Page 29 of Engaging Evelyn (Blissful Bets)

Flashes of her past engulfed her mind, smothering her breath. The need to rush to Stephen was almost uncontrollable. The question “Why” kept repeating in her mind. He said that he loved her. He acted like he did. So then why after one weekend of Sheila visiting her brother had Stephen left her? What was it about Sheila that had made him throw away everything they had? Nothing made sense.

For endless minutes she lay sobbing, confused as to what was happening. Was she having some sort of brain meltdown?

Evelyn screamed into the pillow as a wave of despair took over her. At the pounding on her door, the pain was suddenly gone. She sat up wiping her eyes and felt absolutely fine. The absence of her sadness left her even more confused. There, that was it. It was out and she would be fine now, at least she hoped.

Clearing her throat, Evelyn called out, “Just a minute,” and rushed to the bathroom.

Cool water had her gasping for air while she rinsed off her face. “See, you’re fine,” she said to her reflection in the mirror. But she didn’t look fine. The redness and swollenness of her eyes were a dead giveaway, not to mention her whole face was flushed.

Brandon and Stephen looked ready to break her door down. It took her a moment to ask them anything. “I thought I told you two I was taking a nap.” Evelyn tried not to make eye contact with either of them.

“We heard you scream, and you’ve been crying. What’s wrong?” Stephen took a step toward her.

This was not happening. No way had they heard her scream. It hadn’t been that loud, plus she had screamed into the pillow.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It was probably one of the kids you heard screaming. Now if it’s all right with you I’m going back to bed.” Evelyn looked up for the first time at Stephen’s face. It was the worst mistake she could have made. She felt as if she had been impaled on a knife. Evelyn gasped, grabbing her chest, and slammed the door.

It opened immediately. They both walked in, eying her suspiciously. The tears were already rolling down her cheeks, and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Get out. I don’t want you two here. I want to be…alone.” Evelyn could barely make out the last word, she was crying so hard.

“It didn’t work.” Brandon sighed. “What now?” He turned to Stephen. “How do you know it didn’t work? Maybe something else is bothering her.”

Stephen took another step toward Evelyn. She jumped away from him as if he had burned her.

“Evelyn, come to me,” Stephen said calmly.

As if her body had a mind of its own, Evelyn walked forward. “No, no, I don’t want to,”she cried. Her legs carried her, but her mind was screaming no. “What is happening? Why can’t I stop?”

“Fuck, the bond’s not completely broken. I don’t know what else to do. I was just supposed to release it and everything was meant to go back to normal, so I thought,” Stephen said, more to himself than anyone else. “You can stop, Evelyn. You don’t have to come to me if you don’t want to.”

Evelyn came to a halt at his words. Did she really want to stop? All she knew was if she even so much as touched Stephen she was going to ask him why he left, cry some more, and then beg him to make love to her. That, she couldn’t do. She had way too much pride to resort to begging someone who had left her to begin with.

“You have to call Ayden and tell him what you’ve done,” Brandon said, never taking his eyes off Evelyn. “Maybe he’ll know how to break it.”

“Fuck, you’re right. The shit is going to hit the fan. Damn, he’s going to be pissed.” Stephen pulled out his phone.

“What are you both talking about?” Evelyn was furious that they kept speaking in riddles. Angry, she wiped the tears from her cheeks. She was so tired of feeling this way. The sadness she’d felt over the last two years kept mentally wearing her down. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

“Nothing. Why don’t we go and make some coffee?”

Brandon led her to the kitchen like a child. Evelyn didn’t care. Coffee sounded very good at the moment.

Chapter 15

On the second ring, Ayden picked up the phone. Weight settled in Stephen’s chest. There was no doubt in his mind that Ayden was going to be pissed, but all he could think about was if Evelyn was going to be all right. He had never meant to hurt her.

“Stephen, what’s up?”

“We have a problem.” Stephen walked to the far end of the living room. He didn’t want Evelyn to hear his conversation.

“Is it Sheila? Is she all right?” Ayden’s panic was thick in his voice.

“No, Sheila is fine. I talked to her earlier. This isn’t about her. There’s something I haven’t told you.”

Ayden got quiet for a few seconds. “So tell me.”

“Before you ordered me to take care of Sheila, I marked someone. I broke off our engagement and haven’t seen her until recently. A part of me thought she would be fine and that after Sheila was better, I could pick up where we left off. Well, she wasn’t fine, and I released the bond, but she’s worse now. She’s in so much pain.”

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