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“We won’t. She can tell us as much or as little as she feels ready to. I’ll take whatever she can give me,” I assured him.
“I’ll make notes too, so I can get to work looking for that motherfucker online,” Aleks agreed.
“I’m hoping she can give us enough information to find his identity. Once we have that we can contact the FBI team working this and they can find him,” I explained.
“And if Evie doesn’t want to deal with the FBI?” Harris asked.
“Then I’ll call in an anonymous tip with his name. I’m not going to force her to do anything she doesn’t want to, Harris. How much of an asshole do you think I am?”
“The biggest,” he threw back with a smirk.
“She’s strong. I think once we know who this fucker is and she’s confident he can be caught, she’ll be okay with going to the authorities. She’s only holding back because she’s terrified of what this bastard is capable of and what he could do to her family,” Kailan pointed out.
“I sent the burner cell to her brothers’ security firm late last night. I FedExed it from the office so it won’t look suspicious.” Aleks said.
“You went to the office last night?” Harris asked.
“I wanted to get it done. She needs to speak with her family.”
“Did you send a note with it?” Kailan asked.
“Obviously,” Aleks smirked. “I left it vague. Gave the number and told them they were likely being watched. I told them the office was possibly bugged too. Hopefully they have the sense to call from somewhere secure. I have the other cell here, so we just wait now.”
“Her brothers and her dad will go ape shit when they find out she’s here. They’re going to want to come and see her for themselves,” Harris said.
“Then we’ll have to explain to them why that’s not possible. Surely they’ll understand doing that will put her at risk.” Kailan looked to Harris as he spoke.
“I’m hoping that rationality will win out over their insane over protectiveness, but we should be ready. She has been missing for months and they probably think she’s dead. It’s going to be a lot when she speaks to them.”
“But they like you, right? They’ll trust you to keep her safe?” Aleks asked.
“They liked me. It’s been almost a decade since I last spoke with any of them, and I did just walk away and leave her,” Harris sighed. “They probably want my blood nowadays.”
“Why did you just walk away from her? It’s obvious you never stopped loving her?” I asked bluntly. It was a question I had wondered for years. Harris talked about Evie a lot when we were held captive. It was so obvious how much he regretted walking away from her. And now they were together again, it was also obvious how much they still cared for each other.
“My dad had been murdered and I was messed up. I wanted better for her. I knew when I enlisted in the military that I could never give her the life she deserved, so I walked away. She deserved better than me.”
“But you love her, don’t you? You’ve always loved her?” I pushed.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he sighed as his eyes met mine. “If I was too fucked up for her before, I’m way too messed up now. She still deserves so much better than I can give her. Right now, all I’m focused on is making sure she’s safe.”
“We’ll all keep her safe, brother. She’s going to be alright,” Kailan assured him, and Aleks and I nodded in agreement, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what he said. He was too fucked up. I was too. We all were. She did deserve better than any of us could give. I knew that. Yet, it didn’t stop me from having the nagging wish that I could be all she needed, because it was slowly becoming very apparent she was everything I had ever wanted and so much more.
EVIE
I had woken feeling rested again that morning. Nick was gone, but the rumpled sheets suggested he had laid with me for some time that night, and it had helped me to sleep soundly having him there.
I was achy when I woke up, my knees and hips throbbing angrily at me because I hadn’t moved them for hours as I slept. I had hoped a warm shower would help, but still they ached once I was dressed and ready for the day. I knew I would need to seek out painkillers.
I was grateful I had dressed warmly, in jeans and a thick roll neck sweater, as I moved through the house and down the stairs. The sweater was a chunky knit in a beautiful shade of azure blue and I loved how soft and snuggly it felt. I was so grateful to the guys for buying me everything they had. As much as I protested I didn’t need any of it, it had felt good the last two days to have things that made me feel more like myself again, especially when I was feeling achy and sore, like I did that morning.
“Good morning,” I greeted when I saw all of the guys in the kitchen. Harris and Aleks were working on their laptops, as always. Kailan was at the counter eating cereal and Nick stood in the kitchen drinking coffee. All but Aleks seemed dressed for the day. Aleks was in checked lounge pants and a black tank top, his hair a mess, just like the morning before. It seemed he liked to get a coffee hit before he showered and dressed in the morning, and I found that adorable. The definition in his biceps and the width of his muscular shoulders was also not missed by me. He was the slightest of the four, but he was still much broader and taller than me, and seriously in shape. Having the four of them around me was disproving my theory that I would never be interested in men again after everything that had happened. They were a serious test to a girls libido, that was for sure.
“Morning, sweetheart. How did you sleep?” Harris asked as he looked around his laptop to give me a full watt smile. He was dressed in a crisp white shirt and it perfectly contrasted with his darker skin tone.
“Pretty good,” I replied, glancing to Nick with a small smile. He was wearing a button down shirt too, his black and very close fitting to his perfect body beneath. His hair still looked slightly damp from the shower and the smudges under his eyes were less, which I was pleased to see. He smiled a little and it just made the sharp angles of his face even more handsome.
“You want some breakfast? I don’t cook, but we have cereal, or I can maybe manage like a toasted bagel?” Kailan offered as he stood with his empty bowl and scooted past me to the sink.
