Page 29 of Keep Breathing

Nick was the opposite, his hair still slightly wet looking, from the shower he must have taken, and styled perfectly in place. He was dressed in dark trousers, and a black polo shirt. They both greeted me briefly as they moved past Harris and went right for the coffee.

I got the feeling they were both a little more wary of me than Kailan was. Aleks glanced at me like my mere presence made him as nervous as his made me. And Nick. He looked at me like he was trying to figure me out. He made me feel like I was up to something, the way he studied me with such scrutiny.

“Breakfast, guys?” Harris offered as he started pulling plates from a cabinet above his head.

“I’m good. I need to head into the office,” Nick replied. He was filling a tall travel mug with coffee. I looked to him as alarm filled me once again. What if he was going into the office to report me? To report Soloman and everything I had told them about him? Would Soloman know? Would he hurt my family? Would he know where I was from the report, and come for me too? I couldn’t go back to that hell! I couldn’t survive his torture again!

“Evie?” I jolted at the sound of my name, then looked up panicked. It was Nick who had said my name. He stood exactly where he had been, his coffee cup now full, watching me with worry. “You okay?” he asked when I just stared at him even more.

“I…I c-can’t go back,” I squeaked, my voice trembling as my eyes filled with tears.

“Can’t go back where? What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Harris put down the plates he had been laying out and came around the counter to me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and I shakily grabbed his forearms, just needing something to cling to, as image after image of my time in hell, pushed to the forefront of my mind.

“He’ll know….if you…” I glanced past Harris to Nick. “…if you make a report he…he’ll know and he’ll come for me again and I c-can’t…I’m not strong enough to survive it again. Please Nick! He can’t f-find out I’m here. He’ll hurt you guys too and m-my family…I can’t lose them too,” I cried, my words getting increasingly hysterical as they poured from me.

“Hey!” Harris gave my shoulders a small shake until I looked up into his eyes. “No one is coming for you. You’re safe here. You’re never going back. We won’t let him take you again. You’re safe, Ev. I’m going to make sure of it.”

“We all are,” Kailan agreed.

“I’m not planning to report anything, Evie,” Nick added, and I glanced past Harris to look at him as I swiped at my tears. “The guys and I spoke last night and we agreed I won’t report anything until we know something concrete. I’m not exactly happy about it, but I get your need to make sure your family is safe.”

“Th-thank you.”

“We do need to talk though. I’m going to need to know everything you can remember. Just because I’m not making it official, doesn’t mean I can sit on my hands and let this psycho run free. At the end of the day I’m a cop and I have a responsibility to the public.”

“I…I get that. I can do that…t-tell you what I remember. I know we have to try and st-stop him. I…I’m just scared. We need to be careful,” I warned.

“We will be. I know how to cover my tracks online,” Aleks assured me.

“Let’s all sit down and eat,” Kailan suggested as he pulled out a stool at the counter and urged me to take it. “Come on darlin’. You’ll feel better once you eat something.”

Harris helped me over to the seat and I sat shakily. Harris took the seat at my right and Kailan sat at my left. Aleks sat on the corner and Nick jumped up to sit on the counter opposite us, grabbing a piece of bacon and shoving it into his mouth.

“I was thinking about contacting your family last night. I think we need to warn them what’s going on, as well as let them know you’re in a safe place,” Aleks spoke up as he grabbed the bowl of eggs. I was surprised when instead of spooning them onto his plate, he put them onto mine. He glanced up for just a moment, his eyes meeting mine and I smiled gratefully, even though I wasn’t actually hungry. He was sweet.

“We discussed that too. Ev really wants to let them know she’s safe,” Harris agreed.

“Your brothers own a private security company, right?” Aleks asked, he looked to me again and I nodded.

“Shepard Security. Kyle and Kade are partners with their old boss, Rob Shepard,” I elaborated.

“That’s good. They should have top of the range security on their computers already. I’ll need to do some work, but I think we should be able to make a secure call to them there,” Aleks explained.

“Really?” Hope filled me.

“Leave it with me. I need to look into their security and make sure I can create a secure connection that can’t be hacked.”

“How long do you think it will take?” I asked.

“Let him work on it today, Ev. Kailan and I will take you into town so you can get what you need, like we planned, okay?” Harris suggested.

“Okay…if you’re sure we’ll be safe?” I pushed.

“I’m sure.” Harris nodded.

“Come on, try to eat something. We need to get to work on strengthening you up,” Kailan encouraged as he piled bacon onto my plate.

I nodded and picked up my fork. I ate some of the eggs, but they were tasteless in my mouth, and made my stomach turn every time I swallowed them down. It had been the same way since Soloman let me go. Eating just made me feel ill. I knew it was very likely down to all of the anxiety I was constantly feeling, but I didn’t know how to fix that.

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