Page 57 of Kiss of Seduction (Court of Chains #1)

Spring was transitioning into summer. It meant the sun was out, and the days were getting longer. It was the weekend, it was warm, and it was perfect. Evie had been beaming ever since she left the high-rise.

“You look happy,” Sam said. She was throwing seeds for a few sparrows that had gathered near her chair. Wherever she went, animals seemed to congregate.

“I am happy.” Evie bit her lip, trying to stifle the smile that simply wouldn’t go away.

“Some thing again?”

“Some one , actually.” Evie sipped her drink, hoping the act would help her stop smiling so widely. It didn’t work.

It was her first day out of the high-rise since Natalya had woken up. Her first day outside while wearing the Chain pendant around her neck. Her first day in public being Natalya’s.

Sam had surprised Evie and picked the place, so they weren’t at The Five-Leaf. They’d gone to a bar with outside seating. To enjoy the sunshine, Sam had said.

“Your not-girlfriend?”

Evie gave her a loaded look, and Sam blushed.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” The term didn’t fit Natalya. And it didn’t fit what Evie felt for her. It was too small. Too normal . “I’m just hers. And it feels right.”

“She’s still scary.” Sam huddled further into herself. Despite the warm weather, she wore baggy jeans and an oversized sweatshirt. Evie had never seen her wearing anything that fit right.

“She’s only scary when she wants to be.”

“I guess she wants to be when I’m around.”

“Natalya’s holding a bit of a grudge.” Evie grinned at Sam, keeping her tone light and humorous. “She’s still annoyed about how we got introduced.”

The attempt at getting Sam to laugh didn’t work. She just curled in on herself more.

The sight made Evie feel bad. She didn’t want to make Sam uncomfortable, but the poor woman was so lacking in confidence you hardly had to say anything, and she’d manage to turn the comment into a blow. And she just took it. It hurt to see.

“Sorry, Sam. Natalya can just be… intimidating. Especially to people who don’t know her.

” Evie tried an encouraging smile. “Lily and Blake say hi, by the way. They had fun last time. You’re welcome back at the Court of Chains if you ever want to get out on the weekends.

” She nudged Sam’s leg. “I’m sure Blake especially would be excited about that. She likes you.”

“Blake is mean,” Sam mumbled, but she smiled when she said it. Sam glanced at Evie’s necklace. “She has one of those too. As does Lily. Though theirs are blue and silver.”

Evie laughed nervously, quickly coming up with a lie.

“It’s kind of a membership thing. The Court of Chains is pretty out there.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” A sad smile played on Sam’s lips. “It was fun though. Being out with you three. I wouldn’t mind going again.”

“You should. Who knows? Maybe Drago will be there,” Evie said innocently. Sam’s face turned scarlet.

“Yeah… Maybe.”

Evie raised her eyebrows. “He was giving you some pretty long looks last time, from what I noticed.”

“No, he wasn’t,” Sam said quietly. “He was probably looking at you. You’re pretty. I’m not.”

Evie had taken to wearing less covering clothing lately, and that day was no exception. She was dressed for the warm weather, in a tank top and shorts. The confidence she had prior to Varro’s estate was returning bit by bit every passing week. She felt more like herself than she had in a long time.

She felt pretty. She understood why Sam did not.

Sam’s hair was unkempt, and there were dark shadows under her eyes. She was pale from lack of sun, and her clothing was oversized. All characteristics that were near-permanent for her. The signs of someone not taking care of themselves, either because they couldn’t or didn’t want to.

It was a familiar mindset. Evie remembered how little she’d cared for herself when she first got to Chicago.

Evie scooted over next to Sam. The birds took off when she did so.

“Sam, are you okay?”

Sam looked down at her feet. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine. No offense.” Evie had grown to dislike the phrase ‘I’m fine’ almost as much as Natalya did. “You don’t have to tell me. But I’m here to listen if you want to talk about it.”

Sam narrowed her eyes for a moment. Then the suspicious expression dropped and her shoulders slumped.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” The tone she said it with was odd. It wasn’t said with resentment or dejection. It was said with frustration.

“I like you, Sam.” She bumped Sam’s shoulder with her own and grinned. “Not like that, though. Just as friends, so… down, girl.”

Sam actually laughed at that. It made her face light up, even if it was short-lived. “You don’t need to worry. There’s just a lot going on.”

Evie could tell she wanted to talk about it but didn’t want to be a bother. She was a mirror of what Evie had been just a few months before. Acting distant and braving something heavy on her own because she was scared to let anyone in.

