The full moon cast a hazy glow through thin clouds, the wind cool as it played through her hair. It was quiet tonight. Well, as quiet as it ever got. The faint noise from the bar only really making it to where she sat atop the water tower when anyone opened the door to step outside, the scent of cigarette smoke usually not too far behind it.
Most of the kids were home that weekend, Grayson and Gilley’s had joined in and a handful of the pups too. It had been enough to have them dragging out the stupid karaoke machine that Scar had gotten to annoy her.
Truthfully, Cord enjoyed nights like this. Everything felt right for the most part. Her babies were safe, happy and chaotic. They had more than she had ever hoped for when she started this stupid bar up.
It might have been the only good thing she had ever really managed to accomplish in her centuries. But tonight it was enough.
Her head tipped back, eyes shutting as she just took a moment for herself, knowing it wouldn’t be long before one of the kids found her and dragged her back in, hellbent on making her sing too. Apparently, they didn’t get enough of her and Avalon drunkenly dancing around the pool table screaming Def Leppard at each other.
As if reading her thoughts, the water tower swayed a bit and Eva dropped down beside her, breathless and laughing, elbowing her sharply in the ribcage as if to tear her from her thought.
“Ma, you might wanna get back in there and save us all. Chay and Jude are duetting I Got You, Babe and it is awful. I swear, if Jay starts doing Cat’s in the Cradle, I’m settin’ the whole damn bar on fire,” she threatened, feigning horror at the mere idea.
“Do ya really think yer brother’s gotten to my level of depressed drunk?” she countered, wrapping an arm around her daughter’s shoulder and shaking her a little.
“He’s like you, so, maybe.”
Cord wanted to argue that, but she knew Eva was right. Jay was probably more like her than any of them. On one hand, she was proud of who that kid was, on the other... She worried about him a little more. She knew how she was, the sort of troubles she got into, and a lot of it was not what she wanted for any of her kids.
“Maybe so, but I ain’t goin’ ‘round singin’ that song and I don’t think he’s gonna start either,” she finally settled on, nudging Eva in a mirror of how she was greeted. “Now you go on back down and have fun. I’ll be back down in a bit and then, if y’all ain’t destroyed my goddamn bar too much, I’ll let y’all get video of me makin’ an ass of myself. Deal?”
“Deal,” Eva agreed, grinning once more before shimmying down and bouncing back inside. The last thing Cord heard before the door shut was Eva screaming about her getting behind that stupid mic.
It was almost enough to make her want to just disappear until everyone was too damn drunk to remember. But she doubted she would ever get that lucky. Hell, she barely got lucky enough to keep this place going some days but that was more her own fault than anything else.
Cord lied back against the old metal, humming softly to herself for a moment, wondering how she had managed to get to this point. She had a home, a real one at that. Amazing kids that she would do anything for, grandkids too. Friends that she could depend on without the worry of being fucked over for some better favor.
In her youth, before hell, she never would have dreamed any of this possible. She had thought going to hell would be the end of things, really, and to know she had been so very wrong about all of that? It made the entire ordeal seem worth it in the long run.
She took another moment to herself before jumping down, never one to bother with taking the slow or safe way down before throwing open the door and walking back into the chaos that was her family.
"So you're serious about buying my old studio." When he had first inquired about it, Eva had thought he was joking. She had known Hayden his entire life and had never seen him like this over anyone. Not even his ex.
"Yeah? And? I wouldn't have asked about it in the first place if I wasn't." She was looking at him like Kham did when she thought he was hiding something and he was doing his best to keep from squirming.
"Oh, honey, you got it bad," she sighed, shaking her head. She could feel it coming off of him in waves, the way he felt about this boy. Khamron had filled her in on what little she knew, but Eva doubted his sister had realized the extent of things.
That time Hayden did squirm, giving his aunt his best, blank stare. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Eva."
Eva raised a brow, not buying it for a second. Not when she could see the marks that still lingered on his skin. She could also feel the magic he was using to keep them.
"I'll make a deal with you, Hayd. You be honest with me and I'll sell you the property for a quarter of the price. I'll even let you keep the furniture and, ah, additions."
