Addicted to Mr Parks (The Parks Series #2)(13)

“Now, I’m no dummy, so I would say you two know each other well.” She pointed, her finger moving back and forth between us.

“Ha,” I scoffed.

“What about Alex?” she wondered. Parks’s jaw tightened while I grimaced.

“Alex is not relevant right now, Chez. What is, is that I want this man out of my sight. Please. Take him away from me.”

My aunty was becoming increasingly concerned, but she nodded and turned to Parks. “Right, you heard my niece, she doesn’t want to see you. For some strange reason,” she added, all girly.

“All I ask is for one minute.” He put on that undeniable charm of his, and my aunty relented like a bloody schoolgirl as he touched her arm.

“One minute,” she agreed.

I gaped at her, shaking my head mindlessly. Unbelievable. One touch from Mr. Parks and she melted into a bloody puddle of hormones.

Parks wandered over to the curtain after she’d left, making sure it was closed. He kept his hand on the curtain, scrunching it into his palm and spoke with his back to me. “Come home with me.”


His soft plea halted my breath instantly. “What?”

Spinning on his black, wing-tipped shoe, he moved over to my bedside and knelt beside me. “I can get you specialist help, Evelyn. Please. Let me take care of you.”

I looked down at where his hand covered mine and embraced the warmth his touch gave. I’d missed it. Indisputably. Being in his presence made me realise how much I missed his arrogant ways. His cocky attitude. Even though I denied him in the beginning, it was still hard to ignore how he made me feel. However, I listened to my head and pulled my fingers from his grasp.

“You told me you would never leave, but you left me when I needed you the most. You said you were different. You said you weren’t like the others, the ones who abandoned me.” I pushed him in the shoulder, but he didn’t flinch. “I opened up to you,” I continued. “It may have only been a little, but it meant a lot to me. I told you I felt safe in your arms, and you completely betrayed my trust. You told me you wanted me to feel safe with you, and you left me. And now you want to take care of me?”

He took my hand once again even though I was trying to fight him off. “Evelyn, I was angry. I promise to explain my reaction.”

“Explain?” I scoffed. “Your reaction explained enough.”

He stopped fighting me and stood from his crouched position to turn his back on me. “It was spontaneous, I agree.”

“Ha.” I laughed. “Spontaneous? You acted like a heartless twat.”

His hands fisted as he turned. “Don’t say that. I have been nothing but good to you, Evelyn.”

He wasn’t getting it. “If you’re so good for me, then why have you sucked the life out of me?”

His expression stumbled at my statement. My words cut him deep, but I meant them.

“I’m sucking the life out of you?”

“You already have. I’m exhausted from thinking about you. Tired of trying to block you out of my mind. Shattered from denying you. You’re sending me insane because you’re making me feel things I don’t want to feel.”

“That’s a bad thing?” He was completely clueless for a man of his intelligence.

I looked away. “It is for me, Parks.”

“Call me Wade. Fucking hell!” He was exasperated, but behind his shield I sensed a wounded, tormented soul. A soul maybe similar to mine, but he never unleashed that vulnerability that I sensed. He had to have control. It was his defence. It was his shield, just like alcohol was mine.

After a tense pause, I explained myself. “I’m someone who has never felt before. I’m not used to feeling. I can’t deal with attention, emotion, affection, and I’m drinking again as a result of it. I’m a person who needs to keep my mind clear and empty, because that’s how I cope. I need stability, routine, and my own control.”

He seemed desperate to get me on board. “I can give you that.”

Picking at the bedsheets wistfully, I avoided his green eyes. “You can’t give me that. I’m a…” A lump the size of a golf ball formed in my throat as I tried to form the words. “I’m a…an alcoholic.” I lifted my eyes to his. “I witnessed the blood drain from your face when Steph told you. Your reaction—”

“—was wrong.” He shook his head sternly, but I didn’t buy it. A first reaction always shows an honest view about what people are thinking. And I will never forget the way he looked at me instantly. Never.

“You were ashamed of me,” I argued. “I saw the pain in your eyes.”

“It was a shock, Evelyn. I needed time to get my head around it.”

“Why?” My frown was deep as I thought of something else. “You know, Alex knew of my addictions, but he would never judge me the way you did.”

“Alex is not me, though, is he?” he bit out.

I heavily stalked his body with my eyes—the strong, solidly built, masculine body I couldn’t deny looked heavenly and felt just as good. If not better. My eyes couldn’t find fault in that face of his, which looked like it’d been crafted by angels. And his eyes, Jesus, they were like emeralds in the snow. His hair was like dark chocolate swirls and so silky-soft. His voice was smooth but husky, and it always caused a shiver to run down my spine. Yes. He was right. Alex wasn’t him, but Alex had a good heart.