, it was over. It was very anticlimactic. And Adam felt let down, disappointed. He wanted Brynn to cry, he wanted Brynn to throw herself on the ground and beg him to reconsider. He wanted to see her suffer as he was suffering.

When it was done, he glared hard at her and left the courthouse, walking right into the closest bar. He didn’t care that it was eleven in the morning. He didn’t care that he was wearing the same clothes he had worn the night before.

After six Beefeater and tonics with lime, he felt much better. He felt clearer. The bartender was getting ready to cut him off, but Adam was tipping so well, he thought a few more might be fine.

A pretty young redhead sat down on the bar stool next to Adam, and he pretended not to notice.

“I’ll have a Bloody Mary, spicy, top shelf,” she said smiling at the bartender.

“Sure,” The bartender said, smiling back.

“Bloody Mary? Have sssome gin,” Adam slurred, grinning at her.

“No, thank you,” she said, wrinkling her nose. He was handsome enough, but he was already drunk, and it was still light outside. Experience told her to stay away from men like him.

“Why? You got something against gin?” Adam said, slightly offended by her expression. “Or me?”

“No, no. You’re fine,” she said quickly, wishing she had sat down at a different place in the empty bar.

“Sssorry. Bad day,” he said hanging his head.

She took pity on him. “It’s okay,” she said smiling sympathetically. “Let’s start all over. I’m Jessie.”

“Adam,” he said putting out his hand to shake and accidentally hitting her in the head. “Oh God, I’m sorry.”

Much to Adam’s surprise, Jessie laughed.

“It’s okay. You’re a mess. Are you always this bad?” she said, resting her pretty face on her hand, gazing at him with sincere interest.

“No.” Adam laughed for the first time since he could remember. “I got divorced today.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jessie said, immediately sorry for dismissing him so fast. “That must be difficult.”

“Yeahhhh,” Adam said taking a drink of gin & tonic number seven. “It sucked.”

They talked for a while, and by five p.m. Adam was drinking water and messily eating a greasy Rueben. Jessie found herself drawn to him. At first, she thought it was because he reminded her of a stray puppy, but then she started to think that it was because she really may like him. She didn’t usually drink so early in the day, but she was supposed to be meeting a guy from the night before who was a no show.

“Can I see you again?” Adam said, not sure of what he was doing.
You just got divorced today. What in the hell are you doing?

“I don’t know,” Jessie said, smiling a beautiful toothy smile. “I think you have a lot to work out, with the divorce and all. You may not even want to talk to me when you are sober.”

“I haven’t been sober for months. So it won’t really matter,” Adam said, a little embarrassed.

“Oh, great. In that case, we’re definitely meant to just be friends.” Jessie smiled again, and Adam thought that he hadn’t ever met anyone who smiled so much.

The bar was getting crowded with the after work crowd, and their daytime bartender had ended his shift a couple of hours prior. There was a young girl with a short skirt and tight top running the length of the bar, missing half of the people in front of her who needed drinks. Adam only cared that his and Jessie’s drinks were full as they talked well into the night.

***

The next morning, Adam woke up face down on the bathroom floor. The tile was cool on his cheek, but the pounding in his head made him want to kill himself. “Shit!” he said groggily, his voice hoarse.

He looked in the toilet. Fuck. That sucks. Adam hated throwing up.

He washed off his face letting the cool water revive him a little. Thank God, I took a couple of days off work to get my shit together.

He stumbled into the kitchen, his dry throat begging for something wet. But his stomach promised him that it wouldn’t keep much down. Adam tried to remember the night before. There was a girl. There wasn’t usually a girl. No matter how drunk he was, he didn’t usually mess with the girls. The only girl he had ever been with had been Brynn, but since he couldn’t love her anymore, he couldn’t imagine himself with anyone else.

He chugged a glass of cold water and immediately regretted it as it came up as quickly as it went down.
SHIT!

Adam was angry. He felt angry often. All of the time, actually. He didn’t want to be angry, but there was no other emotion he felt at home in anymore. He wanted a family with Brynn for so long, and when the time finally came, it was taken from him far too quickly. He blamed Brynn. He knew that it wasn’t right, but he blamed her anyway, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop.

He splashed cold water on his face, over and over.

He stumbled around his apartment. He hated it. He missed his big house. He stared at the bare walls. He hated it.

Shit.

Suddenly he heard a sound. A groan?

What the hell?
He froze.
Where was I last night? How did I get home?

He heard it again. A small, almost imperceptible groan.
Shit! Who is that? What did I do?

He stumbled into the bedroom, trying to focus his eyes. The room was dark. There was nothing in his bedroom except for his bed and a bunch of boxes. He hadn’t even bothered to unpack. He had been living there for months, but he couldn’t bring himself to take anything out of the boxes. All he had unpacked were his clothes, as he needed them, which were mostly all over the floor.

The room was dark and he squinted trying to find the source of the noise.

There!

He stared at the bed and saw a perfectly naked girl laying there, twisted in the blankets, red hair spilling over her beautiful ivory skin.

Oh, shit. What did I do?

He looked down at himself and realized for the first time that he was naked.

He looked up and saw a big pair of beautiful green eyes staring at him.

“Hi,” the pretty red head said bashfully.

“Hi.” he said feeling embarrassed.

“How are you feeling?” the pretty girl said, her voice hoarse, sounding concerned.

“Like Shit,” he said, smiling wryly.

