Once upon a time it had been a splendid house. It hadn't had rotting shingles over the now dingy grey siding. There hadn't been pieces of tin covering some of the holes left from the siding that had fallen away, while other holes were left exposed to the elements. The front porch hadn't sagged to the point of near collapse and the multiple layers of shingles on the roof weren't peeling away. At one time, it had been a grand house. Now it was just a sad shadow of its former self. Slowly decaying, just like the rest of the property.
On the way in, Evangeline had seen marginal efforts for improvement. Most of the overgrowth had been cut back from the road, making it easier for them to navigate their way up to the main house. The smaller houses toward the front had been sloppily painted on the sides visible to the road, with weeds replacing flowers in the front planting beds. Even now as she stared at the main house, she could smell the freshly cut grass as it hung in the late morning air. She took it as Bray's intent to put his best foot forward. It was clear that he wanted to make the most of this visit. If she had been able to feel at that point, she would have felt flattered.
Unfortunately for Bray, the effort was wasted. She had gone numb shortly after Roman's attempt to grab her. That on its own had been too much to process. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think he would do something like that. She had always thought he was better than that. Obviously his desperation to find Dean had brought out what kind of man he really was. To her, it had been marginally disappointing, but not heartbreaking. She found herself unable to really care about it.
Then there was the rest of it. This whole day was like some sort of bad dream that she just couldn't wake up from. Everywhere she looked, she saw ghosts. Ghosts of a life that she'd run very far away from. Ghosts of a past that she had desperately tried to forget. She had pushed it all down inside of herself, repressing it with a mixture of work, alcohol and a lukewarm outer shell that drove everyone away. The mixture had been effective. It had allowed her a decent life, free from the emotions that were now bubbling up inside her. It made it easy to tell everyone that she was fine when she wasn't. It stopped the perpetual feeling that she was drowning. Thankfully, Luke had sensed something was wrong. She wasn't sure whether it had been Roman's actions, or the fact that he probably knew, but he opted to drive them in; citing that she simply wasn't in any sort of mind to drive. He had been right. She wasn't in any sort of mind to handle any of it, but she was here all the same. Now as she stood before the house, all she could manage to do was blindly stare it at. The drowning feeling getting worse with every second that past. There was no running away now. There was no work to bury herself in. No alcohol to numb herself with. No shell to hide behind anymore. She was here.
"God….what a shit hole." The intrusion of Roman's voice shattered her little world. It slowly brought her back to reality, pulling her from the numbness that she had been feeling up until that point. Evangeline turned, seeing Roman limply hanging over Erick's shoulders. He'd woken up about half way into the compound, whining about everything but the weather. She couldn't blame him for it, but she wasn't exactly sympathetic. He wouldn't be in misery if he had just listened to her at the airport. In response, Erick bucked his shoulders, obviously not liking Roman's comment about his home. "Hey! Watch it asshole." Erick did it again, mainly for fun, but also to make it clear that Roman needed to mind his manners. "Hey Angie…." Clearly the message wasn't received. "Tell your boys to be careful." Erick bucked him a third time, nearly throwing Roman back into the car. The smaller man jerked back, narrowly avoiding his head slamming against the car's roof.
"We're not hers." Erick turned his head, glaring at what he could see of Roman's face. "Leave. Her. Alone."
"We should've left him for the gators." She turned again seeing Luke walking around the front of the car. "You're lucky we both like you." He winked at her as he brushed past, heading for the trunk, smacking Roman on the head as he went. Roman protested, but one look from Erick stopped that.
To Evangeline, there was no like about it. The idea of leaving Roman unconscious on the side of the road would've sent Bray through what was left of the roof. Erick knew it and so did Luke. All it would take was for someone to see him or for him to flag someone down, and trouble would be on their doorstep faster than any of them could blink.
"It's gonna be okay Angie." She jumped slightly, not realizing Erick had moved closer. He reached out, gently placing his hand on her head. "You'll be okay." He patted her head as a sign of encouragement. She appreciated the sentiment, but she doubted she would be.
"Why are you fucking worried about her? I'm the one that got thrown into the car." Roman glared down at her, knocking Erick's hand off her head. She jumped back not entirely sure if Roman had been aiming for Erick or her.
