“Funny.” I scowl her way as Noah takes off.
Everett scoots in next to me. “I might need to make a quick stop somewhere after this.”
“Not a problem,” I say. “Full disclosure, I was thinking we should stop off at Pickin’ Lickin’ Chicken and hit the drive-thru. I have a sudden craving to lick your fingers clean.” I give a cheesy wink his way. In my defense, all of my come-ons have been food-related as of late. I can’t help it. Everett and food are my twin cravings.
“It’s like you read my mind. I’m in the mood for a little pickin’ and lickin’ myself. I’ll aim for far more interesting places than your fingers, cupcake. But they’ll make for a fine appetizer.” His brows pinch and he looks decidedly handsome, but it’s those blue eyes of his that shine bright in this otherwise monochromatic world we’ve stepped into. “I’ll even get you your own bucket tonight.”
“Now you’re just flirting shamelessly with me.” I lean his way. “And don’t think I’ll forget about that pickin’ lickin’ threat. I’m holding it to you.”
A smile plays on his lips, but he’s too stubborn to give it. “I’ll be holding you to a lot of things.”
A sigh of satisfaction strums from me. There’s nothing like Everett Baxter in his carnal prime. A part of me wants to haul us all back to Honey Hollow, pronto.
The audience breaks out into applause as the young girl takes a bow and jumps off the stage. The room quiets down again and I hold my breath, hoping Bambi will come out of the woodwork and take the stage, but she’s still nowhere to be seen. Instead, a dark-haired girl hops up wearing a skintight black sweater, black tattered jeans, and combat boots. The room breaks out into another riotous applause. A group of girls start screaming their heads off, and half the room has jumped to their feet as they cheer the girl on before she ever says a word.
That slinky sweater, those ratty jeans—funny, that’s exactly how Evie was dressed as she left the house. My eyes sharpen over the girl as her features come into focus and I take in a hard gasp.
“That’s Evie!” I whisper as loudly as I can and Everett lifts his head a notch as he looks her way.
“Sure is.” Everett’s chest inflates, and I can tell he’s ready to storm the stage if need be to protect our feisty little girl.
“They call me Evie Stevie,” she says as she adjusts the microphone and the crowd goes wild once again.
Carlotta smacks me as she belts out a cackle. “That’s what I call her, Lot. Evie is famous, and now I’m famous by de facto!”
The crowd doesn’t let up with its applause and Evie does her best to wave them down.
“This is live on my Insta Pictures account, so if you’re here or watching this from home, this is for you.” The crowd howls with approval. “They call me Evie, but for so long my name was forgotten, nothing, worthless, invisible, the girl that nobody cared about. My life was unsettled. I was hidden from the world and locked up in a preparatory cage, left to rot while the world moved on without me.
“No family, no fame, no memories of holidays, or hugs from those who love me to keep me warm at night. I was dust in the universe, floating off farther than I ever wanted, far faster than ever deemed safe. I was alone. In insolation, the darkness, the taste of solitude my only friends. But the gangsters rolled in like they always seem to do in the movies, but my life was no movie.
“I expected the worst, but got the best. Found out I had a family. They were looking for me. I got a Cray Cray, Glam Glam, and a hotel heiress to call my own. I’ve got a hot cop in my pocket who looks after me like I was his own. You think that’s great? That it would be enough? The universe wasn’t done. I’ve got parents, two of a kind. You know him as Hot Judge”—the crowd screams as if the building were on fire—“but I just call him Dad. He makes sure I know I’m special, safe, and best of all wanted. He says he’ll never let go. He won’t let me go back. He won’t let me be forgotten. Those days are through, and when he holds me, I know this much is true. And I’ve got me a mother—no, not the nutburger that pushed me out into this world and locked me in a box—a real mother who wraps her arms around me and tells me how much she loves me.
“She’s as sweet as she is tough. She’s not afraid to tell me how it is. She can kiss me in the morning and tell me to straighten my act in the afternoon. You know her as Hot Baker, but I just call her Mom. She makes the meanest cookies, but her life reads like a thriller. Because when she’s not baking something sweet to eat, she’s out there catching a killer.” The room breaks out into riotous hoots once again as I look breathless to the girl I love so much.
But Evie isn’t done.
“And now my life feels settled,” she continues. “I’m ready for what’s to come. Mom is having a baby, we’re growing this family. And I may not change a dirty diaper, but I’m sure as heck going to protect that kid from this cold-hearted world. I’ll make sure it knows who it is, its name is somebody, it’s special, and that it will never want for friends or be alone. It will never be forgotten, it will never be left to rot in a box. I will celebrate this child each and every day because I know how important it is, how much we need to love one another just to help each other survive. Love is the oxygen I was deprived of for so very long, and now I have it in abundance, and I won’t ever have to hold my breath again. I’ll never stop breathing. Together, we will never stop breathing.”
The room clots up with silence for less than a second, and in an instant every person in the establishment is on their feet, clapping and screaming while Everett, Carlotta, and I clap and howl the loudest. Tears stream down my face, and Everett’s face is tear-streaked, too.
He pulls me in for a monstrously strong embrace as his lips press a kiss next to my ear.
“Thank you for helping me give our sweet girl a family,” he whispers.
“It’s my honor.” My body bucks as I do my best to keep my emotions in check.
Noah comes back and sets a feast down on the table before us with coffee, cookies, brownies, cake and all.
“Did you hear that?” Noah’s dimples dig in as he sheds a wide grin. “That was our kid up there.”
I bite down on a smile. “That’s her. Our girl is gold.”
“She’s the best.” Everett holds out a hand and Noah slaps him five. “You guys are the best, too.”
I watch as Evie gets settled at a table up front with Dash, Conner, and Kyle, along with about a dozen of their other friends from school. I plan on keeping an eye on her for the rest of the night. She’s right, I can be as sweet as I can be tough, but that’s only because I care deeply about her emotional and physical safety.
The baby in my belly offers up a swift kick, and my hand quickly rises to greet it. I certainly care about you, too, Sugar Cookie.
The room breaks out into another spontaneous applause, and this time we see the exact person we were expecting tonight. Bambi Bailey stands tall, clad in black, with a pink scarf around her neck. Her red hair is teased into a beehive, and her lips shine a juicy shade of ruby. The outline of her lantern jaw is highlighted at this angle with the lights shining down over her, and there’s a warmth about her—something that screams this is a person you’d want as a friend.