He pushes past Ev, who flinches.

The hell?

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“It’s complicated.” She pads over to me but stays standing by the bed. “Are you okay? I heard a shout and then voices… And then you were coughing.”

“I’m all right.” I sigh. “Ev, you have to tell me what’s wrong. This doesn’t have to do with that asshole, Blake, does it?”

“I told you. It’s complicated.”

Okay, this is driving me nuts. “Maybe I’m not as stupid as you seem to think. Try to explain. Use simple words, if you like.”

She turns away, her face crumbling. “Please, Micah. Not now.”

I shake my head, both mystified and angry. “Why won’t you talk to me, Ev? What’s the story with Seth?”

“Micah...”

Fuck this. “Why do you run away whenever he’s around? And don’t give me again the bullshit about being concerned with his safety. Did he do something to you?” I’d give my right arm for Seth, but if he did something to her... The nightmare still lingers in the back of my mind, making me jittery.

“No.” She shakes her head vehemently. “Seth did nothing wrong.”

“Then what?” My head is pounding, and I press the heels of my hands into my eyes. “Dammit. Fuck.”

“Hey…” She sits by my side. “You have a headache, huh?”

No shit. It’s like a trio of jackhammers pummeling the insides of my skull.

“Pills?” she asks.

“Won’t help.”

She says nothing for a while. Then she puts her hands at the back of my neck, digging her thumbs into the muscles, and I hiss. It hurts like hell, but at the same time it feels so damn good. Her small hands are surprisingly strong.

“Where did you learn to do this?” I groan as she massages a particularly sore spot.

“My mom sometimes gets tension headaches. I paid attention to her physiotherapist when he massaged her back then, so I could do it for her at home.”

I swallow a moan of pleasure as she presses deep into clenched muscles, unlocking them. “Feels great,” I manage.

“Your back is a mess.” She pushes her thumbs into the base of my neck, and I jolt, electric pain shooting down my spine.

“Ow.”

“Your muscles are hard like stones. Could be a reason why you can’t sleep well. That and the nightmares.”

I say nothing.

“What were you dreaming about?”

I don’t wanna talk about this. But she won’t talk to me unless I talk to her, and I’m hiding a lot from her already, so fuck it. “Foster care.”

Just two words. There. Was it easy? Nope. I feel as if I’ve just had to break two of my teeth and spit them out.

I don’t talk about my nightmares to anyone. Ever. Not even to Seth who happens to be the one to wake me up every time. Or to Zane who has given me all I have. So why am I telling her?

Her hands stop their massaging. I frown, but before I turn to look at her, she slips her arms around me and rests her cheek between my shoulder blades.

“What happened to you there?”

My heart hammers in my chest. I try to swallow, but my mouth is too dry. “I don’t…” My throat clicks. Oh shit. I so don’t wanna talk about this. What was I thinking? “Nothing happened.”

“A nothing that gives you nightmares?”

My jaw clenches. “Yeah. Like the nothing that makes you scared of Seth.”

I hear her sharp intake of breath. After a few moments pass, she exhales. “Touché.”

But it doesn’t make me feel better. It makes me feel worse that I threw her words back at her. She doesn’t deserve this. She saved my life, Shane’s life. Probably more. She’s a strong person. Whatever happened must be still scaring her, stopping her from talking about it.

And because that means my past is scaring me, too, I force myself to talk about it. “It was hell,” I say.

Her hands shift, splaying on my stomach. I expect her to ask something, but she doesn’t. Leaves the ball in my court.

“We were all dumped together in this big old facility.” I lick my lips, desperately trying to wet them. “Some of us, the newer ones, slept on the floor. We had to fight over food. Some of the kids there formed a gang and stole all the food, then beat up everyone who resisted.”

She still says nothing, and the words come with difficulty. I’d never talked about all this before. “They raped the girls, even some of the younger boys, and I couldn’t…” Bile rises in my throat, and I swallow convulsively. Shit. “I couldn’t stop them.”

Can’t do this, dammit. I get up, shaking free of her arms, and pace the room. Shoving my hands through my hair, I stop at the window. It’s dark outside, and my reflection stares back at me. I look like roadkill, face pale, eyes wide, short hair standing on end.

In the reflection, I can see Ev sitting on my bed, hands in her lap. She looks sad and small. Shit, my outburst must have scared her. Hell, I don’t blame her. I turn around and walk back to her. I sit beside her and reach for her hand. She slips it into mine and gives me a smile, but it’s strained.

Fuck. “Ev? I know my past isn’t that good, and hell, I have nightmares and shit, but I’d never hurt you.” I take a deep breath. “You know that, right?”

She squeezes my hand, and her smile turns real. “Of course I know that. I’m not worried.”

Okay. I don’t know what else to say. She’s a lovely puzzle that I can’t solve—shy and bold, innocent and sexy, unafraid and scared, running and still standing still.

Unpredictable. Startling. Addictive.

“It’s just that…” She glances at me from under lowered lashes, and her pretty mouth twists. “Your words reminded me of my own failures.”

“Failures?” I don’t understand.

Her hand trembles in mine, and she looks away. “I’ve let people down, people who depended on me.”

Still don’t get it. “Your parents?”

She shakes her head. “I’m sure I’ve let them down, too, but they’ll survive. No, that’s not what I mean. People I helped on the street and didn’t manage to save.”

My heart thumps too fast against my ribs. “Like who?”

“A couple old people. You wouldn’t know them. They usually were close to home, not around here.”

I want to ask her if she remembers me at all—if she remembers a man who was sick, a man she saved. But she doesn’t mention me, and I don’t know if to feel relieved or disappointed. Don’t know if to just throw caution to the wind and tell her the truth or wait until I know the cause of her fear.

Yeah, isn’t this just great? Turns out I can’t even predict myself.

Chapter Ten

Evangeline

Leaving Micah in the morning is hard. It seems to get harder every day. Sleeping in his arms is the best place in the world.

But now reality crashes down on me. I have several missed calls on my cell, from Mom, Joel, even Dad. Oh shit.

I call Joel first, figuring it will be easier to deal with him, but boy was I wrong.

“What do you think you’re doing, Evie?” he demands, his voice sharp. “Where are you?”

“I’m an adult now,” I say through gritted teeth. “I don’t have to give a report to you.”

“Is that right?” His tone chills me. “You really don’t care that we’re worried about you?”

“What do you have to be worried about? I told you, I stayed with a friend.”

“A friend? Are you sure? Because Blake told me you were wandering the streets again and talking to shady people.”

“Shady people? Are you kidding me?” Anger rolls through me like fire. “Blake followed me and threatened to hurt anyone I’d talk to on the street, and you listen to him?”

“Oh, come on, Evie. Blake wouldn’t do that.”

“So now you’re saying I’m lying.” My eyes burn. “I don’t lie, Joey. He’s scaring me.”

A silence greets my words. Then Joel says, “Blake isn’t like that. You know that. He saved your life, Evie. He’s the one who called the ambulance for you, you—”