The Dog, The Baby and The Criminal

Chapter 20

Evangeline

I woke up feeling the most rested I'd felt in a long time. I looked at the alarm clock next to the bed, it was early morning, 5.54am, but I had still slept for 11 hours so it didn't bother me much.

I'd half expected to be woken up by the baby monitor Dominic had put in my room in case he couldn't get to Nathaniel during the night, but when I looked at it I realised it had been turned off, not by me either, meaning Dominic had actually came into my room to turn it off.

I turned away from the monitor and alarm clock and decided the best way to spend my peaceful morning would be by being buried under the duvet, staring at the ceiling for a little while longer. It was strange being undisturbed, I was used to having paws tapping at me, or getting sloppy kisses. Milo had been my own personal alarm clock for so long, it would be strange never having him wake me up, or spending my lazy mornings cuddled up with a big ball of fur.

My peace was short lived as I heard a knock at my door, expecting it to be Dominic I yelled for them to come in, sitting myself up in the bed and rubbing my eyes, adjusting as the light was switched on. I turned towards the door, shocked as Luke walked into the room, dressed way more casual than I had seen him in a red hoody and black joggers.

"Luke?" I asked, my voice groggy since I had just woken up.

"Did I wake you?" He asked.

"No, I've been awake a few minutes" I told him, turning to look at him, smiling as I seen the two mugs of coffee in his hand. "Is one of them for me?"

"Yeah, do you mind if I sit?" he nodded towards the edge of the bed.

"Not at all" I said, sitting up properly, slightly confused why Luke, of all people, would want to sit with me, in my bed, with coffee, at 6am.

"Can I help you?" I asked as politely as I could, although I realised that there was no way to make that question not sound rude.

He chuckled sitting down crossed legged at the bottom of my bed, passing me my mug of coffee. I took a sip, feeling giddy, I hadn't had a coffee in over a week and he had somehow managed to get it exactly right, one sugar, plenty of milk.

"I like you, Evie" he said in a matter of fact way. I started spluttering and coughing as I choked on my coffee. He reached up, grabbing my coffee out of my hands before I could spill it on the cream sheets.

"What?!" I whisper-yelled, too shocked to say anything else.

He called me Evie. I hadn't been called Evie since-

"Jesus, Evie, not like that!" he whisper-yelled back. "Dominic would cut off my dick if I did, if anyone did if we're being honest." he muttered that last part, I chose not to respond and just stared at him instead, it was far too early to be talking about feelings and men's bits being cut off, or whatever the hell he was talking about.

"You called me Evie" I scowled at him, only people I liked called me that.

"Dominic told me people you like can call you Evie" he told me in a duh tone.

Bold of him to assume I liked him, I barely knew the guy.

"I don't know you well enough to like you" I told him, pulling the duvet right up to my chin. He gasped, holding his hand to his chest dramatically as he faked a heart attack. I laughed, the sound being strange to my ears.

"I'm going to pretend that you just said you don't like me, because I brought you coffee in bed so that makes me loveable" he said that whole sentence as serious as ever and I couldn't stop myself from giggling more.