Be My Hero(59)

"Oh, great." Reese threw her hands into the air with disgust, almost  taking Mason's eye out in the process. "So I was just too stupid to  realize it myself?"

Spinning away from us, she raced from the room.

"Reese," I growled. "Don't-" When she didn't listen to me, I shot Mason a  glower. "Will you stop her? Tink doesn't need a big inquisition right  now."

He cursed under his breath but hurried after his girlfriend.

Alone in the kitchen, I took a moment to clear my head. I bent at the  waist and blew out a long, hard breath. But raised voices-okay, fine,  just Reese's voice-coming from the bedroom compelled me to head that  way.

"Does Aunt Mads know?" Reese was demanding as I paused at the doorway  and watched Eva sitting on the bed, her arms full of both Skylar and  Julian as she rocked them comfortingly back and forth. They clutched  onto her for dear life, but I noticed she was clutching onto them just  as much. It made my guts tighten, knowing I hadn't been here to save  them from this scare. Then my jealousy spiked because she was seeking  comfort from them, not me.

Damn it. Why hadn't I taken off work a few minutes early?

"We should tell her," Reese was encouraging, bobbing her head vigorously. "We'll call her right now."

She pulled out her phone before Eva murmured, "Ree Ree, stop. She knows."

"What?" Reese yelled.

"Shh. Don't raise your voice. The babies are still spooked." She glanced  accusingly at me before turning back to her cousin. "What're you doing  here anyway?"

Reese was too agitated to answer, mumbling, "How could she know this and  not . . . how could she stay with him and . . . oh my God." She  clutched her face as her eyes went wide. "She's as evil as he is. I  can't believe there's that kind of evil in my bloodline."

Answering Eva's question for her, I told Tinker Bell, "They were here to  babysit. I was going to take you out tonight. Give you a break from the  rug rats."

Her gaze slid my way and she blinked as if trying to keep herself from  crying. Finally, she glanced away and her voice rasped. "Thank you.  That's . . . sweet, but I don't . . . I don't really feel like going out  tonight."

I pressed my back to the doorframe, bumping my spine against it harder  than I needed to, seeking more nips of pain to keep my anger in check. I  was still so tempted to race from the apartment and hunt down her  father.

"How long has this been going on?" Reese demanded.

Eva shook her head. "You don't want to know the answer to that."

Shoulders curling in around herself, Reese started crying all over  again. "I can't believe this is happening. I can't . . . why didn't you  ever tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd react this way." When Eva's voice went sharp with agitation, the babies responded, whimpering fitfully.

I pushed away from the doorway and went to them. "Give me Skylar."

Eva didn't seem to want to at first, but when she realized she couldn't  soothe both kids at once, she finally relented. I took the little girl  into my arms and held her close to my face, closing my eyes and making a  silent promise that nothing and no one would ever do to her what had  been done to her mother. Not over my cold dead body.

Watching me as I settled next to Eva on the bed so she could still be  close to her daughter, Reese's eyes lit with horror. "Oh, shit. She's  not . . . He's not Skylar's father, is he? Uncle Shaw?"

"No," Eva instantly answered. "Alec is her father. Not that he's a much better candidate."

"Are you su-"

"I'm positive, Ree Ree. I was sixteen the last time Bradshaw . . . caught me unaware."

Reese gagged and slapped her hand over her mouth. Then she surged  forward to sit on the bed and throw her arms around Eva. Sobbing and  unable to stop apologizing, she made a mess all over Fighter and Tink.  "I'm so sorry, E. If only I knew, I'd . . . I'd have been there for you.  I would've driven to Florida and stole you away from that house. Jesus,  I can't believe even Aunt Mads . . . " She shook her head and bawled  some more.

I glanced toward Mason who was silent and solemn. Leaning against the  wall, he watched the cousins hug with sad empathy as if he understood  Eva's plight. It reminded me of that cougar's visit to the bar, and the  word Eva's father had called him. Prostitute.

When he caught me studying him, he glanced away guiltily, his throat working while he swallowed.

