Page 24 of EverGreene
“Cops will be here in less than five minutes,” Cole said, an edge to his voice.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I thought I could control myself. But I was wrong.”
Cole started the engine and threw the car into gear. squealing out of the parking spot. In that short period of time, the driver of the SUV had gotten out of the vehicle. A cell phone was pressed against the young woman’s ear as she ran toward our as-nondescript-as-they-come car, undoubtedly giving the dispatcher at the other end of the line all the details she couldglean. A brave and incredibly reckless act, considering she had no idea whether or not we had a weapon.
“Malachi is going to have to replace the plate on this one again,” Cole observed. We swerved around the would-be good Samaritan, who struggled to catch a glimpse of us behind the vehicle’s tinted windows.
“The second time in three months. A new record. He may just have to throw the whole car out this time.” I groaned, already dreading my next conversation with Malachi.
“If he doesn’t throw us out first.” Cole pulled away from the parking structure, immediately turning down an adjacent alley in an attempt to avoid the main roads altogether. The vague description of our vehicle and plate number was surely being prepared to be circulated around by now.
“You mean me, not us.” I pulled off my mask as it was beginning to feel like I was being slowly suffocated by it. “They’re getting worse, I think, the flashbacks. I’m broken, Cole. Malachi should kick me off the team.”
“Quit talking like that.” Cole pulled his ski mask off at a stop sign, tossing it down on the center console. “We all have our demons. Hell, that’s how we found each other. Malachi is a forgiving guy—comes with the whole priesthood thing.”
“Yeah, I suppose. But I think it’s going to take more than an act of contrition to get him to grant me absolution this time.”
“Sure. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not going to send you out on one of these calls again for, well, maybe ever. But that’s okay. You kind of suck at them, anyway. I could have knocked that dude out with one punch to the head, not three like it took you.”
“I can still kick your ass in the ring.”
Cole and I glanced at each other, annoyance on his face breaking into a smile that quickly turned into a burst of laughter. “In your dreams, Greene.”
A red flash of light forced Cole to make a sharp turn down another side street as a state police car blew by with sirens blazing, affirming the fact that we would be taking nothing but backroads until the car was parked in Malachi’s barn. Deep in the hollows of my chest, my heart still beat frantically with no sign it was going to abate, and I knew that no amount of deep breathing exercises or meditation techniques was going to help me.
Because they weren’t her.
From the moment she stepped foot inside our law firm, Ever had been the only thing that centered me. The only time I felt at peace. It’s partly why I’d started watching her. Well, that and finding out enough bits and pieces about her past that sent me to Google to uncover other pieces to the puzzle. Being in her orbit, looking out for her in a way I suspected no one else had, gave me purpose.
So, I did what any normal person would do to calm down after beating in the face of an abusive piece of shit: I tugged my gloves off, reached inside the pocket of my jeans, pulled out my burner phone, and sent a text to the woman I had been, by definition, lightly stalking.
I’m having someone stop by to install your security system tomorrow.
Ever’s reply came far sooner than I had anticipated, and I smiled with the knowledge that my text had more likely than not gotten her out of bed to look out her windows to try to catch a glimpse of me.
How the fuck did you get my number?
The fact that you’re more concerned about a stranger texting you than you are about inviting one inside your home is exactly why you need that security system.
The only person I need security from is you.
Yet, when given the opportunity to pepper spray me or call the cops when you were alone in the car with me, you didn’t.
I smiled, watching the three dots on my screen appear and disappear a number of times, indicating Ever was typing something, deleting it, and then retyping it again.
Yeah, well, responsible life choices aren’t always my M.O. I seem to recall a certain someone benefitting from one of them.
Another reason why you need that security system.
Why? Don’t want any other obnoxiously elusive masked men walking into my house?
No, as a matter of fact, I fucking didn’t. Ever knew that was going to get to me. I envisioned her back in her bed, smiling wickedly at her screen. God, if I weren’t in this car right now, I’d be breaking down her door. But I was, so my options were going to be limited to venting my sexual tensions via text. My response to her could go one of two ways, and if I were being honest, I had no idea how it would land. For as much as I knew about Ever, there was a library of information I didn’t know.
You can have whomever you want walk into your house, Ever. But I’m the only one walking into your bedroom.
Fuck me. Talking to Ever was supposed to calm my nerves, not make me want to roll my window down and toss my phone over the overpass. Someone should really have made a function that gives you a thirty-second window to rescind a text after sending it by now. A Save Your Ass option, so to speak.
Does this mean we’re going steady?
