Still, it wasn’t the look of a callous murderer, but more like a lost puppy – desperate, hungry, and terrified – biting at the ominous hand reaching underneath the couch to pull him out. There were tears streaming down his face, though he seemed oblivious to their presence.
All of the fantasies that had cavorted around in my head while I searched for him fell apart. There wasn’t going to be a passionate kiss as he held me against his chest – his hands were secured behind his back to protect those around him. I wouldn’t be throwing myself into his arms and feeling that sense of security and want I had felt with him in Arizona. I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to get his attention.
What happened to him?
Evan’s eyes moved to mine, and for a moment he closed them for a little longer than it takes to blink. Once he opened them again, the vision of an already broken man seemed to collapse into an even darker hole. Instinctively, I stepped forward. I needed to reach him, touch him, and be sure all of this was real and not some sick nightmare my desperate mind had contrived. I wasn’t afforded the opportunity; the police officer who had been arguing with me a moment ago blocked my path. He spoke bluntly, but I wasn’t listening to his words.
“Evan?”
Evan’s reddened eyes looked away in defeat, and he allowed his escorts to maneuver him towards the open elevator door. Just as he crossed over the line on the floor, his eyes widened, and he looked back to me and called my name.
“Take Odin – please. Please take him with you – make sure he’s okay. Please? Will you? Please?”
Odin, of course. He was the shaved-nearly-bald, huge, white dog with a rolling tongue. He kept licking my hand when I tried to fall asleep in the Arizona cabin where I met Evan. I had been amazed at how well-behaved the canine was and how quickly he reacted to anything Evan commanded.
I agreed, naturally. What else was I supposed to do? My head felt like it was full of mush – I couldn’t even make any kind of sense of the scene – but of course I would take the dog. As Evan’s panicked words to the police captain flowed in and out of my head, I tried to get past the officer near me but wasn’t able to push him away.
“Let me talk to him!” I snarled under my breath.
“I can’t do that, ma’am,” the police officer replied. “You have to understand why I can’t do that.”
I did, too.
“I’ll take care of Odin,” I called out to him, and I could see his face relax. “I’ll…I’ll figure it out. You just need…you need…”
I didn’t know what he needed, and the half smile I got in return told me he didn’t know, either. His eyes stayed on me as they pulled him backwards into the elevator, and I felt the same connection to him I had felt in Arizona when he handed me a bottle of water and our fingers touched as it passed from one hand to the other.
“Sorry,” he said softly, and the elevator closed.
Watching him disappear behind the doors, I knew I would have done anything just to be able to take him back to that moment. I had recognized then how different he was inside despite the hardened outward appearance. William had always looked soft and cuddly on the outside, but inside he was dark, cruel, and vindictive. Evan had the look about him that screamed “stay away from me,” but as soon as our bodies intertwined, I had been his.
I didn’t know how he had arrived at this point, and I knew if I would have asked Mom, she would have told me to run away as fast as I could in the other direction. I couldn’t do that, though. I couldn’t just leave him to his fate. If he had done the same to me, I wouldn’t have survived alone in the desert.
I wouldn’t allow it. He was the only good thing that had ever happened to me in my whole life, and I wasn’t going to let him be dragged away from me like this. I would figure out what needed to be done to help him and get him out of this mess he was in. Evan needed someone to help him – to save him.
There was just no way I would turn my back on him now.
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“What stop again?” I asked her.
“Oak Park.”
Seven stops away. I wasn’t going to be able to wait that long.
“Come on,” I said as the train slowed to a crawl and the doors slid open.
“Where are we going?” Lia asked as I dragged her from the train and through the station.
My eyes darted from left to right, trying to find any place even remotely suitable. There wasn’t anything inside the station, so I led her out onto the street and towards a nearby office park. Slipping between two buildings, I turned abruptly, grabbed her, and shoved her against the brick.
My mouth covered hers, and my hands grabbed at her waist to pull her against me. I felt her hands move up my shoulders, and her arms wrapped around my neck as she moaned into my mouth. As I tasted her tongue, I was immediately transported back to our small, cramped, hot sanctuary in the middle of Arizona. My cock pressed tightly against my jeans as it felt the warmth of her body so close. It obviously didn’t want to waste any time leaping out and doing exactly what needed to be done.
It was a matter of sanity.