Reese wanted to stay; she clung close to Eva. But Eva kept shooing her  off. "I really just want to be alone with the babies right now. I . . . I  just need some space."

Her cousin finally peeled herself away, but I could tell from her face  that she didn't want to leave. She gave Eva one last hug, and Mason  shocked the shit out of me when he stepped forward to hug Eva too.         

     



 

"This explains a lot," he said as he pulled away.

Eva smiled sadly. "I guess you and I share more similarities than you ever thought, huh?"

He didn't answer, just solemnly took Reese's hand and led her from the apartment.

After the door closed behind them, I caught Eva's gaze. "You're crazy if  you think I'm leaving you alone in this apartment right now."

I didn't mean to be rude, but I had to put that out there. No fucking way was I leaving her alone.

She smiled softly and rested her cheek on top of Julian's head. "I don't  want you to go. I just couldn't say that in front of Reese. Might hurt  her feelings if she knew I wanted you here and not her."

My gaze pierced hers. Even though I knew her reasoning probably had  nothing to do with who she cared for more, my chest filled with a crazy  kind of pride. But I had to guess, "Because you knew I wouldn't ask  questions?"

She bit her lip and dropped her gaze before nodding.

I nodded too. Didn't matter why she wanted me, I was just glad she did. I  stood and put Skylar in the crib. Then I took Julian from her and put  him down too. They were both still awake, but they'd settled enough to  lie contently by themselves for a minute.

Turning back to Eva, I held out a hand. "Let's get you cleaned up."

She frowned in confusion before looking down and seeing how torn her  shirt was. Dried blood clung to her skin from a scrape on her arm and  the backs of her hands bore more marks. Nodding, she took my fingers.

I led her into the bathroom and had her sit on the edge of the sink.  Then I wetted a washcloth and dabbed at the cut on her lip first. After  cleaning the scratch on her shoulder, hands, and along her neck where  her torn top revealed the deepest marks, I leaned in to kiss the worst  cut before gently applying a bandage.

She sucked in a breath and looked up at me. "You're being extremely cool about all this."

I snorted out an amused laugh. "You're the one who told me to simmer down."

"So you really don't feel as calm as you're acting?"

I shook my head and studied the bruise forming on her forehead. "Not even a little."

"Well, you put on a good show."

"Thanks." Reaching around to the back of her skull where her father had  cracked it against the refrigerator, I winced. There was a decent-sized  goose egg back there, but at least the skin hadn't broken open.

"What about you?" I finally asked, studying her eyes for signs of dilated pupils. "You okay?"

"Oh, you know . . . " She shrugged and lifted a nonchalant hand. "Reese,  the one person on earth I never wanted to find out about all this, just  found out, so . . . no. No, I'm not okay at all." Her chin trembled and  she bit her lip to stop it.

I nodded, completely understanding. She was putting on just as good a show as I was. "So . . . your dad, huh?"

Glancing away, she sniffed. "He's not really my dad. The night he found  out from my mom that I actually belonged to someone else was the first  night he, you know, visited my room."

I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat and blew out a hard breath through my nose.

Shaking my head, I said, "I don't care if he was blood or not, he was still your father." Still a sick, disgusting motherfucker.

Her face fell and her shoulders shrank in around her body as she hugged  herself. "I know." Her voice was so small and her expression so  defeated. This was not my strong, sassy Tinker Bell.

I hated what that bastard had done to her and was still doing to her.

My breathing picked up. I lifted my hands to my head and buried my  fingers in my hair as I coasted right back onto the edge of  uncontrollable fury.

"Fuck, Eva. I can't handle this, knowing what happened to you and not  being able to do anything about it because it's already over and done. I  want to hurt him. I want to hunt him down and hurt him so bad. If I  could just get my hands around his neck . . . " I lifted my fingers, all  ten of them tensed and curled, eager to constrict.

Eva caught them and lifted them to her mouth. "Just breathe," she instructed as she kissed the dried blood on my knuckles.

"I can't," I bit out. "All I can do is see him pinning you in the kitchen and-"