Closing Books (22 page)

“What?” Evelyn said, staring at him.

“Nothing.”

“What’s so funny?”

He placed the dishes into the sink and doused them with detergent, hoping it would somehow help remove the dried sauce and the burnt remains from the different pots. Then, he turned to Evelyn and pulled her close, looping his arms around her. “This is the first time you made a reference to our future.”

Evelyn immediately looked away from him, but with his arms around her, she couldn’t move away and pretend to be busy around the kitchen. “I was just saying what we could do.”

“So you see us having dinner—together—for the rest of our lives?” Dan narrowed his eyes and waited for her reaction. He knew how she tended to find a way out of answering such questions.

As expected, she squirmed and tried stepping out of his arms.
 

But he wasn’t going to let her go. His arms held their place, and he pulled her closer toward him. “So?”

Evelyn swallowed hard. Besides that, her face gave nothing away. The seconds ticked by, and she finally answered him. “Anything is possible, right?”

“That’s good enough for me,” he said and released her from his arms. “Why don’t you pick something for us to eat? I’ll clean up.” He bent down and gave her a peck on her lips before turning back to tackle the destroyed pans.

When Evelyn revealed her secret to Dan, she’d thought everyone would begin to shun her. She’d thought she would need to move in order to save everyone the awkward meetings.
 

Instead, she found herself suddenly having a family.
 

Joseph was beginning to include her in the conversations around the table, and along with Ryan, was constantly checking up on her to make sure that Amy was no longer harassing her. Marianne was calling her at work to ask her preference of dishes and to check if she was coming over with Dan.
 

All this new attention was strange for her. She even felt guilty for feeling annoyed by Ryan and Joseph’s over-concern of her. And she was mortified when she’d let slip and complained to Kate over lunch.
 

Kate had laughed, saying that if she had to feel guilty each time she was exasperated with their concern, then she would probably have to see a therapist.

So Evelyn learned.

She learned that it was all right to be vexed. It was all right for her to tell them to stop and let them know they were annoying her. It wouldn’t stop them, but it was all right for her to say it. She wasn’t going to lose their friendship for speaking her thoughts or feelings.

They accepted her for who she was, likewise, they expected her to accept the protective nature that she’d only recently found out was a group issue rather than just Tyler’s.
 

The only one who hadn’t been bugging her over the Amy problem was Tyler. Instead, he’d started giving her lessons on self-defense.

She tried out some of the stuff that Joseph and Ryan had come up with for their self-defense class. But the things they taught weren’t self-defense, it was martial arts; it was skills and techniques that required years of training before she could actually hurt someone.

Evelyn spoke honestly, telling Joseph and Ryan that if she were a student in their class, she wouldn’t return after the first lesson.
 

She’d tried to be as honest as she could without hurting their feelings. It wasn’t easy.

Kate’s appreciation of her candidness, along with Evelyn’s indifference to other’s opinion of her, had allowed her to express her thoughts without much concern for whoever was listening.
 

Thankfully, honesty was what Joseph and Ryan were looking for.
 

They were disappointed that their lesson plans had failed, but was glad it happened in the trial class instead of the actual class for the gym. That was when Kate innocently commented that Tyler could help, that he had been teaching Kate self-defense on his own.

Apparently, Tyler didn’t just dabble in Judo, he had gone on to learn Krav Manga and Kapap, and according to Kate, they were much more practical for normal people like herself.
 

No one asked if he would help. They just assumed he would; that was how the group worked. Joseph told Tyler to hang on while he went to grab the video camera, and when Tyler began teaching, Evelyn had to admit that Kate wasn’t just bias toward her husband, she was right.

Since that day, Tyler had made it a point to teach Evelyn self-defense. Sometimes, when she stayed late after dinner, Tyler would ask if she wanted to practice, and he didn’t mind teaching only her if Kate was busy.

Picking up the face towel that Marianne had prepared for her, Evelyn wiped her face of the perspiration. “Did Kate ask you to do this?” she asked Tyler as she sat with her back against a wall.

