Page 28 of Chance
Dark green eyes blinked at me in surprise, her face tightening in anger and annoyance as I got nose-to-nose with the woman who had called my sister a whore.Her hands came up, pushing me back, but I locked my legs, refusing to budge.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”A strong arm wrapped around my waist, lifting me off my feet and turning me away from the other woman.“What the hell is going on?”
I struggled against Chance.“Put me down.I’m the one asking questions here.”
“Be still, peaches,” he said, adjusting his hold and lifting me higher.“Ma, start talking.”
“That deranged girl attacked me!”Rory cried.“I didn’t do a damn thing to her, and she grabbed my hair.I have the clump of hair she ripped out as proof.”
“Why did she put hands on you?”Chance’s voice had dropped, taking on a menacing edge.I went still in his arms.But when I looked at his face, I saw his eyes focused solely on his mom, banked rage in those blue-on-blue depths.
“I only went to WomanLand because that was where I thought your new friend worked.I wanted to reach out, have a conversation, maybe get to know her a little.”Tears filled her eyes.“But that girl assaulted me.”
“She attacked you just because you wanted to talk to Evie?”He shook his head, disbelief on his face.But I felt it, the stillness in him.It wasn’t that he didn’t believe his mom.He was angry enough that I felt him shudder with it.He trusted his mother’s version without hearing the full story.
A small, logical part of my brain said that was what he should do.That his loyalty to his mom was commendable.But that was a very small part compared to the full-on rage I felt.It was disrespectful.To my sister, to me.I didn’t need to know the details to know that Evy wouldn’t have touched a person with violence unless she was provoked.And there was only one thing that could induce that kind of reaction in my twin.
Me.
Heart cracking down the middle, I wiggled myself free.When he tried to grab me again, I shoved him back.At least, I tried to.He was built like a freaking tank.That only made me angrier.“Keep your mother away from my sister, or a little hair-pulling will be the least of her worries,” I seethed.
His handsome face darkened.“Peaches.”
It was easier to let my anger mask my pain.I’d been questioning if he even wanted me since the night before.I’d woken up two different times, wanting to touch him, but he’d stopped me before I could get his zipper down.If he really wanted me, he wouldn’t have been able to stop me.Not when he hadn’t made it out of Hannigans’ parking lot before some other girl had had his cock in her mouth only days earlier.With how easily he accepted his mom’s version of what happened without asking if my sister was okay, it made it that much clearer that Chance wasn’t the guy for me.
No matter how deeply my heart was already involved, I wasn’t going to waste my time on anyone who could so easily disrespect the most important person in my life.
I’d spent twenty-one years dreaming of being with my sister.Now that I had her, I was going to do everything in my power to protect her and our newfound peace.
“Get her out of here,” I told him in a tight voice, banking my emotions so I didn’t do something stupid.Like attack his mother in a room full of witnesses.Or cry.That would only give Rory what she wanted, for me to break.“Take her home.Now.I don’t want her anywhere near Evy.”
Groaning, he rubbed the back of his neck.“Baby?—”
“Do not push me on this.That woman is responsible for my sister being in this place.I don’t care what happened.Put distance between them.Or I’ll be the one going to jail for assault.”I’d never gotten into a fight before, but there was a first time for everything.I’d go to war for my sister if that was what she needed.
A muscle ticked in his clenched jaw.“Give me two minutes to speak to my mom, and then we can figure all of this out.”
“Talk to her all you want, as you’re driving her home.”
He reached for me, but I stepped back.Frustrated, he held out his hands for me.“Evie, come on.Let’s have a damn conversation.”
Turning my back to him, I focused on Mila, Sammy, River, and the blonde still on the phone.“Reid, call me back!”She spoke into the device before dropping her hand to her side.Giving me a small smile, she waved.“Hi, sweet girl.I’m Jos.Reid’s mom.”
“Hi,” I responded, wondering how bad things were if my sister’s boyfriend’s mom was there.Anxiety churned faster inside me.I fought it down, knowing a panic attack was not going to help my twin.“Where is my sister?”I asked Mila, expecting her to have the most information since she was one of Evy’s bosses.
“She’s in a private room.Abi and Vaughn are with her.She was getting restless, and we decided it was better that I come with Rory to the waiting room since she kept running her mouth about calling the sheriff.”Mila took my hand, giving my fingers a reassuring squeeze.“We’ve all been trying to reach Reid.”
“Elias isn’t responding to texts either.Everything goes straight to voice mail, so they must have their phones off.”Sammy wasn’t looking at anyone but Chance and his mom, who was still standing nearby.
“How is Evy?”She was my only concern now.
“At the moment, she’s sleeping.She’s been given antihistamines and fluids.”
“She had an allergic reaction?”All the texts Abi sent earlier hadn’t explained what was going on.Just that my twin was having a medical emergency and where she was being taken for treatment.“I didn’t even know she was allergic to anything.”
“Neither did she,” Mila murmured, glancing over my head where I knew Chance still stood brooding.“I’ll take you back to see her, and we can talk more there.She wouldn’t want us to discuss this in the open.”
“They don’t even know if it was an allergic reaction,” I heard Rory say as Mila and I started to walk toward a door by the nurses’ station.“It’s probably an STI.”
