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“I want to help you,” Ox whispered.
Eveline whipped her head back to face him, her face screwing up in pain at the action. “Do you really want to help me?” she spat at him.
“I do.”
“Then leave. That’s how you can help me.”
Ox’s first instinct was to ignore her request, to stand his ground and stay there until she came around to his way of thinking. However, the pain clouding her eyes had him swallowing any argument he may have put up. “I’ll go.” He stood. “But this isn’t over.”
He let the words sit in the air before he headed out the door.
Eveline may think he was going to leave her alone, but that was far from the truth. He was going to plant his ass in the waiting room, and when she was given the all-clear to leave—he was going to drive her home.
Chapter Eight
“Now that’s an attractive look,” Eveline murmured as she checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her cheek was turning a lovely shade of purple and green, her eye was half-closed, and the butterfly strips covering her abrasions completed the runway look.
After lying for hours, it felt good to be up on her feet. The doctor had finally deemed her healthy enough to leave, as—apart from the dull headache—there were no lingering effects of her concussion. Although Dr. Sanders warned her that if she started to feel nauseous or dizzy, Eveline was to get herself to the closest ER.
Her shoulder ached, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. When she carefully rotated it, she didn’t experience any real pain. Not like before.
Eveline sighed and picked up the bag of her clothes, grimacing when she pulled them out. They were crinkled, and there were spots of blood on her blouse.
The trip home was going to be fun, but all she wanted to do was get in her bed and sleep until the memories of the last eighteen hours were in the far recesses of her mind.
Eveline was deliberately not thinking about the man who’d sat by her bedside. His contradictory behavior was enough to cause her head to hurt way more than it currently was.
Shucking out of the hospital gown, she pulled her clothes back on. Kyle Matthews had shown her compassion and caring, but he’d also showed her assholish actions within the space of a few minutes.
That’s it, baby, wake up.
The memory of his soft voice assailed her.
Had she imagined him saying that to her?
When Kyle had said that, she’d been floating back into consciousness, aware her whole body was hurting and her brain was recovering from a head injury. It was entirely possible that she’d imagined Kyle calling her baby.
What Eveline hadn’t imagined was his hand holding hers every time she’d been woken up by the nurse.
Kyle wasn’t there now.
She’d sent him away when he hadn’t said it in so many words but had suggested that her attack was all part of some elaborate plan. Instinct told her that was what he was thinking, no matter that she couldn’t call it fact. Call it intuition, or maybe her brain injury had momentarily unlocked psychic abilities within her.
Whatever it was, it’d been enough for the hurt to pierce Eveline’s soul that he still didn’t trust her because of who she worked with.
Would things have been different if she hadn’t worked for Triple Z?
That was a question she couldn’t answer, and she needed to stop thinking about Kyle Matthews, their one amazing night together, and what might’ve been had things been different for the both of them.
Eveline washed her hands and dried them before attempting to smooth down the bird's nest her hair resembled. Before she got into bed, she’d be taking a long hot shower to not only soothe her aching muscles but to wash away the aftereffects of her attack and hospital stay.
At least she had the rest of the week off work to recover. She’d called Gerald, and he’d sounded so concerned. He’d assured her to take as long as she needed to recover and come back when she was ready. He’d also told her not to worry about a thing at the office, and that they’d survive, not well, but they’d survive without her for a few days.
The phone call had left her with mixed emotions, happy that she didn’t have to think about her job, but also surprised at how accommodating Gerald had been. On the rare occasions she’d called in sick, he’d been annoyed. His attitude change didn’t matter, really. She’d just been relieved the call had gone better than she’d expected.
Eveline left the bathroom and smiled at the waiting nurse. “Hey, Regina, are you here to set me free?”
She smiled. “I am, and once you’re free, I’m free, and I can go home and sleep.”
