Page 89 of EverGreene
“I mean, sure. It could be a power outage, an outage at the security company, or a defective product. Although there’s a backup in the event she loses electricity. A total blackout is unusual.”
“Is there a way to find out what happened to her camera?”
“I’ll make some calls to see what I can find out.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.” I entered the parking structure and climbed the flight of stairs to the level where my car was parked. “I’m probably overreacting, but I thought I saw the shadow of what could have been a person before the camera cut out, so I’m a little nervous.”
“Have you told Ever you loved her yet?” he chuckled.
“What? No. I don’t—I mean.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Shit.”
“Uh-huh. Look, this would be the second time you called, worried about someone snooping around her house. I think the only person she needs to worry about looking through her windows is you.”
“I never looked through her windows uninvited.”
“Please don’t expand on that. I’ll look into what may be going on with Ever’s camera and get a hold of you when I find out something.”
“Thanks.”
“In the meantime, just fucking tell her, man.”
“I will if she gives me the chance.”
When I ended the call with Cole, I scrolled to Ever and hit call, immediately finding myself thrust into voicemail hell. “Ever, it’s Loche. I know I don’t deserve to speak to you right now, but I really need you to call me back as soon as possible. Just—don’t go inside your house by yourself. I can’t be sure, but I think something weird is going on. And yes, I know this because I have access to your surveillance camera. Yes, I know that’s fucked up. Just please, please, give me a call back.”
I dug my key fob out of my pocket, clicking the button to unlock my vehicle and hopping inside, simultaneously scrolling through my phone to find Caroline’s cell phone number. A glimmer of hope struck me when the phone rang while I backed out of my spot. That small glimmer was soon stomped to death like a bug underneath a shoe when, right after the second ring, my call was sent to voicemail, no doubt directed by Ever.
Maybe Cole’s insinuation was right. Maybe I was overreacting to this. There was a host of things that could explainwhat I’d seen. Yet here I was more worried about Ever than Ever was worried about Ever. And why? Because Cole was right about another thing. I didn’t just have an unhealthy obsession with the girl who scratched her nose with her middle finger every time we passed each other in the hallway at work, as though I wouldn’t realize what she was doing; it had evolved into something much more than that.
I fucking loved Ever Moore, and I would annihilate anyone who laid a hand on her.
Chapter 23
Ever
“He’s calling again,” Caroline said when our karaoke session to Rosé was interrupted by the third phone call of the trip from Loche, blaring through the Bluetooth in Caroline’s car. We were about ten minutes from my house. Outside, the snow had started to fall. It wasn’t as though we didn’t have snow back in Oklahoma; it was just more aggressive here, and with the rate at which it was falling, Caroline and I decided she would drop me off at my house, and I would get my vehicle, still parked at the firm, later. “Do you want me to take the call this time? Maybe it’s important.”
“No. I’ll deal with it when I get home. Maybe.”
Caroline hit ignore on her screen, sending Loche to voicemail once again. Shortly thereafter, a text notification appeared on the screen. Caroline glanced at me, dismissing the text when I shook my head.
“I try to stay out of office drama as much as possible, but I have to ask, what the hell is going on between the two of you. Everything seemed to be going well at trial, and now all of a sudden it’s not. You don’t have to answer me, but if he didsomething to you and you need me to help you slash his tires, just let me know.”
I laughed. “I appreciate the offer of female camaraderie, but I think I can handle him.”
“You know, we all placed bets on when the two of you were going to get together. He had a thing for you since the day you started, and it was so obvious. Kim and I would catch him staring at you at meetings and laugh to ourselves. When you gave him the cold shoulder, he’d play along because it was the only way he could talk to you.”
“Was it that obvious?”
“Are you kidding me? You’re kidding, right? You didn’t know?”
No, Caroline. Apparently, everyone else in the office would have figured out Loche was my stalker before I did.
“Shelby was so pissed when you started.”