Fucking demons. He knew he should have known better, Eva's mother was a former crossroads demon and she definitely had the business sense that came with it. Worse was the fact that he had forgotten Eva could fucking sense emotion.
"It's nothing, Eva. You're as bad as Khamron," he growled, doubling down as he crossed his arms and glared at her.
That only made his aunt smile wider, eyes sparkling as she held his gaze until he looked away.
"What's his name? Will you at least tell me that?"
He could have lied, should have lied, but it slipped out before he had a chance to bite his tongue. "Theo."
Eva considered pushing for more, but the fact that she had gotten a name, and an honest answer of it, was enough. For now. She let him squirm for another moment before pulling a folder out of her bag and opening it, little tabs placed through the documents to indicate where he would need to sign.
"What's this?" he asked, startled enough for it to not register right away.
"The deed to the house and property. I've already signed everything I need to sign, so you sign where it's marked and once the money's been transferred, I'll have it filed properly and the house will be yours."
"Wait, you're seriously going to sell it to me?" He glanced up from the documents, searching her face for any sign of a lie or joke.
"Why not? I haven't used it in....years, really. It's costing me more to keep the place than it would to sell it to you, and besides, you're clearly getting use out of it. I already cleaned out all of my personal items."
Truthfully, she had done that after the first time he had borrowed the place, but letting him think she hadn't had been kind of fun.
"Sign the papers, Hayd. Relieve me of this weird burden."
Character(s)::Robert and Eva
Word Count::887
@babyitsmagic because Yin will be proud xD
~*~
Robert had nearly ignored Calla's call to pick her back up, but given the choice between that or dealing with Yin if she called him, he was taking the quickest possible annoyance. He didn't think picking her up would lead to any more uncomfortable conversations, but he should have known better.
He recognized the girl from the last time he had been near the property. She had been play fighting with their mother, laughing and happy. He wondered for a moment if she remembered that day as vividly as he did but he didn't want to find out either. They might have been blood, but that didn't make them family.
He had planned to ignore her, to walk inside and collect his hardheaded daughter, but Eva reached for him, dropping her hand before she got the chance to touch him. It was just enough to get Robert to still, turning his attention to her.
"You're Robert, right? Mom's oldest?"
He hadn't expected her to know his name and it startled him. It meant she had mentioned him at least once before and he wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"I am," he answered, offering no further information, waiting to see what else she might know.
The confirmation made her smile, eyes lighting up in the dull dusk. "Finally. I thought for sure you were going to stay the last time but you took off before I got the chance to meet you," she rambled, seemingly excited to be speaking to him. "Honestly, we've all asked mom about a million questions about you over the years."
"Why?" He didn't mean to come across as hostile, but he didn't trust her. Why on earth would she, or any of them, want to know about him?
Her smile wilted, regret over opening her mouth quickly pushing out the excitement. "Why wouldn't we want to know about you?"
The question hadn't been expected and Robert frowned, looking the girl over a little more closely. There was a resemblance between her and his daughter and he wondered why he hadn't seen that before.
"What's your name?"
He had never cared to know before, but the words were out of his mouth before he could think better of it and it was too late to take it back. Especially when she smiled again, albeit more cautiously this time.
"Evangeline, but I mostly go by Eva," she answered, hoping that this meant he was more open to the idea of getting to know her.
Eva. One of the twins then, he had been right. He knew their names, all of them, and he knew a little about each one of them as well. He had, after all, met Jezebel on several occasions and she had given him a list "just in case". He hadn't wanted it, but curiosity had gotten the best of him and he had read it. He re-read it every time she gave him an updated list. Despite how he felt about this place, about the family his mother had made for herself, there had still been a part of him that had wanted so desperately to be included. He wondered if Jezebel had guessed that.
"Why did you want to know about me?"
Eva hesitated at that, unsure if she should answer honestly or not before deciding to just lay it all out. "Mom still talks about you. She keeps your birthday marked in the calendar every year. Same with Edmund's and Margaret's. The last time you showed up, she was a mess after. She wants to work things out but she don't know how. She ain't lookin' for forgiveness, doesn't think she deserves it, but she still loves you. She never stopped lovin' you. So we all grew up knowing about you because you're important to mom."