“Why? Because my humanity is only brought out by Kate?”

“I didn’t say that.” Evelyn tried not to laugh, but failed. “But I can guess who did.”

Tyler grinned. “No, Kate didn’t ask me to do this.”

“Then why?”

“That night at the park. You kept looking around even though there wasn’t anyone there. Why?”

“I don’t know. It just feels as if someone could spring out of nowhere and hurt me.”

“So you learn. You learn how to protect yourself, then you won’t have to be so afraid.”

Evelyn studied him for a moment and smiled. This was his way of including her into his life, she supposed it was sort of like his gift for her. “Thanks.”

He shrugged it off. “Dan is good for you. He’s loyal, like Kate. You can trust him as much as you trust her.”

“Damn, now I’m feeling guilty.”

“Why? Because you went on and on about what a bad decision it was to move in here with me?”

“She told you that?” Evelyn quickly got rid of the disgruntled look on her face and flashed a wide, toothy grin. “For what it’s worth, I was wrong.”

He shrugged again and stood. “Practice this with Joe.”

“Done with my girlfriend?” Dan asked as he came out from the kitchen.

“Done with my wife?”

Evelyn laughed at how irritated Tyler sounded. Since coming back from their honeymoon, Kate had taken up several projects and was working with Dan on two of them.
 

“All done. Once the client approves it, and I’m sure he will, Kate’s part will be done. Then, I can start working with you,” Dan said, turning to Evelyn and tuning Tyler out.

He pulled her into his arms and leaned in to kiss her. Evelyn kissed him back, but just a peck on his lips, and took a step back. By then, Tyler had made himself scarce and they were the only ones in the living room.
 

“So, how’s this month coming along?” Dan asked after casting a glance over his shoulder.

“Good, very good. Everyone’s been great.”

“You know I’m not talking about that.”

Evelyn blinked, wide-eyed, and gave him a sweet smile. “What are
you
talking about?”

“What happened to your straightforwardness?”

“I would be, if I knew what you were talking about,” Evelyn said and looped her arm over his neck.
 

“You’ve tried us out for a month, what do you think?”

“Oh,
that
. I can’t say I have any complaints. I think I’d like to keep trying
us
.”

“Good. Very good.”

Lydia dug into her bag, searching for her keys. She frowned as her fingers felt around the bottom of her bag while she shook it, listening for the jingling of the keys.

“Finally,” she said, pulling them out from her bag. She opened the door as she swung her bag over her shoulders.

Behind!
She paused for a moment as she heard the voice so clearly in her head. Before she could register what was going on, she heard the voice again.
Behind you!

An uncontrolled shiver snaked down her spine, but she paid no attention to it. She was probably too tired.

The moment she pushed her door open, a massive impact rammed into her back, shoving her into the house.
 

The shock stunned her and she couldn’t react.
 

She tried to scream, but her voice was abruptly stopped as her head got jerked back. She gasped as her hair was yanked further back, and the door slammed closed.
 

Once the door clicked closed, her head was thrusted forward toward the wall.

Everything happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to react. She could only squeeze her eyes shut and try to turn her head away, but the grip on her hair was taut, and she couldn’t move.

She heard the sickening crack of her nose and felt the shot of pain that went right to the back of her head before it got replaced by a dull burning sensation that slowly spread across her face.

“Stop,” she pleaded.

While her head was still swirling, she was thrown back and felt the friction of the floor against her face. The corners of her vision blurred, and she struggled to keep her eyes open.
 

Stay awake, Lydia. Get up, you need to escape,
the same voice she heard moments before coaxed.

Taking in a deep breath, she tried getting her brain to work. She had to do something.
 

Using all her strength, she raised her head and searched for her bag. She had a Taser gun inside; she just needed to reach it.
 

