Recover Me Read online

  “Bishop!” she cried.

  “So good,” he moaned. “I could eat you every night.”

  He pushed another finger inside and took her little clit between his teeth, sucking hard.

  “Bishop, please!” she begged. “I need…”

  “I know what you need, baby. I want to give it to you. Let go, Evelyn. Come for me.”

  He licked up and down, driving his tongue in and over her clit. He played with her body until she tightened beneath him and he could feel her quivering around his fingers. He blew against her and immediately she broke apart.

  He had never seen anything more sensual, more desirable, than Evelyn in the throes of bliss. When her body finally relaxed and she sagged back onto the blanket, he eased up his torment but he didn’t withdraw from her body.

  Putting his hands under her knees, he pushed back her legs and scooted up until they hung over his arms. Then he dropped his head over her wet pussy and began his attack anew. He flicked her clit in quick, repetitive motions, making her scream in pleasure. Her cream ran and he lapped it up. He sucked on the little bundle of nerves and she splintered apart again. She tasted so damn good and he loved having her come apart in his arms. Damned if he wanted to stop.

  When she collapsed, he finally pulled back and let go of her legs, wiping his face on the blanket. He was so fucking hard that it was actually painful to kneel in such a position since his dick was hard as steel. Yet when he glanced at Evelyn, she lay passed out. Despite how uncomfortable he was, it made him feel mighty damn good that he was able to drive her into oblivion. He wanted to puff out his chest and pound it like a goddamn gorilla. However, it did fuck-all for his hard-on. Letting out a painful groan, he rose and headed toward her bathroom where he did mathematics in his head to get his body under control. He splashed cold water on his face and once his cock had deflated some, he left the bathroom. For a moment, he stood by the bed and studied Evie as she slumbered in an orgasmic high, fully aware what he was doing was slightly creepy. But something about her mesmerized him.

  Her taste, her pleasure, it seemed so familiar, and that shook him to his core. There was something about this slip of a girl who had gotten under his skin in a matter of days. It freaked him the hell out, and he wasn’t a man who spooked easily. He ran a hand through his short strands of hair in agitation. He couldn’t deal with this. Not now, and maybe not ever.

  Without looking back, Bishop left her house, making sure the front door was locked behind him.

  ****

  Dark water surrounded her, as far as the eye could see. She swam against the surging tide, fighting the current that threatened to drag her under. Panic drained her strength, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could fight to stay afloat. If she could just move, swim a little further, she could find land. Reach safety and then … then find the life she wanted so desperately to live. To be Eva-Ann and be with John. Why did everyone tell her that was the wrong thing to feel? It was her life, wasn’t it? She wasn’t hurting anyone. If she chose to live in an alternate reality, what business was it of anyone else?

  The muscles in her arms burned. Her legs began to cramp. And just when she began to slip under the surface, her toes touched land. Relief filled her, and she used the last of her energy to push forward and fall onto sand. As she tried to catch her breath, she looked around the darkened island. Except for the crashing waves breaking over the beach, she was completely alone.

  “John?”

  Where was he?

  She spun around, but he wasn’t there. No desert. No mine. No John. She looked down at herself and saw Evie’s body.

  No Eva-Ann.

  She screamed.

  ****

  Evie sat up in her bed, screaming. Tears streamed down her face. It was gone. Her connection with Eva-Ann had been severed. Panicked, Evie jumped out of bed and tore up her bedroom once more, looking for pills. Even though she’d searched earlier, she kept praying she had overlooked a bag. But the outcome hadn’t changed. She had nothing.

  Her hands shook as she made her way from her bedroom to the phone, where she dialed a number she knew by heart. As she waited for the connection to click through, she scratched her skin, which felt like a thousand ants were swarming up and down.

  “Hello?” a deep male voice answered.

  “I need some,” she whispered.

  A slight pause, then, “Evie?”

  “Yes. Please. I need only a couple.”

  The man sighed. “You haven’t paid in full from last time.”

  “I know,” she said. “But please. Anything. I need them.”

  He snickered. “Be careful how you fling that word around. Okay. This one time, I’ll continue to extend you a line of credit. But you’ll have to pay in full in three days. Got it?”

  She shivered and scratched at her skin even more. “Y-yes.”

  “All right. You have a deal.”

  “Okay. In the usual spot at the casino?”

  “No. There’s a boarded-up hotel on Fourth and Charleston. Use the side door off the alley to get inside. I’ll meet you there.”

  Even in her pain-filled head this didn’t sound very safe. “Why can’t we meet in the usual place?”

  “Because I said so, Evie. Look if you don’t want the pills you can look elsewhere. But I’ve recently come across some great stuff. Ever heard of a Businessman’s Special?”

  “No. Listen, I just want some sleeping pills.”

  “This is the best, don’t you worry.”

  She hesitated for a moment, until the man made an impatient sound.

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll meet you there.”

