Insomnia

Anchor // Nine

Evie woke in a room that wasn't her own. Nor Cade's. Her head pounded. Her entire spine ached. It hurt to breathe.

She sat up on the couch, barely able to see out of her right eye.

The pain was excruciating. She looks around the room, trying to assess where she was. Outside the window, it was snowing heavily. Green couches. Fireplace. Flickering flames. Matching chairs. Art on the mantelpiece. Dark hardwood floors. Red Persian rug.

"Cade?" She moaned, looking around for him. A woman with silvery hair and eyes like the sky sat in the corner of the room. God... She looked like him.

"Drink the water on the table." She gestured vaguely. Just like Cade.

Evie held her pounding head, remembering flying glass and that god awful sound. "I... I got in a wreck. Where's... Where is he? Is he okay?"

The woman sighed. "My name is Stella. Carlos is fine. Drink the water, please."

Carlos. Alarm bells rang in her head. Only one other person had called him that.

Evie slumped back on the couch and picked up the glass, sipping at it. Her mouth was filled with a metallic taste and her bottom lip hurt. It hurt like it was busted. Her entire body hurt like it was busted. She just wanted a nap in Cade's bed.

The woman appeared in the side of Evie's vision. She had a towel in hand that was already damp, and sat down next to her on the couch, carefully cleaning her face. Evie winced. "Thank you." She murmured.

Stella nodded. "You're very beautiful. I see why he likes you."

The child in Evie - the one that hadn't been lectured by Cade on multiple occasions - immediately went, "You mean that?"

She smiled. Gosh, her smile was beautiful. It was a lot like Cade's. "Yes." She murmured.

Evie flushed and stared at her bruised hands. "I'm assuming you're the ones that caused the car wreck and I'm the bait." She said. Cade had warned her that his family was looking high and low for him.

"Intuitive too." Stella tacked on. "Now I really see why he likes you."

"What happened to him?" Evie asks. "He called you his biological parents."

She frowned deeply. "He ran away when he was young, changed his name so we couldn't find him. He saw what happened to his cousin, and well, wanted nothing to do it."

"Cousin?" Evie asked.

"Angela." She murmurs, but doesn't say anything else.

Stella continues to tend to Evie's wounds, remaining silent. "How long was I out?" Evie asks.

"A couple of hours." Stella responds. Something was eating at her. Evie could tell. "Carlos should be here soon."

He goes by Cade.

She purses her lips and finally asks her question. "Have you slept with my son?"

Evie shook her head no. "I haven't."

The room grows quiet. Suddenly, the door busts open. Evie just about leaps over the couch to get to Cade, falling on her injured ankle that she hadn't realized was hurt. Cade quickly pulls her up off the ground, crushing her in a hug. "Fuck, sunshine. You're okay." He whispered in her hair, tangling his fingers in it. "The car is totaled. Jesus H. Fucking Christ I thought you might be dead."

It was at this moment that she realized that they were at the very least friends, and that she wouldn't be pissed at him for this happening to her.

Evie pulled away from him. "Your nose..." She laments. Luckily enough for him, it seems someone dragged him to the hospital to have it splinted.