“Excuse me,” I say louder. “This isn’t the airport.”
“No, ma’am,” he mutters without looking back.
What the fuck?
He opens the door, steps out, and shuts it.
“Asshole.” Unbuckling my own seat belt, I reach toward my door handle when another suit-clad form appears right beside the car. The vehicle blocks both men from the shoulders up, but my eyes narrow as the blue suit hands the driver a wad of cash. My eyes home in on the movement, freezing the exchange of money like a snapshot.
Thosehands.
Etched with deep lines.
Hairy knuckles.
Clean, filed nails.
My stomach rolls, and nausea climbs up my throat.
Don’t be stupid.
It can’t be him.
You can’t tell who a person is by their hands.
Right?
My brain screams, my lungs constrict, and my fingers shake. Hundreds of spiders crawl over my skin. Panic seizes me as I yank the handle, but the door doesn’t budge.
Locked.
I squeeze my eyes shut. This isn’t happening.Your box is broken. It’s all in your fucked-up, so very fucked-up, head.
The driver’s side door opens.
I try to swallow, but my throat doesn’t work.
Then the door shuts. I listen to theslideof fabric against leather. Theclickof a seat belt. Theshiftof the gear.
Finally, I force my eyes to open. My gaze catches on the reflection in the rearview mirror, and all I see is blue.
Ice. Cold. Blue.
“Hello, Evangeline. It’s been too long.”
Easton
The glass of orange juice is still on the island when I get home.
My pulse blares in my ears.
I take the stairs two at a time toward Eva’s room, and the silence that stretches down the hall grips me with uncertainty. Reaching her open door, I walk inside. I don’t need to see that every piece of Eva is gone to know the room feels different, abandoned.
I’m too late.
My heart fucking hammers in my chest. Even when we never spoke, Eva was still there. She watched me before she caught onto me watching her. She listened before she knew I played for her. She wasminebefore I showed her she was mine. She consumed me before I even touched her. Her presence was enough, and now, her absence eats away at me like cancer.
I have to find her. My phone buzzes as I pace toward my parents’ room, and I fish it from my pocket.
