Taking a step back, Evelyn pointed at the EcoSport. “This.”
Her mother appraised the vehicle for several seconds, then she shook her head in confusion.
“It’s a gift,” Evelyn explained, “from Donny. He paid for it in cash and signed the Title over to me.” She lowered her gaze. “I’m scared, Mom. Donny was the most stable person in my life—he was always there for me, went through everything with me. And now I feel like I never knew him. I need answers.”
“Are you sure you want to do this now? Maybe you should wait until tomorrow, when you’ve had a chance to process things.”
“No. It has to be tonight.” Evelyn clenched her teeth, refusing to cry. “You said Donny was…part of that night. And I need to know the truth.”
After a long moment, Maureen held the door wide and ushered her daughter into the living room.
Evelyn stepped onto the carpet, and a shock ran up her legs, spreading through her body. She’d been in the house hundreds of times after the “incident,” even lived there for a while. But knowing Harold Jameson was in the house made her feel like she had stepped back in time. Her head buzzed with a high-pitched ringing, and a wave of dizziness threatened to buckle her knees.
“Harry,” Maureen called out, “you can come out now.”
A door at the end of the hallway closed, and heavy footsteps padded along the aging carpet. Harold Jameson stepped into the room, a broad smile on his face. Then he caught sight of Evelyn and stopped as if frozen in time. His smile faded, replaced by a look of longing and shame. He tried to speak—his throat undulating but producing no sound. At last, he managed to force out one word. “Evelyn.”
A shrieking noise echoed through the room. Evelyn whirled, trying to find the source. Darkness closed in at the corners of her vision as if the universe itself was trying to smother her. Her consciousness waned, and she realized that the scream was coming from deep inside her.
“You’re not falling asleep, are you?”
Evelyn blinked, taking in her surroundings. She was lying on the couch, and a television cast the furniture in flickering blue light. Her head rested against a broad chest, which rose and fell with steady breathing, then bounced as the young man began to laugh.
“You are sleeping. And the movie’s just getting to the good part.”
She sat up and looked into his loving eyes. Running the tips of her fingers through his curly black hair, she shrugged and said, “Maybe I’m bored because of the movie.” She grabbed the remote and hit the power button, plunging the room into partial darkness. A faint glow escaped the kitchen, originating from the incandescent bulb above the sink, but the living room was dark enough to offer privacy.
His fingers prodded her ribcage, where she was most ticklish. “What are you up to?”
She giggled and pulled his hands away. “I didn’t invite you over to watch movies.”
“Yeah, you did. You said, hey I rented a couple of movies, want to come over?”
Evelyn rolled her eyes. “I rented the movies so it wouldn’t be obvious.”
“So…what wouldn’t be obvious?”
Her lips turned up, forming a coy smile. “You’re so innocent, Jeb. My parents are gone, Donny’s gone, Vanessa’s gone…”
He nodded along, following her train of thought along the wrong tracks. “So…you wanted company, because you didn’t want to sit at home alone.”
“No, goofball.” She sighed and climbed onto his lap. “Here, I’ll show you.”
She kissed him and reached beneath his shirt, running her fingers along the hard curves of his stomach. He closed his eyes and kissed her back, probing between her lips with his tongue. He grunted with need, then pulled away.
“We can’t,” he said.
“Why not? We have the entire house to ourselves.”
He chewed the inside of his cheek. His hands took on minds of their own and gripped her waist. “I mean, we shouldn’t. We should wait, shouldn’t we? That’s what people do, right?”
She kissed his neck and pressed her forehead against his. “We always talked about getting married after high school. But I don’t want to wait that long, do you?”
“No.”
They started again, pressing against each other and breaking away to strip off layers of clothing. Evelyn was breathing hard and tugging at Jeb’s belt buckle. She didn’t hear the lock turning on the front door.
“Evelyn!” a voice boomed. “Get away from him!”
She toppled to the floor, clutching her bra to her chest. Jeb scrambled for his shirt and put it on inside-out.
Harold Jameson thundered across the room, his eyes blazing with anger. He grabbed the collar of Jeb’s shirt and threw him onto the floor.
“Daddy, stop!” Evelyn screamed.
The big man ignored his daughter. He bent over, flipped Jeb onto his back, and crashed his hammerlike fist into the teenager’s face.
“Stop! It was my idea! Daddy, you’re hurting him.” She grabbed her father’s arm, pulling back on his elbow, but he was too powerful.
Using his other hand, he gripped Jeb’s neck and tossed him across the room. Jeb crashed into the coffee table, crushing his nose on the edge.
Evelyn pummeled Harold with her fists. She dug her fingernails into his arms and wrapped her hands around his thick neck. But nothing could stop him—he was a savage beast, hellbent on smashing Jeb into a pulp.
Blood poured from Jeb’s mangled face, drenching his shirt. Harold landed one more punch, then picked him up and threw him against the television. His body went limp, and he toppled to the floor like a tortured doll.
“You killed him!” Evelyn shrieked. “You monster! You killed him!”
A warm, moist cloth dabbed Evelyn’s forehead, bringing her back to the present. She opened her eyes and lashed out, knocking her mother’s hand away.
“It’s okay,” Maureen said in a soft voice. “I won’t hurt you. No one here will hurt you.”
Evelyn sat up, pushing against couch cushions and whipping her head back and forth. She searched for broken glass scattered across a blood-stained carpet, listened for the sound of sirens, but the world had transformed. A scalding heat rose up from the sofa, and she jumped to her feet, compelled to distance herself from the last place she had kissed her first love. It was another trick of the brain—that couch had been thrown out years ago, and a faux-leather sofa stood in its place.
“Evelyn, do you know where you are?”
She whirled on her mother. “I…I’m at home.”
Maureen stood but didn’t approach. “Do you know when you are, honey?”
Evelyn closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. “I’m not sure.”
“You drove here, remember? From Candace’s apartment.”
“Candace?” Slowly, she pulled herself free of her troubled past and returned to the present. “I drove here…because of the car. Because of Donny.” She inhaled sharply. “I saw Harold and—”
“And you fainted.” Maureen stepped forward and took her daughter’s hand. “We don’t blame you. We all wish we could forget that night. Even after all this time, the memory is still sharp—sharp enough to make us lose our grip on reality.”
Evelyn glanced around the room. “Is he still here?”
Maureen nodded. “He’s outside, on the back porch. If you don’t want to see him right now—if you want to leave—he’ll understand.”
It was tempting. She imagined locking herself in the car and pinning the accelerator to the floor, leaving the horrible man behind and never coming back.
But there was a new shadow in her life. Donny. And she needed to understand his connection to the worst date of her life—the night she lost Jeb. She took a moment to gather her courage then shook her head. “No. I need answers, and if I have to face down a monster to get them, I will.”