The sincerity of her words sang through him and a part of him wished she was lying. It would be easier if she had lied.
"I am only here to retrieve something of mine. I do not intend to make this a habit."
"I'm gonna guess that would be Calla who may or may not have set you up. Again."
Robert pinched the bridge of his nose at that, realizing that there was no one else milling about despite the hour. He should have caught on sooner to just how odd it was that the only person sitting outside the bar was one of his siblings.
"And I just lost five bucks because she said that would be your reaction."
"She may just prove to be the most stubbornly annoying child I have ever had the misfortune of meeting," he sighed, unable to hide the small twinge of affection he was beginning to feel towards his daughter. Even worse, he realized, he was beginning to actually think of the girl as his child even though he had insisted quite vehemently that he wanted nothing to do with her. Yin was never going to let him live this down.
Eva laughed at that and reached for the door, figuring she wouldn't press her luck any further tonight. She had a feeling her newfound niece was going to make a habit out of this. "It's definitely genetic."
"So it would seem," he agreed, following her inside with only the smallest moment of hesitation.
The last time they had seen each other had been a mistake of sorts. He hadn’t meant for her to track him down, hadn’t realized anyone else from the bar had seen him. He had figured that he was just far enough away from Ruby Hill’s bar to catch any chatter of the place without getting spotted.
He had, of course, been wrong and it had not been a pleasant conversation. Not that Rhodes blamed Eva for any of it. It had all, always, been his fault. Hell, he hadn’t even planned on trying see her again after that, but her brother had tracked him down this time.
“You owe her a real explanation,” Judas had told him and it had been hard to argue. Not just because he was pretty sure Judas wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him, but because he was right. Yes, Judas was still likely to take a page out of his mother’s book, but a bullet wouldn’t really do much to Rhodes so there wasn’t much to fear other than a bit of pain.
Still, it felt weird crossing that barrier and onto the property. He hadn’t dared set foot here since he left, knowing damn well he was far from welcome.
Everyone went silent when he opened the door and he stood in the doorway for a few seconds before swallowing his pride and walking in, sitting down at a table closest to the door, and did his best to ignore the glares from the folk that live there. He figured either Eva would appear or Judas would and he wasn’t sure which one would be better or worse.
Not that he had to wait long. He had seen the blonde hound when he walked in but she had quickly retreated. Apparently, she had gone to fetch Eva herself before things had the chance get ugly because his ex all but stormed into the bar, arms crossed and glaring him down.
She looked good, cut off jeans over black leggings, scuffed up boots and a black tanktop under an unbuttoned red plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She also looked like she was ready to stab him, but that had always been part of her charm.
“What in the ever livin’ fuck are you doin’ here?” she demanded, loud enough for most of the others to take that as their cue to leave the room. He didn’t blame them, he’d love to follow suit, but that would make him more of a coward than he already was.
“Your little brother decided to pay me a visit,” he answered carefully, having no doubt in his mind that Judas would have neglected to mention what he had done to her. That seemed to be a running theme with her family and he wasn’t about to judge. Not when they were actually there for each other, something he could never have said about his own.
“About?”
“You? Why else would Judas come looking for me?” He had thought that much was obvious, but he had always been a terrible judge of anything like that.
She snorted in disbelief, but it made sense. Judas had always been quick to meddle and given that Chayton had so recently done the same, she shouldn’t be surprised. Neither one of them had any fucking tact and she was going to strangle both of them.
“You know you’re not fucking welcome here. You know where the door is,” she spat, turning on her heel and marching back towards the kitchen, intent on getting away from him before she took a swing at him. Or worse, started to cry.
She didn’t get far before he was lunging after her and grabbing her wrist, holding her in place. She had forgotten that he was a lot stronger than he looked.
“Eva, wait, just give me a chance to explain.”
“No. You’ve had all the chances you are ever going to get. Avoidance, lies, and running. That’s all I ever get from you, Rhodes, and I am fucking tired.”
