Page 18 of Keeping Eveline

“It’s a fucking miracle you made it. Although…” He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You’re here now and being looked after.”

Any chance of her pushing him to get him to finish his thought was thwarted when the nurse came back in.

Eveline wanted to protest the need for pain relief. She didn’t want to fall asleep, which would happen if it was given to her. She wanted to continue the conversation with Kyle.

What had he been going to say?

“You ready to feel a little more comfortable?” Regina asked, her voice as bright as her smile.

“I guess,” she mumbled.

The nurse laughed. “Here I thought you were going to be a good patient.” Her demeanor turned serious. “You don’t have to be a hero. It’s okay to admit you’re in pain. You’ve been through a lot.”

Eveline sighed, giving up the need to be brave. “You’re right. Everything hurts like hell.”

Regina smile sympathetically. “Right, well I’m going to make you feel comfortable, and you can rest for a bit. But I’ll be back in an hour to do a concussion test.”

“That’s fine.”

All through her exchange with Regina, Kyle sat quietly in the chair, his gaze fixed on her.

Would he still be here when she was woken up, or would he leave now knowing that she was being care for?

The thought of him leaving didn’t sit well. Eveline wanted him to stay beside her, as irrational as it was since they didn’t have any sort of relationship.

Slowly the effects of the medication swept through her system, and her eyelids grew heavy, each blink seeming to take forever.

She fought it for as long as she could, but the pull into the darkness was strong. The soft touch of something brushing her forehead was her last memory before she fell into the abyss.

Ox shifted in the hard plastic chair he sat in. Why was he still sitting beside Eveline’s bed?

Regina, Eveline’s nurse, had come in two times to wake Eveline since she’d given Eveline her pain relief.

Each time, Eveline had mumbled through the questions and then had fallen back to sleep. Dawn was slowly approaching and he would have to get into the office, but the reluctance to leave Eveline’s side was strong.

There were so many questions he still wanted to ask her. Did she know who hurt her? Did she know why she’d been attacked?

It wasn’t a mugging because she still had her purse, and her wallet still contained all her cards and cash.

Ox’s instincts were screaming that this attack wasn’t random. Eveline had been targeted, and he couldn’t help thinking it was to do with the information she’d given him.

Had Gerald found out that Eveline had taken it?

Had the person who attacked her rummaged through her purse looking for the thumb drive or any other evidence that she’d taken the information?

So many questions.

What he did know was that he couldn’t go into the office—not until he had some of the answers. Not to mention Eveline would have to file a police report about her attack. He wouldn’t leave her alone to deal with that. She’d been asleep when they’d stopped by, and he’d informed them that when she was ready to talk to them, he’d take her down to the station. They hadn’t been happy with him, but he’d insisted and they could tell he wasn’t budging. The officer’s card sat safely in his pants pocket.

Of course, the first thing the police would suspect was that he was the one who inflicted Eveline with her injuries. Fortunately, all he would have to do was make one call to Cass, and it would be cleared up.

Pulling out his phone, he fired off a quick email to Yolanda letting her know that he wouldn’t be in the office until later. The next email he sent was a group one, advising his team of what had occurred and requesting Cass to see if she could get any footage of the attack. He had no idea where it occurred, but it had to have been near the office. He’d hope that Cass could work her magic, and then they’d have a place to start with investigating who the hell wanted to hurt Eveline.

“You’ve got a furious look on your face. Should I ask what’s caused that?”

The sound of Eveline’s husky, sleep-laden voice shot tremors of desire within him. Desire was the last thing he should be feeling for her at the moment.

“How you feeling?” Ox asked instead of acknowledging what she’d asked him.

---