Page 73 of Evelyn's Enforcer

“She sounded wonderful,” he said, making me grin despite the pain.

“She was… she was the best mom… the best she could be under the circumstances, you know?” He nodded, making it easy for me to continue.

“It’s why I’m afraid of water, she found him once punishing me.” At this Ryker had to force himself to keep control. I could tell when his Demon growled and cursed,

“Bastard!”

“I won’t go into what he did, but it was bad, Ryker… so bad that I nearly didn’t… make it… not if my mom hadn’t saved me.” At this he held himself so still, so tensed I thought he would any minute burst out of his skin.

“I would have killed him… I would have ripped him apart!” he snarled angrily, making me put my hand on his thigh, trying to bring him back with my touch. Especially when that white fire transformed his eyes from the blue depths I loved into the Demon I was still getting to know. However, my gentle touch seemed to work, because it brought him back enough to ask,

“Tell me what happened to him, and I will pray it was the painful death he deserved.” I took a deep breath, finding strength in his words, knowing now that I had nothing to fear.

“The night it happened, he rang my mom, drunk at some bar, wanting her to pick him up because they wouldn’t let him drive. I remember wishing that they had, that he would have just crashed his car that night and been the only one to die,” I said bitterly, turning my head away and swiping angrily at the fresh tears that fell.

“What happened, Evie?” he pressed when I was silent for long minutes after this, knowing what came next was the hardest part.

“She didn’t want to leave me in the house alone, knowing that I got scared. So, she told me to dress in my warmest clothes, and we left to pick him up. But before we did, I took something, something I had found in the closet a few days before.”

“What was it?” he asked, and I swallowed hard knowing I was near the part of the story I would come to regret for the rest of my life.

“A gun,” I told him, making him release a breath before he placed a hand on my knee and tenderly gave me courage.

“Oh, sweetheart.”

“I hid it under my sweater, hoping I wouldn’t need it. That it would be one of those rare times where he would just pass out and not cause too much trouble. But I needed to protect my mom, I told myself enough was enough.” He nodded, as if really understanding this, and it gave me enough strength to continue.

“But it didn’t happen that way. He started arguing the moment he got in the car. My hands started shaking, I could feel the gun heavy in my lap, just waiting for me to use it. I’d seen enough cop shows to know how to check that it was loaded and it was, but… I didn’t know about the safety,” I said quietly, looking up at Ryker through a watery gaze. At this Ryker tensed as if this was as hard for him to hear as it was for me to say.

“He started shouting, God, it was so loud. Then he hit her, making her swerve the car and then he hit her again because of it. She kept crying out, begging him to stop or they would crash the car. So, I pulled out the gun and pointed it at him. He was so shocked, his face… fuck, I would never forget his face, Ryker… I… I had never been so scared,” I told him, which was when he hit his limit, and he pulled me into him, letting me cry once more into his chest. Then he stroked the back of my head, his other arm wrapped around me, making me feel so safe, so secure.

“It’s okay, baby, it’s okay… we will get through this, just take it slow… breathe with me,” he said when my sobs grew louder, making me focus on his voice and doing as he asked.

“That’s it… good girl, that’s good,” he praised, making me sniff and use the silk in my hand to wipe away my tears.

“I think that’s enough for today, sweetheart, I think we should continue this another…”

“No… I… I want to get it out. I need to tell you what happened.” He released a deep sigh before he nodded at this.

“He must have realized the safety was still on, because he didn’t even flinch when he told me to shoot. So, I did. I pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. Then he snatched the gun out of my hand and stomped on the breaks over my mom’s foot, making the car slam to a stop on the bridge. The next thing that happened was he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me through the front of the car. I remember my mom screaming, begging him not to hurt me, trying to grab me, but he was too strong.”

“The fucker!” Ryker hissed, his fists turning white by his sides.

“He dragged me out of the car and threw me to the floor, then I heard the gun cock, and I knew that was it, he was going to shoot me. He called me so many names, shouting them over and over again, but all I heard was my mom. She was calling my name and I looked up to see her running toward me. But then the sound of gun went off and I closed my eyes and waited for the pain. But it never came… it never came, Ryker.” I added this last part in a small voice, looking up at him and admitting,

“I wish it had. I wish I had taken that bullet.” He looked the most pained by this, taking hold of my face, framing it with his big hands as he told me,

“No, Evie, please don’t say that.”

“But then she would still be alive,” I told him, my tears now slipping over his hands.

“And you would be dead, and she would have had to live with that pain until the day he killed her anyway,” he told me what no one else ever had.

“She died because of me… I opened my eyes, Ryker, and there she was, right in front of me. She had thrown herself at him, knocking the gun from his hand and taking the bullet herself. But if I hadn’t brought the gun in the first place, then it wouldn’t have happened.” I sobbed this time, unable to hold it back once more.

“No, but then you all might have died in a car crash when he caused it by hitting your mother. Or it may not have happened that night, but maybe a week later. Perhaps not a gun, but a knife or a fire he started by falling asleep with a cigarette… my point is, Evie, that everything happens for a reason, and that night your mom chose to sacrifice her life for that of her child,” he told me, and just as I opened my mouth to argue against it, he placed a thumb across my lips and stopped me, so he could continue.

“You should not taint that gift, that utterly selfless act, that heroic moment by shrouding it in the guilt you feel. She would not want that life for you. She would have died knowing that now you had a chance of freedom from that dark place she felt helpless to get you out of herself,” he told me, making me cry against him, now wrapping my arms around his neck and whispering his name,