His grip on her wrist loosened, but he didn’t let go, not yet. “I know and I’m sorry. You have always deserved better than that and I knew I couldn’t be someone that deserved you.”
“Deserved? I didn’t give a shit about anything other than you, Rhodes. I wanted you. But you were too much of a coward to stay and too much of a bitch to even try to work on yourself. So maybe you’re right, maybe I do deserve better, but that doesn’t change a goddamn thing about I feel.”
He paused, studying her for a moment before asking quietly, “How do you feel?”
The question had the anger dying on her tongue and, for a moment, she stood there in silence. In all of the years since he had first left, no one had really bothered to ask her that.
“I feel lost and abandoned, Rhodes. I woke up and you were just gone. Nothing left but a note and your shirt. How the hell am I supposed to feel?”
“Eva, it’s been years. Why haven’t you moved on? I knew I was never going to be able to, but you were just a teenager when we met,” he pointed out gently, confused. He hadn’t stopped to think that maybe she really did love him the way he loved her, but he was beginning to wonder if he had been wrong about everything.
She choked at that, trying to swallow back a bitter laugh. “Because I’m still in love with you, you fucking idiot. How the hell have you not realized that?”
It didn’t matter how she still felt about him, Eva didn’t think she could ever trust him again. Not after everything else. How could she ever possibly think to give someone she didn’t trust another chance if he asked?
She wanted to let go, to move on, but she had no idea how. It wasn’t stubbornness at this point, she almost wished that it was, but she didn’t know what it was that kept her hanging on.
Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. She had a hard time letting anyone in since him and that definitely factored into it. It wasn’t that she wanted to be alone like this, she was just terrified of going through that kind of heartache again.
“Eva...I’m sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen,” he mumbled, the self loathing and regret slamming into him all over again.
This was his fault. He had done this to her. He had known how she felt about him when he left and he hadn’t stopped to consider how hard it all would be on her. Her parents had been right and he should have left her alone, left long before things had gotten to where they had.
“A little too late on that, Rhodes.”
Eva finally tugged her wrist free but she hesitated, wanting to get away from him but at the same time, knowing this might be the last time she gets the chance to see him. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to see him again after this.
“You should go before my mom or dad come in here. You know my mom especially has a short fuse and quick trigger finger,” she warned, offering a pained smile.
She didn’t want to see him hurt and she knew her family was overprotective enough to push the subject. After all, he was on a list that her mother kept of people that weren’t technically allowed on the property but weren’t outright banned either. He hadn’t, technically, broken any rules, but he wasn’t injured or being hunted, so as far as Cord had been concerned, there was no reason for him to be there after what he had put Eva through.
“Yeah, your folks didn’t like me much then either,” he agreed, but he knew they had been right not to.
He dug a scrap of paper out of his pocket, a number already written on it, and pressed it to the palm of her hand. “I’m not walking out entirely this time. If you ever want anything to do with me, this is my number. I don’t plan on changing on it.”
Her fingers curled around the paper tightly and she nodded, biting down hard on her lower lip to keep it from trembling. What could she possibly say to that when she had no idea if she even wanted to ever talk to him again?
Rhodes nodded in return, a sad smile gracing his lips before he turned and headed out the door, not bothering to stop until he was safely off the property. Only then did he sink to the ground and bury his face in his hands to weep.
Characters::Rhodes and Evangeline
Word Count::1369
Rhodes knew he was cutting it a little too close for comfort. The closest bar to the one he was in being in that damned ghost town. He knew that he shouldn’t keep coming back here but he couldn’t seem to help himself. The only time in his life he had been happy, truly happy, had been the time he had spent in Ruby Hill.
Of course, he hadn’t been expecting to see Eva and he wondered, briefly, if someone had tipped her off about him being in the area.
“What are you doing here, Evangeline?”
It wasn’t her scene, not really. A little too lacking in health standards for her taste. Sure, she ended up in some shady bars when she was out with her brothers and their friends, but at least those were places that swept the floors at least once a day. She wasn’t sure the same could be said about this hole in the wall.
