“Shelby has a good shiner, but otherwise, we’re both fine. Mom’s going to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. We’re pressing charges.”
“No, we’re not,” Shelby said and jumped down from her seat on the counter. She moved around Eva, giving her sister a look with her one good eye that dared her to argue, then studied Cam for a moment before her gaze landed on Reece. “Whoa. Hey, Evie, look. It’s Suit and Tie.” She grinned and elbowed her sister. “Remember the hot guy from the coffee shop I told ya about? The one that eye-fucks me?”
Cam stared at his brother. “What the fuck? You hit on Eva’s sister?”
“Not in words,” Shelby said, still grinning. “He just always looks like he wants to lick me from head to toe. Like ice cream.”
Eva bit her lower lip, but her laugh escaped in a snort, which set Shelby off until the two were all but rolling around on the floor in a fit of hysterical laughter.
Reece held up his hands and backed away. “Cam, I swear, I didn’t touch her.”
“And you’re not going to. Eva’s little sister? Bro, really?”
“Slurrrp,” Shelby said between laughing gasps for air.
Reece shut his eyes. “I’m leaving. I imagine you’re staying here tonight?”
“Yeah,” Cam said. “I am.”
“Right. Okay.” He actually stumbled over himself backing away, like he couldn’t get out of the house fast enough. “I have work to do.”
…
Sometime after Reece’s hasty exit and before the cops left, Shelby’s laughing fit devolved into shuddering, gut-wrenching sobs. Cam watched with a horrible sense of helplessness as Eva tried to calm her. The medic said she was in shock, and she should go to the hospital, but Shelby had made her position on that idea quite clear earlier in the night, and Eva upheld her wish to stay home.
Eventually, the medic gave her a painkiller laced with a light sedative, and she finally drifted to sleep on the couch with her sister cradling her head.
“She’s out,” Eva said, her own exhaustion weighing heavy in her voice. She stroked a hand over Shelby’s pink-streaked blond hair. “I haven’t seen her cry like that in years. This really shook her up.”
Had shaken Eva, too, although Cam didn’t point it out. He pushed up from the chair he’d settled into. “Want me to carry her to her room?”
“Would you? I think she’ll feel safer in her own bed.” She glanced around the living room, wincing at the mess her mother had left. “And I want to clean up before she wakes. She doesn’t need the visual reminder.”
Cam nodded and very gently slid his arms underneath Shelby. The girl weighed next to nothing, and a fierce surge of protectiveness swamped him as he picked her up. Eva, he never much worried about because she could hold her own against anyone. It was one of the things he found so freaking sexy about her. But Shelby? As tiny as she was, she couldn’t win a battle against a cockroach. And if anything ever happened to her, Eva would never recover from the heartbreak.
He would not let that happen.
“I got you, Shel,” he murmured when he laid her down and she stirred restlessly. He pulled the covers over her and stood there, talking in soft tones until she settled again. He backed out and shut the door, listening for a moment to make sure she didn’t wake.
Silence.
Good.
In the living room, he found Eva stuffing beer cans into a black garbage bag. Outwardly, she seemed to be holding it together well, but her movements were stiff, jerky, and each breath she exhaled came out a bit too ragged.
He crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her, wishing he could take the pain away. She stiffened for a moment, but then relaxed with a shudder and turned to bury her face in the crook of his neck. He stroked her back, trembles of suppressed emotion rippling underneath his hand. He wanted to tell her to let go, cry it out, but that would be as useless as yelling into a hurricane.
Sometimes he wished his woman wasn’t quite so strong.
“Mom never physically abused us,” she said eventually.
“I know.”
“She was ranting, paranoid.”
“Drugs do that to people.”
“She’s never going to change.” She sighed. “I need to finish cleaning.” But she stayed put, clinging to him like she couldn’t bear to let him go.
“Leave it for the morning,” he whispered into her hair. “Let’s go to bed.”
She didn’t protest. Just went to show how emotionally wiped out she was. He scooped her into his arms. She wasn’t as light as Shelby. He didn’t want her to be. He wanted a woman who wouldn’t feel like porcelain in his hands, with the strength to stand up to him in bed and out, and he loved Eva’s body, all long, sleek muscle with soft curves in exactly the right places.