When Tomorrow Never Comes (12 page)

I turn around and point to him, ready to give him a piece of my mind but I think better of it and shake my head before turning back around to continue on my way back home.

As of right now I was done.

Liam was as dead to me as his brother was.

I would not, and could not, waste another breath on him.

Moving on was what I needed to do.

Just as I make it to my front door I’m swung around to face Liam.

“Talk to me, Eve.” He pleads as he pins me back against the door with his hands placed on the door on either side of me.

I was trapped for the moment.

“I’m done, Liam. I wanted to talk to you but I realized I don’t need to. Anything I felt for you left the moment she opened the door wearing your shirt.” I spit out.

It was a bit more than I had wanted to say, but it was out now.

“She means nothing to me, Eve.” Liam tries.

I shake my head and bite my bottom lip before replying to him. “That’s where you’re wrong, Liam, I’m the one who meant nothing to you. If I had then you would have gotten rid of her the second I came back.”

“I’ll get rid of her now then if that’s what you want.” Liam replies.

I shake my head again and laugh lightly. “What I want is for you to go back home and forget I even exist. Forget whatever we had between us because for me it’s completely over.”

“Give me one more chance. If I would have known you felt…” Liam begins but I cut him off with a single look.

“You should have fought a little harder for me. I had so much regret and grief on my plate after Cole died. I needed time to heal. You should have given me time.” I whisper.

“I didn’t have time. You left so quickly, before I even had time to heal.” Liam replies gently as he strokes my cheek with the back of his knuckles.

“For those first few weeks I would have given anything to be in your arms, Liam.” I confess. “The only reason I never sought you out was because I thought you hated me.”

“I didn’t hate you. I hated myself for what happened. I tried talking to Cole about what had happened between us. You have to believe me that I tried.” Liam stresses.

“You talked to him?” I ask.

He nods. “I did. He confronted me that morning after you had snuck out. “

“What did he say?” I push.

I had to know what Cole’s final thoughts had been. I needed to know if it had been entirely my fault that he had decided to take his own life.

“He knew it was going to happen, Eve. He wasn’t even mad. The only thing that he confessed was that he disappointed. He did tell me that he was going to allow us to be together if that’s what we wanted.” Liam sighs roughly as he closes his eyes. “I didn’t realize that he was planning on taking himself out of the picture completely.”

“He was depressed, Liam.” I reason.

Liam only shakes his head as he reopens his eyes. “You made him happy.”

“But I wasn’t enough. I was never enough. No matter how hard I tried nothing I did was ever enough to keep him happy.” I argue lightly.

“You’re enough to keep me happy.” Liam replies quietly.

This time I shake my head as I motion to his stay of undress. “If I had been enough then you wouldn’t be sleeping with other girls. You would have stayed by my side, held me as I cried, and you would have helped me heal. You wouldn’t have left me alone.”

He shuts his eyes again. “Please, don’t push me away.”

“We’re finished, Liam. Let me move on so I can find some happiness again.” I reply gently.

“Who are you going to find that with, Jayce? He’s as damaged as Cole was.” Liam clips out a bit harshly.

“It doesn’t matter.” I argue.

Liam nods as he clenches his jaw while glancing away from me absently.

When he turns back I see a renewed determination to make me his held deep within his eyes. I see it right before he pushes forward and brushes his lips against mine.

Instead of responding to him I rush to grab the door handle behind me before opening it so I could step back away from him.

With a look of shock Liam watches me as I slam the door in his face.

“Seriously, Eve, you’re going to shut me out?” He bellows from the other side as I lock the door.

“I already told you that I was done, Liam.” I reply before leaving him behind at the door.

I walk past Eric and Matt as they peek out from the kitchen.

They give me questioning looks, but I wasn’t ready to say another word.

Moving up to my room I hurry to lock my windows so that Liam had no other way to get inside. I don’t know why I hadn’t locked all of them before to keep him out but right now I was done.

I had to keep him from trying to sway my decision.

I was moving on.

Dear Diary,

I really hope I did the right thing. Moving on is the only way I’ll be able to get past him. I need to search for my happiness again. I lost it somewhere along the way…

“That boy just won’t take no for an answer.” Eric grunts as he walks into my bedroom and sits on the edge of my bed.

Placing my arm over my head I sigh. “Can’t we do something to make him stop?”