Truthfully, she would have never set foot inside the place had Chayton not called her and given her warning that her ex was in the area. Maybe he thought it would keep her from going there to find him. Maybe he thought she needed the closure. She wasn’t about to guess the motives of a trickster that sometimes just delighted in chaos, no matter who’s expense it was at.
“Are you seriously askin’ me that?”
“Well it ain’t like this is your typical watering hole,” he pointed out, trying to play it off as nonchalant as he could manage.
It hurt to see her, to watch her move without being able to touch her. To see that pain in her eyes and know he caused it. But beyond that, he could smell the emotion coming off of her, hell, he could damn near feel it. He wondered if she knew she had even a shadow of her mother’s ability.
Probably not the best time to ask.
The worst part of all of it was knowing she still loved him.
“You do know I live in this area, right? You ain’t damaged your brain that much, have you?”
Coming here was a mistake, she knew that but... But she had wanted to see him. To see for herself that was alive and in one piece. It didn’t matter that the sight of him made her chest so tight it was hard to breathe. She would take that pain and cling to it if she could have even a few minutes in the same space as him.
“The goddamn fuck are you doin’ back in these parts, Rhodes?”
The lion opened his mouth to answer, stopped, and shook his head before throwing back another shot. He wasn’t drunk enough for this conversation, but he wasn’t sober enough for it either. So he was quiet as he watched her, eyes widening slightly when he realized she was wearing his shirt. The one she had always loved when they were together. The only thing he had left her when he walked out of her life.
Well, maybe not the only thing, but the only item.
“I’m just passin’ through on my way back east, Evangeline. Don’t try making this something bigger than it is,” he lied, hating himself just a little more for it.
“You always were a shit liar,” she spat, trying desperately to cling to anger, to keep that overwhelming urge to cry stuffed down where it belonged. She had cried enough over him, he didn’t deserve more tears than he had already gotten.
But even with her jaw clenched and her hands balled into fists at her side, Eva’s lower lip trembled.
“We both know you could’a taken any route but you came this way knowing damn well if anyone recognized you, they’d call me. Well congratu-fucking-lations, you were noticed.”
“Yeah, I could’a. not going to deny that.” There was no point to it, they both knew it. He didn’t want to fight either. He had just wanted to close to the only place that had ever felt like home, even if it was still from a distance.
Besides, even if he wanted to argue it, what could he possibly say? Nothing that would have come out right, that much he knew.
“Glad you kept the shirt. Still looks better on you than it ever did on me.”
“Don’t. Don’t you start with that shit. You’re the one that walked away. You’re the one that didn’t even have the fuckin’ balls to say it to my face. I woke up alone, cold, with a shirt and a note. I get to cling to what I got left but you... You gave up that right when you walked out of my damn life without even so much as a second glance.”
The first spill of tears were hot on her cheeks and she hated them for falling at all. They were a sign of weakness and she wasn’t weak. She hadn’t been weak since she was a child and Raven had needed stitches. She had been the strong one then and she could be that again. She had to be that person.
“You left me, Rhodes.”
He knew he had brought this on himself, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. She was right, he had left. He’d run like a fucking coward and, even now, running sounded like a better option than seeing the damage he had caused.
“Eva...I know. I know I fucked everything up. I know I left. I can’t take that back and I’m not trying to. I wasn’t good for you then and ain’t nothings changed on that front.”
If he could be good enough for her, he would have stayed, would have tried, but he knew himself.
“Had I stayed, I just would have hurt you worse in the long run.”
“You can say that all you goddamn fucking want, but I don’t think you could have fucked me up worse.”
That wasn’t true, even Eva knew that. She had seen the damage her dad and Jay’s dad had done to her mom. She knew Mason had fucked mom up worse though and Eva loved Rhodes like that. Enough to want to forgive him if he’d ask for it. Enough that she knew she would give him a second chance if he just promised not to go away again.
It would have been worse had there been a kid involved but that was a bridge they had never had to cross. It was one of the few things she was truly thankful for.
“Just fucking go, Rhodes. Leave and don’t come back.”
“We both know that’s not true, Evie.”
