I was smiling like an idiot, and I was damn sure that I was trying too hard.
“So what’s this with Black?” he asked, destroying my fantasy that he’d dropped the subject. “Just one of those good girl/bad boy flings?”
“What the hell, Kevin?” I’d intended my tone to sound sharp—the perfect fuck off exit point for this conversation. But instead, it came out tired and a little wary.
“I still care about you. More, I worry about you.”
I held up a hand. “This isn’t a conversation we’re having.” I had to move. Had to get out of there. But when I started to walk away, he grabbed my arm. I shook it free. “Jesus, Kev—”
“If you don’t get out, I don’t know that I’ll be able to pull you out.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snapped. Not exactly a lie, but not the truth, either.
“You know,” he said. “Because I already told you, and I told you more than I should. He’s bad news, Angie. And so are Cole August and Tyler Sharp. Stay away from them.”
My heart was pounding so hard that I could barely hear my own words through the thrumming in my ears. “You know what, Kevin? I’d like to say it was a pleasure running into you, but that would be a huge lie. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find my date.”
Except I didn’t go find Evan. I moved out of the main room into one of the smaller adjoining rooms, then leaned against the wall, closed my eyes, and concentrated on breathing as I tried to get my shit together.
What the hell was wrong with me?
I’d known almost from the beginning that the stuff Kevin said about Evan was probably true. That there was illegal shit going on in the background. And, hell, hadn’t Evan almost—almost—even confessed as much to me? And, damn me, hadn’t the possibility made me hot? The possibility that Evan was pulling one over on the FBI made him larger than life. Exciting. Sensual. Thrilling.
But now—
Now with worms like Larry approaching me and Kevin hounding me—
Oh, god, now it all felt too real. Too scary.
I remembered the twisting, nausea-inducing fear when I’d been arrested. No, not fear. Terror. The knowledge that everything I’d worked for and loved could be ripped away from me in an instant, pulled out from under me and replaced with bars and a cold floor and the eyes of the world looking hard at me and knowing that I screwed up.
I didn’t want that for Evan—not for any of the knights.
Even more, I didn’t want it for me. Didn’t want the risk of being forced to testify. To sit in a small room with questions tossed at me. And didn’t want the risk that someone I loved would be yanked away from me.
Loved.
I squeezed my eyes tight, pushing the thought away. Breathing deep. Trying desperately to keep myself from coming completely undone.
A soft tap on the door frame had me almost jumping out of my skin. I opened my eyes and whipped my head around to face Evan.
“What’s wrong?”
I managed a watery smile. “That obvious?”
He moved to my side. “I know you.”
“So does some guy named Larry.” I watched him as I spoke, saw the tension run through him. “He gave me a message. I’m supposed to tell you to back off.” I sucked in a breath. “Will you tell me who he is?”
He said nothing for a minute, then he lifted his hand, displaying his knuckles. “I mentioned him before,” he said. “He’s one of the assholes who was messing with the girls.”
“Oh.” I thought about that, then decided not to press for more. Whatever was going on under the surface, Evan already knew about it. And I didn’t see even a hint of fear in his eyes. I did, however, see a spark of anger as he reached out and gently stroked my cheek.
“He scared you.”
“He was creepy,” I admitted. “But I’m okay now.” I looked in his eyes and realized it was true. As corny as it sounded, I was okay now because Evan was beside me.
“I saw you talking to Kevin.”
“Lucky me.”
“Everything okay there, too?”
I nodded. What was I going to say? That I’d realized I was terrified for him and, oh, by the way, I might be falling in love with him, too? I settled for, “Yeah. Everything’s fine. He saw me talking to Larry, too.”
I met his eyes, and though he only nodded, I knew he understood my unspoken message: Be careful. Please, please be careful.
“What else did he say?”
“He said that he missed me.”
“I see.” I saw the vulnerability in his eyes, and I had to bite back a gasp as a sudden realization shook me. Evan might be everything that Kevin accused him of. He might be dangerous as hell. But right then, I had the power to hurt him.