I thought my feelings for her couldn't get any stronger but I was very wrong. Just watching her fight is exhilarating. She moves so calmly and with purpose, strong and formidable and drop dead fucking gorgeous.
How am I supposed to deal with that?
We all head back to the lounge, some of our pockets fuller than they were before we went downstairs. Everyone takes their usual seats, leaving no where for Eva to sit and I almost offer her somewhere to sit when her phone rings loudly. "Do you have to go?" Riley asks just as Eva answers the phone.
"Hello, dear. What's wrong?" It doesn't seem pressing so hopefully she'll stay for a little longer, "well I did tell you not to touch it, normally people heed my advice when it comes to explosive devices... I am not paying for your porch to be rebuilt, you're the one who set off the bomb... I'm not giving you another one either... don't you dar- and he hung up. Well I best go before he loses his fingers sneaking into my house. Excuse me."
"Who blew up their own porch?" Lexie asks while Eva laughs softly.
"Just an old friend of mine, he really doesn't have two brain cells to rub together. I'll see you guys soon." She waves and leaves the building, allowing my chest to take in a proper breath again. I swear to god that needs to be fixed or I'm going to die of suffocation.
Thankfully, no one comments on the heavy breathing even after she's gone and I find myself relaxing into the conversation in the room. They're arguing about expansion again, we have the money to do all three proposals but it would be way too much to take on at once. "I still think we should expand the clubhouse first, we're already tightly packed." Lexie says, picking up her wineglass and draining it.
"But we won't need more space in the clubhouse if we don't recruit more prospects so surely we should expand the gyms and fighting rings first." Romeo continues. He had a very large hand in the previous round of expansion, taking over our strip clubs and elevating them. They make millions a year in legitimate revenue and we can clean our gun money easily in them using tips and buying excessive amounts of alcohol.
"Only problem with that idea is if we bulk up those places and end up recruiting more prospects, we have no where to put them." Riley points out, her eyes always flicking to the window looking for Evangeline.
"Please no more gyms, I'm already fed up with being a personal trainer." Rubble complains, dragging Juniper closer to him and further away from Runner who is nodding along with him.
"I think more real estate. We need to clean our money and we can attract more people from across the country with affordable housing." Gears sparks up a cigar and puffs on it, blowing small clouds of smoke around him. I still don't know how he doesn't have lung cancer, he's been through so many cigars in the time that I've known him and he coughs a lot but every time he goes to the doctor they say he's in perfect health.
It's fucking annoying.
"We should start taking more territory, we have space to grow now that all of the idiots have calmed down. The Niners are calm and we have miles between us to stretch into." Saviour sharpens her knife with small gestures to her daughter, who is fascinated by Sav's movements.
"I'm still worried about this bomb that Evangeline mentioned, how close to do think it was to us and why did they need it?" Bear says, rubbing his face like he normally does.
"She would never endanger the club, Bear and she gave it to him." Riley comments blankly, still focusing all of her attention out the window. "I feel like a fourteen year old again waiting for her to come home unharmed... God, she was always harmed." Her voice breaks and everyone looks to her in surprise.
She's never been a cold person but none of us have seen her upset like this, her voice breaking, tears gathering in her eyes. Boulder hugs her closer to him while she basically suffocates poor Toby in her tight grip, worrying over her mother figure and her son at the same time. "She's indestructible, Riles." Saviour tries to reassure and Riley laughs brokenly.
"It's different for you, Sav. You've known her since you were thirteen and you didn't have to see it when she was just a kid fighting for the both of us to survive. Even when she was ten she was fighting people three times her size for me and she would get hurt so badly."
"She's well trained now, she knows what she's doing."
"It's not like that. When I'm not with her, when I'm not waiting for her to come back, I can convince myself that she's fine but now I think I'm going to see her beaten or bleeding just like I did when I was a kid."
"How did you meet her?" Lexie asks, curling into Bear as Riley turns her teary eyes on her.
"I don't know, she was just always there."
"She used to sneak in your window when you were a baby." I tell her, everyone's eyes immediately turning to me. I force down the awkwardness and tension in my body so I can handle the inevitable questions. Riley smiles sadly and laughs, wiping some of her tears away and looking back out the window.
"I'm not even surprised, you know. Sometimes I'd wake up and she'd just be there, smiling at me and telling me something new about her life."
"She used to do it to me too. She'd come visit in between missions and she'd sneak into the house and hug the living shit out of me. I guess I never really noticed the bruises or anything, I feel terrible about it."
"She never would've let you. She always told me that it was her job to worry about me not the other way around." I sigh and think about everything I know that I probably shouldn't. I know more about Riley's life than she does and I wish Eva could see just how much these girls love her for everything she's done for them.
I am concerned for Eva's safety, to be honest I always am when she's not here, but there's nothing I can do or say to make myself or anyone else feel better. Besides, it's not my place. Eva and I can't even be considered friends, especially not with the way I feel about her. I don't think I could ever handle being just friends.
"So, you've managed to get Eva to open up then?" Saviour spins the questions on me and I consider taking my gun from it's holster and relieving myself of my life.
"I guess." I try and feign innocence to fend off the impending questions but by the looks on everyone's face I did not escape my fate this time.
Fuck.
YOU ARE READING
Mac (Riders of Apollo #8)
Romance"Are you going to kiss me or are you just gonna stare?" As if he needed the encouragement, he slams his mouth down on mine in a frenzy, his hands moving from the counter to my thighs and pressing himself against me completely. I try and overcome hi...
