Always and Forever || Evan Buckley || 9-1-1 (Book 3)

T-E-N

    That situation yesterday has caused an incredible fear in me. A fear of Ian, which by the looks of it, I was still dealing with right now after all this time.

"That's right. Mufasa was at the Greek Theater." Chimney jested.

We were currently on our way to downtown Los Angeles after getting a call about some animals that escaped from the zoo and attacked civilians thanks to the ransomware. Something that clearly has Evan all shaken up because he hasn't gotten rid of the worried look he had permanently on his face. Neither has he stopped questioning our Captain about the whole situation since we left the station.

"No, I don't think you guys are hearing me. Okay, this is not me and Eddie bagging a Turkey in South Pasadena. What-what gear do we even bring? You know, they have serious predators at the L. A. Zoo. A snow leopard. A Sumatran tiger." Evan restated for the millionth time, making everyone roll their eyes at him.

"He takes Christopher and Maia there all the time. Got the place memorized." Eddie explained. By the tone of his voice, I could tell that he was mocking his best friend.

"I bet you were so much fun in school, Buck. East Coast, how did you manage to fall in love with this individual? Dear Lord." Chimney shook his head, giving Evan an annoyed look.

The whole thing made me want to laugh and join in the teasing, but my head was too preoccupied with the idea of Ian being back.

Those anonymous flowers I got on my birthday kept haunting my thoughts, figuring out who they were from. And after dad explained to me that the court must always inform Ian of any new address I have due to the restraining order, I was starting to grow more sure that those flowers were from him.

He was back and ready to cause more unwanted chaos in my life.

I felt something tap on my left thigh. As I looked down at it, I saw it was Evan's fingers. Following his hand, I looked up at his face noticing him taking his headset off before leaning towards me.

Before I had time to remove my own, he pulled the left side of my headset and leaned closer. "You okay?" He whispered loud enough for only me to hear. His breath caused my skin to react with tiny goosebumps.

I nodded in response, giving him a thumbs-up before I continued to look out the window.

There was no need to admit to him that I was torturing myself with the idea of my abuser being back in my life. Whether I liked it or not, Evan knew me too well, so if he were smart enough, he would put two and two together.

Unluckily for me, if he did put together what was going on with me, he would not drop it just like he hasn't dropped the fact that Eddie had to go to the hospital after his panic attack.

I felt Evan resting his hand between us where mine was. Slowly, his fingers traced delicate patterns on the inside of my wrist where the mark of my band throbbed. I felt an urge to pull my hand away, but I couldn't deny that the gesture calmed my intrusive thoughts.

Sensing my tensed hand, Evan started to pull away, but I quickly turned my hand around and gripped his, linking our fingers together.

This was another stupid move from me, but right now, he was the only person that understood what I was going through.