“Me, too,” she said smiling back at him, her pretty teeth perfect and white.

They stared at each other, both unsure of what to say.

“Do you remember anything?” the girl said, pulling the sheet up around her naked chest.

“Not really. You?” Adam said wishing he could disappear, his head feeling as if it were going to explode.

“Some,” the girl said, her cheeks turning red.

“Um… what is your name?” Adam hated asking. He didn’t know what else to say.

“Jessie.”

“I’m Adam.”

“I know,” Jessie said, knowing that he didn’t remember who she was. She looked at Adam’s naked body and remembered how he had cried in her arms. They had just lain together in their nakedness; neither of them able to do anything more than just hold tight to one another. She loved lying next to him, staring at him.

Adam felt ashamed. He had never done anything like this before and wasn’t sure what to do next. She looked like a perfectly nice girl—too young for him, but beautiful.

“I don’t remember much from last night. I had a bad day, yesterday.”

“I know. It’s okay. I’ve had a lot of bad yesterdays,” Jessie said smiling again. “Come, lay with me.”

Adam hesitated. He wanted to be alone. But something about her made him want to lie next to her, too.

“Come. I won’t bite you,” she said pulling the sheet around her, covering her body up. “Besides, you need to sleep and so do I. I promise I won’t do anything to you.”

I have never been in bed next to anyone but Brynn. But Brynn is gone now, forever. She will never be with me again.

Adam felt the tears welling in his eyes.

He walked slowly to the bed and laid down, his head pounding, his body stiff from lying on the hard bathroom floor. He needed sleep.

He laid down, pulling the sheet over him. Jessie snuggled up next to him, and he could feel her warm flesh against his. Her even breathing made him relax as he felt her warm breasts on his back, her arms wrapped around him. Her body was nestled against him, and he felt immediately at ease.

For the first time in a long time, Adam didn’t feel completely alone.

He closed his eyes, and he drifted off to sleep, his mind deliciously blank.

“MILLIONS? MILLIONS?”
Brynn was beside herself.

“Yes, millions. Actually, more than millions,” Ellie said matter of factly.

“Who are you that you have that kind of money?” Brynn asked, completely stunned.

“The question you should be asking is ‘Who am
I
?’” Ellie said, almost as though she had rehearsed this.

“Okay. Then who am
I
?” Brynn asked, not sure that she wanted to know the answer.

“You are Eva. Granddaughter of James and Amy Harper. Harper Enterprises? I think you know about Harper Enterprises,” Ellie said as Brynn noticed a trace of pride in her voice. “Of course, you’ll need a DNA test, but I’ve assured them that you are the real deal.”

Brynn stared at Ellie, her big brown eyes much larger than usual. “How can this be?”

“It’s easy,” Ellie sighed as she hated explaining the details. “I am their daughter. You are the granddaughter. They went missing years ago, presumed dead. I have a son who is you’re half-brother, Noah. Noah needs constant care and can’t be on his own. He has the mental capacity of a five year old, though you will clearly see that he is much older than that.”

“So why did you even bother to tell me about the money? You could have pretended like I didn’t even exist and kept it all to yourself.” Brynn wondered what Ellie wanted from her.

Ellie paused.

“You’re right. I could have just pretended that you didn’t exist. But I have more money than I need. And when I’m gone, Noah will need someone to look out for him, to visit him, to explain things to him, and help take care of him. I’m the only family he has now, and he needs someone else in his life.”

“What do you mean? He needs someone else in his life?” Brynn was confused.

“He needs family. A mother. A sister. People who understand him, who will take care of him. The money provides for his physical needs, but he needs more. God knows I’ve been a shitty mother, but this is the one thing I can do for him.” Ellie was tired of all of the explaining. She just wanted to go home and medicate so that she didn’t have to think of anything else.

“You’re young so you’ll be around for a while. Why now? Why not wait?” Brynn felt like she was being set up. She couldn’t figure out what Ellie wanted no matter how hard she tried.

“You never know what will happen in life,” Ellie said, her voice low and distant. “Like I said, I haven’t done much right in this world. This is the only thing I can think of to do that can possibly buy me some decent karma.”

“So you just assumed that I would do it? That I would step in for you after what you did to me? Why would I take care of a brother I have never met when YOU abandoned me?” Brynn’s voice was rising, and Ellie took a step backwards.

“I-I-I just thought you would want to know your family,” Ellie stuttered.

“Why would I want my family when my family didn’t want me? Why in the hell would I want you when you dropped me off on the side of the road like a piece of garbage?” Brynn was furious, her hands clenching uncontrollably.

“It wasn’t like that Eva… I mean Brynn. It wasn’t like that. I didn’t mean to… I was just really messed up at the time. I’m just not a good person. I’ve made horrible, horrible choices.” Ellie was pleading with her.

“You are not a good person! You’re not even a person. I don’t know how you can even live with yourself. What kind of person leaves their child by the side of the road?” Brynn felt her face getting hot. She had dreamed of this moment her entire life, and now that it was here, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to find the words. “You left me! And then you left your son in a home for other people to take care of! You’re not even a mother at all! You don’t even take care of him. I can’t even imagine what happened to my father, or to Noah’s father, but neither of them are obviously in the picture anymore.”

“You don’t want to know, and you’re right.” Ellie stood up to leave. “I know that it’s a lot to take in, Brynn. I know that you hate me, and you have every right to, but I’m just thinking of what’s best for Noah now. And that will be you, his sister, one day.”