Page 115 of The Right Kind of Wrong

As funny as she looked removing the shoes from her feet and tossing them with no coordination towards the desk, I couldn't bring myself to feel the slightest bit amused. She really wasn't herself at all.

“Why shouldn't I catch you?” I asked, dodging the next shoe.

She smiled and then started laughing hysterically. For a few minutes, that's the only sound that met my ears, the laugh that other times could make my day, give me a reason to keep going. Except for this time the laugh was anything but real; it was forced. Pained.

“Because I'm not worth it anymore,” she slurred, as her laugh quieted down.

“Evelyn—”

“I'm trash.” Evelyn looked down at the bottle in her hands as she leaned against the wall behind her; her sad, desperate eyes meeting my own as she sipped once again. “I'm someone everyone's seen now, like a prostitute. Someone who can't be for your eyes only anymore because everyone knows what type of trash-”

“No,” I stopped her, snatching the bottle from her hands. She glared at me, stumbling as she tried to take the bottle back.

I tossed the bottle in the trash can, hearing it break and the growl that left Evelyn's throat.

“That was mine. Just like my privacy, but that was taken from me too,” she hissed.

“I'm not going to watch how you drink yourself away, Evie. I won't allow that.”

“Fuck you,” she spat. In an attempt to rush towards the door she tripped, landing in my arms again.

“You're drunk, Evelyn. Let me take you home.”

She laughed again, but this time her eyes filled with tears. “You mean so my sister can tell me what a burden I am, how many problems I cause? So my mom and dad can tell me that I'm a disappointment and a slut for fucking you of all people? No, thank you. Besides, I don't have a home anyways.”

I shook my head, cupping her face in my hands. “Evelyn, don't speak that way. You are not a slut. You are not a disappointment.”

“Don't lie,” she sniffled. “That's all I am. If not, why else would someone do this to me? Who would hurt me like this?”

“A stupid, stupid person, Evie, but that's not your fault.”

“But why?” she was sobbing. Her pain was finally making its way through. Shoulders shaking with the intensity of her crying, Evie fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands. “What did I do to deserve this?”

I knelt beside her, taking her into my arms. She no longer fought. Instead, she held onto to my shirt as if her life depended on it.

“Let me take you somewhere else, hm? I won't take you home. I'll rent a hotel room or something, does that sound okay?”

Evie nodded, hiccupping against my chest.

I carried her out of Tessa's and into my car, calling Carter and Jenna so that they would know that Evelyn was with me. After that, I drove to a hotel, rented a room so that we could stay the night. I helped Evie get out of her clothes down to her underwear. She giggled for a moment when she couldn't get out of her jeans and then lay down, covering herself with the sheets.

Drunkenly, Evie stared at me as I undressed as well. I climbed into bed with her and pulled her to my chest, hearing the relaxed sigh that left her lips.

“Evie?”

She hummed, closing her eyes as the exhaustion began to take over.

“You'll always be worth catching.”

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