Chapter 6 #3
“Um, excuse me? Hi.” She waves at both of us like we’re children having a tantrum. “I hate to interrupt this... argument, but it’s freezing out here, and your unconscious friend over there is probably going to wake up soon.”
Eve and I both turn to glare at her, but Megan just raises her eyebrows. “So, Eve, right? Do you need a ride somewhere? Because my brother here has a car, and despite having a few screws loose occasionally, he’s mostly harmless.”
“I don’t need—” Eve starts, but then she sways slightly, and I see the fight go out of her. Her shoulders slump, and suddenly she just looks exhausted. “I don’t need a ride. My apartment’s not far.”
That’s when I notice it. She’s only wearing one shoe.
“What the hell happened to your shoe?” I demand, my worry spiking as I take in her disheveled state more carefully.
Eve glances down at her stockinged foot like she’d forgotten about it. “It’s nothing.”
“Nothing? You’re walking around in twenty-degree weather with one shoe, no coat, and no phone. That’s not nothing. That’s—”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.” Her voice is flat now, devoid of the heat and anger from moments before. She just sounds tired. Defeated. “My apartment is six blocks away. I’ll be fine.”
Something cold settles in my stomach. This isn’t the Eve I know—the one who fights tooth and nail over everything. This Eve looks fragile in a way that makes every protective instinct I have flare to life.
“Do you even have your keys?” I ask quietly.
“I have a spare hidden by my door.”
“Absolutely not.” I shake my head. “You’re not walking six blocks in this weather like that.”
“Caleb—”
“No.” I step toward her, and she takes a step back. “You’re getting in my car.”
“I don’t want—”
“I don’t give a damn what you want right now.” Before she can protest further, I bend down and scoop her up, throwing her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Caleb! Put me down!” She immediately starts struggling, her fists pounding against my back. “You jerk! This is assault! This is harrassment! This is…”
She trails off for a lack of a better word momentarily, and my sister offers helpfully: “Kidnapping.”
“This is kidnapping, you neanderthal!” Eve regains her momentum.
“Sue me.” I start walking toward my car, Megan trailing behind us with obvious delight.
“I’m serious! Put me down right now, or I’ll—”
Smack.
My hand connects with her ass, the sound sharp in the cold air. Eve goes completely still. “Behave,” I warn, fighting the urge to do it again when I feel how perfectly she fits against me.
“Did you just—” Her voice is strangled with outrage. “Did you just spank me?”
“Keep struggling, and I’ll do it again.”
Megan snickers.
“This is kidnapping!” Eve protests, but there’s less fire in it now. “And harassment! And-and—”
“And you’re going to freeze to death if you keep being stubborn.” I reach my car and set her down, keeping one hand on her arm so she can’t bolt. “Get in.”
She glares up at me, her dark eyes glittering with fury that makes my blood heat. “I hate you.”
“I know.” I open the passenger door. “Get in anyway.”
For a moment, I think she’s going to run. Her muscles tense under my hand, and she glances toward the street like she’s calculating her chances. But then she looks down at her bare foot and seems to deflate again.
“Fine,” she mutters, sliding into the passenger seat. “But I’m making you pay for the caveman routine.”
Relief floods through me as she settles into the seat, and I grin.“I’ll add it to your tab.”
Prestarting the car, I crank up the heater before turning to Megan, who has been watching this entire exchange like it’s her favorite soap opera. “Watch her. Don’t let her escape.”
“Where are you going?” Eve demands.
“To get you something warm to drink.” I’m already heading toward the small coffee shop on the corner. “And if you even think about running, I’ll hunt you down and carry you back. Understood?”
I don’t wait for her answer, pushing through the door of the shop. The warmth hits me immediately, along with the scent of coffee and pastries. I approach the counter where a tired-looking barista is wiping down the espresso machine.
“Hot chocolate,” I say without preamble. “Large. Extra marshmallows.”
“To go?”
“Yeah.” I tap my fingers impatiently on the counter while she prepares it, my eyes never leaving my car through the window. Megan is talking animatedly while Eve sits stiffly in the passenger seat.
When I return with the steaming cup, Eve looks marginally better. Her cheeks have more color, and she’s stopped shivering thanks to the heat of the car.
“Here.” I thrust the cup into her hands. “Drink.”
She wraps her fingers around the cup, and I can see the relief in her face as the warmth seeps into her hands. She takes a tentative sip and immediately makes a face.
“Ugh. This is like drinking liquid candy.”
“It’s hot. Drink it anyway.”
“I don’t like sweet—”
“I don’t care what you like. You’re going into hypothermic shock. Drink the damn hot chocolate.”
She gives me a mutinous look but takes another sip, and I see her shoulders relax slightly as the warmth spreads through her body.
I slide into the driver’s seat and start the engine, cranking the heat up even higher. “Address.”
“What?”
“Your address. Give it to me so I can take you home.”
Eve clutches the cup tighter, her jaw setting in that stubborn line I’ve come to know so well. “I told you, I can walk—”
“Like hell. Either you give me your address, or I call Natalie and ask her for it. And before you ask, yes, it’s probably illegal for her to give out employee information. And no, I don’t care.”
She stares at me for a long moment, and I can practically see the wheels turning in her head as she weighs her options.
“You’re threatening me.”
“I’m being practical.”
“With illegal methods.”
“Sometimes the ends justify the means.” I put the car in drive but don’t move yet. “Address, Eve.”
She’s quiet for so long I think she’s going to call my bluff. Then she hits the voice command button and rattles off an address in a voice so low I almost miss it. The car has better hearing than me, fortunately, and it begins calculating the shortest route.
“Thank you.” I pull into traffic, adjusting the rearview mirror to see Megan in the backseat. “You okay back there?”
“Oh, don’t mind me,” Megan says cheerfully. “I’m just enjoying the show.”
Eve takes another sip of hot chocolate and glares at me over the cup. “For the record, I’m going to make you pay for manhandling me like that.”
The threat makes me want to smile. If she’s threatening me, she’s feeling better. “Looking forward to it, Princess.”
“I told you to stop calling me that!”
“Make me.”
The words hang in the air between us, and I see the calculation, exhaustion, and a glimmer of heat within her brown eyes. “I will,” she says quietly, and there’s a promise in her voice that makes me want to smile.
“I’m counting on it, Princess.”
When I meet her eyes, I know that if she had the strength to go through with it, I’d be lying on the cold hard ground next to Luis.
My lips twitch.
She’ll be fine.