Man, she was in trouble. She couldn’t even look at the guy without acting like a lovesick teenager.
She’d already spent a large chunk of her morning watching Luca from her living room window. It was a bad habit she’d started. Each morning he’d leave his place at exactly six fifteen for his run and return an hour later. He always returned looking like he could turn around and run another ten miles. Luca, without a shirt, on the move, was quite a sight, just like the one here this morning.
Keeping her eyes diverted, Evie focused on the mail. Luca was too easy to like, too easy to fall for, and boy would Evie fall hard for all that was Luca.
“How we doing this morning, sweetheart?” Evie spun, knocking some of the mail to the floor. Had she been too carried away in her thoughts, or had Lexie been right about them moving like ninjas?
“Hey!” Silent for a moment, Evie’s brain scrambled to put a sentence together. “It’s been pretty steady this morning… not too many calls, which is good. The students for your next class arrived about ten minutes ago and are waiting in a back room. I told them you’d get them once you’re ready.”
Luca’s smile reached his eyes. “Perfect, I love starting my day by scaring a group of youth into being good citizens.”
With a wink, he turned to go. Not before bending down to pick up the mail that she’d forgotten about. Placing it in her hand, the brush of his skin against hers caused a trail of goosebumps up her arm. It was electric.
Turning back to the desk, Evie focused on the tasks ahead. As she finished organizing the mail, an envelope that she hadn’t seen before fell out. About to put it in the pile with the rest, something caught her eye.
Evie could just make out the logo on the paper inside the envelope. There was something familiar about it. Where had she seen it before?
Acting on instinct, Evie held the envelope up to the light to get a better look.
“What the hell are you doing?” Startling, Evie spun around, envelope falling from her fingers.
“Eden… I didn’t… I wasn’t sure what the envelope was for.”
He was so close to Evie, she could feel the heat from his skin. She was dwarfed by his size. Trapped between his body and the desk, there was nowhere for Evie to go.
“If it’s not addressed to you and no one told you to open it, then why the fuck are you trying to see what’s in it?”
Squeezing her body closer to the desk, the edge of the wood began to dig into her back. Heart rate picking up, Evie’s breaths become shorter.
“I’m sorry.” Voice small, she tried to stop the panic rising in her chest.
“HUNTER.” Luca’s voice sounded from behind Eden, lifting some of the pressure on her chest.
As Luca pushed himself between them, Evie worked to get her breathing under control. The feel of Luca’s warm back against her front went some way in calming her.
“What the fuck are you doing, man?”
No longer able to see Eden, she could still hear the anger in his voice as he spoke.
“She was trying to read our damn mail.”
Evie cringed as she tried to make herself as small as possible behind Luca. Expecting him to turn accusing eyes on her, she was surprised when Luca remained with his back to her, eyes only for Eden.
“Her name is Evie, use it. And who the fuck cares? What do you think she was going to do with it? I’m going to ask you again, brother, what the fuck are you doing right now?”
There was a moment of tense silence, and just as Evie thought her nerves would snap from what might come next, she heard Eden turn and walk away.
Sagging against the counter, Evie let out a long breath. When Luca turned though Evie tensed.
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have touched something that wasn’t mine. It isn’t part of my job.”
Luca’s hand raised to Evie’s cheek, and she flinched away. A slight frown touched his brows, but he didn’t voice his thoughts. Pausing for a moment, Luca proceeded to gently place his hand on her cheek.
“Are you okay?”
Luca’s soft voice and gentle touch soothed Evie’s frayed nerves. She hadn’t expected that.
Too surprised to speak, she simply nodded, not even sure her voice would have worked. Luca’s hand was still on her cheek as his thumb began to caress her skin before removing it. Immediately feeling the loss of his warmth, wishing she had the confidence to reach out and place it back, her cheek felt cold where it had just been warm.
“Sorry about Eden. He’s working through some stuff. That’s no excuse for his behavior, but you’re safe here with me.”
Still struggling to find words, she spoke quietly, “Thank you.”
Luca held Evie’s gaze for another minute before slowly moving away.
Breathing out a sigh, she glanced down at her hands, noting how badly they were shaking. Her heart was still beating way too fast. She had come much too close to a panic attack. She had to calm down and fast.
As she stood behind the desk, she practiced some of the slow breathing techniques, trying to push Eden from her mind and focus on Luca’s kind blue eyes. She could still feel Eden’s breath on her face. See the anger in his eyes.
Troy used to do that too. In the later months, the towering would often be followed by his fist or some other form of abuse. Evie had learned to make herself as small and quiet as possible.
A shiver raced down Evie’s spine, and she turned her back on the gym and closed her eyes.
“The past cannot touch me. It cannot hurt me. I am safe.”
Evie whispered the old mantra a couple of times before she turned around. After a moment, the trembling had turned into a slight shake in her hands.
Good. That would fade soon enough.
Glancing up at the gym floor, Evie caught Luca’s eyes on her from across the room. Their gazes locked. There was no way he could have heard that, but he had a primal look on his face. A look that claimed her and made her feel stripped bare.
Evie was still holding his gaze when a shout came from the group of teenagers.
“Fuck off, Jasper, you weren’t supposed to really punch me, asshole.”
The kid, who looked more like a grown man, grabbed the guy opposite him, shoving his body against the wall
“Can’t handle it?” The guy against the wall, who must be Jasper, then threw his chest against the other kid. In the blink of an eye, a punch was thrown, and the two were on the ground.
The punch came out of nowhere. Evie dropped to the ground, hitting it hard.
“You think you can fucking leave me, bitch?” Reaching up, she touched the warm blood trickling from her head, fear clouding her mind. As she tried to open her eyes, her vision blurred, and bile started to work its way up her throat. “You will not leave. You won’t even THINK about leaving me! You’re mine! You hear me?”
Before she could push herself up, a hand gripped her hair, ripping it from her skull. The pain radiated through her head like a hammer.
“Get this into your head, whore, you are mine forever. If you ever try to leave me, I will kill you.”
The heat of his breath mixed in with the warmth of blood on the back of her neck. They were the last things Evie felt before he shoved her head against the ground.
“Evie?” Glancing up, Evie could just make out Luca’s concerned face. He was close. She vaguely recognized that her breathing was too fast. Turning her head, everything looked blurry. Like an out of focus camera.