  The link went dead as the call ended. Hurrying to her room, she dressed quickly and then called for a lift. She may not know how she was going to get the money, but right then she didn’t care. All she wanted was her sleeping pill.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Are you sure you want to go here?” the taxi driver asked as he glided to a stop in front of a rundown, boarded-up two-story hotel. Downtown Las Vegas was a mixed bag, with bright lights and party seekers on the popular Freemont Street, while vagrants, prostitutes, and thugs hung out among many condemned buildings just a few feet away.

  “Yes,” Evie said shakily. A distant headache knocked behind her eyes, reminding her that she needed her pills soon.

  “Want me to wait?”

  Part of her wanted to say yes, but she didn’t know how long this was going to take.

  “Um, no. I’m meeting someone.”

  She handed over the money she owed and exited the taxi. Taking a deep breath, and ignoring the little voice inside that told her this was a bad idea, she headed around to the alley and the door that led inside.

  The pungent stench of urine hit her nose as she ducked through the broken door. The only light trickling in came from one window socket where the flashing brightness of a nearby casino gave a two-tone effect. Broken boards, debris, and trash settled around the floor, covered in dust and dirt.

  “I can’t believe you ignored me at the fight.”

  Evie spun around and saw Craig Brogan emerging from the shadows. Even in the darkened room his smirk was obvious.

  “Chris was with me,” she replied. “What was I supposed to do? You told me to never tell anyone who you were.”

  “Nah, I get it,” he said, shrugging. “But hurt my feelings, is all.”

  She didn’t know what else to say. They never really had conversations, just simple transactions where she handed him money and he handed her pills.

  “C-can I have the medicine?” she asked.

  He pursed his lips and he looked her up and down. “You just got here. Want to leave so soon?”

  She held out her hand. “Please, Craig.”

  Any pleasantness he showed disappeared instantly, and she shivered a little from the darkness that descended over his face. He held up a plastic baggie with round pink pills.

  “You owe me a lot of money, Evie,” he said.


  She reached for the baggie. “You told me three days.”

  “Yeah, well, here’s the thing. I don’t think you’ll be able to get the money, and then I’m out this payment.”

  His free hand grabbed her arm and held tight.

  “I told you I’d get it,” she said, trying to tug her arm free. “What are you doing?”

  “I think I need a down payment on our agreement.” He clamped his fingers tighter on her arm and pulled on it, trying to bring her closer. “So I figured we’ll renegotiate our terms.”

  Evie tried to twist her arm out of his grip. “Let me go. I don’t agree to this!”

  Finally, he yanked her body against his. “You want the pills, bitch? You’ll do as I say and do whatever I want, got it?”

  Fear blossomed through her and she struggled against him, but that only seemed to add to his excitement. He thrust his hips against her and his hard dick poked her stomach. It made her want to vomit. He dropped the baggie of pills to control her and as much as she tried to break free, she couldn’t compete with his strength. In desperation, Evie reached up and brought her nails down the side of his face, scratching a deep divot into his skin. Blood instantly welled up and his screech of pain was more like music to her ears.

  “You bitch!” he screamed. “You’re gonna pay for that!”

  He brought his fist up and punched her across her jaw. Pain exploded, and she fell down hard, landing on her side. Her hand brushed against a piece of broken wood. Craig bent over to grab his face as blood oozed down his cheek to splash against the floor.

  “I’m going to kill you,” he muttered through his fingers.

  Fighting against the agony that gripped her, Evie grabbed the wood and got to her feet. She lifted the board high and brought it down over his head. Craig fell flat and lay unmoving. Evie threw the piece of wood away and ran, her mind completely blank except with the one thought of escape. Her heart thundered so loudly she heard it in her ears, drowning out everything else as panic caused her stomach to queasily roll. Out through the alley door, and back to the street, she didn’t stop running until a horn blared and caught her attention.

  It was the concerned taxi driver who had brought her here. The man bounded out of his car and hurried toward her. She sagged in his arms.

  “Jesus, let me take you to the hospital.”

  “No!” she said, struggling to stand. “I just need to go home.”

  The man hesitated.

  “Please,” she whispered. “I just want to forget about this place.”

  He helped her into his car and moments later they were on her way back to her house. She leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and cried.

  Chapter Twelve

  Evie groaned as light stabbed through her closed eyelids, causing a headache to bloom. She was hot, sweating profusely, which didn’t help her situation. Nausea rose sharply, and she bolted upright, practically falling out of bed to get to her toilet in time before the bile in her stomach upchucked. The acidity burned as it came up her esophagus, causing even more pain as her body began to shake uncontrollably. Where she’d been burning up just a few seconds ago, now a chill settled over her skin, causing goosebumps to break out. She collapsed on the floor and curled into a fetal position as tears ran down her face. Misery coated every inch, inside and out, and all she wanted to do was die.

  Surely death doesn’t feel as horrible as this.

  How long she lay there, she didn’t know, alternating between shivering and burning. She floated in and out of reality, waking up in small bursts to lean over the toilet and dry heave. Vaguely, she knew the symptoms were withdrawal from the pills she’d relied so heavily on for the past year and a half. When the doctors had tried taking her off the milder forms of sleeping tablets, she’d turned to less legal means of obtaining them. It hadn’t been hard to find Craig Brogan, especially when her brother worked with him.

