Page 61 of Cocky Counsel

Twenty Seven

Ethan

I was still waiting for Eva to call after I texted her back to confirm that I was still up. Her text was short and to the point, which had me fighting increasing anxiety over what she wanted to discuss.

A few minutes later, my phone vibrated on the coffee table before my hand darted out and grabbed it. Without bothering to check the caller ID, I slid the button across the phone to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” she said breathlessly before hiccupping.

“Is everything alright?” I asked, trying to get a feel for where she was at and why she sounded so winded. “Where are you?”

“Yup,” she replied, followed by another hiccup. “You’re so nosey,” she giggled.

I scrubbed a hand down my face as I stood up and paced in front of the couch. She sounded tipsy, if not drunk.

“Where are you, Eva?” I asked again.

“I’m walking Lucy home.”

“From where?”

“From Tia Rosa’s. We had margaritas,” she announced proudly. She was definitely buzzed.

“I’m glad it sounds like you’ve had a good night.” I felt myself smiling, genuinely happy that she hadn’t had as piss-poor of a night as I had.

“So what’s up?” I asked, hoping to find out why she had wanted to talk. I couldn’t imagine that all of the tequila in the world could make her want to chit-chat right now.

“Why does anything have to be up?” she answered defensively.

“Because you texted me and asked if we could talk,” I said slowly. “I thought you were still upset with me and everything that happened earlier.”

“I am, but that’s beside the point,” she said quietly. “Be careful, you’re going to fall.” Her voice was quieter as she pushed the phone away from her mouth to talk to someone else.

“Are you okay? Do you need me to come get you?” I interrupted worriedly.

“We’re fine,” she laughed. “We just got to my parent’s house, and Lucy forgot about the stairs up the porch.”

“Why don’t I come get you and take you home?” I offered, desperate to see her.

“I might just stay here, I haven’t decided yet.” She sounded tired and even though I had no idea where her parents lived, I knew that I didn’t want her going home by herself in this state.

“Be quiet so you don’t wake him up,” Eva scolded quietly, the phone muffled again. I stilled when I heard her say that.

“Eva, who’s there that you don’t want to wake up?” I asked.

“Her stupid husband,” she replied lazily. “But that’s not why I called you,” she said, changing the subject.

“Okay, why did you call?”

“Because I have evidence, and I need you to know the truth about the truth.”

“Okay, what is the truth?”

“Kate and Cora—they don’t like you. They aren’t interested, they just want to screw you.” She laughed hysterically, and I wondered if she was just fucking with me because she was still mad.

“So, they don’t like me, but they want to screw me?” I asked, confused. “I guess that could be said about a lot of the women I’ve been with…” I shrugged my shoulders knowing that it was true.

“No, they want to screw you,” she insisted. “Son of a bitch!” she blurted out as I heard a crash in the background. I could hear a commotion as it sounded like she was running up the stairs.

“Eva—what’s going on?!” I demanded, holding the phone tight against my ear.

“OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!” she screamed as another loud sound rang through the background. I could hear her fists pounding against the door.

“EVA!” I yelled, trying to get her to answer me. “What’s going on?” I rushed over to where my keys were laying by the mail on the kitchen counter and grabbed them. I had no idea where she was or what was going on, I just knew that I needed to get to her.

I could hear the moment the door opened, and other voices shouted around her. There was so much commotion happening in the background, and I had no idea what was happening. My stomach dropped when I heard a loud thud on the floor before the call ended.

“FUCK!” I shouted into my empty apartment and slammed my hand down on the counter.

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