He had used the nickname a dozen times in a dozen different ways, whispered against her throat in the morning, murmured against lips as they danced in her mother’s bar, whimpered pleas for her not to stop. But he had never used it with such a soft and wistfully mournful tone before. He wouldn’t be surprised if it earned him a punch to the jaw.
Still, he finished off the last two shots sitting in front of him and stood, his jacket held loosely in his hand as he made for the door, pausing with his hand on the metal push plate before looking back at her.
“I lied, you know. The last time we saw each other. When you tracked me down. I lied and I’ll never forgive myself for that either.”
Of all the things he could have said, nothing hurt more than that. She remembered the conversation, remembered asking him if he had ever actually loved her. He had told her no and closed the door in her face, locking it and leaving her to regret tracking him down.
It had been the only question she had asked.
Rhodes didn’t give her a chance to respond as he pushed the door open and stepped out into the cool breeze of the night, leaving her standing there, in the middle of some hole in the wall, with tears on her face.
At least this time he had had the courage to be honest. It wasn’t much, but it was the best he could offer.
Character(s)-Rhodes and Evangeline
Word count: 525
His arms snaked around her waist, teeth tugging at her earlobe as she wiped down the tables in the bar. Some overplayed rock ballad poured from the jukebox as she laughed and slapped at him with the towel in her hands, glad that no one else was in the bar this late. She had been tending tonight and it had been slow, even for this place, so she had been tasked to get it cleaned it up on her own.
Of course, her mother had given her a pretty hard look when she had taken off for the night. Eva had no doubts in her mind that her mother had definitely caught on to the fact that there was something going on between her and Rhodes.
“How much longer til you’re done in here?” he asked, fingers tracing along the small line of exposed skin between her shirt and too worn out blue jeans.
“Three more tables,” she answered, trying to finish with the one in front of her but wanting nothing more than to relax in his embrace. “And you’re not making it easy.”
He never made things easy, but she didn’t mind. Truthfully, Evangeline lived for a challenge and Rhodes was definitely good at playing things close to home. He was never one to tell more than he needed to and he could dodge questions better than most.
If it irked her, she never let on.
“Huh, usually you’re the one making things hard.” It was a tacky joke, but Rhodes loved the way she laughed at the worst ones.
She turned in his arms, her own draping loosely around his neck before she rose up on her toes to catch his lips. “If you let me finish clean up, I’ll make things as hard as you want them.”
You already are, he thought, knowing it was going to be difficult to leave this place, to leave her. But he was getting to the end of his time there and still had no idea how to tell her.
He hadn’t meant to fall for her, but he had and it pained him to think of how much he was going to hurt her. Her mom had every right to give him dirty and disapproving looks.
He knew he was no good for her.
“Is that so?” he asked, lifting a brow before letting go of her. Of course, that didn’t last long. As soon as she moved, he was grabbing her hand and twirling her in time to the song before stealing a kiss of his own.
It wasn’t the first time he had done something like that so it didn’t catch her off guard. Instead, she laughed and moved with him, eyes warm and adoring as she gazed at him, content to stay in moments like this for as long as possible.
She would have willingly followed him to the ends of the earth, but she was hoping he would choose to stay here with her, to make this place his home.
She should have known better, but love makes fools of everyone at least once.
He was just passing through, really. The place had stood out like a damn beacon with it’s warding and curiosity had gotten the better of him. What kind of place needed that much heavy magic in the middle of nowhere?
Passing through the barrier had been...interesting, to say the least. It carried an odd sense of peace and, for the first time in nearly three years, Rhodes relaxed a little. If nothing else, he could hopefully crash for a couple of days before heading out on the road once more.
The bar itself didn’t look like a whole lot from the outside, but it was almost cozy feeling inside. The man behind the bar didn’t pay him much mind when he ordered a beer and the music was alright. But it was the girl that had caught his eye. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had given him such a predatory look and it would have been unnerving if it wasn’t for the little smirk on her lips.
With a slight grin of his own, he saluted with the beer and tried his best not to pay her too much mind. It never did him too well to get his hopes up and she was definitely out of his league.
It was enough of an invitation for Evangeline and she sauntered over to the bar and turned, pulling herself up to sit on top of it. It was definitely a trait she had picked up from her mother, not that Cord really approved.
