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Baby.
Kyle kept calling her that. She liked it. Eveline couldn’t put her finger on why, but she did.
How could she be having these thoughts when her body wouldn’t move?
“Baby?” she whispered.
A warm hand cupped her cheek and a zing of electricity powered through her, and in a whoosh, the paralysis that had enveloped her disappeared and her knees buckled. She would’ve fallen to the ground had Kyle not grabbed her.
“I got you.”
His warm arms closed around her, and she rested her head against his hard chest, reveling in his strength.
God, she hated feeling weak, and that’s the only thing she’d been able to feel for the last day.
She wasn’t like this.
All her life, she’d been strong and independent. She’d had to be that way. Ever since her parents had died in a car accident when she’d been seventeen, and she’d lived in a foster home for her senior year before she’d been able to leave and move to Los Angeles, chasing the futile dream of being an actress.
From the moment Eveline had stepped off the Greyhound bus, she’d been the director of her whole life. Hadn’t needed anyone to prop her up, even when audition after audition hadn’t gone her way and she’d worked out that the golden lights of Hollywood weren’t for her. So, she’d pivoted and found she excelled in office organization and had forged a career that had led her to this moment.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered and attempted to pull away from Kyle’s hold. Only his arms tightened around her, and she relaxed even more.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He brushed his lips against his head.
Standing in the foyer of her wrecked apartment, securely held against Kyle’s strong chest, was what she needed in that moment. The sweetness of his gesture and words were signs that maybe he did care a little for her.
“Angel? Call 9-1-1. I’m at Eveline’s apartment. Someone has trashed it.”
Eveline heard Kyle rattle off her address to whoever this Angel person was.
“No, she won’t be. She’ll be with me. Thanks. Later.”
Slowly the last part of his conversation seeped into her, and she pulled away from his. “I’ll be with you? What does that mean?”
“It means that until we can be certain that whoever is after you is caught, you won’t be by yourself. You’ll be with me. Staying at my place.”
The fire that had gotten her through those first few tough years of living in LA, burst to life from the place they’d been hiding in for the last day. Eveline pushed against Kyle’s chest, and he immediately dropped his arms. He didn’t move completely away from her, but he did give her the space she wanted.
“I’m sorry, what? Do I get a say in this at all? What if I don’t want to stay with you? What if I’d prefer to go to a hotel? Or stay with a friend.”
None of those options appealed, but she wasn’t going to give in to Kyle’s demands as if she had no backbone. Granted, she hadn’t been all that strong recently, but she’d also suffered two significant events back-to-back, so Eveline could cut herself a little slack that her reactions hadn’t been how she usually acted.
“Is that what you really want? Do you really want to be alone in a hotel room? What about your friend’s place? Is it secure? Does it have a security desk? Is it a house with an alarm?” Kyle fired off the questions as if she were a superstar walking through a throng of paparazzi wanting the latest gossip from her.
Fortunately, the sound of sirens grew louder. “The police are here. I should go meet them,” she said, grasping at the lifeline their impending arrival had given her.
“We will go meet them together. I told you I’m not leaving your side now. No matter where you decide, I’m going to stay.” His tone brooked no argument, and, if truth be told, Eveline’s head was beginning to ache.
Her shoulder was hurting, and she was also a little light-headed. Like everything else that Kyle had told her, she’d unpack the nuances of his words when things had settled down.
If they ever would. It seemed as if she’d climbed onto a roller coaster, and it had gone so fast she’d sped into an alternate reality. A reality where nothing made sense, and her life was in danger.
Chapter Twelve
Ox stood in the doorway of Eveline’s bedroom, red-hot anger burning through his veins. Keeping Eveline from here was imperative. The last thing she needed to see was how the person who’d broken into her place had violated the bedroom.
How the fuck did a neighbor not hear what was going on in her apartment?
