“Kasari,Evelyn.”
Eva-leen.
Eve turned her head away before he saw the moisture that welled up in her eyes. She walked down the hall on trembling legs. Before she could turn around, she heard his door shut before she made it halfway down the hallway and that made her gut clench.
In the elevator, just as the doors closed, Eve wondered how she could’ve gone from the highest high to the lowest low in the short span of one night.
Chapter Fifteen
Eve made it home an hour before she was due at the shop for opening. But the moment the driverless car pulled up to her townhouse in the Garden District, she saw the shimmering gold of Genni’s hair. Her friend was sitting on the stone stairs of her porch, clicking away on her Nu device.
Eve frowned, wondering what she was doing there, but then she froze, thinking about her knotted hair and reddened lips and silk dress that she would have no reason to wear that early in the morning.
“Damn,” she whispered as the driverless car stopped, smoothing her dress over her thighs. Genni’s head snapped up, her bright blue eyes narrowing, though she couldn’t see her through the tinted glass.
With a deep breath, Eve opened the door. While she was going to tell Genni eventually that she’d visited one of the Krave to lose her virginity, she hadn’t planned for her friend to be sitting outside her door the morning after it happened.
Selfishly, she would’ve liked the keep Khiva to herself, even if it was for a little while longer.
When she righted herself on the pathway leading up to her house, the car humming quietly as it slid away, Genni stood, an annoyed, yet relieved, expression on her face.
“Where the hell have you been?” Genni demanded, stalking down the pathway towards her. “I’ve been so worried!”
Eve sighed, knowing she should’ve brought her Nu device with her. But she hadn’t wanted any distractions with Khiva, so she’d left it inside her townhouse.
“I’m sorry, Genni,” Eve said. “I didn’t have my Nu on me. I didn’t know you were trying to reach me.”
“Where the hell…” Genni trailed off, coming into arm’s length, her blue eyes scanning her over. Realization hit her friend and Eve sighed as Genni took in her appearance. “Oh my God. You…you…you’ve beenfucked!”
Eve bit her lip, looking around the quiet block of houses in the Garden District. It was a small block and the neighbors were known to eavesdrop. Hell, Eve had done it a few times if she’d heard an argument outside, shamelessly putting her ear to a window. The sound carried down the street easily.
“Let’s go inside,” Eve suggested, steering her friend to her front door.
“What…what thehellis going on, Evelyn?” Genni asked. When Genni used her full name withthattone, she knew she was in trouble.
Eve scanned her face at the reader of her front door. For a moment, she had a stray thought that the reader wouldn’t recognize her face, wondering if it sensed how different, how changed she felt. She couldn’t possibly have the same face of the woman who’d left the evening before. But the bolt unlocked from the inside without issue.
She pushed open the heavy wood, Genni trailing behind her, and then she shut it. The familiar smell of her townhouse hit her and she breathed it in deeply. It was a comfort. It seemed like ages since she’d last been home. Time had seemed to stand still with Khiva…until the morning came and reality rushed back in.
Eve walked into the sitting room off the main foyer and Genni followed, demanding, “Tell me what’s going on, Evelyn. Are you…are you alright? Who was driving you home?”
“It was a driverless car. And yes, I’m fine, I promise,” Eve said, sinking down in the dark brown leather armchair, her familiar place. “I really am sorry if you were trying to reach me, Genni. I just didn’t think about it.”
Genni wasn’t even dressed for her job at the salon, which made Eve feel guilty. She must’ve been really worried about her.
“I was about to notify Patrol, Evelyn,” Genni said, frowning. “I hadn’t heard from you since yesterday afternoon and Mr. Wrenton said you’d left to go home early from the shop, but you weren’t here.”
Great. Her employer, Mr. Wrenton, was involved.
“I thought the worst,” Genni said, studying her. Crime, while low on Everton, wasn’t unheard of. The Patrol was strict with any crime. They had to be on a small colony. “I think you owe me an explanation.”
Eve bit her tongue. While she was grateful that Genni had been worried about her, she didn’t have an inherent right to know everything about her life. She’d only been gone for the night. One single night, out of the entire time that Genni had known her.
Eve thought it likely that something happened with Genni’s new lover and her friend had wanted to vent, only to find her unavailable.
That’s a bitchy thought, she chastised herself. But Eve wouldn’t put it past her. Genni probably believed that she didn’t have a life outside of her work and her friendship.
It’s…true though,she thought, frowning, looking down at her lap. Or at least it had been.
