Save Yourself by H.G. Lynch Page A

switching on. I’d noticed his eyes changed with his mood. When I’d been with him at his flat, his eyes had been a dark, rich indigo. When he’d been teasing me in the garage, his eyes had been a playful violet colour. There in the sandwich shop, his eyes were light, more grey than purple.
    I wondered what that signified. Whatever it meant, my body had clearly decided it meant sex because the longer he stared at me wordlessly, the hotter I felt. I grabbed my bottle of Pepsi and took a swig of the cold, fizzy drink to cool myself off.
    Brogan frowned at me and flicked his eyes away before asking abruptly, “Why did you alibi me out yesterday?”
    Ah, there we go , I thought. I shrugged casually, although I felt anything but casual. “Maybe I just felt like I owed you a favour. You were very…generous…last Friday.” I smirked, hoping he wouldn’t see my blush.
    His eyes narrowed, turning a darker grey, and he suddenly reached across the table and pinned my hand down under his. I started in surprise, but he didn’t let go.
    He locked his gaze heavily on me and said quietly, “No, I want the truth, Kester.” He said my name in a whisper, his tongue caressing the r.
    Taken off-guard by his seriousness, I stammered for a moment, unable to focus. “I…um…well…” I shook my head to clear it and looked away. “Honestly? I don’t really know why I did it. I just…I know I don’t know you that well, but I just didn’t believe you could be a murderer, and I know Hartley. I’ve met him before, when he worked on one of my cases with Leighton, and he’s a real hard-ass. I didn’t want him ripping you apart, you know, if you didn’t do anything wrong.”
    After all that, Brogan was silent. I glanced at him nervously to see his reaction, but his expression was unreadable. Slowly, he pulled his hand away from mine and folded his arm, tipping his chin down to scowl thoughtfully at the remains of his sandwich. He stayed like that, silently brooding, for ten minutes.
    Eventually, I cleared my throat and started to stand. “Um, if that’s all you wanted to know, I should probably—”
    He looked up suddenly, eyes wide, and said, “No. I mean, please, stay. I…I’ve got a couple more questions.”
    I hesitated, though I didn’t know why. Maybe it was the confused look in his eyes as if he wasn’t sure exactly why I wanted to leave. Truthfully, I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay and sit with him, more questions or not. I liked the thrill of just being near him. That was why I had to leave. The more time I spent with him, the more time I craved with him. I had to cut this thing off at the bud before it grew into something I couldn’t control.
    At that moment, my phone rang, saving me from having to make a decision. Gratefully, I took it from my pocket and glanced at the screen. It was Evie. I held up a finger to Brogan. “I’ve got to get this. I’ll just be a minute.”
    I wandered across the room into the female toilets, where it was quiet, before answering. “Hey, Evie, what’s up?”
    Immediately, I heard her sniffling, and her voice croaked, “I just broke up with James.”
    I closed my eyes, hurting for her. It was her third break-up in the last six months, and every time, it wrecked her. Evie desperately wanted someone to love her, but she kept picking all the wrong guys.
    “Oh, Evie,” I sighed sympathetically. “What did he do wrong?”
    She sniffled again, and I could tell she was trying not to cry. “You know I stayed at his place last night, right? Well, this morning, he kept trying to get me to leave, and I got suspicious. So I left, but I hung around, you know, outside his building. And a little while after I left, this girl went in, and I got a feeling, so I followed her up and she stopped outside James’s door. I saw him let her in, Kez, and…”
    She choked on a sob, and my heart cracked. Her voice wobbled as she went on. “I g-got angry, so I barged in after her and found