Page 9 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 2

“Not to say that you’re—I mean, you, of course—it’s…” I added quickly, and she snorted out a laugh. I squinted up at her. “Well. I’m glad you’re feeling well enough to mess with me,” I said faux-snippily, taking her hand in mine and squeezing it gently. She tangled our fingers together briefly before pulling away.

“I’m gonna shower.”

“Will you—” I started, then hesitated. “May I take care of you? Not like that,” I said, when she waggled her eyebrows. “Unless you’d like me to, of course. Just… bringing you food. Perhaps running you a bath after your shower.”

Evangeline’s expression softened. “I’d like that. But I do want to shower alone. I feel like I’ve got grime in places I didn’t even know existed, and I wanna deal with that solo. It’d be nice to keep a little of the mystery alive, you know?”

“As you wish. But I’d find you just as enticing with no mystery at all.”

She rolled her eyes at that, but her cheeks went pink.

While she washed, I stripped the sheets and remade the bed, tracked down the container of kibble, and gave Pothos fresh food, then located a slightly bruised apple and a half-full jar of peanut butter. Once the shower was completed to Evangeline’s satisfaction, I heard the bath begin to fill. Apparently, I wouldn’t be running it for her. Although, to be fair, when I’d offered that, I forgot baths no longer required lugging buckets of steaming water to the tub. Turning on the tap was much easier. I took the sound of the bath running as my signal to join her.

Evangeline was sitting in the tub, letting the water lap up her body. Her skin was damp and flushed a temptingly rosy pink, both from her scrubbing and the heat of the shower. I set the tray I’d assembled on the bathroom sink, and Chanel flicked open the doors of one of the cabinets, revealing a large bag of Epsom salts.

Evangeline watched me with curious, bright eyes as I moved around the small, steamed-up room, the water thundering into the tub the only sound in the room—in the world, it seemed. I held up the bag of salts, and she nodded. I dumped salts into the water, watching the distorted pink shape of Evangeline’s legs against the porcelain.

Once the bath was full, I settled on the floor with the tray, cutting slices of apple and dipping them in peanut butter before handing them to Evangeline. She took each bite slowly, and I couldn’t tell if she was trying to savor it or if she was holding herself back so she wouldn’t overindulge and make herself sick. I let myself take scant glances at her body—the curve of her breasts, the slope of her knees where they rose out of the water—and thought perhaps I was in a similar situation myself.

Once she’d finished the apple, Evangeline drank the can of iced coffee in small sips, tracing idle patterns through the condensation on the side of the can, gathering up the droplets of water on a fingertip. I leaned back against the wall, and she reached for my hand. I stared at our fingers where they rested, tangled together on the edge of the tub.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

I didn’t know what to say. It didn’t feel like I’d done enough to deserve thanks. I squeezed her hand and gave her a wan smile.

“It’s good to see you again,” I said. It came out sounding so much bigger and rawer than the words should have been. “I?—”

There was a knock at the front door, and Evangeline tensed, her hand clenching around mine.

“I take it you aren’t expecting someone,” I said grimly.

She shook her head. “Haven’t had much of a social calendar lately. But if Chanel let them past the front door…”

The knock sounded again, louder this time, and Evangeline and I exchanged a glance. I sprang to my feet and went to investigate.

I opened the door a crack and blinked slowly. The man standing out in the hallway was so profoundly removed from the context I usually saw him in that it took me a moment to place him, despite us being acquainted for years. I was so used to seeing him at my father’s side that he seemed incomplete standing in Evangeline’s hallway by himself. He was in his customary cheap suit, but it was more rumpled, and there were dead leaves caught in his hair.

“Damien,” I said with a frigid flatness. I thought of the cuts and bruises marring Evangeline’s skin, and a long-suppressed part of me yearned to tear the man’s throat out with my teeth.

Damien raised his hands in surrender, but he didn’t back away. “I’m not looking for a fight.”

“What are you doing here,” I bit out coldly. It wasn’t a question. I kept the door to the apartment mostly closed; my foot propped firmly against it so Damien couldn’t push it open.

“I need to speak to Evangeline,” he said. His one golden fang caught the light in the hallway oddly, making his mouth look unbalanced. “It’s urgent.”

I resisted the urge to snarl at him. Evangeline’s account of her time in captivity had swung between vague and hyper-specific, but she’d mentioned Damien a few times. He had helped her, but he’d also hurt her. There had been more of the former than the latter, but I wasn’t inclined to forgive so easily.

“You should leave.”

“Damien?” Evangeline said, coming up behind me. She was wrapped in a massive fluffy bathrobe that trailed nearly to her ankles, and she had the curly mass of her hair twisted up in a towel. She looked up at Damien searchingly, eyes flicking quickly over his face, then nodded. “Let him in.”

“Evangeline, are you sure?” I asked softly. She met my eyes with level certainty, and when I saw that there was no way she was going to change her mind, I sighed and stepped away from the door. Listen, I reminded myself. Trust her instincts, but be prepared to offer backup if needed.

Damien stepped into the apartment and promptly tripped over the welcome mat that Chanel twisted around his feet. He barely managed to keep himself from falling, and I watched the display with more pleasure than I probably should have.

Evangeline folded herself into an armchair, looking regal despite the fluffy robe. “You can stand down,” she said sternly to the apartment at large. “He helped me escape.”

“I wish I could have done more,” Damien said.

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