Thick as Thieves (The Greystone Family: Stolen Hearts #3)

Chapter 31

31

Evie

My phone rings, startling me back to consciousness. Jude. I debate whether to take the call. He hasn’t phoned me for a few weeks, well nearly a month actually, so I decide to answer. Anything for a distraction. “Hey Brown, how’s it going?”

He stutters, and I’m not sure if it’s because I answered with Brown or not. Clearly I’ve thrown him off balance.

“I’m sorry I’ve not rang. Things have been a bit of a mess here,” he rushes out.

I didn’t know that. “Oh, all okay now?” I ask, concerned.

“Getting better,” he gushes on. “I’ve ended things with Isobel.”

I pause and let that sink in. “Really? Well I can’t say I’m sorry. You know I never liked her, but I know you did, so I am sorry for that.” I try to keep my voice moderate.

“Pfff, I’m not fucking sorry after the stunt she pulled with your husband. She can fuck right off.”

I still, my body goes on alert. “Stunt?” I ask him.

“Yeah. Did Kellen not tell you? At his birthday party, when he came back to find Gabe.”

“He mentioned something,” I say, giving him just enough to think I know a hell of a lot more than I actually do.

“Yeah, well, I’m sorry I hit him, but what was I supposed to think when she had her tongue down his throat and his dick in her hands,” he complains. But not at me or Kell, one hundred percent aimed at Isobel.

I just stop the gasp getting out. I don’t want to tip him off that I don’t know any of it. “Oh, God, yes. A shock, I know,” I say as generically as possible, patting myself on the back for not freaking out and somehow managing to maintain the subterfuge.

“Well, I hit him, of course. And then Issy said he asked her to have sex with her and me, completely floored me.” Jude clearly has no idea I didn’t know.

“Christ, that seems a bit…” I say to encourage him without giving it away I have no clue about any of it. I think I’m a masochist, plugging on for information I know may hurt me.

“Yeah, Kellen was totally pissed at her and called her a few choice names. I guess I should have known it was not just him at fault. But she’s been dripping poison in my ear for months. About them, you, my brothers…” He takes a breath. “Anyway, I’m free of her now, but I also think she’s the one stirring shit about you. Some of the stuff in the papers here is stuff she would know and maybe no one else outside of the family.” I can hear the annoyance in his voice, and the hurt.

“She would absolutely do that—use you to get information and then use it against you,” I say. “I know Rowena has been on the phone a lot, so that’s probably being fueled via her friend Chrissy, who is Isobel’s mother. The Greystone name will totally be mud now.” I laugh sarcastically. “Rowena even gave an interview to someone to say the twins were not her grandsons. I know Kell spoke harshly to her about it, but it sounds like she is back on that train again.”

I stop and look at my phone as it starts vibrating. Tommy is texting me.

“Just a sec, Brown. Tommy’s texting me. I need to tell him where I am.”

Tommy

You okay Kiddo

Damn. I’ve obviously been missed. He’s telling me he’s worried.

Me

All good, Tommy. Just having a minute on phone to brother

Me

Has it been noticed

Tommy

It’s always noticed

They’re looking for me.

Me

I’m in the loo marked out of order. Can u come in 5 mins

Tommy

Ok

“I’m back now,” I tell Jude. “As long as you’re feeling better. I’ll be back home soon. Come down to Devon. Marshall is back on the twenty-fourth. I think I may be back a bit before. I can see you in London and we can take the kids down together.”

“I have missed them.” I can hear the smile in his voice. “James sent me pics. Are you getting hassled?”

“A bit, but it’s not so bad. Jackson’s buddy is taking care of us. But it’s the things they shout about who’s the dad, and all the insinuations blah blah blah.”

“I don’t know why Kellen doesn’t just produce the paternity test he had done. It would shut it all down.”

He drops a nuclear bomb in my lap. And I stop breathing.

“Evie? E, are you still there?” He’s starting to shout down the phone as I go silent.

“Yeah,” I eventually squeak out. “Signal dropped out. Sorry.”

My brain is in automatic pilot mode, survival mode. Lessons learned with Jonno. Don’t show fear, find out what you need to know. No tells. I need all my lessons now.

“Yeah, he could,” I add, thinking I sound unperturbed. “I don’t know where it is,” I say and hold my breath. If I was on FaceTime he would know I was lying. But thank god he isn’t.

