Contempt

“How’d you like the show?” Ian’s eyes flicked up to look at Evelyn’s face as her hand carefully crossed the page.

She thanked the shade of the van and the breeze blowing in from outside. “You guys were good, as always.” His face fell a little, his eyebrows pulling together. “Try and keep your face relaxed, please.”

“Why don’t you like Stephen?”

Evelyn sighed, placing her pad and pencil down. She was tiring of this question. “He’s like you, but worse.”

He was happy to get a rise out of her, Evelyn rested her head against the seat. “What’s so wrong with me?” Ian pressed with a smirk.

“You purposely push my buttons every chance you get.” She opened her eyes to see his smile falter. “Did you expect another answer?”

“No, it’s just…I don’t know, Belle.” Ian ran a hand through his hair. “I thought you got that I was just messing with you.”

Evelyn picked up her sketchbook and pencil, “I’m not as carved from stone as I put on to be. If you had ever bothered to get to know me at all, you’d know that.” He opened his mouth, but she shook her head. “I only need a few more minutes, no talking.” The van was silent as her hand drew the pencil across the paper.

“I think you should try talking to Stephen,” Ian broke the quiet ten minutes later. She looked up from the pad, eraser in hand from clearing the excess lines. “I think he’s hiding behind his words, too.”

Evelyn shook her head. “He’s proud, arrogance is a language he knows too well. I want nothing to do with him, even if under all the armor he’s Prince Charming. I stopped believing in fairy tales years ago, Ian.”

She scribbled her signature in the corner, leaving the open book on the seat as she climbed out of the van.

“John, you need to move on,” she recognized the voice. Stephen stood beside a boy who vaguely resembled him.

Evelyn tried to walk by without being seen. “Stephen, I’m sorry I have a heart.”

“Lady Red.” Her viridian eyes looked at him, her features sharp. “Can you help my brother out? He needs to move on.”

She was surprised by the softness of his tone in the first sentence, the second biting as it was aimed at the boy. She followed John’s eyes to a brunette she didn’t recognize being hugged from behind by Alex Marshall. Both rested their hands on her stomach with wide smiles.

“Ex?” Evelyn asked John, her features now soft.

“He dated her for about two weeks last summer when she was on a break from Marshall; they’ve been together four years except for that little break. John fell hard when she gave him attention; Adalyn’s pregnant now.”

She glared at Stephen, placing a soft hand on John’s shoulder. “If you need to talk about it, I can listen. Your brother, though he rudely words it, is right. She’s happy now, if you really love her, you’ll realize you just want her happy. Even if it hurts.”

John offered her a soft smile. “Thanks, I’m John guitarist of The Summer Set.”

She placed her hand in his, “Evelyn, manager of Hot Chelle Rae.”

Stephen felt a burn in his stomach as his brother and Evelyn talked. He wanted to be the one to figure her out.