Page 29 of Keeping Eveline

Her blood chilled, and the food and drink she’d consumed bubbled in her stomach. Not once had she thought she was still in danger until that moment.

Why hadn’t she thought about it before?

Because you were recovering from being mugged.

Was what happened to her last night, connected to what she’d found out about Gerald’s business practices?

Consider this a warning.

Eveline gasped and turned around to see if someone was behind her. The voice sounded so loud.

Her head began to hurt again, and her whole body shook, her teeth chattering.

“Fuck!”

She heard the curse, but it sounded like it was coming through a tunnel. She wrapped her arms around her body to try and stop her shaking, but it didn’t help.

“I got you, baby. You’re safe here.”

Warmth stole through the coldness, and her shaking slowed a little. Eveline became aware of strong arms holding her.

I’ve got you, baby.

A mantra in her mind.

She blinked, and the room came back into focus. The chair opposite her that Kyle had been sitting in was now vacant, and he was beside her—holding her.

“What happened?” she whispered.

“Delayed shock I think. I don’t know. One minute you were looking at me. The next a vacant look passed over your face. All the color leeched from your cheeks, and you began to shake as if you were sitting on top of a washing machine.” Soft lips feathered her non-injured cheek. “You scared me,” he said so quietly she wasn’t confident she’d heard correctly.

Another shiver racked her body, and Kyle tightened his hold on her.

Eveline’s eyelids drifted shut and she sank into his embrace, feeling safe like he said she was.

Time ticked by with her in his arms; she couldn’t guess how much. Kyle held her, and neither one of them spoke.

“I heard him,” she muttered. “I remembered what he said.”

Kyle tensed beside her. In a flash he’d gone from soft and comforting to hard and unyielding. “Heard who? Remembered what?”

Reliving what’d happened wasn’t pleasant, but now that Eveline remembered, it wasn’t going to be easy to forget it.

“What happened to me? I was walking to your office, not looking where I was going because I was running late, when I ran into someone. When he slammed me against the wall he said ‘Consider this a warning.’ Then he let me go.”

If it was possible as she relayed her story, Kyle’s body got tighter and tighter until she felt like she was resting against a cliff face.

“Was there anything distinctive about his voice? An accent? High pitched? Muffled as if he were wearing a mask?” he asked, a little of his tenseness leaving his body.

“I don’t think so.”

“Do you think you’re strong enough to go to the police? Alternatively, I can see if I can get one of the guys from the precinct we’ve dealt with in the past to come here, and you can give your statement that way.”

“Would they do that? Seems like a waste of manpower.” Eveline straightened her spine. “We can go to the station, and then you can take me home.”

The thought of being alone in her apartment didn’t appeal one iota.

Chapter Eleven

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