Page 32 of Hero Unbound

At that point, she’d had some friends but had walked away from each friendship because Gareth found one problem or another with each of them. She’d allowed herself to become alienated.

It was amazing how you sometimes couldn’t see all the trauma pieces until you were looking at the puzzle from a distance. If she had recognized them for what they were earlier, maybe she wouldn’t have lost so much. Wouldn’t have lost her self-respect.

“Whoa! What’s with the cloudy face over there?” Becky twirled a makeup brush up around her head. “Let’s put the final touches on, and then we’re ready to go. You look fabulous, by the way.”

Letting someone this tipsy apply makeup probably wasn’t a great idea, but Eva was committed now. Maybe if she looked like a clown, she could skip this event altogether.

Although, where else was she going to go? The dogs were comfortable here, and it beat sleeping in a shed. The cash Becky had paid her today had allowed her to buy a full meal and everything the pups needed. But she didn’t want to waste it.

That was money she was going to need to start somewhere else. Somewhere permanent. Oak Creek couldn’t be her permanent place. That was the decision she’d finally come to.

Sooner or later, someone was going to ask too many questions and find out the truth—that Eva couldn’t be trusted.

“All right, ladies. I’m here, so we can officially get this party started!” Lilah Collingwood burst through the door. Eva had met her a few times on the Linear property. The woman was impressive and more than a little intimidating.

And gorgeous, especially now when she’d put on makeup and done something fantastic with her black hair.

Ella shook her head and pointed her finger at the woman. “I hate you with a fiery passion that could scorch the whole earth.”

Eva’s eyes grew wide. Oh boy, was there about to be a fight?

Lilah raised a dark eyebrow. “Usually, I’m a few drinks in before people start scorch-earthing me.”

“You have no right to look this gorgeous.”

Lilah paid no attention to the wagging finger and walked over to hug Ella. “C’mon now, Elle’s Bells. You look pretty too. We all do.”

But Eva could see what Ella meant; next to Lilah, everybody looked a little plainer. The woman was tall, slender, and walked with the confidence of someone who could handle herself. And she truly was gorgeous with her dark hair and blue eyes.

“Whatever. You bitch.” But Ella hugged Lilah back. “Let me get you a drink.”

Lilah turned to Eva. “You look good.”

So much for the clown plan working out. “Thanks.”

She grinned. “Theo’s going to lose his mind when he sees you in that skirt and those boots. He’s already ga-ga enough about you in your regular clothes on property.”

Theo was going to be there tonight?

“Theo’s coming?” Becky squealed. “Theo never comes to stuff like this.”

Lilah walked over to the island, where Ella had set her drink. “I guess there was going to be something there tonight that interested him.” She wrapped her arm over her head and pointed at Eva without looking at her.

“That’s because those two were sucking face,” Becky told her.

Lilah raised her eyebrow again. “Before or after he tackled you in the barn?”

“He tackled her in the barn?” Ella yelled from in the fridge, where she was looking for something to put in a drink.

“How did you know about that?” Eva asked.

“I was out there. He’d called in reinforcements when he thought Linear might be under some sort of attack. In his defense, that has happened before. We take people sneaking around pretty seriously.”

Eva gave a forced smile. “I was checking on the animals. That was the night Wildfire had her foal.”

Lilah smiled, making her face softer and even prettier, if that was possible. “Yeah, I heard you were amazing. I’m glad you were there.”

“Let’s get back to the kissing.” Ella set a plate of baked goodies on the island. “Also, I brought these from the shop.”

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