Page 20 of Keep Breathing

“You have nightmares?” I asked dumbly. Of course she had nightmares! Who wouldn’t? She had been taken by a fucking serial killer. She took a deep breath, then lifted her head to look up at me.

“Coffee. I…I just need coffee,” she sighed.

“No. No more coffee. You need to sleep. You just almost blacked out on me because you’re so exhausted,” I told her firmly. I didn’t want to be an ass, but the only time Evie ever listened to me in the past was when I was firm.

“It’s too quiet up there. I…I’m not good at being alone,” she admitted.

“How about if you lie on the sofa? We can put the television on, and we’re all here. Will that help?” I suggested.

“I’ll grab some pillows and blankets,” Rush volunteered as he ran off towards the stairs.

“You hungry Evie? I make a mean turkey sub,” Nick offered.

“I…I’m good, thanks,” she replied shyly, then she looked to me. “What did you do? How did you know?” I could see the panic in her eyes.

“Relax. Aleks is a hacker. He did a search but he made sure no one can track it. We were careful,” I assured her.

“Whoever this guy is, he’s not as good with a computer as Aleks. Trust us, honey,” Nick added.

“I’m so scared I’ve just put you all at risk, Harris,” she said as she glanced across the room to the others.

“You don’t need to worry about us. We can take care of ourselves,” I told her confidently.

“And you too,” Rush added as he appeared at the bottom of the stairs with two pillows and a stack of blankets. I had no idea where he got them from. They were all brightly colored and soft looking. I didn’t even know we owned blankets.

“I’m Kailan, by the way,” he added as he dumped the blankets and pillows and came a little closer. I appreciated that he still left a distance between himself and Evie, obviously picking up on her anxiety. She had gone completely still in my arms the closer he got. “The boss calls me Rush though. You can call me either.” he gave her a wink, but then walked away, back to the kitchen.

“I should introduce the others,” I said as I turned to face them. “The guy on the counter is Nick.”

Nick gave her a wave and forced a smile for her sake before grabbing the other half of his sandwich and tucking in. “He can usually be found in the kitchen filling his face,” I added, hoping to make her smile, but she just looked terrified.

“I’m Aleks,” he introduced himself as he glanced up from his laptop long enough to greet her.

“They’re good guys, Ev. I trust them with my life. No one here would ever hurt you,” I assured her. She nodded, but looked unconvinced. “Let’s get you settled, okay?”

EVIE

Harris lay me down in the corner of the sectional, propping pillows behind me and wrapping three blankets tightly around me. It seemed like overkill, but I was too exhausted, and nervous about the three strange guys at my back, to think much about it.

Harris had told me I was safe and I wanted to believe him, but my panic response didn’t seem to be playing along. It didn’t help that they were all so huge compared to me.

Kailan, or Rush, was the only one who had stood, so I knew he was as tall as Harris. He was also even broader. His chest was expansive and his shoulders were bigger than that of our high school linebacker – and that guy had been a beast! Muscle ripped all over his body, visible in the snug fitting sweater he wore. If he wanted to hurt me, he wouldn’t have to try very hard.

I had seen kindness in his face when he introduced himself, and it was a very handsome face with a strong, masculine jaw, and cute little dimples - features that completely contradicted each other. His eyes had been focused on me, and they were the darkest, deepest pools of brown. His hair was dark too, slightly too long and hanging floppily into his face. Once upon another lifetime, my girlfriend’s and I would have been daring each other to go up and flirt with him. Now he just terrified me.

Nick had been intimidating too, even just sat right across the room as he was. His arms and shoulders were defined in the black leather jacket he wore and it was obvious he worked out, but he was trimmer than Harris and Kailan. Still big enough to crush me, no doubt. His hair was a lighter shade of brown, cut shorter to his head and styled messily on top. I couldn’t see the color of his eyes across the room, but I knew they were intense. I had shrunk when he stared at me. It was like he was seeing every part of me, especially the parts I didn’t want him to see. He had a long scar down the left side of his face, but rather than detracting from his looks, it added to them. It gave him an edge that both terrified me and drew me to him.

Aleks had been the least intimidating because he was definitely the smallest. I couldn’t see how defined his body was under the hooded sweater he wore, but he was definitely still built. He had short, almost black hair that was neatly styled, in a preppy way. He was what I would have described as a ‘pretty boy’ before – cute and kind of nerdy in his dark framed glasses.

They had all been pretty friendly, and certainly hadn’t done anything to concern me, but they didn’t need to. That was the thing – no one needed to do anything for me to be terrified of the potential of what they could do to me. I had never been that way before. I had lived my life feeling confident that if trouble ever came, I had the skills to get myself out of it, and that had made me pretty care-free. Boy, were those days gone!

“Evie?” Harris said as he perched on the sofa beside me. I jolted from my thoughts and looked up at him.

“Huh?”

“I can ask them to leave if they’re making you uncomfortable,” he offered.

“No. Of course not. They live here,” I gasped. “I’m okay. Just….maybe stay close…for now, please,” I asked.

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