Her Angels (The Roses, Book 2) Completed

11. Jo, Charlie and Emme

We heard the car outside and exchanged glances "well they brought her back, is that good or bad?"
Jo peeked out the window "at least she's not in that old clunker her dad told her to use, quick look normal, she's coming"
Eve wandered into the lounge looking shellshocked, "you okay" Charlie said guiding her to a chair.
"Um, I, your brothers, dinner" Eve muttered vaguely.
"Oh finally" Jo laughed at Eve's shocked face "What?".
"Eve, we told you, they want you...so they've asked you to dinner?"
"Yes, but it's your brothers" she groaned. "What do I do with them, they're out of my league"
"Well, what a load of crap" Jo replied throwing a cushion at Eve "they're are lucky to get you, you deserve better than them"
"No" Eve objected "they're wonderful, they could have anyone"
We looked at each other over Eve's head, "do you want us to help you get ready?"
Eve groaned "no I want to hide, I can't do this" she clutched the cushion in front of her protectively.
"Go and have a soak in the bath, you will feel more relaxed after that and we will help you get ready, trust us, we wouldn't let anyone hurt you, not even our brothers" Jo pulled Eve up and pushed her towards the stairs, smacking Eve's bottom and making her squeak before rushing away from our laughter.
"We need to make sure she doesn't chicken out"
"Well we could ply her with wine to help her relax" Emme suggested, Jo's snort of laughter echoing my open mouth "are you crazy, if we sent her to them drunk, it'll be us that would need to run"
"I was only thinking one glass, I know she's a lightweight!" Emme held her hands up in surrender.
"Yeah, then they give her a glass with dinner and she's gone to la la land"
We all laughed at that one, remembering the last time Eve drank with us and the lecture the boys had given us afterwards.
The sound of a phone ringing had us all reaching for ours but the sound continued till Emme reached into Eve's bag "shit its her mum, should I answer it?"
We all breathed in relief as the ringing stopped "okay then, it can't be that important" Emme said relieved only to growl as the phone started to ring again.
"Give it to me" Emme passed it to Jo and we all tensed as she answered it.
"Good afternoon, Mrs Carstairs"
"Speaker" Emme whispered
"Miss Rose, I need to speak to Eve" we roll our eyes, she can never tell us apart so she just uses 'miss Rose'
"I'm sorry ma'am she's in the bath at the moment, can I give her a message"
"This is urgent, I will wait whilst you get her" she replied stiffly.
Emme shook her head silently in warning but we didn't really have any choice.
"I'll just be a moment" I told her taking the phone off speaker and heading upstairs to Eve's room. Knocking on the door before opening it and going in.
"Eve, your mums on the phone, says it's urgent" I call out to her through the bathroom door.
I can hear her cussing under her breath and smile at her as she appears dripping wet and wrapped in a towel hand outstretched for the phone.
"Mother, is everything okay?"
I watch Eve's face as the worry leaves her body replaced by resignation and I scowl at the phone, I should have turned it off and hidden the damn thing.
"Yes mother, I understand, yes I will deal with it, I'm sorry if it's disturbed your evening"
Eve slumped down on edge of the bed as she ended the call "Jo, can I borrow you car, the alarm is going off at the house, apparently I didn't set it properly, it'll only take me an half an hour to get there and back, which gives me time to get ready for tonight"
"I'll go" I offer
"No, I need to reset the system by phone, so I have to do it, thank you though" Eve starts pulling on clothes.
"Do you want one of us to come with you"
"Don't be daft, I'll be there and back before you know I'm gone"
"It'll take my mind off this evening" Eve adds pulling on her jacket.
"I hate that I answered your phone, don't they have anyone else who could deal with this?" Moving close to pull into a hug.
Eve hugs back "thank you" she whispers.
"Keys are in the bowl by the door, you better be quick because you're not missing tonight for anyone" I tell her stepping back.
Emme was at the window watching Eve drive off when I got back downstairs "what happened?"
"The alarm at the house is going off, her mum told her she didn't set the alarm right, so she's going to do a quick reset, she's promised she'll be back for the date"
"If she didn't set the alarm right why is it going off?" Charlie mused looking at us.
"You don't think someone's broken in?" Jo worried "I should have gone with her" I tried to call her tell her to come back for one of us but her phone just rang out "I can't reach her"
Emme pulled out her phone and took a deep breath "Lo, we might have a problem" our eyes turned to her as she explained what had happened and we froze when we heard the raised voices in the other end of the call.
"Lo, she has Jo's car, she left about 10 minutes ago, we can't get any answer on her phone.....okay......yes"
"They freaked, they are going after her, apparently there's been a few break-ins recently, we need to keep trying Eve"
The house phone rang and Charlie grabbed it "hello" she clutched the phone tightly looking relieved.
"Daddy....it's Eve, the alarms going off at her parents and she's gone to check it.......yes alone.....we just told them.....yes, her mother......yes dad, we will"
"Moms coming down, the dads are going after them, God I hope it's a false alarm, I don't want to...."
We pulled Charlie down between us on the sofa and sat cuddled together in silence, trying again to get an answer on Eve's phone.