The hound gave her a look, but she ignored Trigger easily. Her attention was fixed firmly on the man trying his hardest not to check her out. Honestly, it was enough to make her laugh.
“You’re new.”
“That obvious?” he asked, glancing over at her and raising a brow. “Not sure how many bars let people sit on top of the actual bar though.”
“My mother owns the place, I know all the regular faces. We don’t get a lot of new around here.”
That made a little more sense but it also marked her as completely off limits. If he was looking for a safe place to lie low for a few days, nailing the owner’s kid was the worst way to go about things.
“Rhodes. Just passin’ through, looking for a place to crash for a couple of nights. Places glows like a fucking lighthouse in a storm,” he replied, shrugging before finishing off the bottle in his hand.
“I think something can be arranged,” she purred, batting her lashes at him before twisting enough to grab a set of keys from the side of the register. “We’ve got apartment style set ups, but I can think of a few more comfortable places to crash.”
Rhodes glanced between the girl sitting on the bar and the man behind it, trying read the vibe. Whomever the guy was, he seemed awfully protective of the girl and he had to figure she was his little sister or something.
“Weird thing to offer a man before telling him your name.” It wasn’t the best response, but it was all he could think to say in the moment.
Her laugh was like wind chimes, melodious and higher in pitch than he had been expecting. But it suited her.
“Evangeline. Mostly go by Eva,” she introduced, leaning in just a little bit closer.
Her perfume made him crinkle his nose, the scent of rose and vetiver was nice, but the chemical scent wasn’t. She smelled off underneath that too and he couldn’t place what it was and he wasn’t sure it was polite to actually ask.
“Eva. Why the hell do you live in a bar?”
“Because my mother owns it and runs the whole property as a sort of supernatural sanctuary. Didn’t really get a lot of say in it.” She toyed with the keys in her hand, wondering if he was going to decide to take her up on either of the offers laid out before him.
He nodded, the warding making a lot more sense now. “Do you make it a point to hit on people passing through?”
“Only the cute ones,” she shot back quickly, giving him a rather appraising look. He was definitely one of the better looking ones she had come across, but the most she done with anyone was a little kissing before they figured out what her parents were. That tended to scare most people off, she supposed.
Rhodes snorted at that, a genuine smile touching on his lips. “Haven’t slept proper in nearly two weeks, not sure you’ve got the best definition of cute.”
“You pull it off.” Eva paused before slipping off the bar top and holding a couple of keys up. “But if you’re telling me you look better after a good night’s sleep, I’d love to see that and save the trying to hit on you for after.”
It couldn’t help to look at the place at least, and he stood and dug out his wallet, unsure of just how much a beer cost here.
“Don’t worry about paying,” she interjected, fingers skimming his wrist as she nodded at the bar tender and led him out of the bar.
Maddy had caught wind of the situation before Evangeline had even really had a chance to cross the border. It wasn’t very hard to stay on her tail either. She knew the girl’s usual route pretty well by now. The first couple of years Cord and Lucifer had let her drive down there, they had Maddy follow her about halfway home and then had someone else pick up the rest.
All it took was waiting for her to find a little motel for the night. She had stopped way earlier on than she normally would have. Any other time, it would have worried the leopard, but not today.
She waited for the girl to get her room and get “settled” before she was damn near kicking the door in.
Eva wasn’t in the mood to deal with Gabriel’s mother, but she didn’t really have a choice. Her face was swollen from crying the whole drive, what little makeup was left was smeared across her face. She looked awful.
Maddy just looked pissed.
“I don’t know what the fuck your issue is little girl, and I really don’t give a shit. You come anywhere near my fucking son again and I will gut your pretty little ass. Do you understand me?” the shifter snarled, grabbing the girl up by her throat and slamming her into the wall hard enough to crack it.
If she had been dizzy before, she was close to passing out now. The force of her head hitting the wall had only made the earlier vertigo come back with a vengeance and she swallowed hard, or as hard as she could with a clawed hand wrapped around her throat, and tried to nod as slowly as she could.
