Page 4 of These Jagged Edges

I tuckthe boys in for the night and run myself a hot bath, ready to soak my aching feet. Once undressed, I stop and stare at my reflection while I unbraid my hair. One brown and one blue eye stared back at me. It's funny, really, how my appearance has changed since that day. I've gotten older, and my body's undergone many changes. But one thing has stayed the same: these marks on my skin have never faded away, even after all these years.

I sit in the water hugging my knees and fiddling with the scar on my left thigh. The rough texture of the scar feels like an ode to all I've survived and all I know I will never be worthy of.

Chapter Three

EVIE

"Just go ask him, Eves,"Lou whines from her spot at the table.

Lou and I have been trying to fix the water heater unsuccessfully since this morning, and we're both exhausted. Both of us know absolutely nothing about water heaters and twenty DIY videos later we still know nothing. Although Joe is going to kill me for not telling her, I couldn't burden the woman with anything else. She has already insisted I rent the place for peanuts.

The boys have gone to Joe’s for the night, something she did at least once a month to give me a "breather." I refused until they begged me to go one night, and looking at those big hopeful eyes, I couldn't refuse. I didn't sleep a wink worrying about them, waiting for the call something horrible had happened, but it never came. Finally, after their fourth overnight stay, I settled down and slept a few hours.

"Evie", my best friend groans. "Vic isn't home, my back hurts, and we're both exhausted. Just ask the damn man! Put on the most innocent smile you can and say, 'Please, Maddick, come clean outmy pipes,'" she says, twirling a lock of pale blonde hair around her finger.

"It's the water heater, not the pipes, and Bash called him that to his face last week Lou!"

Lou begins laughing so hard that tears come down her face. "I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that!"

Putting my hands on my hips, I cut my eyes at her. "I bet you would."

Lou stops laughing immediately, causing me to laugh. The heifer can dish it out but can’t take it. "What is it? Cat got your tongue?"

She smiles solemnly like it's the best and worst thing she's ever heard. "You know that's what my daddy would say to me? Because, believe it or not, I wasn’t always the charming bitch you know and love today. I was once quiet as a mouse."

It breaks my heart to see my strong friend looking so glum. I wrap my arms around her shoulders, giving her a tight hug. Sometimes words aren't needed. Joe taught me it's better to lend comfort with actions than words because when you lose someone you love, it’s the nastiest form of torture to your heart, and nobody wants some jackass in their face offering empty words.

"Okay. Fine," I tell Lou as I pat her hair. "I'll go ask moody ass Clark Kent to come to clean out my pipes, but I'll have you know he better have a huge wrench, or I'll be highly disappointed."

Pulling out of my embrace, she smiles at me. "It's a snake—plumber's snake pipes to clean them out."

"Tomato, potato."

Before Lou can notice the tremble in my hands, I stalk out the back door. She doesn’t need to know how much the man both terrifies and intrigues me. She'd worry and she already does enough of that.

While crossing the yard to Maddox's house, my stomach clenches with nerves. Taking a deep breath, I raise my hand and knock twice. The front door swings open and there stands a shirtlessman with golden blonde hair and olive skin. The smile on his face is natural and he easily looks like the love child of Matthew McConaughey and Farrah Fawcett.

"Well, hello, beautiful," he says, propping an arm on the door jam and the other on his hip.

"Is Maddox here?" I ask, nervously fidgeting with the hem of my shirt, slowly edging back getting ready to bolt at any minute.

"No, but Mercy is."

"Who?"

"Me, baby." He winks at me, "I'm Mercy. Mercy Wilder."

I can't help the smile that slowly spreads across my face. While Mercy didn't possess Maddox's electrifying pull, I can tell the man standing before me is a force all his own.

Taking a deep breath, I tuck my hair behind my ear. "I'm Evie, Maddox's neighbor."

"Honey, if you were my neighbor, I'd be licking sugar off you all the time," he says looking me up and down with sensual brown eyes.

My face, I'm sure, resembles a tomato. "Don't you mean borrowing some sugar?" I chuckle nervously at him.

"No, licking is definitely what I meant." For some insane reason, I find myself at ease in this flirty man's presence and not on the edge of having one of my episodes.

“MERCY!”

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