Page 33 of Doctor's Baby: An Enemies to Lovers Romance

I set my jaw and bite down on my tongue. I’m so angry I can’t think straight. The rush of blood past my ears and the thunderous hammering of my heart drown out all other noise and sensation.

“Don’t you dare call her that.”

Mother, ever defiant, turns her nose up at me. “Have you forgotten what she did? Jacob’s dead because of her.”

I let out a loud, furious sigh. “That’s not true. You know that’s not true.”

Just stab me in the chest.

It’d be less painful.

“You were sneaking around with her. You were sneaking around with her when Jacob went to look for you.”

“It was an accident,” I insist. The words are heavy in mouth, unnatural. After all this time, I’ve done my best not to think about it. The guilt weighs on me, sits at the back of my throat.

I’m going to be sick.

“Accident?” Mother scoffs. “He wouldn’t have been hit by that drunk driver if he hadn’t been out looking for you.” She breaks out into full-on sobs, hitting my chest repeatedly with closed fists.

It hurts.

But I don’t stop her.

“Jacob would still be alive if you hadn’t snuck out to see her. He wouldn’t have had to look for you. He wouldn’t have been on the roads when—” Mother chokes, can do nothing except wail and clutch to me.

I don’t know what to do.

It doesn’t happen very often, so I’m completely helpless.

I’m furious. I’m furious at Mother for laying a hand on Eve. I’m furious that Jacob’s dead.

I’m furious at myself because yes. Yes, it’s my fault that my brother’s dead. If only I’d told him where I was going to be that night, if only the roads hadn’t been so slippery, if only that drunk driver had decided to take a cab home.

If only, if only, if only…

Maybe he’d still be here. Maybe Mother would never have shipped me off to New York to live with my aunt rather than dealing with her grief. Maybe I wouldn’t have stayed there, too afraid to come back.

But one thing’s for certain: it isn’t Eve’s fault.

I don’t remember much about that night. Eve and I went to the movies, I think. I don’t even remember what we went to see. I can’t remember if we had fun or not. The whole night’s tainted with the guilt and the unbridled sadness that came with the news of my brother’s death.

Eve and I wound up going back to her place. It’s where we slept together for the first time. I’m fairly certain we had a good time. I was her first, so we took things slow. My phone was off because I didn’t want to be disturbed.

Imagine the shame I felt when I saw the eight missed calls from Jacob.

Pops had to track me down and drag me back home. Mother was worried that something had happened to me, too, when I didn’t answer anybody’s call. I had to leave Eve without another word. I’m fairly certain that was the last time I saw her for over a decade.

The cops at the door said Jacob had been rushed to the hospital.

That’s where the doctors said he died shortly after arriving.

The rest of the night was a blur.

I was disgusted with myself. Jacob—my big brother, the guy who always looked out for me—was dead. He’d insisted on looking for me because it was raining and he wanted to make sure I had a ride home.

I’m the reason he’s dead. If Mother wants to blame anyone, it should be me.

I hesitantly look to Eve. She’s gone incredibly pale, one hand clasped over her mouth in terror and sorrow. I can’t stand to see her this way.

“Mrs. Winthrop,” she says shakily, her voice so small and thin I think it’s about to break. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was just—”

Mother cries something incoherent, shrieking at the top of her lungs. Heavy sobs wrack her whole body as she leans against me for support. I need to de-escalate the situation before Mother tries to hurt her again, and the only way to do that is by sending one of them away.

“Just go, Eve,” I say slowly. “Please.”

Eve stares at me in dismay, her mouth falling open as though to scream.

But she doesn’t.

The silence hurts more than whatever comment she’s undoubtedly fighting back.

What hurts even more is the fact that she looks so small and tired and betrayed.

Don’t look at me like that.

I can’t take it.

What else am I supposed to do? I can’t tell Mother to leave. She’s so distraught that she can barely stand. Even though she’s always been cold toward me, she’s still my mother. I need to take care of what little family I have left.

Eve says nothing. She wipes at her eyes, fights back tears. She brushes past us in a hurry, circling around me and Mother like she’s worried she’ll be attacked again.

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