Light up the Night (Firehouse Three #2)(55)

There was only one woman he wanted, and it was Everly.

“I love her, you know.” Drake couldn’t stand the silence any more. “I’d been about to tell her when I got the call.”

“I can tell you do,” Hunter said. He didn’t say anything when Drake stumbled, just grabbed him by the arm and helped to steady him while he regained his footing. “I love her best friend. When Jesse was abducted? I wasn’t sure I could live without her, the fear and pain was too f*cking much. And I know you feel the same about Everly.”

A shared smile between them made the going a little easier, and Drake stood taller.

“Yeah. I can tell you do. You and Jesse are good together.”

They rounded the corner, and Drake’s heart flipped over in his chest.

Everly was seated in a row of chairs by the bank of elevators, staring down at the floor. Jesse was beside her, hand on her knee, talking earnestly as she leaned forward and held her hand.

“Everly,” Drake said, thankful now that his voice was a little more normal. Still scratchy, and rough, but not the nearly-dead he’d sounded not long ago.

She looked up, and her heart was in her eyes.

“He’s mine!” The voice shrieking behind Drake came at the exact wrong moment. Belinda was there, hands fisted at her sides, red-faced with anger. “He just told me he’s always loved me!”

“Ladies, you need to leave the premises immediately, or the police will be called.” The burly security guard glowered at Belinda and Everly.

Belinda stepped close and leaned toward Everly. Drake couldn’t make out what she said, but the color left Everly’s cheeks as she staggered back.

“We were just leaving,” Jesse said, yanking Everly into the elevator and jabbing the button hard.

“Wait.” Drake started for her, but the quick movement was too much for his bum leg. Before he could ass-plant on the cold tile, Hunter steadied him.

The doors whooshed open and the last thing he saw was the look on Everly’s beautiful face.

She looked the way he felt—broken.





18.

It was hard to see the road.

At the next stoplight, Everly dashed the back of her hand across her eyes. Her vision cleared for a second before becoming wavy once again, the red light distorting into a fuzzy halo of color.

Damn it, the tears wouldn’t stop falling. Her chest was on fire, her throat raw from the sobs she’d let out on the drive in Jesse’s pickup. Seeing how upset Everly was, Jesse had handed over the ignition key without a second’s hesitation.

Drake was okay. He was alive. But seeing that beautiful, perfect model of womanhood standing next to Drake had reminded Everly of everything she wasn’t. She should have just left the two of them together.

But she hadn’t. She’d caused a huge scene, and security had all but kicked her out. And she still hadn’t been able to talk to Drake.

And then there was that parting shot that Belinda had delivered. It was like she knew exactly what would hurt Everly the most, and had gone right for the jugular.

“Sleeping with girls like you is his favorite thing to do when we fight,” Belinda had nearly cooed. “Girls who are awkward, inexperienced. Lonely girls. He says the hero worship gets him off, helps him pass the time. But he always comes home to me. Always.”

Jesse had pulled her away before she could deny it, before she could look to Drake for any kind of argument. And the damage had been done.

The same tired thoughts tumbled through Everly’s brain like cement in a mixer, negative and ugly and just plain exhausting.

I’m not good enough.

Belinda would obviously be a better choice for him.

It’s only a matter of time before he realizes how weird and broken I am.

Everly tightened her grip on the steering wheel and forcibly cleared her mind. Fortunately, she was close to her destination.

The desire to go home and snuggle with her pups, especially tender-hearted Jacques, was huge, but the idea of roaming through the same rooms that Drake had walked in so recently was pouring salt into the wounds on her still-bleeding heart.

It was early on a Sunday, and the shelter was closed. She could be alone for several hours. Nobody was expected there until Charlie would come at six to feed and water and do the evening checks. Normally Everly did that, but since she was supposed to still be out of town, Charlie was filling in.

As she cut the engine in the parking spot right behind the building, Everly leaned her forehead against the steering wheel.

It seemed like a million years ago that she and Drake were snuggled up on the couch in the lake house, naked, wrapped up completely in one another.

Shoving open the door of Jesse’s pickup, she nearly stumbled exiting the vehicle. Glancing back over her shoulder as she neared the back door of the shelter, she noticed she’d parked crooked. Like a drunk person, actually.

No more driving while emotionally broken. It wasn’t safe for her or the innocents on the streets of Dallas.

Her key skittered around the lock on Hopeful Paw’s employee entrance three times before she finally managed to shove it home and get it turned. She must have jammed it harder than she’d realized. Silver scratches lined the edges of the keyhole.

The familiar scents of animals and lemon-scented cleaner greeted her nose. As the door fell shut behind her, she turned to lock herself in, glancing out the window of the door as she did.