Page 126 of Theirs to Take

“Yep,” the guy said proudly, “name's Alastair McInroy,” the guy said. “I believe you’re a new friend of my girlfriend.”

“She’s not your girlfriend anymore,” Evan said. “You need to take a hint and leave her alone. Carrie left you.”

“Big words for a man whose hands and feet are bound, sitting on a concrete floor. How’s the head?” Alastair taunted.

“Untie me and I’ll show you how I’m feeling,” he said. “What do you want from me?” he asked.

“I want to know where Carrie is. She’s staying here with you, according to my sources, and I want to talk to her.” Alastair wanted to do more than just talk to her, and for the first time all day, Evan was happy that Carrie walked away from him. She was safe at her apartment, and the irony of that truth wasn’t lost on him.

“I haven’t seen her since she left work. I don’t know what you think is happening between Carrie and me, but I really don’t care. She’s not here and that means that you won’t be able to talkto her or do anything else to her either. You’ll never find her.” He was sure that her ex would catch up to her, but not until he killed Evan. He couldn’t let that happen. He needed to get to her first and then, he’d convince her to leave town with him. Once Alastair gave up looking for her, they could come back home again.

“Well, I found a few of her things upstairs, and I’m betting that if I hang out with you long enough, she’ll show back up here for them,” her ex said. He was probably right, but Evan hoped like hell that she wouldn’t show up to his place for a while—preferably never. He would never want Carrie, or her baby put in harm’s way.

“You’re wrong,” Evan insisted. “Carrie broke things off with me and last I heard, she was heading back to Scotland.”

Alastair laughed as he stood over him, staring him down. “Nice try. But I have a feeling that my Carrie got cold feet and took off to think things over. I mean, that’s what she told me that she needed to do before she left me. The difference is, that I’ve been watching the two of you together for weeks now, waiting for the right time to make my move, and she looks at you differently than she ever did me. She’ll be back.”

“Aww, you really think she likes me, likes me?” Evan taunted.

“Don’t make me hit you again,” Alastair warned. “I’d like you conscious for when Carrie finally joins us. You’ll need to be awake to say goodbye to her. She’ll need closure before I kill you.”

“We’re going to be here for quite a while if that’s what you’re planning. Want to order some dinner or something? I could eat,” Evan joked. He usually didn’t joke around, but there was something about the way Alastair got mad every time he made a joke about the situation that he was in. Honestly, he was scared out of his mind, and maybe that was what Alastair wanted to seefrom him, but he wasn’t about to give him that. No, Evan’s jokes seemed to piss the guy off and he had no plans of stopping.

“I really can’t wait to be able to kill you,” Alastair taunted.

“I’m sure,” Evan agreed. “But for now, you’ll want to get comfortable. Just be sure to clean up after yourself. I’m kind of tied up at the moment and playing host really isn’t my strong suit.”

“Asshole,” Alastair grumbled on his way back up the stairs. For now, Evan had bought himself some time and he planned on using it to find a way out of his bindings and his basement. He needed to get to Carrie and make sure that she was safe before Alastair found her.

Carrie

Carrie felt like a fool. She had blown up and pushed everyone who loved her out of her life. It wasn’t her finest hour, telling Evan that she needed time because it took her all of two minutes to figure out that she had made the biggest mistake of her life. All she really wanted to do was call Evan and tell him that she was a fool. She wanted to tell him that she was in love with him, and no amount of time would change her feelings.

She had tried calling Evan over a dozen times, her calls all going straight to voicemail. Maybe she deserved to be ignored. Maybe it was his way of letting her know that he was finished with her, but something still felt off. There was no way that she was going to call Alex after the way that he spoke to her, but she knew that Rod would give her advice on what to do next, and she could really use some advice right about now.

Luckily, Rod answered her call right away. “Hey, Carrie,” he said, “what’s up?”

“What’s up is that I’m an idiot and I can’t reach Evan to tell him that?”

“I’m pretty sure that he knows you’re an idiot,” Rod teased. “He left here a few hours ago, saying that he was going to sit outside your door to keep an eye on you. Did you check your hallway?”

She quickly made her way over to her front door and looked out of the peephole to find her hallway completely empty. “He’s not in my hallway,” she said. “I’m really worried,” she admitted. “All of my calls go right to voicemail, and no matter how mad he might be at me, he wouldn’t just leave me hanging like that.”

“No, he wouldn’t,” Rod agreed. “Before he left here, he read Alex the riot act and then swore to protect you and your baby no matter what. He even admitted that he had fallen in love with you, but I’m not sure that I was supposed to tell you that part.”

“No, I don’t suppose that you were,” Carrie teased. “But he said that—really?”

“He did, so I don’t think that he’d ignore your calls after proclaiming to be in love with you. Something’s not right.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Carrie insisted. She knew that Evan would never give up on her, no matter how terribly she had treated him. “Will you help me find him?” she asked.

“I will, but I don’t want you to leave your apartment,” Rod insisted. “You might not like to hear this, but Alex sent two guards after you when you left here. They are watching your place and apparently, your ex has some guys watching your apartment too. We need you to stay put. It’s safe for you there if you stay in your apartment.”

“Alex sent guards to watch me?” she asked.

“He did,” Rod admitted, “he might be an ass, but he’s just that way because he cares about you.”

“I know that. You both are the brothers that I never had, and I love you for wanting to help me. Right now, I just need to find Evan so I can tell him how sorry I am.”

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