When Evie took her hand, Sam looked at her with tears in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away.

“Is it your sister?” Evie remembered what Sam had said about her sister being institutionalized.

“No, Rachel’s good.” Sam laughed without humor. “Well, maybe not good. But she’s not worse, so…”

By how sad Sam looked, Evie gathered Rachel being not worse was all she’d come to hope for.

“What’s she like? Rachel, I mean.”

Sam shrugged. “You know…”

“I don’t, actually,” Evie said gently. “I was in the system, on my own. Bounced around since I was a kid, and I never really stayed anywhere permanent. Having siblings is a foreign concept to me, at least biological ones.”

Sam frowned in surprise. “I didn’t know you’d been through that. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well…” Evie hunched slightly. She always felt uncomfortable talking about her past. People had a way of reacting to her childhood as though it was a tragedy, and while it may be that to some people, it wasn’t to her. It just was .

“I found my way. Stumbled a bit, and it was painful, but I landed somewhere I like.” She touched the purple pendant around her neck. Then her lips. They were tingling.

“I didn’t mean to pry,” Sam said carefully. Evie laughed.

“Sam, you didn’t. You didn’t even ask me a question.”

Sam looked down, embarrassed. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”

She apologized too much. “So Rachel? Older sister or younger?”

Sam smiled slightly. “Older. Only by a year, though she never let me forget it. She always felt way older anyway. She was always looking out for me, and now…”

The smile faded and she turned away.

“You got a lot on your mind,” Evie said.

Sam went from looking embarrassed to ashamed. “I guess.”

“I know a thing or two about dealing with more than you can handle. You don’t have to do it alone.”

“I’m not dealing with anything. There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s Rachel that needs the care.”

“You’re allowed to be affected by it too, you know? If you ever need help, I’m here for you. I have plenty of time, so if you need company or a distraction, I’ll be happy to provide either.”

Evie squeezed her hand. “I like hanging out with you. Really. If you need anything, I’d like to help.”

For a moment, appreciation rose in Sam’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced with another unexpected emotion. Anger.

“You weren’t supposed to be nice,” Sam said. Evie frowned.

“What?”

“You were supposed to be mean. That’s what they said.” Sam glanced down the street, suddenly looking scared.

“Sam, what are you talking about?”

“Shut up,” she said quietly. She sounded a little panicked.

Feeling uneasy, Evie scanned the other tables until she spotted Flea lounging nearby. When he caught her eye, his lax posture vanished, and he sat up straighter, looking serious.

It was rare to see him serious.

“Sam, you’re kind of scaring me right now.”

Sam bit a nail, looking to be struggling with something. Then she took a deep breath and turned to Evie. “You have to go.”

Evie leaned back, surprised. Sam continued before she could say anything.

“They’re down the street, waiting for me to get up and leave. That’s their signal. Pretend you’re going to the bathroom and then go out the back. That way, they might not see you.”

“They?” Evie shook her head in confusion. “Who’s they ?”

“I don’t know exactly,” Sam said in a panicked whisper. “Scary guys. They found out I worked at the dance studio. That I ran into you there. They said they would pay for Rachel’s care if I got them you.”

Slow, horrible realization came over Evie at the words.

Sam had happened to appear at The Five-Leaf after she’d scared Evie at the studio.

Then later, she’d been on the phone, nervous about someone secret she was meeting with.

And she’d tried to get Evie to go with her to other places than the Chains-affiliated bar.

There was a reason all those things occurred. It was because she had a plan. She’d been hired to lure Evie out.

“You’re working for Varro.” Evie’s fear was mirrored in Sam’s eyes.

“I don’t know a Varro. I never got any names other than yours. Your real name, Evelyn Atkins. They said you were a stripper from New Orleans who ran out with a lot of money. They said they just wanted to talk to you and scare you into telling them where you stashed it.”

The world was going sideways. Evie’s sight was blurring.

“You brought me here for them,” Evie said, remembering how Sam had insisted they meet at this bar rather than The Five-Leaf. “You planned for them to take me.”

“I’m sorry, Evie. I didn’t know what else to do.” Sam’s face was wrought with guilt. “We don’t have any money. And I thought… They told me a bunch of things about you. They said you were selling drugs and that you were addicted. That that’s where all your scars came from.”

Evie hugged herself without thinking. Terror and panic rushed through her body, growing with every word Sam said.

He’d get her again. She should have known Varro would never stop trying to get her back. When Stefano attacked her in the apartment, he even said they’d sent humans to find her. She should have seen this coming.