Against All Odds

Chapter 21

Lucas

The ride to Harvey's place is tense. After puking most of the contents of her stomach up, Eve had curled up in the back of the car and slept. Harvey told me to leave her to it so I tried to ignore her soft, sleepy breaths.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask, glancing at Harvey who's eyes are staring at the road in front of him. "If you'd have told me I'd have..."

"You'd have what?" Harvey interrupts. "Cancelled the competition? Yeah right. Don't kid yourself."

My gaze diverts out of the window, watching the buildings fly by and thinking over my decision to compete against Stan. Would it have made a difference if I'd known what Stan had done? Would I have refused to go through with it? I just don't know.

"What happened?" I question, wanting to know what Stan had done to my best mate.

"A lot of shit happened." Harvey's knuckles turn white as he clenches the steering wheel. "Eve and I can explain it when we get to mine."

I don't push, knowing that Harvey is clearly still affected. This does make more sense though. It makes sense as to why he was so against me doing the competition. It explains why Eve looks so uncomfortable around Stan and why she ran off after my competition. I really should have noticed there was more to the story that met the eye. I just assumed they were all afraid of him because of his reputation.

We get to Harvey's house and he turns to wake the sleeping Eve. She groans, sits up and they share a look. I guess they're having a telepathic conversation because she nods in understanding and her eyes flicker to meet mine.

"Bet I look like shit right now." She smirks and runs a hand through her hair, untangling it with her fingers. I'm not going to tell her this but even ill I found her oddly attractive.

"You feeling any better?" I ask softly and she gives me a half hearted shrug.

"Truth be told I've had better days." She admits as we get out of the car. "Probably just got a stomach bug."

"As long as you puke in the toilet and not in my house we're fine." Harvey warns her and she shows him the middle finger. "Charming."

"I try." She laughs back and I find myself smiling at their banter. "So Lucas, you want to know the dirt on Stan?"

Their attention turns to me and I nod, interested but slightly weary and not sure what to expect. We enter Harvey's small house and Eve automatically finds the kettle and makes the three of us a warm drink. We settle around the kitchen table and Eve begins the story.

"We've known Stan for years. He went to our school. In fact he was in my brothers year. He and Max never got along, mainly because Alfie's big sister had a major crush on Stan and Max liked her. Lily and Stan got together and that's when shit started happening." Eve's eyes cloud over with memories and I feel the need to comfort her, but I'm not sure how too. "Max was heart broken and he tried to get Lily to change her mind but she was dead set on staying with Stan. He treated her badly and Max had to watch her suffer. We all saw a change in her but none of us realised how drastic is was until she took her own life."
Eve pauses and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. I finally start to understand the bigger picture. Their hate towards that man is clearly justified.
"She was barely eighteen years old." Harvey speaks softly and Eve flutters her eyes open and they share another look, sharing each others pain. "Max and AJ were really cut up over it. Of course we knew Stan was a big part of Lily's depression but what could we do about it? Nothing. We had to watch our best mate lose his big sister and we couldn't do a single thing about it. That's why when Stan tried to pick a fight with me I challenged him to a skate off. I knew how he viewed himself as the best skater in this town and I was determined to take that title from him. It was a small tribute to Lily's memory I guess. But, when I did take that title away, he wasn't pleased. After he'd allowed me to walk smugly around town for a week, he and his gang jumped me when I was out late at night. Eve was with me...let's just say it was pretty ugly."
"Ugly?! It was fucking brutal!" Eve clenches her fists around her mug and I can see the pain filling her eyes. "They didn't just give you a quick beating, they hit and kicked you until you were unrecognisable!"
Harvey listens and gives a slight nod.
"But they didn't touch you." He points out which makes Eve roll her eyes. "And they didn't kill me."
"Always look at the bright side don't you?" She sighs and rubs her temples with her fingers, clearly massaging a headache.
"Anyway, Eve called Max and they got me back to their house." Harvey carried on the rest of the story. "I refused to go to the hospital so the two of them looked after me. You have no idea how thankful I am for that."
"Yeah well I wasn't going to send you back home looking like you did, you'd scare your mum half to death." Eve points out and sips her drink.
"True." Harvey has a slight smile on his face. "Nothing much has happened since. I've stayed away from the fucker and so has our whole friendship group. So now you see why we were so freaked out when he came back into our lives."
There's a silence and I realise it's my turn to speak.
"That's some story." I say honestly, because I didn't expect anything half as bad as what I'd just been told. "I'm so sorry I've brought him back."
"He never went away." Eve stands suddenly and announces that she's going home. I offer to walk her back but before I get the chance she's already out the door and marching towards her home.
Harvey is still sat at his table, watching me intently.
"What?" I frown.
"I'm just nervous man." He admits, collecting the three mugs and placing them in the dishwasher. "Eve's been through shit, we all have and it's making me nervous that Stan keeps turning up at her café. I just don't like it."

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