  Memories of last night with Craig brought a whole new wave of misery, along with new aches and a burning pain in her jaw. Through bleary eyes, she saw the bruises around her wrist and suddenly an ugly picture began to paint in her mind as the word addict danced through her head. Was this the person she was turning into? Her brother had mentioned it a time or two, but she’d always dismissed it. Truth be known, it would be so easy to return to the cycle she’d been existing in since the fall had turned her life upside down. It would be so simple, so peaceful, to tumble back into that behavior. To find Eva-Ann and John once more and join them in the purgatory they seemed trapped in, because nothing made any sense to her anymore.

  It didn’t take much to think of Bishop. He’d been the catalyst of John’s personification and her increased need to find out what happened. Did she really live a past life? Or had the recollections simply been a way for her brain to heal? Vivid thoughts her mind conjured up in order to put her life into some perspective? Part of her didn’t want to let go, didn’t want the journey to end, because she didn’t want to lose John. But another part of her knew she couldn’t continue on this path. She couldn’t go on, and she couldn’t go back to how things used to be. The Evelyn Duncan she’d been before the accident was gone. The question was who was she going to be now?

  Where did Eva-Ann fit into all this?

  The fear she might be developing a multiple personality disorder truly frightened her, with Eva-Ann leading the charge, and Evie finally admitted to herself that she needed help. The scope of what was happening to her was bigger than what she could deal with and the experience with Craig sealed her decision. She’d been without her pills for almost forty-eight hours, when she’d relied on them five or six times a day, and she wanted to claw her skin off, yet her brain was trying to point out this wasn’t normal. This was addiction. And this was bad.

  She tried to think logically, but any rational decisions weren’t getting very far through the haze blanketing her mind. She couldn’t even move. So when Chris started calling for her, she slapped the bathroom floor to alert him that she needed help.

  “Jesus!” he cried as he came into the bathroom. “Evie! What the hell?”

  “H-help me,” she whispered.

  “I will,” he said, soothingly. His hand felt cool against her heated skin. “Shit, where’d all these bruises come from? Did someone hit you?”

  She whimpered.

  “Shh, it’s okay. I’m right here.”

  He picked her up, and she had the sense of flying, although it wasn’t a pleasant sensation. More like free falling off a roller coaster, and her stomach protested. She breathed through it, and swallowed down the gathering saliva in her mouth that signaled she might vomit again.

  She must have blacked out, because the next thing she knew, her eyelids were being raised one at a time as a light shown in them. She tried to bat away the annoying light, but her hand was gently taken and laid back down at her side.

  “Hold on, Evie,” a strange male voice said. “We’re going to get you some help, okay?”

  She didn’t even bother to nod. She simply floated back into the darkness that lingered around the edges. The next time she woke, she was lying in a bed. The smell of antiseptic tickled her nose. Darkness bathed the room with only a trickle of light coming from under the door. An IV dripped into her arm as a light beep rhythmically pulsed through her head. Chris dozed in a chair that had been pulled close to the bed.

  “Chris,” she said, surprised her voice sounded as strong as it did. Her throat hurt a little, but she wasn’t as thirsty as she expected.

  Her brother immediately opened his eyes, and he sat up to lean closer. “Hey, you okay? You need anything?”

  “Where am I?”

  “Hospital. You’re hooked up to fluids, which I heard are the cure of hangovers.”

  “If only I had been drunk,” she said dryly.

  “Yeah, well, the vomiting was the same.”

  She grimaced then sighed. “I need help, Chris.”

  “I know. So does the hospital.”

  She figur
ed. “Are they going to commit me?”

  “Yeah, if you refuse to go voluntarily into rehab.”

  “Okay. Probably for the best. I’m not very pretty right now, and I’m not talking about looks.”

  “I know.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I need to ask you something, Evie. I need to know what caused the bruises. Your doctor is convinced you were attacked.”

  She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, letting the raw emotions sweep through until tears trailed down her face. It was time to confess and it made her anxious. Depressed. She’d lied to her brother and the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint him.

  “Evie,” he continued, the timber of his voice going low and fearful. “There was blood under your nails. The nurses taking care of you collected it. Were you, um, ra—”

  “No,” she answered quickly, knowing where the question was headed. “But I, ah, I do have something to tell you.”

  He took her hand.

  She cleared her throat of the tears clogging it. “I have been taking too many sleeping pills. I want them more and more. And I got them from someone you know.”

  Chris tensed.

  “H-he tried to hurt me … was it last night? Jesus, I don’t even know if it’s day or night,” she whispered. “He wanted a different kind of payment since I didn’t have money.”

  “Who?”

  “If I’d been in withdrawal a little worse I wouldn’t have been able to fight him off.”

  “Who, Evie?”

  “I don’t want to be like that, Chris. I don’t want to be the addict who resorts to using her body to get a fix.”

  “Damn it! Who the fuck is it?”

  “Craig.”

  Betrayal flashed through his eyes. Chris surged to his feet and began to pace.