Anticipations (Evie Cortez Book 2)

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I was happy as I headed home, I was tired and oddly enough that made me happy because I’d get a good night’s rest. I had gone to La Amour pretty early so Dominic let me go by eleven, tomorrow on my regular shift I’d be there until 1am. I was getting out of my car when I noticed the figure sitting on my porch steps. He stood as I got out. “Hey Kevin, what brings you by?”

“I came by a little earlier but you weren’t here.” Kevin explained first, he didn’t want me to think he was inconsiderate by showing up this late. “I was asked to give you this.” he handed me an envelope with my name on it.

I couldn’t explain why but when I touched it I felt a sense of sadness. “From who?” Emotion welled in my eyes as I remembered the one person at the coven who would care enough to write me.

“Elissa.”

That’s all it took, to hear her name and start crying. “I…why?” I hadn’t heard from her since I had left the coven.

“She still loves you. Not all of us believe what the coven says about betrayal.” He offered with a sweet smile.

I nodded unable to say much of anything. I walked past him up the porch and unlocked the door. “Come in, let’s have coffee or something.” I wanted to change the conversation and clear the air from all the intensity surrounding me. I needed to breathe before I crumbled to the floor into a sobbing mess.

“Are you ok Evie?”

“Yup.” I left the letter on the table and started messing around the kitchen, using muscle memory to guide me through the actions of making a simple pot of coffee. My mind and soul were completely somewhere else. “How’s work been?” I knew I had to keep talking before he pushed further about Elissa.

“The ER’s been kinda slow; I think everyone is scared and staying home.” He was talking about the vampire exposure.

I suddenly thought back to Bess, Jake, and the whole SCF. “There’s been no shortage of work for the cops though. Everyone is paranoid.” Nothing changed for me when the vampires were exposed because I had always known about them. “Soon something else will happen and the public will focus on that.”

With our coffee we kept chatting about insignificant things while the huge elephant in the form of that letter sat in the back of the room taunting me. I tried to be upbeat when I walked him out and even agreed to meet him for lunch tomorrow. It wasn’t Kevin’s fault I was horrible at coping and really hadn’t expected Elissa to care about me anymore.

I shut my front door and slid to the floor sobbing. I had tried so hard to forget everything and everyone I had left behind because it was easier that way to justify my decisions. I forced myself off the floor and to face whatever that letter held head on. I grabbed it from the kitchen table and walked back to the living room. I was about to plant my butt on the couch and forced myself to pry the sealed envelope open.

The letter was long, the handwritten words filling the whole page of lined paper. I wasn’t strong each to face her thoughts without crying, without my heart bursting with regret.

After reading it I continued to stare at the words even as they blurred before me. Even as someone knocked on my front door. It was nearly midnight and yet my place suddenly turned into Grand Central.

“Evangeline.”

“What?” I whispered, glancing up long enough to notice Caleb had let himself in and I hadn’t locked the door after Kevin left.

He walked over and kneeled in front of the couch where I sat. “What is it?”

As I stared at him and saw that he actually seemed to care I felt worse. I opened my mouth and no words came out. He ran his hand across my wet cheek and wiped the tears with his thumb. My heart tightened as he touched me so gently.

He moved his eyes down to my hand and saw the letter I was clutching. “Bad news?” he tried again to figure out what had me like this.

“My sister.” As I acknowledge her after all this time my face crumbled again and the sound of an ugly sob ran free. Caleb got up and joined me on the couch, wrapping his arms tight around me. “She’s eighteen now getting married to someone she didn’t get to chose. I shouldn’t have left her there.” I felt selfish as I thought back to my life outside of the coven, when I would be happy and she was still stick there.

“You were fifteen and there was no possible way you could’ve run with a child.” He was trying to make me feel better when the damage was already done.

I lifted my head from his shoulder and peered into his blue eyes. “What are you doing here?” I realized he had just showed up pretty randomly.

He moved his hand across my cheek again. “I heard you crying.”

“Oh.” I couldn’t stop staring at him, what was wrong with me? Sitting there in his arms was the nicest I had felt in the last several days, months even. I’ve always felt something when he was near, like this layer from his presence but as we touched it was stronger and damn comforting.

“Do you want me to go?” he ran his hand through my hair and didn’t wait for a reply before kissing me.

I gasped as his lips molded to mine. The drunken kiss last night hadn’t been anything like this. It felt like when I used too much magic without the same horrible side effects, it was just as dangerous and blissful.

My hands moved across his chest and when that wasn’t enough they slipped under the t-shirt he wore. I had never seen him this causal before, it must be what he had dressed in for bed.

His chest was feverish and hard yet soft at the same time. I wanted to curse him for being in such perfect addicting shape.

That annoying logical part of my head had to make its self known. I realized I had never touched a man like this apart from for Michael. The same Michael I vowed to always love and never betray.

Those thoughts acted like a cold glass of water and I hastily moved away from Caleb. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I should’ve known better than to think you’d be remotely over him.” It was rare when he didn’t hit the nail on the head and guess exactly what I was feeling.

This all confused me. “What the hell is going on? You should be saying something like this was all a mistake like last night.”

“The only mistake is you pulling away.” He leaned in and kissed me across the mouth. “I’ll leave you with that to think about.” He got up and walked away without another word.

I sat there with my eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Seriously what the hell was going on?