4. Burke #2
“Of course, of course,” Gabrielle said. She glanced at me behind Evie. “Are you okay to take you guys back to the hotel?”
I nodded. “I’m fine.”
Her gaze flicked to Evie. “I’ll request a police escort after what happened today at the mall.”
I wasn’t going to argue with her. Evie was shaken and going into shock, and to be perfectly honest, I was nervous to drive through town with her in case an incident like this morning happened again.
I’d barely been able to overpower the guy with my one good arm.
If they sent out more hitmen, we wouldn’t stand a chance.
Evie went to stand up, but wobbled a little like she did the other night after her foot fell asleep. I reached out with my good hand to support her, and she offered me a meek smile. “It’s okay,” I said softly. “Take your time.”
We took our time leaving the meeting room, taking the elevator and exiting the building. By the time we reached outside, there were two armed police officers waiting to escort us to my truck.
The taller, dark-skinned cop sidled up beside me. “I’m happy to drive if you’d like a break.” He tipped his head toward my shoulder. “Heard you took a bullet two days ago.”
Not one to always tough it out, I nodded and thanked him. “That’d be great, actually. I’ll ride in the back with Evie.”
We climbed into the back cab of my truck while Officer Jamison drove and his partner followed closely in the cruiser. Officer Jamison seemed to understand that we weren’t into talking, so he just drove through downtown Seattle without attempting unnecessary chitchat.
We arrived at the hotel without incident, and the two cops accompanied us up to the presidential suite where the three of us conducted another sweep.
“Seems all clear to me,” Officer Jamison said, coming out of my bedroom.
His partner, Officer Gomez, nodded. “All clear.”
“Thank you,” I replied, walking them to the door. “We appreciate it.”
They smiled and let us be. I wandered into the living room, expecting to find Evie on the couch where she had been before, but she wasn’t there.
“Evie?” I called out.
No reply.
Immediately, my mind went in a hundred and fifty-three different directions—all of them bad.
She’d been somehow abducted, right under our noses.
She was in the process of killing herself.
I was a worst-case scenario kind of guy. It was a curse, and I tore around the penthouse, out of breath, calling her name.
Not until I reached her bedroom and the closed bathroom door did I stop seeing spots. I pounded on the door. “Evie!”
Still nothing. The water was running in the tub; I could hear that. So with fear crawling up my throat, I kicked down the door.
Naked, Evie stood there gaping at me, her wireless headphones in her ears as she waited for the tub to fill up.
My jaw dropped.
She snatched a towel off the warming rack and held it in front of her body to cover herself. “What’s wrong?”
“I couldn’t find you,” I said, still panting. “I was calling your name. I thought …” Raking my fingers through my hair, I collapsed backward against the open door.
She pulled out one headphone. “You thought what?”
I shook my head. “Never mind. It’s stupid.”
“You thought what?” she pressed.
I exhaled. “I thought you were going to try to kill yourself.”
Soft brown eyes blinked at me in shock. “You thought I was going to kill myself?”
Now that I’d said it out loud, it sounded stupid.
“I don’t know,” I exhaled. “You were so … so broken after the deposition. And in shock. I wasn’t sure what the emotional crash was going to be like.”
Cocking her head to the side so her dark curls fell off her back, she squinted at me. “Did someone in your life try—or succeed—in killing themselves?”
Taking a step toward me, she pressed her hand against my chest. She could undoubtably feel my heart thundering in my chest.
Evie Sanchez was incredibly strong. If she could endure what she did today, I could open up a little too.
“My mom,” I finally said. “She tried once … and I found her. I called 9-1-1, and she ended up being held in the hospital psych ward for seventy-two hours. I was only nine.”
Evie sucked in a breath, her eyes growing glassy. “I’m so sorry.”
“My dad was an abusive monster who used us both as punching bags. I guess one night after he kicked the crap out of both of us, he went to the bar and she … she thought it’d be easier to just end it.”
“But you saved her.”
“And then she decided—with the help of family, and her husband now, who was the ER doctor that treated her—to leave my father. It was an ugly divorce, and he tried more than once to kidnap me, but my grandpa, the one who I’m named after, threatened to kill my dad if he ever came near my mom or me again.
He was devastated that his daughter and grandson were being abused so badly, and he had no idea. ”
“He sounds like a really wonderful man.”
“He was.”
“I wasn’t … I’m not going to kill myself, Burke. I just … I just want a bath. I want to listen to some spa music and forget today even happened.” Her smirk and the way it lit up her eyes were so pretty. “Even the part about you barging in and seeing me naked.”
“If it helps, you shouldn’t be embarrassed or ashamed about anything. At least not what I saw.” I met her smirk with one of my own. “Then again, maybe you have an enormous hairy mole on your butt; I just haven’t seen that part.”
Her smile winded me. “Thank you for your concern, John William Burke, but I will be okay. Me and my giant hairy butt mole.”
My face grew warm as I backed out of her bathroom and the bedroom. “Want me to order us some lunch?”
“Please. And find a few movies. I don’t want to leave here for anything today.”
“You got it.” Then I closed the door, leaving the incomparable, beautiful, and unimaginably strong Evie Sanchez to bathe in peace.