Cyrus’s fingers tightened on her shoulder, holding her in place.
‘They’re all dead. Someone – I think maybe Victor – came back and … I don’t know. Flic and I killed one. When we turned around the other two were on fire. But I didn’t hang around to figure it out. I heard you – I mean, I felt you.’
‘You felt me?’
Cyrus hesitated and Evie could feel his heart racing. ‘I told you,’ he whispered into her hair, ‘there’s a connection between us.’
She froze, staring at her fingers lying loosely in her lap.
‘I felt you,’ he repeated. ‘I knew you were in trouble.’
Evie kept her head lowered, unable to look at him for reasons she didn’t fully understand. ‘But the others – what about them? Is everyone alright?’
‘They’re fine,’ he answered quickly.
‘Jamieson? Flic? Ash and Vero? They’re all OK?’
‘Yes. They’re all fine. Jamieson’s broken his arm and a few ribs but he’ll be OK, I think. You came out worst. I warned you not to come after me.’
‘It was those two. Selena and RJ. She followed after you – I couldn’t just leave her.’ Evie paused, sitting upright. ‘Did she make it?’ she asked, remembering the last she’d seen of Selena was her running helter-skelter across the garden.
‘She’s fine,’ Cyrus answered. His fingers had started tracing circles over her shoulder blade, along her collar bone, almost absently, grazing the bare skin at the nape of her neck and making her draw in a tight breath.
She felt a slight tingle in her belly – a response she wasn’t sure how to interpret. She put it down to the Valium and tried to focus on the words coming out of his mouth and not his touch.
Cyrus suddenly pulled his arm free and leant forward, tapping on the glass separating them from the driver. ‘Can you pull over?’ he asked.
Evie frowned, twisting her head to look out of the window. They were outside Margaret’s store.
‘What are we doing here?’ she asked, surprised.
‘Just wait,’ Cyrus answered, getting out of the cab and walking quickly around to open the door for her. He handed the driver some cash and then offered his hand to Evie to help her out of the cab.
She pushed him away, wanting to stand by herself. His touch was making her stomach churn with unwanted emotions. It made her remember Lucas and how she’d felt with him – namely safe. But she didn’t want to feel that way with Cyrus. Or with anyone. Safety led to complacency.
Cyrus shrugged and turned away but she noticed a shadow of hurt flit across his face.
‘You remembered your ATM number then?’ she asked, as he pushed his wallet back into the pocket of his jeans.
‘No, I just swiped some money from my mum earlier,’ he said. ‘We needed a change of clothes. Looks like you could have used the shopping trip as well.’
Evie smiled ruefully. It was true; she had nothing to wear other than a hospital gown, some paper underwear and a borrowed sweater.
Cyrus fished some keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door of the store, opening it to let her through. She passed ahead of him into the darkened space. What time was it? It had to be around midnight she guessed. She’d been in the hospital a while, but it was all a fog.
Cyrus strode past, catching her by the hand and pulling her towards the café section of the store.
‘You need to eat something, get some sugar into your bloodstream.’
‘I’m not feeling hungry.’
‘I don’t care,’ he answered, his hands busy rummaging under the counter. ‘You need to get your strength back.’
She watched him pull out a plate, then slide back the glass on the refrigerated display shelf. She needed to get her strength back for round two. That’s what he was saying. She closed her eyes, feeling the ground somersault its way towards her.
‘Cupcake?’
‘OK,’ she whispered.
Cyrus grabbed a couple and set them on a plate. Then he opened the fridge. ‘Milk? Juice?’ he asked over his shoulder.
‘Water,’ Evie answered. ‘Do you do this often?’
‘What?’ Cyrus asked, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
‘Bring girls back to your mum’s store and woo them with day-old cupcakes?’
‘Yeah, then I read them quotes from Milan Kundera, occasionally some Rilke, you know, if I think it might help.’
‘Help?’
‘You know, get them into bed.’
Evie opened her mouth to yell at him.
He burst out laughing. ‘I’m kidding. I don’t know,’ he shrugged. ‘Maybe I used