She was certain her bag was nearby. She blinked as a stream of blood trickled down her forehead and tainted her eyes. Stretching out her hand, she reached for the bag that was mere inches from her, but once again, her hair was jerked back.

Instinctively, her hand reached behind her and she tried to pry the hand from her hair. Before she could even reach the assailant’s hand, her head was smashed onto the floor.

Her hands fell limp beside her as her pain radiated across her face.

Fight, Lydia, don’t give up.

She felt herself being flipped over, and she struggled to open her eyes, but couldn’t. Without any chance of reprieve, she felt a fist across her face.
 

A moment of numbness took over, but it didn’t last. It faded quickly, and a searing pain took over. She couldn’t determine which part of her face was hit; the pain burned across half of it.

A weak sigh escaped her lips and her head dropped to the side, resting on her face, as a warm stream of blood flowed down across her forehead. Her field of vision narrowed and a darkness threatened to take over.

Fight, Lydia! Open your eyes! You need to fight back now!
 

The voice screaming in her head jolted her back to reality.
 

All of her things had spilled across the floor, but she couldn’t see the Taser. Her hand reached out, and she managed to feel the strap of her bag. Her fingers clutched the strap, and she flung her bag at the person sitting over her.
 

Her attempt was futile.
 

Her bag was ripped from her hand. She screamed and flailed her hands wildly. Her fingernails scratched along the face of her attacker, but instead of skin, she felt a rough, uneven surface, like that of a sock.

As her hands got pinned by her head, she opened her eyes as much as she could and squinted through the blood in her eyes. She saw nothing but a pair of dark brown eyes staring back at her.
 

He was wearing a mask.

“Back off or pay.” The low voice was muffled through the mask.

She said nothing. She couldn’t think; the pain was clouding her mind.

Taking in a deep breath and gathering all the strength she had left, she let out a shrilling scream.
 

The attacker released her arms and cupped his hand over her mouth and throat. Her scream choked as she felt her windpipe constricting. She grabbed at his hand and tried to release the stronghold he had over her throat.

The dark rim in her eyes closed in.

She gasped and coughed as the constraint suddenly relaxed around her throat.
 

Several more blows to her face followed before the attacker’s bodyweight lifted from her. Just when she thought it was over, she moaned as the attacker stomped his feet into her chest. She heard the crack of her bones as the air was pushed out of her chest, coughing out a mouthful of blood.

After that, she could hear a clatter going on around her, but even when she pried her eyelids open, everything was in a blur. She tuned out the noises and tried moving her limbs; she barely had the strength to twitch her fingers.

Giving up, she closed her eyes and concentrated on not blacking out.

She wasn’t sure how long she lay there, perhaps it was just a minute; perhaps it was five.
 

Vaguely, she heard the door open and close. Shutting her eyes, she allowed the darkness to swallow her.

Evelyn, Dan, and Ryan sat around the kitchen table with the blueprint to the gym spread across it. Most of the renovation had already been completed, and they were simply running things through with Ryan.

Truth was, Evelyn didn’t even have to be there. If Ryan wanted to make any changes, Kate had to be the one to do it. But Kate being Kate, she came up with all sorts of excuses to make Evelyn take her place, just so she could spend more time with Dan.

Evelyn wasn’t completely useless either. With her there, she was able to help Ryan decide where the different equipment was to be placed.

When the doorbell suddenly rang, the three of them glanced at each other, confused.
 

The mansion was situated at the top of a hill, surrounded by acres of trees and nothing else. No salesman would bother to come all the way up to look for one potential customer. Marianne and Mr. Sawyer were in the other wing while Tyler worked in the study room upstairs. The final two members of their group were at work, so there shouldn’t be anyone ringing the bell.

“I’ll get it,” Dan said, pushing himself off the chair.

She swiveled around and watched Dan as he hastened toward the door. She couldn’t see the main door from the kitchen, but still, she stared at the walkway, expecting Dan to come back in with Joseph. Instead, she heard Dan talking to another man, followed by Marianne’s voice.