He said nothing for a minute, then he lifted his hand, displaying his knuckles. “I mentioned him before,” he said. “He’s one of the assholes who was messing with the girls.”
“Oh.” I thought about that, then decided not to press for more. Whatever was going on under the surface, Evan already knew about it. And I didn’t see even a hint of fear in his eyes. I did, however, see a spark of anger as he reached out and gently stroked my cheek.
“He scared you.”
“He was creepy,” I admitted. “But I’m okay now.” I looked in his eyes and realized it was true. As corny as it sounded, I was okay now because Evan was beside me.
“I saw you talking to Kevin.”
“Lucky me.”
“Everything okay there, too?”
I nodded. What was I going to say? That I’d realized I was terrified for him and, oh, by the way, I might be falling in love with him, too? I settled for, “Yeah. Everything’s fine. He saw me talking to Larry, too.”
I met his eyes, and though he only nodded, I knew he understood my unspoken message: Be careful. Please, please be careful.
“What else did he say?”
“He said that he missed me.”
“I see.” I saw the vulnerability in his eyes, and I had to bite back a gasp as a sudden realization shook me. Evan might be everything that Kevin accused him of. He might be dangerous as hell. But right then, I had the power to hurt him.
I reached out and brushed my thumb over his lip. “I told him that I didn’t miss him at all,” I said.
He held my eyes for what felt like eternity. I saw relief there. And I saw what I wanted to believe was love.
After a moment, he blinked. “I need to take care of something,” he said gently, and though I didn’t ask, I had a feeling that Larry was the reason for this change in plans. “It shouldn’t take long. Wait for me at the boat?”
My smile felt watery. “I think I’ll go home instead,” I said. I wanted to be on familiar ground with my thoughts.
Evan eyed me cautiously. “You’re sure everything is okay?”
I leaned close and kissed him hard and slow and deep. “Everything’s fine. My dad emailed over a bunch of pictures of condos. I should look at them, you know.”
His expression hardened. “Sure. He’s probably expecting your reply.”
“Come over later?”
“As soon as I can.”
“Good,” I said.
“I’ll have Red take you home. I’ll ride with Cole.”
The drive only took a few minutes, and I was up the elevator, in the condo, and pouring a glass of wine in less than an hour. There was a message from Evan on my phone, and I realized he must have called in the short span of time when I had no service in the elevator.
“Change of plans. I have to fly to Indiana to take care of a few things, but I’ll be back tomorrow. Have a good day at work. I’ll be thinking of you.”
I carried my wine to bed and repeated his words in my head. I’d be thinking of him, too. About him. About threats and crimes and the FBI. About Washington.
And, yes. About flying.
I stayed awake as long as I could, fighting sleep. For the last few days, there’d been no nightmares. But tonight, without Evan beside me, I knew that they would come again. Salt-water scented dreams punctuated by the hollow screams of my sister. Dreams that reached out and grabbed me from sleep, so pernicious that they even followed me to work the next day where I sat, bleary-eyed at my desk, and tried to focus on Kat’s voice, tinny and thin over the phone.
“Kevin’s a prick,” she was saying. “He’s just flashing his badge around so he can feel like a badass.”
“Maybe. I don’t know.” I’d told her about Kevin, but not about Larry. “But I don’t want to think about Kevin at all.” I sighed. “I still haven’t heard from Evan today. I need a distraction. Want to grab a drink? Flynn’s working tonight. We could go harass him at the bar.”
“Sounds like fun. See you there around eight?”