"And if you don't shut the fuck up." Luke's voice quickly cut in, sounding about as angry as Erick looked. "I'm going to put you back into that car and send it straight into the swamp!" A second later she heard the trunk slam shut. She turned, seeing Luke walk towards her with her suitcase in his hand. She watched Luke's gaze shift from Roman's face to what she guess was Erick's. "I think he needs to rest." Luke reached up, easily scratching his nose. "Put him with the other one for the time being. They can play catch up while they wait for Bray to decide on what's best."
"I'll tell you what's best you….." That was quickly followed by a sound smack to the head from Luke. "Get him inside before I kill him." From what she gathered Erick didn't nod. He didn't indicate that he'd heard Luke at all. Evangeline just heard him shuffle off, Roman continuing to bitch the whole way.
There was a long pause before Luke spoke again. It seemed to her that he needed a minute or two to collect his thoughts before he addressed whatever was next. She envied him for that. She wished she could do the same. "You alright?" His voice was softer, gentler even. "I saw you getting all misty eyed in the car on the way in. Seems to be worse now." She looked away, realizing for the first time that the mist had turned into tears, and those tears were now tumbling at a liberated pace. "I won't pretend to not know what it's about." She nodded, realizing that Bray had probably told Luke everything. It wasn't a shock. They shared everything. It made sense that Bray would have shared this as well.
"Where is he?" She quickly changed the subject, not wanting to have a heart to heart with him about it.
"Around." He wiped his nose again, sniffling slightly. "He's been a bit anxious about you coming." He wasn't the only one. To Evangeline, it was a relief he wasn't here. After everything that had happened today, she just didn't have it in her to deal with Bray right now. "If you want him, I'm sure he can be found." She quickly shook her head no.
"I'm fine….thank you." She reached up, wiping away some of the tears with the back of her hand. "I think" She swallowed hard, finding it difficult to form a sentence. "I think I'd like to lay down for a bit." She saw Luke cock an eyebrow out of the corner of her eye. "Could that be possible?" She looked up at him again. "Please?" Her voice sounded so small, so weak. She wasn't entirely sure it was really hers. It sounded more like a child's. "I just need…space…for a while." She swallowed again. "Somewhere, where I can shut the world out for a bit. I think I can handle this…handle him if I can just be on my own for a while."
"He won't like it." She didn't really care. "But I think I can distract him. Seems there's other things that need his attention more than you. No offense." She managed a small smile. Indicting none had been taken.
There was an awkward pause between them, Luke taking another moment to compose himself before he continued on. "You shouldn't worry about it." She gave him an inquisitive look, thinking for a second that she didn't know what he was talking about. "Roman." He nodded in the direction of the house as the name passed his lips. "Don't worry about what he may or may not know. He can't render an opinion on your past any more than you can on his." Evangeline shook her head.
"It's not what he knows that worries me. It's what he thinks he knows that worries me." She felt tears begin to sting her eyes again. "You heard him. He all but accused me of being Bray's rat." She let out a shaky sigh. "Why would he bother with the truth when the half-truth is so much better?" She ran her fingers over her hair in frustration. "He even wasn't supposed to be here. I told him to wait at the airport and then I told him to wait in the car. I told him Bray would be happy to get rid of Dean, but he just…wouldn't listen to me. Now he thinks he knows something and I'm screwed." A few tears fell. "What am I supposed to do when this all goes to hell?" He didn't answer her. "We all know how this works. None of you are at risk for any real punishment. At most you'll get fined. But me? The second Roman says something they will fire me." She swallowed hard, finding it hard to speak for a moment. "It's easy for you, for Erick…..for Bray to not worry about rumors. You have each other, or at most, you have Bray to protect you." She let out a short laugh. "I don't have anybody."
"You have us." He'd said so quickly and so matter-of-factly, that she wasn't sure she heard him right.
"What?" Luke stepped closer to her, leaning down slightly so he could look her right in the eye.
"If it comes down to that, then we'll protect you. He won't let anything bad happen to you because of this."
"You don't know that." He shook his head.
"I do. We pay our debts Angie. Good, Bad or indifferent, they always get paid." He laid his hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Trust me."