"Get her out of here before they see her.Get her to your room and calm her down.We'll get them out."
"What?What happened?"
"Listen Brother, get her out of here.I'll come to you when they're gone.Don't let them see her."
I have no idea what's happening, but I trust Cotton with my life.I pick Eve up in both arms and rush back upstairs with her.
"Are you hurt, love?"
Nothing.She doesn't respond.I look down at her face and dread curls in my middle.She's not there.It looks like my Eve, but it's not her behind these eyes.We get into the bedroom, and I strip off her clothes.She lets me.She doesn't respond in any way, and she doesn't seem to perceive any external stimuli.Once I have her down to her bra and panties, I can see that she isn't injured.There's nothing.It isn't her blood.Whose blood is this?Quickly, I pick her back up and put her in the shower.Getting in behind her, fully clothed, I start washing the blood off her skin.What's happening?What happened down there?She still isn't speaking.She isn't helping me wash the blood off of her.She doesn't even seem to be aware of what's happening.Once we're out of the shower and I have her wrapped in a towel, I strip off my wet clothes and change.
There's knocking at my door."Hey, can we come in?"It's Cal.
"Just a minute."
I quickly dress Eve and open the door.Both Cal and Cotton stand there, clearly worried.Cotton still has blood all over him, but it doesn't look as bad now that I've had some time to calm down.
"What happened?Whose blood is that?"
They brush passed me and into the room.
"Eve.Are you alright?"Cotton looks worried.He has a dish towel wrapped around his hand, and it's soaked in blood.
Eve doesn't respond to Cotton, and I say, "It's your blood."Not a question but a statement filled with confusion."What the fuck happened, Cotton?"
He looks at me and runs his uninjured hand through his hair, looking more troubled than I have seen him look in years."She...fuck, I don't know.I saw her change.I saw her change and I...Eve?"He turns to Eve to address her mid-sentence."I don't want to talk about her like she's not here."
"Something's wrong.She isn't responding.Not to touch, not to conversation, she's just unavailable."
Cotton nods his head toward the door in a gesture that lets me know he wants to talk outside.
"I'm going to stay in here with her.We shouldn't leave her alone."Cal looks worried and he hasn't taken his eyes off Eve since he entered the room.
"Yeah, we'll be right back," I tell him.
As soon as we shut the door, Cotton says, "I've seen shit like this before, Adam.As soon as you and Cal started tossing bodies around, I turned to find Eve.I was going to get her out of the room, but I immediately knew there was something wrong."
"Her entire demeanor changed from confusion to...I don't know, just...vacant.She checked out, but something else checked in and it was ready for battle.At first, I thought she was going into the kitchen to get out of the chaos, but she came back with that knife.She was so calm.Eerily calm.I almost waited too long because I didn't realize what she was doing.I just barely caught the knife by the blade before she shoved it into Jason's back."
I rub my hands down my face and into my hair.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.
"Did anyone see her?"
"No.I don't think so.The focus was on you curb-stomping Chad into the living room floor.Not cool, by the way, Captain."
"Did you hear what he fucking said?"
"Yes.Kick him out, suspend him from a practice, don't permanently change the structure of his face."
"Well, agree to disagree.Cal obviously agreed with me."
"When your best defense is that Cal Ashford agrees with you, you've already lost your case."
I can't help but smile at that despite the shit show that's still taking place.
"I can't believe she was going to stab someone."
"That's the thing.That wasn't Eve.I saw it happen.Eve checked out and the trauma took over.Something has happened to her.Something really fucking bad, man.I think she was defending you and Cal in some messed up trauma response.Her nerves were already at the surface because of all the people and then things turned to shit, and she just reacted in the only way she knew how."