“You sound weird. Where are you?” Clearly I’m not disguising my voice as well as I think.

“In a toilet. You caught me scrolling James and Bucky’s socials.” I close my eyes, take a deep breath in, and wait for his response.

“Okay, well the test results are probably still in Scotland. They put it in Himself’s safe. I don’t think they opened it. Jonno probably went back and did though, you know what he’s like.” He’s so blasé, when he’s just inadvertently ripped my world apart.

“Yes, I’ll remind them. I assume you mean him and Xan.”

“Yeah, and Jonno. I think Kell was unsure what to do then decided to do one. Not for him, obviously, but just as you’d had so much hassle beforehand, he felt it prudent to say one had been done. It would be proof if he needed to protect you and the babies.”

He sounds like he actually believes the shit he’s spewing. He one hundred percent agrees with it. Lying under the guise of protection. Fucking Greystones.

“Yes, yes I did have a lot of hassle,” I agree.

I’m not sure how I’m holding onto my temper. I can feel my blood pressure rise. I feel off balance, like I have vertigo. If I wasn’t sitting on this toilet seat, I would fall over. HOW DARE THEY, without telling me, test my kids. Especially as I had expressly said no at the time. Those kids do not need to prove anything. And if they don’t want them, I don’t care. They are mine. MINE.

“I’m gonna go. I need to get back to Xan’s party.” I push artificial excitement into my voice and hope he can’t tell the difference.

He laughs. “Well, at least now if you get pregnant, you won’t need another paternity test, as Kell is firing blanks.”

What The Fuck? I laugh. I must get an Oscar for this performance. How to take the punches. Is it UFC and not boxing? I’m being beaten up when I’m on the floor. I need to sort my combat codes out, as I just keep rolling with whatever physical onslaught comes my way. What bomb is he dropping now? He’s going thermonuclear.

“Yeah yeah, little monkey,” I say with a grimace practically tearing the skin on my cheeks. I had no idea about anything being done.

Jude goes on, utterly oblivious to my imminent meltdown. “Think I’ll go get my sperm frozen, at that clinic. I looked at the leaflet he had after he’d had his vasectomy, it looked fucking brutal.”

He’s laughing. Actually laughing. He has no idea what the words he’s saying are doing to me. To my world. Total annihilation.

“Yeah, like you said, no problem on paternity now!” I have left the building. I’ve tapped out. My brother knows more about my husband than I do. Every Greystone probably knows. Medical histories are a speciality in our family.

“Christ, that party should be a show. Xander is extreme.” Jude sounds impressed.

“You have no idea,” I say. “I’ll see you in London in a day or two. Love you, bro.”

I’m eerily calm. The hot sunny day before the tornado ravages everything in its path. I think I might be having a breakdown.

“Love you, baby sis. Can’t wait to see you all.” His voice is full of love and indulgence. He makes blowing kisses noises before he hangs up.

How am I going to navigate through this?

They’re liars. Liars and deceivers. Treating me like a fucking first class idiot. Lining up other people for me to have sex with. Kell can’t tell me he’s had a vasectomy. I get why he would want one. But why not say? They both colluded to do a test without me knowing, without my consent. On my children. When I specifically said no. My orders could not have been clearer.

I don’t even want to start and unpack Kell and the Isobel stuff.

I start to hyperventilate. I need to cool it, start to think.

They think I’m stupid, they think I'm dumb. Another little woman to fit in with them, roll over and do what they say. Look over here, Evie. Nothing to see over there. Good old Evie. Give, give, give, and all they do is take me for granted. Did they think I wouldn’t mind? Oh yes, go right ahead, test my kids. Bring on the dancing girls and boys to fuck. Get the snip. Take away all our options for further family. Why? Why do it? There was no need. All of it was needless, they should have told me. Been straight with me.

I slump further onto the back wall of the toilet, in a nightclub, in Mexico City. My life is in tatters. What I thought I knew, I didn’t. What I thought of as control, how I’d managed to control and calm the storms raging around us all, I hadn’t. I know nothing. I’m the enthralled audience at an illusion show, gasping at the tricks being performed. Sleight of hand, deception, trickery. I’ve drunk it all down like a wide-eyed innocent.