Page 25 of Before Eve
But I don’t go away. Instead, I move across the room to her bed, turning on a lamp. It casts an eerie yellow glow over the spacious area, showing her bared back where angry red welts slash her skin.
I barely breathe.
“I said go away,” her words come again, still clear, and this time angry.
Unlike when Grayson speaks to me, her angry tone doesn’t scare me, it prods me forward as I go into her bathroom, retrieve cotton balls and peroxide, and come back to the bed. I climb up onto the big mattress. It doesn’t move with my weight. I sit cross-legged behind her, unscrew the peroxide bottle, soak a cotton ball, and gently pat the first of many welts.
She doesn’t speak anymore and when I’m done I recap the peroxide, curl up on the bed, and I stare at her back.
I wish Mommy would just behave so Grayson wouldn’t be so mean to her.
My eyes grow heavy. I sleep.
Wetness wakes me. I can’t believe I peed the bed. But as I come fully awake, it’s not pee. It’s blood.
Beside me, Mommy is dead.
I scream.
Adrenaline shoots through me, and I wake with a whole body jerk. I scoot up in my chair and look around, trying to orient myself. In our quad, Anne and Simon still sleep.
“Hey,” West whispers.
Silently, I curse and hope to God I didn’t talk. Anne told me that I sometimes do. I push myself farther up, embarrassed, awkward, and just wanting to get away. But I’m on a bus, trapped, with nowhere to go. Sweat pops to my skin, and I force myself to breathe, but it doesn’t seem like there’s any air in here.
West reaches for me. “Eve?”
I shake my head, and with fumbling fingers, I get my earbuds out and put them in. I turn sideways in my chair, not wanting to look at West, Anne, or anybody, and stare out the window for the rest of the trip.
But mostly I concentrate on breathing and not falling back to sleep.
CHAPTER 12
I toldmyself I was being paranoid about the suited man in the lobby, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. Paranoia or not, I have to trust my gut, and my gut is telling me to take caution.
The fact is, Grayson knows I took a bus, which means, thanks to Greyhound security cameras, he also knows I have red hair. Though I switched lines a lot, my final destination had been Boston. Granted I’ve moved around a lot since then, but still, those details arm Grayson with enough to send someone to track me.
I could quit and find another job. Or I could stay on, change my look, and continue to be ever-cautious, ready to run.
I opt for the second.
In Detroit, our next city on the tour, I find the nearest salon and have them cut the rest of my hair pixie short and dye it dark blue. I also purchase black framed glasses with a light blue tint to complement my hair.
And now several hours later I walk into the hotel lobby and straight up to Anne.
“Holy shit!” Her mouth drops open. “I love it!”
Her reaction warms me, and I start to wonder what West will think right as he steps off the elevator, catches sight of me across the lobby, and with a huge grin, makes his way over.
“Eve, that totally rocks. That is so awesome!”
“Really?”
He nods. “Absolutely.”
It might be silly, but their accolades bolster me. I dolike the new me.
September transitions to October. My life settles into a routine of set up, show, break down, and travel to a new city. Every travel day Anne and I end up on the Mack Daddy bus, and on show days, West somehow maneuvers himself to be near me. But the mornings…the mornings are my favorite when West and I just run.
