A Prior Engagement (26 page)

When they parted, they both relaxed back onto the bed and snuggled, eventually falling asleep again in the beauty of the early morning.

Evie woke up several hours later and looked over her shoulder to see William sleeping. She lay there thinking of their intense kisses during the night and as her fingers touched her lips, it was as if she could still feel the heat from their bond. She arose from the twin bed and walked to the window. Lifting one of the individual blinds up, she peeked out at the day. It was blue skies and beautiful, which made her sigh in a good way. Evie sat at his desk and watched him, leaning on her arm for support.

She analyzed the features of his face as she went through all that she knew about him. He was kind, which by far was the most attractive quality about him. He was also so handsome that he made her heart quicken. William was strong, strong physically, but also emotionally.

He opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

“Shakespeare in the morning? You’re relentless, William Ryder!” She giggled as she knelt on the floor in front of him and kissed his forehead. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. Why are you up so early?”

“I need to get to school and work on my paper. I haven’t started it yet.”

“If you’d like, I can go with you and finish mine.” She nodded, wanting to be with him as much as possible. Staring into his lovely eyes, she could see a future,
their
future, and forever behind the happy blue of his irises and that made her smile.

Hand-in-hand, they walked into the student lounge and settled at a table across from each other. Though Evie tried to concentrate on her assignment, she was finding it difficult. She would sneak peeks at William—sometimes he caught her and sometimes he didn’t.

She wanted to touch him, wanted to talk to him and kiss him, but she tried once again to focus on her laptop. After another few minutes, she gave up and gave in. She slammed her hand down on the table, grabbing his attention and a cocked eyebrow from him. She stood up, walked over to his side of the table, and slipped onto his lap, kissing him hard. She kissed him how she wanted to be kissed, with a firmness and possessiveness, love and passion.

Sitting up, she took his baseball cap off his head, running her fingers through his flattened hair, and making it stand upright from the roots again. He looked a mess and utterly irresistible. Evie loved that they could be relaxed in their appearance. She reveled in it and appreciated a few days’ stubble on him and his wrinkled clothes.

She rested her other hand on his bicep, all casual and appreciative of its strength, while William’s hand rested on her thigh, rubbing it up and down. He liked that she had initiated the kiss and started feeling a stronger urge down lower. Just as William was about to lift her off so she wouldn’t feel his body’s reaction, they both heard a throat clearing. “Um Hum!”

They were surprised and startled to see Professor Lang clearing his throat to get their attention. Evie stood up, turning red, and greeted the professor. “Hello, sir. We were just working—”

“Miss Wright, I’m glad I’ve run into you. We need to speak about your absences. Do you have time now?” He asked this while his eyes shifted between William and Evie.

“Um, yes. Yes, sir.”

“Would you feel more comfortable meeting in private?” He glanced at William again.

Evie looked to William feeling confident. “No. I’m fine with William being here.”

“Let’s sit.” Lang gestured to the chairs at the table. After they settled themselves, he took a moment before he spoke. “Are you all right?

“Yes.” She was the one to clear her throat this time after her voice wavered.

“You missed three days. In summer school, that’s the equivalent to almost two weeks’ worth of work. Do you want to talk about the reasons for your absence?”

Her voice was low and a bit shaky. “I guess you can see by my face that something happened.”

“Were you in an accident?” Professor Lang asked, showing concern.

“No. Someone did this to me. Someone I know.” She felt ashamed just like she had this entire past week as if she was to blame for the beating. William watched them and listened, but stayed silent, trying to support her by letting her confide what she wanted to reveal. Though he could admit he felt anger filling his chest again as she spoke of what she went through at the hands of that bastard.

She dropped her head into to her hands to shield her face from her sympathetic teacher, overcome in the moment.

William reached across the table and held her hand in his, hoping to comfort her. Looking up, she realized she’s not alone in this anymore.

The Professor stood up, his face gave way to his relief to see the young couple’s bond. “You can’t miss any more classes, Miss Wright, or I’ll have no choice but to fail you or give you an incomplete. I’m sorry to hear you have gone through something traumatic and,” he said, lowering his voice, “I’m here for you if you need help and I’m sure Mr. Ryder is doing all he can to help also. He’s a good man there, but please come to me if I can be of any assistance. I’m happy to help you in any way I can.”

She looked up, but didn’t meet his eyes, she couldn’t. She was embarrassed. “Thank you, sir, and I understand. Thank you for giving me this second chance.”

He patted her on the shoulder and added, “You’re one of my brightest. You’ve earned your second chance. I’m very pleased with yours and Mr. Ryder’s research on the Kyd stories. I think you’ll both be pleased with your grade.”

William stood up. “I think we should head over to his office for today’s assignments, don’t you? You heard the man. No more missing class.” He winked at her and his smile comforted her.

She knew without a doubt she was in love and the amazing man before her loved her just as much.

Chapter 22

Four days later, Evie and William were teasing each other while leaving the lecture hall. She took his arm, entwining hers around it, and pulled him close enough for her to rest her head on his shoulder. They continued to laugh and settled into a feeling of contentment accompanied by deliriously happy smiles. They were walking down the hall when her stomach growled, and she asked, “You hungry? Want to go to lunch?”

