Page 7 of Hearts Of Darkness

“That bad, huh?” says Anna with a sigh. “You wanna come down? I’m not supposed to finish my shift for another thirty minutes, but I reckon I could duck out early if you want me to. My boss owes me.”

I smile at the concern in her voice, but I’m turned off by the loud voices and beats in the background. The aftermath of my abduction has left me suspended in this weird, alternative universe where all I want to do is hide away.

I don’t want to be the center of attention.

I don’t want to face her probing questions.

“Maybe some other night, Anna. Do you mind?” I chuck in an elaborate yawn that makes the sides of my jaw ache.

There’s a pause. “You still thinking about him?”

All the damn time.

“I’m worried about you, Evie,” she says, breaking my silence. “You haven’t been yourself since it happened. You’re safe now. You know that, right? The copswillhunt him down and lock him up.”

No, they won’t.It doesn’t matter what I told the cops. This devil has been playing on the wrong side of the law for years. Evading capture is a sport to him, not an inevitability.

“Are you chewing on your thumbnail again?”

“Nope,” I lie, whisking it from my mouth. It’s a cute habit leftover from my childhood that all my friends tease me about. I do it when I’m uneasy, andthat manis making me edgy as hell.

“Have you thought about talking to anyone?”

I finger the outline of a business card on my nightstand. “The cops gave me this number to call…”

“Then call it,” she urges. “Promise me, Evie. First thing tomorrow. If anything, you’ll get a couple of Xanax out of it.” A voice starts talking to her in the background, asking where the juice mixers are kept. “Look, I gotta run. I’ll call you in the morning, okay?”

“Don’t worry so much, I’m fine…really.”

But she’s not convinced. “Promise me you’ll call that number…”

“I promise,” I lie.

“Do it.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll do it!”

She laughs. “You know you look sweet when you pout, right?”

“Bye, Anna.”

I hang up and stare at my cell. I don’t want to talk to anyone about what happened. I’m scared I’ll let something slip and implicate myself…and him.

Why do I feel this way?

Why do I feel the need to protectthis man?

That kiss changed everything.

Is this lust? Hate? Some kind of messed-up fusion of both? I’m frightened by the pull of emotion I feel, but I’m strangely curious about it too. Have I really existed for twenty-five years without experiencing this crazy firebrand before?

One kiss.

That’s all it was.

My cell phone shatters the silence again.

I pause before answering.No Caller ID.What if it’s him? What if he’s tracked me down? What if he’s returning to finish what he started?

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