Chapter 56: Enough

Chapter 56: Enough
Chapter 56: Enough

EVANGELINE

Feeling numb, I watch the entire drive home pass before my eyes through the car window as I lose myself in my own thoughts.

Take her home.

His words continue to echo through my mind, making the shame and anguish grow, threatening to consume me as I try to make sense of them.

In a way that isn’t as awful as it seems.

Everything happened so fast and so intensely. Maybe he's just as confused as I am.

But it's Aleksander.

I don't know what to think anymore.

Or maybe I just don't want to think about it right now, even though, deep down, I know I made a huge mistake.

"We've arrived, Miss," Grant announces, pulling me back to reality.

I stare at the front of my house, old and silent. And the last thing I want is to walk inside, afraid of being alone with my own thoughts.

But I have no other choice.

✽✽✽

When Sunday comes to an end without any sign of him, I stop believing the excuse I'd made up—that he was just confused.

By Monday night, the hope of receiving a message begins to fade.

On Tuesday, every excuse stops making sense, and I'm forced to face reality—the one behind his final words.

On Wednesday, I try not to feel like trash after realizing what I subjected myself to. A losing battle, however.

But after all these days, the hardest part is still accepting that I let myself be fooled so easily.

Again.

And somehow, the silence is worse, even more suffocating than the shame and humiliation.

"Okay. That's enough," Tess says suddenly, pulling me out of my mental torment.

"I'm sorry..." I shift in my seat at the restaurant, focusing my attention on her across the table.

"I know I usually tell you to tell me things in your own time, but I can't watch you like this anymore," she says, her brows drawn together with concern.

"I'm fine," I say lightly, swallowing the lump that threatens to form in my throat.

"Don't do that. I'm your best friend."

Her words only make the guilt eat away at me even more.

"I know... I just... I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing." The pity in her green eyes only makes me feel even worse.

"No... I know I've been a terrible friend. Keeping things from you..." I admit, aware that I've failed to disguise my state over the past few days.

Whenever I wasn't focused on work, I silently tried to survive the shame and humiliation.

"Then tell me everything."

"I... wouldn't even know where to start."

"How about Saturday?" she suggests after a moment, making my stomach tighten.

I nod and take a deep breath, trying to choose my words.

"I feel so stupid..." I say, unable to keep the thought from slipping out.

She remains silent while I try not to be swallowed by shame.

"Do you regret what happened between you two?"

I blink in surprise.

"You already knew?"

"I know you, Eve. And honestly, after a few days, it became pretty obvious."

"This is so embarrassing." I close my eyes, groaning inwardly.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"No. I did everything wrong."

"Why? What happened that was so bad? Did he... do something?"

"No... it was me. I made a mistake. And now I have to deal with it."

"Tell me what he did," she insists.

"Nothing... He just... sent me away. Dismissed me. Like I was nothing." I confess, and saying the words out loud somehow makes them so much worse.

"That son of a bitch!"

"No... I just wasn't ready. And now I have to deal with all this shit I'm feeling. But I'll be okay," I assure her without any confidence.

"Stop protecting him. Nothing justifies acting like an asshole."

"He's a man," I scoff bitterly, even though part of me agrees with her.

"I'm sorry, Eve... I never should've encouraged you to get close to him."

"Don't be. My stupidity has nothing to do with you."

"How doesn't it? None of this would've happened if you hadn't had to fill in for me."

"Right, so it was your fault I slept with him." I huff, letting out a long sigh as I realize that telling the truth has, strangely enough, made me feel lighter. "Anyway, I think you need to know that this is only the tip of the iceberg," I confess, determined to tell her everything.

"Okay... you really have been hiding a lot from me," she says as I watch the waitress approach with our lunch.

"I promise I'll tell you everything."

"Good. Then I think we're going to need a little alcohol tonight." She winks.

✽

Following Tess's plan, after work, we head straight to the bar closest to her apartment.

As we choose a table and order a few drinks, I try to gather the courage to relive the night at the cabin one more time.

After the first sip of liquid courage, I begin.

I try to be as objective as possible, avoiding certain details that still make me hate myself.

But I hide nothing.

The necklace. The proof of Luke's betrayal. The messages. The break-in at my house. Even his appearance at my window, which I’m still not sure was real.

But only when I reach the part where I turned to Aleksander do I watch her expression shift from complete shock to unmistakable hurt. And somehow, impossible as it seems, that makes me feel a million times worse.

"Please... say something," I plead after exhausting every possible way to apologize.

"I just... I'm trying to accept that you chose to ask a stranger for help."

"I know, but... he owns a security company. It seemed... right."

"Okay." She sighs. "I'm hurt, but I can't even imagine what you went through. It must have been terrifying."

"It doesn't matter anymore. I just want to forget."

She nods, and as always, I know she's keeping the hundreds of questions she'd like to ask to herself, just to protect me.

"Just... promise me he didn't hurt you," she says, covering my hand with hers across the table.

"I swear. It happened exactly the way I told you."

"Sick bastard," she mutters through clenched teeth. "We'll find a way to catch him, and we won't need that Russian asshole's help."

"I don't know... I think I'd be satisfied if he never showed up again."

"I think that applies to both of them," she jokes, and I raise my glass in agreement with a faint smile.

The memories of Aleksander pull me back into that shameful, self-deprecating place.

"Eve..." she calls, bringing me back. "Don't blame yourself, okay? Your only mistake was trusting the wrong person."

I nod, lowering my gaze to the drink in my glass, thinking that maybe I need something stronger.

✽

Sitting at the bar, I watch a nearly staggering Tess return from the restroom.

"Tell me you're not thinking about him," she says, sitting down on the stool to my right.

"I think I'm too drunk to think about anything," I say with a lazy smile.

Then I look at the glass in front of me, trying to remember how many came before it, but I can't.

"Since we're both too drunk and we won't remember this anyway..." Her smile puts me on edge. "I have to ask how it was."

"No! Absolutely not."

"Was it so good you don't want to remember it, or the opposite?"

"Stop torturing me," I plead.

"Please. I'm dying to know. Not just because it was him, but because he was only your second..."

"Okay... it was good. Happy?"

"Good?" She wrinkles her nose.

I sigh, giving in.

"Incredibly good."

"Oh..." Her mischievous smile returns. "Better than...?"

"No! Stop. I'm not doing this."

"You say that, but in your head you already know who's better," she teases.

"You're terrible."

"Fine. It doesn't matter. The important thing is... did he make you...?"

I shake my head, laughing.

"He did. Now, enough."

"Damn..." she grumbles. "The worst part is, he really does seem to know what he's doing." She huffs in frustration. "How am I supposed to make jokes about him being bad in bed now?" She pouts, making me laugh even harder. "Shit," she suddenly curses, leaving me confused. "Speak of the devil..."

I follow her gaze toward the entrance of the bar.

My smile disappears.

What is he doing here?