Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance #2)- Lisa Helen Gray Page 0,112
and ruin the day for her. She should be able to say goodbye one last time, in peace. I’m going to make sure that is what happens.
I’m don’t know how my arrival will be taken. If she asks me to leave, I will. I’ll do anything for her. But I need her to see that I’m there for her, that I’m sorry.
‘Get your stuff and fuck off back to daddy. I don’t want to look at your face for a minute longer.’ I clench my eyes shut at my own words echoing through my mind. It burns to think of the cruel things I said to her.
‘I love you. Please, listen to—’ Her voice rings in my ears, squeezing my heart in a vice.
I should have listened, given her a chance to explain. Maybe then she wouldn’t be going through today on her own. I could be by her side, holding her hand, comforting her in a time she really needed it.
Nausea swirls in my stomach, threatening to come up.
“Are you sure this is going to be okay?” Jaxon asks, straightening his tie.
“Yeah,” I grumble, rubbing at my tired eyes. “Hayden said she’s having the ceremony at the burial site. She has a plot where her grandparents are buried.”
“She’s not having a church service?” Lily asks softly, her black dress flowing to her knees.
“No. Her mum had no friends and they don’t have any living relatives. It’s why she asked the vicar if it could be just her and Rebecca at the burial site to say a few words there.”
Tears gather in her eyes. “I’m glad we are going to support her. I can’t imagine being alone on a day like today.”
“Let’s hope we don’t make it worse by being there,” Jaxon mutters.
“Do you think he’ll turn up?” I ask, and his eyes darken at the reminder.
“If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t,” Jaxon points out. “He’s gone underground and I’m hoping it stays that way. His wife left him, and half his colleagues and clients have dissolved their contracts. He’s licking his wounds somewhere.”
Aiden kept his word after we left Black’s house, reporting back to us that Black’s wife stormed out not thirty minutes later with her bags packed.
It doesn’t make up for the damage he did, but it’s a start.
“That’s what worries me,” I mutter.
A man with nothing left to lose is a dangerous man.
“We’ll handle it when the time comes,” Jaxon promises. “Now, are you sure you are going to be okay today?”
Dropping my shoulders, I let him see the truth. “Probably not.”
“We’ll be there for you.”
Mum’s heels click on the floor as she walks in, dressed in black with her hat pinned to the side of her head. Her features soften and a small smile reaches her lips when she sees me. “Let’s go, my boy. We need to be there for our girl.”
My mother hasn’t let go of Evie; she refuses to. She’s become another daughter to her, and it doesn’t matter how many times I tell her it’s over between Evie and I, she won’t listen. I fucked up too bad to fix things now, but I’m willing to fight, to try.
Mum also went to Rebecca’s home to see Evie, and although her reception was better than mine, she was still turned away because Evie was sleeping.
Mum is desperate to see her, which is why when I told her I was going to the funeral, she invited herself along. She wants to be there for Evie, who she has become attached to. She saw something the rest of us didn’t, something we should have seen at a time when Evie needed us the most. The guilt claws at my skin.
Once I made the decision to go, Jaxon said he would be going too, and bringing Lily with him. It hit me to my core that he would forgive Evie, and I knew it took a lot for him to do. He loves Lily with everything inside of him and he nearly lost her because of a mistake Evie made. What none of us could see back then was that Black might have found out with or without her. He was to blame for the fire, not Evie.
Jaxon’s loyalty gleamed like a beacon for me that day. It reminded me of why he is the one we look up to, who we listen to. He doesn’t blame Evie for the fire anymore. He has placed the blame where it is deserved. With Andrew