Evan
Evan
H e watched Carrie get in the elevator and the doors close before he stormed back into Alex’s office. “What the fuck, man?” Evan shouted at his partner. “Why did you say all of those hateful things to her?”
“Because it’s true. She just got here and now she’s all of a sudden fallen in love with you?” Alex asked. He wasn’t about to let his self-doubts creep back into how he felt about Carrie.
“That’s none of your business,” Evan insisted, “how Carrie and I feel about each other isn’t your concern. Not that any of that matters now that she’s left. She’s going back to her apartment, and we all know that’s not safe with Alastair hanging around still.”
“I’ve sent two guards after her,” Alex said. He sat down in his chair and sighed. “I let my temper get the better of me and I shouldn’t have let that happen. It’s just that Carrie is like the little sister that we never had. I didn’t mean to let things escalate as they did.”
Rod rolled his eyes, “You knew that she’d give as good as she got, Alex. Our cousin has never taken your shit. Carrie has always given as good as she got.”
“Yeah, well, she’s no match for Alastair,” her father warned.
“No, she isn’t. And she’s pregnant. What if he hurts or worse, hurts the baby?” Evan asked. “You might have already decided that she is only with me out of convenience, but I’ve fallen in love with her. I don’t care that we’ve only just met or that she’s my employee, it’s how I feel. She said that she feels the same way until you convinced her otherwise.”
“Wait—you don’t care if she’s pregnant with another man’s baby?” her father asked. He didn’t care about any of that shit. The first time he saw the sonogram picture of Carrie’s baby, he was hooked. He didn’t care who the father was. Evan just knew that he wanted to be a part of the baby’s life. And when Carrie agreed to share his bed, and see where their relationship ended up, he hoped that she’d agree to let him be a part of the baby’s life. He just never imagined that the relationship was going to end up with Carrie running back to her apartment to “think” about what she was doing with him.
“No, I don’t,” Evan admitted. “I want your daughter—the whole package. I want to take care of her, even if that scares the shit out of her. I won’t let her go without a fight. And she’s not quitting, even if she said she is. She’s my employee, but she’s so much more than that too.”
“She is your employee and if she wants to come back, I won’t stand in her way. But give her some time to figure out what she wants. I don’t want to see you get hurt in all of this, Evan,” Alex said.
“I’ll give her time, but I won’t give her space. I’m going to camp outside of her apartment door. I won’t let her ex anywhere near her,” Evan insisted.
“Let my security team do their job, Evan. I put two men on her and if her ex shows up, they’ll let me know,” Alex said.
“That’s not good enough,” Evan said, “I’m the one who should be protecting her, not your hired guards. If Carrie gives me another chance, you all will need to back down and let me take it. I want to be the one taking care of her and if any of you have a problem with that, tell me now.”
“No problem at all,” Rod agreed. He was the easier one to convince. Alex looked like he didn’t believe a word Evan was saying and Carrie’s father looked amused by the whole scene.
“Great, if you all need me, I can be reached on my cell phone. I’m going over to Carrie’s place,” he said. Evan walked out of Alex’s office and back to his own, gathering his things to leave. He wasn’t going to give Carrie the time or distance that she wanted because she was wrong—she wasn’t using her. In fact, it was probably the other way around. He needed her and losing her scared the hell out of him.
He never saw what hit him but woke up with a headache that felt more like a hangover. Evan moaned and ran his hand over the back of his head, holding his bloody hand in front of his face, trying to figure out where the blood had come from.
The last thing he remembered was running back to his place to change and grab some food to take over to Carrie’s place. He was going to sit outside of her door until she either let him in or had him arrested. He could remember walking into the house through his garage and distinctly thinking that he had locked his garage door when he and Carrie left that morning, but it wasn’t locked. That was when he was hit in the back of the head by something that felt very much like a baseball bat and his whole world went dark.
“Where am I?” he whispered to himself. He squinted his eyes open against the light that was filtering in through the back of what looked like his basement window. If he had to guess, whoever knocked him out had dragged him down the steps to his basement. He could feel every bruise where his body had hit a step on the way down. He groaned trying to sit up from the cold cement floor.
“I’d really love some aspirin,” he moaned. He looked around again and realized that he was alone. “Hello,” he hoarsely shouted. “Is anyone there?” He sat against the wall and listened for footsteps above. When he heard someone open the basement door, he almost breathed a sigh of relief. Sure, he was about to come face to face with the person who probably hit him, but at least someone was still around.
“Well, look who’s awake,” the man said, walking down the basement stairs. “You’ve been out for hours. I thought that maybe I hit you a little bit too hard.” He was Scottish and Evan wondered if he had just met Carrie’s ex.
“You knocked me out?” Evan asked.
“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 talk to 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 see from 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.