Before she could think up a response, he was messaging her again.
Casey: I shouldn’t have shut you out.
Can we talk?
Did she want to speak to him? He ran hot and cold so often she kept feeling burned.
Casey: Please, Evelyn.
Evelyn: Talk.
The last thing she wanted was for him to see her so broken and lifeless. She was wasting away, and he didn’t need to see that. She didn’t even like seeing it.
Casey: Can I come up?
Evelyn: No.
Her response was immediate. His life was so much better than hers; she would just taint him. He had enough problems without having to deal with hers.
Casey: I need you, Kitten. So fucking bad.
Evelyn: I can’t.
She was almost caving.
Casey: The first time I saw you, I knew you were going to be my everything. I knew that you were my game changer. I’m scared, too,
Ev. Please let me in.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Oh God,” she moaned turning into her pillow, trying to wipe the pain away. He had no idea. No clue how much she needed to be someone’s everything. How much she needed to be wanted by someone, to be loved so thoroughly it was suffocating.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she must have cried herself into a fitful sleep because she was startled awake by her phone beeping again. Covered in sweat and out of breath, she couldn’t remember what she had been dreaming of. If the panic that had settled in her heart was anything to go by, though, it was for the best. Looking at her phone, she saw that an hour had passed since the previous message. Opening the new one, her breath caught in her throat.
Casey: I’m not leaving, Kitten.
She loved that he called her Kitten.
Casey: Come to me, Ev.
Not thinking about anything other than needing to be touched, that overrode her self-preservation. Dragging herself from bed, she sluggishly walked to the door and headed down the stairs to see for herself if he were there.
When she reached the so-called security door, there he was like a savior. He stood, leaning against his truck, handsome as could be in his black form-fitting t-shirt, muscles on display, as well as the few tattoos he had on his arm. What shocked her was that he was wearing a pair of board shorts and sneakers. His prosthesis, something she thought he wasn’t comfortable with, showing to the world, on full display.
Ev’s step out of the building had him looking up. A smile lit his face for a brief moment before it was covered with a frown of worry as he looked her up and down.
Rushing to her, he immediately picked her up into his arms. “What happened?” he asked when she cringed from the pain that lingered between her legs and from the few bruises she had left from Marcus’s assault.
Burying her head in the crook of his neck, she fought back tears as her body absorbed his strength. She began to shake violently as she finally broke down.
“Kitten, talk to me.” His voice was hoarse. “Please, Ev, tell me what’s wrong.”
She couldn’t catch her breath. Pain was vibrating through her entire being. It was embedded so deeply into her soul that she didn’t think she’d breathe again without it echoing in her chest.
Evelyn felt him walking, heard his truck door open. When he went to place her on the seat, she gripped his neck tighter. Her tears fell harder, and her body shook so bad that he had to grip the doorframe to keep his balance.
“Please, Evelyn, you have to talk to me.” He soothed her by running a hand up and down her back.
“Yo, Evie!” she heard Devin, one of the boys that lived in the complex next to her, call out.