Page 87 of Our Lips Are Sealed
They came over to Annabeth and Evie huddled together on the path. From where the two stood, the high arch blocked their view of what was happening in the graveyard, and a disoriented Evie craned her neck to see. “Don’t let him do this,” she begged Liam, her eyes half closing. “Don’t let Samuel kill him.”
Liam released Jamison to examine Evie’s head wound. A knot was already forming, and even though the cut wasn’t bad, it was deep enough to produce a steady trickle of blood that ran down her pale face.
“Please.” Clinging him to stay upright, Evie’s fingers dug into his chest. “Please, Cohen.”
“Put your arms around my neck,” he ordered, scooping her up to carry. Evie was out as soon as her feet were off the ground, and he turned to Jamison, who was holding on to Annabeth. “Let’s go.”
“What about Toby?”
Resolved in his decision, Liam headed in the direction of Haven House. “Samuel will take care of it.”
Chapter 26
Evie’seyesdriftedopen,and she bolted upright, her bedroom coming in and out of focus.
“Take it easy, baby girl.” Selah eased her back down onto the bed. “You took a pretty good knock to the head and shouldn’t make any sudden movements like that.”
“Samuel?” she croaked, her vision clearing in the low light. The curtains were drawn, and it was only her and Selah in the room. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine, and downstairs talking with the police.” Selah sat on the bed while texting on his phone. “I’m letting him know you’re awake.”
“Toby?”
Selah’s face grew tight, and he put his phone away, not meeting her eyes. “Alive.”
Flashes of red sliced through a small opening in the balcony curtains, and determined not to stay down, Evie grappled to rise to a sitting position. The room only spun slightly this time, but with Selah’s help, she was able to stay upright, squinting against the strobing light. “What is that?”
A siren’s wail answered her. “My guess would be the ambulance taking Toby to the hospital,” Selah replied. “Samuel fucked him up pretty good.”
Evie searched her memory for what had happened, running her fingertips over the bump on her brow. “A headstone hit me.”
Selah chuckled. “I think it was the other way around.”
The images of what she’d seen while knocked out replayed in her head, each more fantastical than the next. Her mother, Livy, Devon… CeCe.
“CeCe’s in the woods,” she whispered in a voice she didn’t half recognize. “Somewhere by the water. The bottom of her long nightgown is always wet when I see her. Kind of like she’s been standing on the edge of the bayou or something.”
Selah worriedly examined her bump. “I think you might have a concussion.”
She let out a strangled laugh. Oh, how she wished it were that simple. “Maybe.”
Heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs seconds before the door crashed open. Samuel stood staring at her momentarily, out of breath, his black hair wild and framing his dirt-streaked face. The shirt they’d purchased just last night in the French Quarter was torn, and stained with what she assumed was Toby’s blood.
The relief at seeing him punched her right in the heart, and Evie burst into tears.
Samuel rushed over to fold her into his arms, holding her against his chest. “We’re okay,” he whispered as she shook violently from the sobs wracking her body. “It’s over now.”
He didn’t let go until the last tear was shed, and when he did, his lips crashed into hers, kissing Evie thoroughly enough to soothe the pain in her head.
Selah cleared his throat. “I know this is probably not the best time to say this,” he gushed, wisely heading for the door. “But y’all being together is making me so damn happy.”
Breaking the kiss, Samuel threw a decorative pillow at his brother. “Get the hell out.”
Selah deftly dodged the cushion, continuing to grin with a hand over his heart. “Makes me feel all squishy inside,” he said, closing the door. “And don’t let him lie to you, Evie. Sammy feels squishy about it, too.”
Finally alone with him, Evie wiped at the smudge of dirt on Samuel’s chin with her thumb. “Do you feel squishy?”
“I don’t even know what that means,” he sighed, checking her over. “How are you feeling?”
