Page 37 of Before Eve
CHAPTER 18
Feverishly,I scroll the Alert, reading every word. Grayson is here in New York. He arrived today!
Fear propels me to my feet, and I take off in a full sprint down the back corridor. I don’t look around, I don’t pause, I just run. At the exit door, I push through and keep right on racing up the dark street, frantically looking for a cab. I spot one a block up and wave my arms as I make a demon dash toward it. In one smooth motion, I open the back door and dive in.
I rattle off the hotel and as he pulls away, I flatten my body to the seat. The city is huge but still…
I read the rest of the Alert, learning that Grayson is attending an event at Javitz tomorrow where he’s a last-minute panelist. In all the years gone by, he’s rarely been a last-minute anything. If he’s not the keynote, he usually doesn’t do it.
This unexpected visit feels a little too timely.
At the hotel I make the driver drop me off at the side entrance. I duck out of the cab, use my card key to gain entrance, and sneak inside. In the room, I grab Anne’s iPad and bring up Grayson’s site. My heart beats wildly as I go to the EVENT tab and see that New York was just added, and though I tell myself not to let my imagination run wild withthis, I can’t make it stop. What if he knows I’m here? What if this is all some game for him? What if he knows that Brynn helped me and that she’s in communication with me? What if that man I thought was watching me back in Chicago really was? What if I really did see someone in Central Park?
What if? What if?
Anxiety rolls through my stomach, and I run to the bathroom and dry heave into the sink. I stay up all night, the what-ifs maddeningly circling my brain, and before six, I’m the first person out of the hotel and on the Mack Daddy bus. I keep low in my seat, just waiting for something to happen.
But…nothing does.
Slowly, the bus fills with a few riders from the other bands, then West and Simon come on. I close my eyes, feigning sleep. I feel West pause beside my area. Will he sit, or continue on?
He chooses the latter, picking seats right behind me. I open my eyes back up in time to see Anne taking the seat across from me. She puts earbuds in and promptly falls to sleep. Several hours later, we cross over into Pennsylvania, and I inhale what feels like the first breath I’ve taken since last night.
Do you have any evidence?This is what Brynn asked me when we first started planning all of this. Evidence? Other than the scars on my back, no, I don’t have evidence. Even if I did, I wouldn’t come forward. No one would believe me, and I would just end up right back with Grayson with things much worse than before. I don’t even want to let my brain go to how bad it will be if I’m forced to go back.
“Hey,” West whispers, and I turn, peering at him through the crack in the seat. More than anything I need to apologize to him for last night.
“Hi,” I say. If I don’t start communicating and taking somechances, I’m doomed to a life of loneliness. “Do you want to sit with me?”
He moves fast, stepping into the aisle and sliding into the seat beside me. Apologizing to West should not be a big deal. It’s part of being friends.
I wish I could just open up my mouth and tell him everything. But I’m scared. I’m scared of the past, the present, the future—and the glob of fear is so big it clogs my throat, blocking the truth. I’m tired, so very tired of running. The truth is it’s becoming increasingly difficult to hide my past from my present.
West lets out a soft sigh that has me focusing in on his dark eyes. Something about his probing stare strengthens me. It’s only been since last night, but I’ve missed him.
“I’m sorry,” I say, miserable to my core at how I treated him.
Gently, he nods. “It’s forgiven.”
Somewhere deep inside of me, something unravels, and I press my forehead into his shoulder. “Thank you for being so great.”
“You’re very welcome.” He nuzzles my hair.
The gesture makes me want to cry. When I feel ready, I lift my head to see him sweetly looking back at me. He reaches around me to slide the window shade down, shutting the sky out of our little area, and making it feel more private.
“Can I hold your hand?” he asks, extending his fingers. “Friend to friend, Eve. No pressure.”
Slowly, I reach my hand out and slide it along his, palm-to-palm. His calloused guitar fingers curl up around mine. I’ve never held hands with anyone other than Grayson and Brynn.
West gives me another sweet smile. “Not so bad, huh?”
“No, not so bad.”
Lightly he squeezes my hand. “Did you talk to Ford yet about the mike?”
“Not yet. It was a frayed wire. I plan on taking apart everyone of them and inspecting them to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“That sounds like a lot of work.”
