“I’ve got it under control,” I tell him, doing my best not to grit my teeth. I don’t need to shoot the messenger, and Pops is just making sure that Eva’s not going to bring us all down.
“What problem?” Eva needs to learn not to draw attention to herself and not to ask questions, but she obviously hasn’t fucking picked up on that yet. Her gorgeous eyes look worried as she glances between the two of us. “Is there another problem?”
Arlo chuckles, and the sound makes me want to punch him. “There’s a huge problem, sweetheart,” he tells her. “It stands about this high,” he holds his hand up to the top of her head, “and knows a lot of shit about our family. See, our issue with the problem is that we don’t know if it’s going to get out of control or if it can keep its mouth shut.”
Her eyes flies open and her jaw drops slightly. Good. I’m glad to see that she looks a bit worried, and while it’s not how I would have chosen to tell her about the problem we’re facing, but Arlo isn’t considered very tactful.
“I won’t say anything.” She shakes her head as she says this, like she’s trying to drive the point home. “I promise. I have no interest in telling anyone anything. I don’t care what you do, or what your family does, as long as you don’t ‘kill me. I’ll never go to the police, I won’t tell Cherie…” Her voice faces off.
I know that it’s because she doesn’t have anyone else in her life who she could tell, but I’m not sure if Arlo knows that. He must, because he nods, and holds something up.
It’s the first that I’ve noticed it, and judging by the look on Eva’s face, the first that she’s noticed it, too. She grabs the purse from him and clutches it to her chest. “Where did you get it? Thank you so much!”
He rolls his eyes and looks at me. “We went back this morning while you were asleep and got it from her work. She had a locker there, but we cleaned it all out. Her stuff is in a box in the living room.”
Eva’s rummaging through her purse and I notice that she’s frowning a little. “My phone. Did you see it in there when you got my purse? It’s missing.”
Arlo smirks and I know exactly where her phone is without him having to say anything. She doesn’t, of course, so he clues her in. “Your phone isn’t yours anymore, sweetheart. I’m sorry, but there’s no way that we can let you have it right now, not until we know for sure.” He shrugs, letting her know that he’s not really sorry.
Her face falls. “But I need it,” she argues, pulling the purse close to her chest again.
“And who are you going to call?” Any friendliness is gone from Arlo’s tone and face. He leans forward to get a better look at her. “Who the hell do you think that you need to call when we’re taking care of everything you need right here?”
“She’s not going to call anyone, okay?” Even though part of me is nervous about why she immediately asked for her phone, there’s no way that I’m going to let Arlo talk to her like that. She’s my girl. “Chill out, Arlo, she’s already told me a million times that she’s not going to call anyone or talk to anyone.”
He frowns and she pipes up. “I just wanted to text my boss. Let him know that I’m sorry about last night and that I’ll be back for my afternoon shift.”
At this, Arlo and I both burst out laughing. “Eva, honey,” I tell her, “you no longer have a job. Why in the hell would I let you go to work when I won’t let you go to your apartment? You think that you’re safe there?”
“But I need the money!” She stamps her foot and looks angrily between the two of us. “I need to be able to pay for my apartment. You don’t understand.”
“We understand, sweetheart,” Arlo says. “But you don’t have a job now. Not as a waitress, anyway. But if I remember correctly, you have other skills that you can rely on, don’t you?”
Her face pales. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Fuck. I forgot that Eva’s a lawyer. In all of the excitement of meeting her and then almost getting killed, it never crossed my mind that she’s more than just a waitress. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a waitress, but a lawyer…that could be very good. Or very bad. I just don’t know which one.
“We’ll talk about it.” Arlo glances over at me when I speak and gives a single nod. That’s one thing about the family. We may all want to be involved in each other’s shit, especially when it affects us all, but we also know when to back off.
“Let me know. Offer to help you out still stands, brother.” With that, Arlo turns and walks down the hall. Eva and I stand still and silent for a moment, watching him go, before she turns to me, resting her head lightly on my shoulder.
“What do we do now?” She asks. She sounds scared and the thought of her being worried twists like a knife through me.
“You and I are going to my place,” I tell her. We could sit here and hash everything out, but I don’t want to be around everyone when she and I really talk. There’s a lot of things that we need to figure out, and being around the family may make her reluctant to tell me the truth.
“We have a lot to talk about. You want to come out of this in one piece and I want to keep you in one piece, but you’re going to have to be honest with me. Starting now. Do you understand?”
Eva starts