“Princess, I don’t think there is. I even hit him with the hose and it did nothing.” Eric snorts. “You’d think since he’s half dressed it would be too cold to continue standing out there.”

I laugh out loudly. “You didn’t.”

“Oh, I did. It wasn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be though.” Eric replies.

Just as our laughter dies down a sudden knock at the window has us both jumping in surprise.

“You’re going to have to figure out some way to get rid of him, Princess.” Eric sighs as he stands to his feet and points towards Liam on the other side of the window before motioning for him to leave.

When Liam doesn’t move Eric shakes his head and then glances towards me before leaving me behind in my room to deal with it myself.

I groan as I roll over and bury my head into my pillow.

“Please, talk to me some more, Eve?” Liam pleads from the other side of the window.

I groan again and glance in his direction. “We have nothing more to talk about. I said what I needed to say.”

He doesn’t say another word as the door to my room opens.

I look over to see Jayce.

I rush to sit up in my bed.

“What’s going on?” He questions as he motions towards Liam on the other side of the window and then towards me.

“I ended things but he doesn’t seem to want to get the hint.” I state as I direct the last part towards Liam.

Jayce snorts in response and then remains quiet for a brief moment.

“So, does that mean…” He trails off.

“I want to be more with you than just friends.” I fill in for him as I stand to my feet and make my way over towards him.

Stopping just in front of him I look up. “Do you still want to be more than friends?”

Glancing over my shoulder Jayce grins. “I want you, Eve.”

A moment later he strokes his knuckles over my cheek tenderly before leaning in for a kiss.

Our lips meet with a slight shock before his hands grip my hips, pulling me in for a deeper more passionate kiss.

I couldn’t help but melt in his embrace.

But at the same time everything just felt…wrong.

Ignoring that wrongness I close my eyes and wrap my arms around his neck as he lifts me up, placing my legs around his waist before carrying me back over to my bed.

As he lays me down he gazes into my eyes as if I was the only girl in the world.

I felt as if his soul was speaking directly to mine.

“Tell me when you want to stop.” Jayce whispers a second before his lips descend on the sensitive skin just under my ear.

I can’t help the soft moan that falls from my lips as his warm body presses into mine.

For some reason I give into the urge to look towards my window.

Liam was watching us with hatred, it wasn’t hatred directed towards me though. His eyes were fully glued onto Jayce above me.

When his eyes do meet mine they soften and then fill with determination.

He mouths two words to me
‘you’re mine’
, it was a promise of sorts, or a threat.

Either way, I didn’t want to admit that it had made my heart soar.

I had to shove those emotions to the back of my mind before they could ruin what I was trying to find, before they ruined my chance at a new start.

After a long stare between Liam, and I, he finally makes his move to leave my window.

As soon as he’s gone from sight Jayce pulls back with a sigh. “That took a lot longer than I thought it would. Your dad was right, that boy is determined.”

I laugh out softly as I press my hands to his chest. “He’s relentless.”

“Well, hopefully he won’t be a problem now.” Jayce grunts as he begins to push himself off of me.

Instead of letting him go I grab onto his shirt and tug him back down. “I never told you to stop.” I whisper.

He grins before pressing his lips down against mine once again.

“I’m going to have to go, Sweetheart. I was only supposed to stay long enough to help you get rid of Liam.” Jayce sighs as he rolls onto his back beside me on the bed.

“Did Eric invite you over?” I question curiously as I prop myself up on my elbow so I could look down at him.

Jayce nods and then laughs lightly. “He did, but don’t be mad at him. I completely understood his frustrations with the guy. I highly doubted that he wanted to invite me over to stay locked up in his daughter’s room though. Don’t get me wrong I could stay in here all day and kiss you.”

I nod my head in agreement and smile widely. “I didn’t mind it so much.”

“I know you didn’t, Sweetheart, but if we want this to work out we need to slow down a little bit so we can get to know each other first.” Jayce insists.

I nod again and then sigh as I place my other hand onto Jayce’s chest. “We can talk tonight, how about that. We can watch a movie together or something.”

Jayce nods his head but sighs. “I already promised Ben and Maggie that I would hang out with them since I bailed on them earlier to help you out.”

I nod and bite my lip waiting for him to invite me along, but he doesn’t.

