“Keep that ice on it for the rest of the day darling,”though his words were softer she could still see the muscles in his neck flex withhis lingering anger.
The playful charming man she had come to know wasn’tstanding in front of her right now. Looming in front of her seemed like adifferent man altogether, a more threatening man. The type of man women in hercommunity warned girls about, a predatory man. Zane just proved to both her andTaylor just how scary he could be if provoked. Maybe, even possibly the type ofman who was quite capable of luring and deceiving young women just like hermother warned her about. A man like Peter was, maybe.
Wincing at the mere thought of the man that betrayed her,Everly looked at Zane with an assessing eye. No longer wearing his thickconstruction jacket, Zane stood towering over her in a simple white long sleeveshirt and khaki cargo pants. The strength in his powerful figure was more thanevident by the way his muscles moved beneath the clinging fabric with eachmotion. This man wasn’t just the harmless joking man she thought him to be. No,this was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and no matter how nice he was, he had thepotential for danger. And that was a factor she couldn’t even risk being toofriendly with, especially with someone as charming as Zane. One disastrousmistake with a man was plenty for her, Everly refused to take that risk again.
Averting her gaze from his keen narrowing gaze she acceptedthe ice with a quiet “thank you.” Turning back to walk to her office she didn’tdare look back to those piercing blue eyes.
That night, after finally getting home through the fallingsnow and traffic, she peeled off her boots at the door and flopped onto thebed, jacket and all.
Golden Creek, Colorado was the polar opposite of the smalltown in Tennessee she grew up in, they got snow there but nothing on the levelof Colorado. Slowly sitting up she began to stiffly work off her jacket, sheneeded to take a shower, but all she really wanted to do was crawl under thecovers and go to sleep. With one arm over her eyes, she silently thanked Godtomorrow was Saturday, and she was off.
Turning to her side she snuggled the pillow closer, catchinga glimpse of her bandaged hand, reminding her of Taylor’s insensitive words.Grimacing at the memory of her own reaction she turned deeper into the pillow’ssmothering softness. Ever since she moved here, she had been trying to forgetPeter, to forget the man that broke her heart and forced her to start her lifeall over again as a single mother to be.
But every day she was getting a little better, the pain wasslowly being replaced by anger, and the memories of his sweet sounding lieswere fading. Soon, she would forget all about him and then maybe one day shewould open her heart and take a chance on another man again.
Chapter 3
There was nothing she didn’t like about her Saturdays,everything about them was great. The college library was virtually empty,giving her free, unlimited, and uninterrupted access to their top-of-the-linecomputers. Growing up in her small, insulated community she only had access toa library computer that was nearly older than her. Being able to work on thelarge pristine dual monitor before her now was a pure pleasure.
Wearing a pair of dark jeans and a pink cream cable knitsweater, she sat cross-legged in the large leather office chair. With her workpulled up on one screen she used the second monitor for her music and herinstant messenger.
The dinging of the message notification sounded off throughher headphones. Looking to the first screen, she smiled at the message.
2Blackhearts:So, what’s on the agenda today?
Pulling the keyboard closer in her lap Everly responded.
AdamantEve: update the blog. Scan the pictures. Clean andedit scanned photos and try not to get distracted by the Internet.
2Blackhearts: Don’t worry I will jump on every fifteenminutes or so, to crack the whip to make sure you’re working.
Laughing silently Everly focused back at the scene she wasediting on the other screen. Five years ago, she started an online comic insecret. A futuristic story based on her life set in a secluded space stationfar out in the lonely depths of space. At first, the artwork simply started aspersonal drawings she uploaded online for her own cataloging purposes. Secularartwork was forbidden in her household, especially work considered a personaldiary of sorts. A diary that expressed all of her fears, anger, and dreams.Throwing away the pieces she created hurt just to think about, however,continuing the risk of hiding them in her crowded household was simply notpossible. Scanning and uploading the work under a pseudonym AdamantEve gave herfreedom and a sense of control she never once experienced in her household. Thepopularity however, was completely unexpected; the comments, donations, andoverall love she received from her work kept her motivated to share more.
Switching out the paper in the scanner she replaced it withanother for upload, an emotional scene with her main character arguing with oneof her mothers. The inside world of the taboo polygamist family reallycaptivated her followers. It was a world very few people heard of much lessexperienced. Growing up, Everly and all of her siblings were taught thatnonbelievers were simply unenlightened lost souls doomed to live their life inignorance and these people would never understand their upbringing. Multiple mothers,scores and scores of siblings, and the harsh abuse under the guise of strictreligion was something her fans loved to read about in her comic.
Especially 2Blackhearts. Around the time she moved to GoldenCreek, Everly started getting funny messages daily from the fan. At first, theysimply discussed the comic and the direction she was taking it, but it didn’ttake long for the quirky messages to become a favorite part of her day.
2Blackhearts: you better not be wasting time on thatuseless digital hoarding site Pinnster.com again….You know the one you got meshamelessly hooked on.
AdamantEve: I will have you know that I just finished myfifth picture out of ten, so there!
2Blackhearts: Sure sure. Oh, did you listen to that lastalbum as instructed?
AdamantEve: It’s actually playing right now and you wereright by the way, it’s amazing.
2Blackhearts: You are damn right I am. Linkin Park’sHybrid Theory is a work of art and a right-of-passage I could not let you justgo through life without it. God there is so much to catch you up on, I’m stilldebating if I should introduce you to rap next up and if so which album. Thereare just so many things to consider…
AdamantEve: LOL well I will let you get back to thatimportant decision.
Dear God that girl’s head was all over the place Everlythought with a laugh. One minute 2blackhearts could be dead serious,complaining about her decision to change her major from illustration to businessmanagement or the next she was joking and sending her funny pictures. Everlyliked talking to the mysterious girl, it was fun and easy and there wasabsolutely no pressure to delve into her personal history like other persistentfans have wanted her to do in the past.
Noisy rapid beeps coming from the scanner followed by avague but ominously worded error message on the screen halted the steady workpace she had going. Restarting the scanner, closing and opening the program,even rebooting the computer did nothing to stop the error or stop the annoyingbeeping, all it did was make her want to scream. Leaning back in the chair witha groan, Everly stared daggers at the stupid piece of machinery. Out of all thedays to mess up, it chose her off day to do it.
Leaning to the side, she peered around the computer and sawthat the lab assistant’s desk, was empty—as usual. Frustrated she grabbed herpen off the desk and began clicking it furiously as she tried to think ofanother solution.
“Having problems?” The familiar rough textured voicestartled her in her chair.
Turning, Everly looked up to see Dr. Black standing next toher desk giving her an inquisitive look with one dark eyebrow slightly arched.
