While It Lasts (Sea Breeze #3)(51)

The lady threw a towel over her shoulder and stepped out from behind the bar, “Come with me.”

I followed her as she unlocked a door to the left of the bar and stepped into a dark hallway.

“I put her back here. I ain’t real crazy about bar fights in here. Jeremy told me the calvary was coming and if Eva was dancing on a table you’d tear the place up. So I put her in my office.”

The lady opened a door at the end of the hall and stood back. “There ya go. I gotta get back out front. Take your time,” she said and turned to walk back down the hall.

I stepped into the room. One single lamp illuminated the room. Eva lay curled up on the faded sofa in the corner. Her eyes were closed and she looked so peaceful. God, I missed her. I’d held her once when she’d slept like this.

I closed the door behind me and walked over to her. I bent down in front of her and brushed the curls out of her face. Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheek. I ran my thumb over the soft skin underneath her ear. I’d worried that letting her get too close would break me. Unfortunately, I’d worried about that a little too late. Because I was broken. The Cage I was before Eva no longer existed. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I’d fallen in love with her. I’d allowed someone in and she hadn’t wanted me. I hadn’t been good enough. I never was.

Seeing her sweet, perfect, innocent face only drove the nail in further. I wasn’t good enough for her. She deserved another Josh in her life. She deserved a guy who hadn’t lived a life so f*cked up he could never be good enough. I’d walked too close to heaven and gotten a glimpse. The hell I’d lived before her no longer appealed to me.

I stood up and scooped Eva up in my arms. She cuddled against me. “Cage?” she whispered groggily against my chest.

“Yeah, I’m here, baby. Go back to sleep. I’ll get you home”




Eva



I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. I was at home. In my bed. But I didn’t remember going to bed. It was still dark outside. Glancing at the clock it said that is was four in the morning. A glass of water and a bottle of aspirin sat on the bedside table with a small note.

You may need to take another aspirin when you wake up. Drink the water too. ALL of it.



Cage. I could smell him on my shirt. Jumping up I ran to the window and looked down at the barn. Was he in there?

I started to run for the stairs and I caught a whiff of the cigarette smell on my clothes. I stripped down and quickly got a shower. I had to wash off the stench of the bar.



After I was clean and dressed, I ran down to the barn. I didn’t knock on his door. Instead, I opened it slowly. The moonlight streaming in the window fell over Cage’s sleeping form. My heart soared. He’d come to get me. He’d brought me home.

Cage’s eyes opened and he stared at me. I knew I needed to say something but just seeing him here and knowing he’d come back for me clogged my throat with emotion.

“What’re you doing, Eva?” His voice didn’t sound angry. It sounded defeated.

“I woke up and I was at home. Then I saw your note and I came to see if you were here,” I stammered out. I didn’t want him to make me leave.

“I’m here. Now go back to bed,” he replied.

“Cage, please talk to me. I miss you.” I hadn’t meant to sound so pathetic but I couldn’t help it. He’d come for me. I needed to know why. He had to feel something for me. I didn’t want to be just another girl he’d enjoyed and thrown to the side. Being with him had meant something to me. He meant something to me.

Cage let out a weary sigh and sat up. The covers fell away and his bare chest made me almost forget what I wanted to say.

“You can’t say shit like that, Eva. It isn’t fair.”

“How is it not fair to tell you how I feel? It isn’t fair that you just dropped me as soon as you got bored. You just went off and screwed some slut with no problem.”

Cage’s head snapped up. The angry scowl on his face startled me. “What? I didn’t drop you because I got bored. You. Rejected. Me! And f*ck that, Eva. ALL I saw while I was with them was you. I closed my f*cking eyes and pictured you. Just— you.”

He’d been thinking about me. Was I mentally screwed up because hearing him say that made it better? I hated he had been with other girls but just knowing it was hard on him and he’d thought of me eased the pain some. I’d started this. My stupid need to please Josh’s mom. He’d have never done it had I not brushed him off. All of this heartache just because Josh’s mother had made me feel guilty.

“I was confused,” I admitted.

Cage let out a hard laugh. “Yeah, well I wasn’t.”

I took a step toward him and he shook his head. “Don’t come closer.”

“Please, listen to me. Let me explain.”

He ran a hand through his dark hair and I could see the internal battle in his expression. I needed to talk while I had him weak.

“I made a mistake. I listened to someone else who knew nothing about you. I let my fears get the best of me and I made a very, very bad mistake.”

Cage dropped his hand back to his lap and his sad eyes met mine. “But you listened. Something Josh’s mother said made sense to you. As much as I hate to admit it she was probably right. You were right to back away.”