Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance #2)- Lisa Helen Gray Page 0,114

locking at the sight of Evie pulling her black coat tighter around her waist.

She’s partially turned away from us, her head bowed to the ground. Her cheeks are slightly drawn, dark circles shadow under her eyes, and she has lost an incredible amount of weight in the past two weeks.

The only thing that has me rooted to the spot and not running over to her and pulling her into my arms is the hollow look upon her face. It’s like she isn’t present in her body.

I turn to Mum, who appears just as concerned as me. When she jerks, I whip around to see what happened, only to be met with a stinging cheek.

“You need to fucking leave,” Rebecca growls, shoving Eli off. He must have grabbed her after she slapped me. “Not today, Wyatt. She doesn’t deserve this.”

“We aren’t here to cause her any more pain. We are here to give her our support.”

She shakes her head, tears gathering in her eyes. “No. I don’t care why you’re here. You need to leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere unless she tells me to,” I tell her, trying hard to keep my emotions in check.

“You have no idea what the past two weeks have been like. She hasn’t left her room. She’s hardly eaten, and what she did eat she threw back up. This is going to tip her over the edge. It took me all morning to get her dressed. I didn’t think we would make it.”

“Have you taken her to see a doctor?” Mum asks.

Hearing what she has been through is like a knife through my stomach. If I hadn’t been such a prick, I could have been there for her. She would have been surrounded by love and comfort.

“He’s prescribed her some anti-depressants and offered her grief counselling, but she won’t take them or book an appointment. I can’t watch her get worse. I just can’t,” she informs us, before turning to me. “The only reason I’m not clawing your eyes out right now is because I don’t have the energy in me, but I’ll find it if you don’t go.”

“I was much like Evie after my husband died,” Mum begins, pulling Rebecca’s attention away from me. “For months it went on. Just how you described Evie. I couldn’t get out of bed. I slept all the time, but it never felt like I slept. I couldn’t eat. I neglected to take real care of my children. It took something just as traumatic to pull me out of it.”

“What was that?” Rebecca whispers, and for the first time I notice she doesn’t look all that well either. Her shoulders slump, the fight leaving her.

“Nearly losing my daughter,” Mum admits softly. “She was rushed into hospital because she was failing to take her medication on time. From the looks of Evie, she needs something to awaken those feelings again. Or maybe today will finally hit her and break through. I don’t know. If she personally asks us to leave, we will.”

“You swear?” Rebecca asks, addressing me with the question.

“I swear,” I croak out, glancing back up the path.

Evie is still standing next to the open grave, her hands folded together in front of her. Her multi-layered, knee-length, chiffon, black dress blows in the wind.

I hold my breath as I take the first step towards her, my heart beating rapidly.

The closer we get, the more nervous I become. As we near her, Rebecca walks ahead of us, calling out her name.

“Evie.”

She doesn’t even twitch at the sound, her gaze locked on the ground beneath her.

“Evie,” Rebecca calls louder, and I watch as Evie’s body jerks.

Slowly, she turns around, her movements sluggish. Her head rises, and her gaze meets mine. She staggers backwards, and my eyes widen in horror at what is about to happen. At the same time as me, Rebecca rushes forward, reaching her first before she can trip over the bar surrounding the grave.

I take a step back when I’m satisfied Rebecca has her, unable to keep my gaze from Evie, who hasn’t taken hers away from mine. She could have fallen into the grave had Rebecca not caught her.

Her bottom lip trembles, her eyes watering. “Wyatt?” she sobs out, gripping Rebecca’s forearms for support. She blinks rapidly, like she’s trying to clear her head.

“It’s me.”

“Have you come to get back at me?” she hoarsely gets out, her voice not sounding like her own.

I close my eyes, feeling the weight of her words. I deserve it after I treated