It seemed a little odd that he wouldn’t invite me. I mean wouldn’t it have made sense to invite me along since Maggie was going to be there?

Shrugging it off, I sigh and then lay back down beside Jayce.

Silence surrounds us for a few moments before he grunts and sits up on the edge of the bed before then standing up to his feet.

Looking down on me he smiles. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

I nod and a second later he leaves me behind in my room feeling slightly confused.

Rubbing my face I huff out a breath of air before rolling out of bed.

Stripping my clothes along the way I head into my bathroom before turning on the water for the shower.

I check the temperature until it’s just right before climbing into the shower.

As I allow the steam and hot water to sooth my body I’m assaulted by images of Cole, and memories of him just standing from afar watching me.

I had never had those kinds of memories before.

These were something that I had never even thought twice about, until now.

The way his eyes were watching me was nothing like the way he had looked at me. There was an anger held in them.

But it wasn’t an anger that seemed to be directed towards me.

With my eyes closed tightly I reach out my hand as if I could touch Cole. I wanted to feel his skin against mine.

Instead of reaching Cole his form only seems to travel farther away from me.

All of the sudden his image flashes right before me, but it was no longer the Cole that I had known and loved.

No, this was worse.

The form in front of me was decaying. It had graying skin and bugs crawling in and out of holes throughout his body.

It still held Cole’s features but his eyes were nothing but dark pits of nothingness.

A scream falls from my lips just as my feet slip out from under me.

I grab for the shower curtain to stop my fall but it pulls free.

My body slams hard down onto the hard tiles that made up the shower floor.

Flashes of light splinter through my vision as my head hits the tile last with a solid thud.

It should have been enough to knock me out but it only causes my world to spin.

It only takes a brief moment before the door to my bathroom swings open and someone rushes over to grab my face into their hands.

“You’re going to be alright, Eve.” A familiar voice whispers.

Looking up into his face I smile as a fog begins to swirl into my mind.

Panic soon takes the smile from my face as I try to hold on. “Please, don’t let me go.”

“I’m not going to let you go.” He replies.

“Never let me go again, Cole. Don’t leave me.” I plead uselessly as I’m taken against my will into the darkness of my mind.

A machine beeps out with a steady beat as I slowly come to.

The world around me was still shrouded in darkness since I couldn’t open my eyes but I could hear everything and everyone moving around me.

I could feel the warm hand holding tightly to mine.

“How did this happen?” Matt whispers hoarsely. “She’s been getting better.”

He sounded as if he had been crying.

“I don’t know, I thought she was getting better too.” Eric replies.

“She didn’t try to kill herself, guys.” Liam argues with them as the hand tightens around mine. “She’s still seeing my brother. She’s been seeing him while she’s awake.”

“How do you know that?” Eric questions him.

“I know because before she passed out she called me Cole. She begged for him not to leave her.” Liam answers as his voice cracks with emotion.

“Did she get a kind of faraway look in her eyes?” Eric asks.

Liam must answer him wordlessly because Eric continues speaking. “She had that look when she nearly fell down the stairs at home when Jayce picked her up for the dance.”

“She almost fell?” Liam questions.

“Yeah, I caught her before she could.” Jayce chimes in.

“What do we do?” Matt asks quietly.

“We find out what she’s been hiding from us.” Eric replies. “She’s got to tell us everything before something worse happens. Next time it could be when she’s on the back of Jayce’s bike or while she’s driving.”

“I won’t be driving my bike anymore with her like this.” Jayce grunts. “I won’t risk it.”

“And I’ll stay away. I don’t think me being around is helping anything. I look too much like my brother.” Liam adds softly.

He sounded heartbroken.

In that moment I realized how much pain he had been hiding.

He was on the same dark path that Cole had taken.

My hand tightens around his. “Stay with me, Cole. Stay with me.” I whisper.

My words were not my own, I was still caught in a world where I was holding onto Cole with every ounce of strength I had left.

Warm breath fans over my cheek as he leans in closer. “I have to leave, Evie. I have to go so that you can move on without me.”

A moment passes before his hand slips from mine and his presence leaves the room as the door shuts with a soft click.

I was frozen in place as my heart fell apart.

There wasn’t a single thing that I could get my body to do. I couldn’t cry out, I couldn’t open my eyes, nothing.