What the fuck?
“Ow,” I moaned, blinking against the stars dancing in front of my eyes.
“Evelyn!” someone shouted, but it was dim through the ringing in my ears.
Holy shit, had something exploded? My vision swam but it soon became clear that I was on the grass, surrounded by what seemed like chunks of brick. That explained the all-over body-bruise sensation.
Someone skidded to their knees in front of where I lay, their huge hands cupping my face ever so gently, and it took a moment to recognize who it was.
“Ethan,” I groaned. “What happened?”
“You’re conscious,” he said, sounding out of breath. “That’s good. Can you move your legs?”
I frowned, my head still ringing. “I’m not paralyzed.” At least, I didn’t think I was. My left leg was hurting a whole lot and I doubted I’d be able to feel that if I were. To prove my point, I pulled away from his gentle touch and sat up.
“Evelyn,fuck, you shouldn’t—” Ethan protested, his handsome face wrought with worry.
“I’m fine,” I growled, angry at the intense waves of fear rolling through me, at the way my skin was covered in a cold sweat. In the back of my mind, I could hear echoes of the taunts of my attacker from six months ago. “What happened? Was it… Did someone…?” I couldn’t even form the sentence out loud.
Did someone just try to kill me?
Because if yes, then I needed to get the fuck out of hereASAP.
“Explosion in the chemistry lab,” Ethan replied with a flick of his hand toward the smoking rubble of a classroom. “We need to get you to the medical center. Can you stand?”
I was pretty sure yes, but when I pushed to my feet, the whole world tilted dramatically. Before I could eat grass, though, Ethan caught me in his strong grip, sweeping me up into his arms.
“That’s a no to standing,” he murmured, seemingly to himself. “You could be concussed.”
He started walking with me cradled in his arms, and for a moment I panicked about what people would think. Surely this was setting off alarm bells about inappropriate student-teacher conduct? But then I glanced around to find the entire campus in chaos. Security guards in dark suits swarmed the students, guns at the ready as they assessed any potential threats.
“Holy shit,” I whispered. “That’s different.”
Ethan just grunted and shook his head. “Protecting the VIP students first, regardless of who was in actual danger.”
It made sense, though. An explosion goes off in the general vicinity of the president’s son, of course they’ll think it’s a targeted attack on literally anyoneexcepta nobody like me. In this case, I hoped Ethan was right and that it was just an accident.
“Don’t worry, Evelyn,” Ethan murmured. “I’ve got you.”
God damn it straight to hell, why was he making itso hardnot to like him?
“Eve,” I mumbled, the pounding in my head so intense I needed to close my eyes. “Call me Eve.”
He gave a small, husky laugh. “More like Lilith than Eve with lips like that.”
Shock rendered me speechless so I just kept my eyes shut and pretended I hadn’t fucking heard that becauseholy hell.What was this man doing to me?!
5
ANDREW
It was turning into an obsession, keeping an eye on Evelyn Cromwell…well, Lewis now. I couldn’t fucking forget that.
Not that she made it easy on me, and not like I had a choice, since her father was all but blackmailing me into the arrangement, which meant I would be the new girl’s shadow for the foreseeable future.
When Laura dropped her hand on my arm, I was momentarily distracted from my task of watching Eve wander across the courtyard. “Baby, we haven’t had a proper date in ages,” she whined. “You’re always so busy with family events, and extra study. Can’t you take me to Finnegans this weekend?”
As she batted her eyelashes at me, a few of their fake lengths scattered in different directions, and I fought the urge to reach out and fix them. I didn’t like when life was out of order, and generally she kept her appearance smooth and refined, but today Laura had an unkempt feel about her. The urge to shake off her touch was strong, but since we were bound through family ties, and sheoccasionallygraced me with half decentblowjobs, I resisted.
