Evan and Knox nod in unison again, which is kind of creepy, but considering they’ve just saved me and everything, I’m not about to call them out on it.
“Do you want us to walk you up to your door?” Evan asks.
“Oh, no, that’s not necessary.”
He nods in acceptance and reaches into his pocket, pulling out a slim, brand-new cellphone. It’s the latest-generation iPhone, the one I’ve been salivating over for months but unable to afford. Holding it out for me to take, he says, “This is yours.”
My eyes fly to his. “Excuse me?”
“Chase wanted you to have it. His numbers are already programmed in, so you can reach him anytime.”
I stare at the phone like it’s a poisonous snake, about to leap from Evan’s hand and bite me. “I don’t want it.”
“Miss Summers, we have orders—” Evan begins.
“I don’t care,” I say flatly, my eyes returning to his face. “I don’t want it. You can tell your boss to stick it where the sun don’t shine, as far as I’m concerned.”
“Miss—” Evan tries again.
“Take the phone.”
The voice — a low, rumbling growl — is so cold, I instantly break out in goose flesh. It takes me a minute to realize it’s Knox, who’s spoken, and when my gaze travels to his face, I see there’s something hard in his eyes. Something that doesn’t takenofor an answer.
Ever.
“But—”
I barely get the word out before he’s stepping forward, snatching the phone from Evan’s grip, and pressing it into my hand. He’s so tall, my neck snaps back to keep his face in sight, and it’s all I can do not to cower at his nearness. Everything about him is lethal, dangerous, but it’s those eyes — bottomless, black, and far older than his thirty years — that really shake me, down to my very core.
“Take. The. Phone.”
“Okay,” I breathe, my fingers closing around the cool metal in my hand, not wanting to be the subject of that gaze for another stinking second.
He nods, turns for the door, and disappears outside without another word.
“Don’t mind him,” Evan says, the easy smile still on his lips. “His bark is worse than his bite. Most of the time, anyway.”
With that, he winks, turns, and follows Knox out the door, leaving me alone with a new phone and a thousand questions I know I’ll probably never get the answers to.
Chapter Nineteen
Venom
I’ve barely made it through my front door when my cellphone — my old one, not the new, shiny one I have no intention of ever using — starts ringing. Closing the door behind me with a sigh, I reach into my bag, fully expecting to see Chrissy’s name on my screen. No doubt she’s just gotten pinged with a considerable number of Google Alerts.
But, to my horror, it’s not Chrissy.
It’sEstelle.
Damn it all to hell, I’m probably going to be fired for cutting out of work early, two days in a row. Which isperfectconsidering everything else in my life is falling apart — why not my career, as well?
“Estelle, I’m so sorry,” I say, as soon as the call connects. “I swear, I had a good reason for not coming back to work after the VIP meeting. It won’t ever happen again. Please, just don’t fire me.”
“Fire you?” she asks, sounding genuinely surprised. “Why on earth would I fire you?”
“Um…”
Is my brain short-circuiting?