William leaned down kissing the top of her head just as she stopped in her tracks. Her smile disappeared as well as the security of her new world. The force of her pulling him back a step jolted his body to a stop. He looked at her and saw the fear on her face, the color had drained from her cheeks. Worried, he asked, “What?” Alarmed by her expression, his heart began to race. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Grabbing her by the arms, he tried to bring her attention back to him. “What is it, Evie?”

“It’s uh . . . it’s uh . . .” she muttered, still not looking at him. He followed her gaze and saw some people on the other side of the glass doors. He didn’t understand her abrupt change in demeanor until his eyes landed on Audrey standing next to a taller, older man and a woman. “It’s my parents.”

She swayed, off balance, but his hands steadied her. Her eyes searched William’s for answers.

Shaking his head, he was at a loss for any answers that would help. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. What should we do?” Her eyes blurred with tears as she scanned his face, desperate for him to guide her. “Please tell me what I should do here.”

He opened and closed his mouth several times before he finally spoke. He struggled to remain calm, not wanting to upset her any more than she already was. “I’ll stay with you if you want to talk to them.” Taking her hand in his again, he gave a little squeeze to show his support.

She nodded. “Yeah, I should talk to them.” Her voice was detached and cold, unlike what he knew her to sound like normally.

Evie walked forward holding William’s hand so tight that her knuckles whitened under the pressure. They exited the doors as a united front, and she saw her father straighten his shoulders, the others reacting much different in regards to her escort. A soft smile graced her mother’s face allowing Evie to approach without fear. Kitty Wright looked the young man over, her eyes landing on their bound hands. Looking William straight in the eyes, she smiled at him though it stopped on her lips.

Richard Wright, Evie’s father, noticed the joined hands between William and his daughter first. His annoyance with the relationship was instantaneous and he was ready for the battle ahead. His smile was firm, but not a trusting one toward the young couple.

Audrey stood at his side beaming at seeing the couple together. She didn’t know what had become of her sister and hoped she was with William, but now she had it confirmed, she was thrilled.

Evie’s dad took a step toward William. “May we have a word with our daughter in private?”

Evie had found his ultra-civility not trustworthy and questioned in her mind why he was asking William for privacy instead of talking to her directly.

William kept his eyes focused forward trying to figure these people out. He disliked them for letting their daughter be with an abuser, but other than that, he couldn’t get a good read on them. They were all wealth and etiquette, but fake, stiff in appearance. He looked at Evie and in a lowered voice asked for her opinion. “Do you want to talk with them alone?”

She released his hand and faced him square on, resting her palms flat on his chest. “I’ll be fine. This will only take a minute.” She smiled to reassure him. “Then we’ll go to lunch, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll wait over here.” He kissed her on the temple and left them alone, reaching the closest bench and sitting down to watch the exchange.

Evie took her time breaking the distance between William and herself. Her hesitant steps were noted by all three of her family members standing in front of her. As soon as she approached, Audrey hugged her tight. Evie smiled and hugged her back just as tight. “I missed you, little sis.”

She hugged her mom next and then embraced her dad trying to gauge his mood. He spoke first. “Everleigh, sweetheart, we’ve been worried about you. We didn’t know where you went or if you were all right.”

“I’m okay.”

“Why did you leave?” her mom asked, oblivious to the reality of her daughter’s situation.

Her wounds had all but healed and the remaining discoloration of her cheekbone had been covered by make-up that morning. Evie couldn’t believe they were this clueless. “You don’t know? Really?”

Her dad spoke in haste for the family, his voice stern. “Listen young lady, we’ve been through hell and back worried sick about you. Poor Tom has been throwing up at the thought that something bad had happened—”

“Something bad did happen, Dad!”

William hadn’t heard any of their discussion until her dad raised his voice and Evie tried to match his tone. He realized through their exchange that they didn’t know what her fiancé
, the monster,
had done to her and that made William angry. He released their bags from his shoulder, letting them drop onto the bench next to him and clenched his fists. He could already feel his face reddening with rage and looked down at his feet to try to keep his temper in check.

But Evie yelled, “I’m not going back to Tom!” Snapping back into protection mode, William stood up, ready to come to her aid. That’s when he noticed a policeman hanging back about fifteen yards, but this cop seemed out of place. Something about his body language was off then they caught eyes, and he found no support behind the man’s hardened glare. William stepped forward and he saw the cop react by moving in five or so feet.

A scuffle with the family grabbed William’s attention again, and he saw Evie’s dad holding her by the arm and he could hear her pleas. “Please, no. I won’t go with him. Please don’t do this.” She looked over her shoulder at him. “William!”

William saw a man, in his twenties, in a suit in front of her. Even though he had never seen
him
before he knew,
he
knew he was the monster. Her dad was leading his innocent lamb to the slaughterhouse. While Evie was crying and resisting,
that smug bastard
was smiling.

William ran at the same time as Tom and when their fists collided against the other’s body they both stumbled backward. William landed one on his jaw, and Tom had landed his punch into William’s stomach. William didn’t hesitate, and threw an upper cut that connected with Tom’s jaw again. “You bastard!”