EVANGELINA
Ten, nine, eight, seven…
Breathe. Just breathe. He won’t hurt me. It’s Derek.
It’s just… Derek.
Flashes ofhisface. Hands all over me. The warm, wet feeling of his tongue against my skin. My chest was heavy, the walls caving in. Too small. The space too tight.
Too confined.
I squeezed my eyes shut, beads of sweat rolling down the sides of my face, running parallel to the stream of tears spilling over for that girl in my mind’s eye. The one I kept locked away and safe.
That stupid, stupid, naive girl.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Derek’s cool hand palmed my forehead, and I recoiled from his touch. “Look at me. What’s going on? Why are you breathing like that?”
He sounded flustered and confused. I shook my head at his request and bit down on my lip until the healing wound broke open. The taste of blood filled my mouth, another memory connected to that night.
Tohim.
“Eva, I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that—said those things.”
“I-it’s not you,” I stammered out, my voice barely a whisper. “It wasn’t you.”
Silence blanketed us, and the arm around my bottom tightened, pressing me harder against his body.
“Did someone hurt you, angel?” His voice was strained, spoken between clenched teeth, as if he knew why I panicked. “Tell me. Who?”
Shouts just outside the metal wall caused me to stiffen and drop my head to his shoulder. I needed to pull myself together. If these were Belov’s men and they found us, we would be in deep shit. I couldn’t afford to have a breakdown. I owed Derek that much for dragging him into this situation for my own selfish reasons.
Six, five, four…
I pitched my mouth close to his ear and circled his neck. “Hold me, and don’t move.”
Derek nodded, an arm snaking around my torso.
I can do this all night, angel.
A vastly different kind of shudder rippled down my body and into my core, stoking the embers to a fire he’d left burning since the day we met.
“Tell me his name,” he demanded in a harsh whisper.
“It was a long time ago, Derek. He doesn’t matter.”
His fingers dug into me. “It. Matters.”
Light from the gaps above us highlighted the icy hue of his eyes. They were mesmerizing, turbulent—the type a girl could get lost in and drown.
“If we make it out of here...”
His lips grazed a spot behind my ear that stole my breath.
“No one will ever touch you.”
Those were the last words he said for the next ten minutes, though it felt like hours had passed. In the distance, an engine purred, followed by countless others. Tires screeched and protested against the uneven gravel as the fleet of cars peeled out, and the world went quiet.
Neither of us spoke for another few beats, both on the same wavelength, waiting in case of any stragglers.
