Sinful Ever After - Vivian Wood

Chapter One

Aiden

“Hey.”

I crack my eyes open to find Eve coming to sit next to me. She’s holding two cups and offers one to me. I take it, but the last thing I need right now is caffeine. I’m already so jittery.

Jittery and a little heartbroken.

“Thanks,” I mutter. Looking at her out of the corner of my eyes, I try to figure out how I should feel right now. After all, Eve is the good kid, always getting straight As and all the parental praise. I’m her mirror opposite, the black sheep. A blot of dark ink staining the white page of our family tree.

Even though she’s eight years younger than me, right now I’m relying on her for how I should behave. Her eyes are puffy, her nose pink. As if she’s just been crying or is just about to burst into tears at any moment.

She sets her coffee on the ground, below her hard plastic bucket chair. We’ve been sitting in these chairs, in the dimly lit hallway, for what feels like weeks. In reality though, it’s only been a few days.

I feel the urge for a whiskey keenly. I glare up at the long tracts of fluorescent lighting. Everything in this damn hospital is so shiny and yet so drab, squeaky clean white and somehow tinged with a hint of gray at the same time.

Shooting me an empty smile, Eve nods toward the wall opposite us. In the falling evening light, the wall has the balls to be lined with tacky glittery cards wishing the hospital patients well. It’s nearly as bad as the other wall, which has inspirational quotes from all different faiths cut out of faded construction paper.

“What do you think that even means?” she says, nodding to the card right in front of us. “The body may suffer, but love is eternal.”

I sigh, shaking my knee. “I don't know. At least it doesn’t say thoughts and prayers. Almost all of the other cards seem to think that is meaningful in some way. And that’s not even counting the religious version. Apparently Jesus is waiting to take the suffering into his arms. Sounds creepy.”

Eve rolls her eyes a little at my joke. “Don’t be an ass. Families that are religious need comfort too, you know. Just because we weren’t raised believing doesn’t mean that no one was.”

I let out a snort. “How are we supposed to be comforted? Mom is dying. It’s a pretty permanent condition.”

Eve looks at me for a long second, her green eyes boring into my face. She has this way of being able to see past my bullshit, which is not exactly among my favorite things about her. Along with a haughtiness and her need to correct everything everyone says, it’s good thing I only see her in times like these.

“I’m glad to know that you haven’t changed at all since you moved out to the west coast,” she says. “You still think you’re funny.”

I shoot her a glare. That stings. I feel like she knew it would.

She sighs and pulls out her phone. She makes a face and then hits a few buttons.

I crook an eyebrow. “Really? Your mom is dying of pancreatic cancer and your friends are still pelting you with news?”

She shoots me a glare. “It was an email from my college, if you must know. But yes, my friends are checking up on me and offering their condolences.”

Sitting back, I feel disgruntled. “Condolences. That has lost all meaning to me. Just look at this wall in front of us. It’s nothing but condolences and talk of how faith will guide our loved ones into their eternal rest. It’s such a crock of bullshit.”

Eve’s lips twist. “They are there for people who believe.”

Ignoring that, I look at my watch. “Do you know where Dad is?”

She stiffens a little. “No.”

She doesn’t like being the only one that still talks to Dad, but Dad holds the purse strings. For someone still in the last semester of college, that puts her in a weird position. I eye Eve.

“No doubt he’s drowning his sorrows in booze and expensive call girls. Or maybe he has a new secretary that’s holding his attention. Anything to not be here, right?”

Eve looks down at her Styrofoam cup. “I’m not interested in playing his defender, Aiden. I may not hate him as much as you do, but… I don't have warm and fuzzy feelings about him either.”

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I fish it out, giving Eve a