I collapse back on the bathroom floor and pick up the water Alec gave me and drink it.
“What was that on you? What did he do?” Alec’s hand touches my hair and begins to stroke it.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” I wince.
“Squirt, it’s fine. But he’s right, we have to talk.”
“Can I shower first?”
He nods then walks out, shutting the door behind him. I manage to get in and wash my face. The makeup May put on me last night is still there and my eyes have black shit clumped all around them. Getting out and drying myself, I find one of Alec’s clean shirts and I put it on and walk back out to find him sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.
When I walk out, he lifts his head to stare at me. His light eyes are filled with worry, and his large frame appears to shake as he sits there watching me step closer.
“I’m not your uncle.”
“What?” I ask, not sure if I’ve heard him right.
“Your papa is not my brother. We aren’t related.”
I back up until I hit one of the chairs in the small room and sit on it. “But…” I search his face and see he’s telling me the truth, “… Papu raised you and my father.” He nods his head. “Thomas killed my mother when I was a child. He took me in and raised me as one of his,” he says referring to my grandfather, Papu.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“I was meant to marry into the family, I was meant to marry you.” My head starts shaking. “They didn’t tell me about the contract, though. I didn’t know about Gunner until it was too late for me to do anything.”
“I…”
His hand touches me as I clamp on, not sure what to say. My whole life’s a lie?
“Everly, what I’m trying to say is… if you want to leave him, I will help you.”
“Leave?” I ask, confused. “You know about the contract?” I ask him.
“I know bits and pieces of what your father would tell me. But you didn’t have options then, you do now.”
“What?”
“Marry me, Everly. I love you.”
I touch his hands. “I love you, too, Alec. But I can’t marry you. I’m already married.”
“You don’t want to be.”
I shake my head at his words. “I don’t. Not like this. But Alec, I do love him. Despite how we are together right now, I do love him.”
Alec pulls his hands back. “You’re a fool then,” he says with hurt evident in his voice.
“This I know.” I smile at him.
He stands and walks to the small kitchen and makes us some tea. “You should stay, I’m sure you don’t want to be around him just yet.”
“I don’t,” I say, agreeing with him.
When he walks over, he hands me a mug and I take it.
“You aren’t in love with me, are you Alec? I mean, I love you but I’m not in love with you.” I ask him because my head is trying to piece everything together, and it just doesn’t make sense. I take a sip of my drink as he sits opposite of me with his head down.
“Do you want that answer, Everly?”
“I think I do, but I’m not sure.” Drinking the rest of my tea, I place it next to me and wait for him to answer me.
When he does, the words start to blur, but I do hear him. Even as my eyes start shutting and my body begins to slouch.
“I do, Everly, I’m in love with you. I have been since I was eighteen years old.”
Gunner
In twenty-four hours, I’m waiting at the door for her, but she doesn’t come. When I call, she doesn’t answer on Alec’s phone. My anger has reached all new heights, and there’s no way I plan to cool off anytime soon. Driving straight to that little fucking shack he had her in, which wasn’t easy to find once I tracked him down, there’s no sign of anyone. The door is open, and when I walk in, she isn’t there. My fists hit the wall, hard. The plaster smashing around my wrist.
I call her father.
He answers on the first ring. “Gunner, what can I do for you?”
“Where is he?”
“Who?”
“Alec. Where is he? He took her,” I seethe into the phone.
“He wouldn’t. He cares for her.”
“He’s in love with her,” I say. I’ve known it for as long as I’ve known her. He loves her all right because she’s so easy to love. Impossible not to fall for.
“Yes, he is,” he finally admits.
Walking over to the bed, a single image is sitting there, one from a portrait camera. It’s a sleeping Everly lying on this bed. Captioned below, ‘You won’t find me. Stop looking.’
“I will kill everyone that he knows, and then when I get hold of him, I will kill him too. But I will do it slowly, and I will enjoy it immensely. Do you understand me? And if I find out you’re helping him, I will kill you and your wife, too. And I will keep Everly locked in my fucking basement for the rest of her life, and only use her to fuck her. Do you understand me?”