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I patted his knees with both hands. “I’m okay, sweetheart.”
“No, you’re not. You haven’t said a word in five minutes. You weren’t seeing or hearing anything around you.”
“My mind zoned out of reality for a much-needed break. A human heart in a box is too much, even for me.” Suddenly, I was too excited, too energized. I lunged for him, gripping both of his knees with my hands. “Did you hear the forensic scientist? Eva may not be dead. Tobin, what if she’s alive somewhere, maybe hurt, and no one can find her?”
His frown and wrinkled brow had become a permanent part of his face. “I’m certain that’s exactly her predicament. Chad doesn’t seem like a very accommodating man to anyone other than himself.” Tobin’s tone had changed from apprehensive to sorrowful. “Right now, I’m concerned about you.”
“Don’t be concerned about me. I’m going to need some therapy for sure, maybe a month-long vacation in the Bahamas. Right now, I want to be done with this situation. It’s gone on too long. People are getting hurt and kidnapped, bodies being desecrated. Chad needs to be taken down, not tomorrow, not next week. Today.”
He shushed me. Cupping my face with fingers that kindled a tingling something fierce in
my flesh, he delved deep into the mirrors of my soul. I let him look for as long as he wanted, for whatever it was he was seeking. Finally, he sat back on the desk, keeping me locked in the gray storms swirling in his pupils.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m okay, Tobin. I’m sick and tired of this shit with Chad, but I’m okay. We need to find Eva.”
He did a double-take. “Not we, Cherise. You are going somewhere where Chad can’t find you. California, the next city, I don’t care. Just not Long Island. Me and Andre will trap Chad.”
“Chad won’t come to you, Tobin. He wants me. We should give him me.”
Cherise
Tobin practically sprouted wings and flew to the side of my chair. “No, no, no, and no. Cherise, no.” That was a lot of no’s. Did I want to be in the company of a nut? That would be another no, and no one could disagree that tricking Chad into thinking I was one place when I wasn’t, wasn’t a brilliant idea. I thought it was one anyway as I leaped out of my chair to block the path Tobin was taking out of the room.
“Think about it, Tobin. He goes where he thinks I am. Thinks,” I emphasized, “I am.”
Cocking his head, he studied me carefully. “Let me get Andre. Someone needs to grab Athena when she gets here, or she’ll get a good look at what’s in the box and probably check out of reality too.” He didn’t seem to be bothered by the heart in the… Let’s not even say that in my head. The New York streets and war were some of the best desensitizers to atrocities known to man. If Chad’s terror campaign was anything like war, it had to end this day.
Until then, busywork would keep me sane. I retook my seat, grabbing up my phone to transfer Athena’s phone lines to mine. “I wouldn’t blame her if she did check out, and I didn’t see the… the whole thing in the box. A piece of it is still an awful, fucked up thing to see. When she gets here, I’ll put her on paid leave and make sure she gets home.”
Tobin slapped both palms on my desktop, leaning over to snarl, “You’re going home too, Cherise.”
Dialing out on my keypad, I put the phone to my ear. “Can’t. I have to be here when the alarm guys come. We both know how badly that alarm should be installed.”
He hung his head and exhaled. “Then, you stay in this room with the door locked at all times.”
Considering who’d walk in if I didn’t do as Tobin demanded, he’d get no fuss from me. “Done.”
My compliance took the winds right out of his sails. “Okay, then. I’ll be back.”
“I’ll be here,” I guaranteed.
He stood up, then bent back over to grasp my shoulders and hauled me up to him, kissing the living shit out of me. When he was done, I was clinging to his forearms, panting, and wondering if the couch was big enough to hold us both if I didn’t pull it out.
“I don’t want to lose you,” he uttered against my mouth.
“Same, Tobin, so be careful. Please.” The service I’d called was giving options to the desk. The handset had fallen down when I reached for Tobin. After he twisted the locking mechanism on the knob then went out, I finished the call breathlessly.
Successful with getting the lines transferred, I put the phone on its base. It rang. I snapped it back up. “Johnston Psychiatry Services. We’re not taking appoint—”
“Cherise,” Chad interrupted me, ”It’s time to come home to me.” God in heaven, did the man have a radar for when I’d had a good few minutes? He was nothing but the devil, and I had had enough of him.
Pressing the record button on the base, I lost my shit. “Why don’t you come get me, you bastard?” Challenging a psycho might be my worst decision yet, but fearing him damn sure wasn’t sending him on his merry way either. I was fed up. It would take too long to get the cops in on the call. They wouldn’t be able to trace it anyway. Chad was too smart for that, presently chuckling evilly in my ear.
“Oh, I planned to come to get you soon, darling. You don’t seem to know who you belong to. Tell your loverboy to stay far away from you, or he’ll face the consequences for touching what’s mine.”
“What consequences, Chad? You’ll send another dead animal or body part? Better yet, live flowers? Freshly picked breakfast? When are you going to get that a woman’s heart isn’t yours until she says it is. Have you tried actually asking a woman out? Some kindness and time spent together on a mutual outing would go a long way. Or, are you just too goddamn thrown off mentally to see that your way isn’t working?”
