Chapter 6
“Wha…What’s going on Zane?” Looking from one man to the other,Everly tried to calm her racing thoughts. “Why did you rob the bank? Why areyou…” Still so confused she stumbled over her words as the multitude ofquestions began to multiply in her mind. Looking to Dr. Black, she squinted inclear confusion. “I thought you were my teacher?”
Slowly, Dr. Black put his hands in his pockets and quietlywalked towards the large picture window in front of the bed that stared outover the treetops to the calm rippling water. Shafts of the warm yellow lightbeamed across the trees signaling the rise of the early morning sun. Stoppingin front of the bed he turned to look at her directly. “My name is Reid, ReidBlack.” His dark blue eyes held hers as he continued. “The teaching job wasonly to get me close to the bank job.”
Confused she absently let the lamp base relax in her hand.Bank job? All of that, to not steal anything? They were told by the authoritiesthat the masked men only went inside and stood around?
Seeing her evident confusion, Zane stepped closer to the otherside of the bed. “We just pulled a simple insurance fraud job, at the requestof the owner who is currently teetering on bankruptcy.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re professional criminals?”
Well of course they were, they had to be, she just couldn’t believeit though. The friendly flirtatious construction worker she had gotten to knowand her quiet hard-edged teacher were actually criminals. Glancing back at Dr.Black, Reid, she mentally corrected, she shivered under the weight of hisstare. Well if she thought about it, she didn’t really have a hard timepicturing him doing something dangerous.
Reid’s dark sapphire eyes narrowed as Zane stiffened.
“We took a simple job for the owner of the bank. Stage arobbery, steal nothing, and hurt no one.” Reid replied evenly. “If you want tolabel us professional criminals for that Everly, so be it.”
The dark retort felt like a hard blow, clearly warning hernever to tread that path again. Swallowing she took a step back until she hitthe nightstand next to her.
Zane gave Reid a fierce look and said something in French.Dropping his intense gaze, Reid let out a frustrated sigh as he respondedbefore turning with his back towards her to look out the large floor-to-ceilingwindow. Zane looked back at her and gave her a soft smile. Looking at Zane’shandsome face, she looked back over at Reid, whose back was still toward her,and looked back to Zane again. Zane’s smile grew wider, devilish, as he readher train of thought.
“You’re…you’re both…” Nervously she looked at Zane forconfirmation.
“Brothers, yes.” Delighted intrigue shined bright throughthe crystal blue gaze.
For some reason, the information wasn’t as surprising as itshould have been. Looking back to Reid, who still silently faced the largewindow, she gave Zane a desperate look.
“Zane please just tell me what’s going on,” she begged. Shehad to get through to them, and Zane was the safest bet. He was always kind toher, she wanted him to tell her this is all some elaborate prank. “Why am Ihere? Why take me from my home like that?” Out of the corner of her eye, shecould see Reid’s large shoulders stiffen.
“Home?” Reid laughed dryly turning back to give her a lookof shocked incredulity. “You truly considered that small, empty apartment ahome?”
Insulted by his tone, Everly momentarily forgot her fear andstepped forward in angry defiance. “Yes, I considered it my home, and you hadno right to take me from it!”
Reid’s evil smile spread across his usually stern faceigniting the dark sapphire of his eyes. “My sweet little Everly,” his voicerumbled smoothly. “You’re going to learn that we have every right and more.”
The words ignited an icy heat throughout her body, a coldfire of startling realization. Turning to Zane, her heart plummeted, and her handsgrew clammy around the lamp base as she saw the same dark want in his eyes thatmatched his brother’s. Earlier when they peeled off the black mask, a foolishsense of relief swept through her. She knew these men. They wouldn’t do any ofthe horrible things her imagination conjured during the journey, they wouldn’thurt her. But as she looked at them now, as she stared at the dark lust intheir eyes she knew she had been very wrong.
Zane, stepped forward giving her that familiar soft smile.“I know what you’re thinking.” Just like he always did. “And don’t. You knowus, sweetheart, you know we would never hurt you.”
The tears that had welled up in her eyes were falling now,down her cheeks, as she clutched the silver lamp base tighter to her breast asshe pressed herself tighter into the wall behind her.
“But I don’t know that,” she protested. “I don’t knowanything about you two.”
Except that they were French-speaking, criminal brothers whowere looking at her like they wanted to devour her.
“But you can sweetheart,” Zane’s bright blue eyes gave her abeseeching look, almost as if he desperately needed her to understand. “You canknow anything you want to know about us.”
“And you will,” the hard finality in Reid’s tone made herwhip her head back to him. He was standing closer now, his hands in hispockets, but much closer than before, instinctively she lifted her makeshiftweapon higher.
“My God Everly, I can still clearly remember the day youwalked into the bank.” Zane laughed, swiping back some of his hair he glancedout the window to the early dawn sky, lost in reverie. “You were so quiet, soshy and sweet it intrigued me. I found myself watching everything you did. Theway you ignored all the guys, quietly ate your bag lunch every day and tried tostay out of everyone’s way. And the more I watched you, the more I craved toknow everything about you. After two weeks of talking about you nonstop toReid, he decided to come down earlier to see you for himself. And baby,” fixinghis gaze back to her his eyes went bright with predatory excitement. “We werehooked. We had to know everything about you and, my God, when we did find outmore… Everly, I have never been more certain you were made for us.”
“Made for us” his excited words rang in his in her head.Both of them? Her mouth went dry as she stared at them. They were insane.Insane stalkers who knew nothing about her.
“You don’t know anything about me,” she voiced aloud,darting her eyes between both men, leery of their slow but steady encroachment.
“We know you ran away from your college in Savanna becauseof the asshole professor you thought you were going to start a family with,”Reid’s dry, matter-of-fact tone felt like a nail going through her heart. “Weknow you grew up in a cult-like polygamist community in the backwoods ofTennessee. We also know about your online comic, your change of majors, yourfears and insecurities to acclimating to what you call the “real world.” ShouldI go on Everly?”
By now her knees were on the verge of buckling, every word,every painful truth felt as if it was hurled at her like a javelin. “No, pleasedon’t,” her voice hoarse.
