Halfway to the restroom a knock shook her front door. The pounding of her heart was enough to make her pass out. There was no way a heart could beat so hard without eventually stopping. That knock sounded angry, like something one would see on
COPS
before they busted a door down.
Evelyn ran to the door and swung it open, afraid the neighbors would start coming out if it happened again. One look into his face and she fainted, again.
Male voices echoed in the distance. Her heavy eyes flew open, and she bolted to her feet. Big mistake. She rocked back, but she caught herself before she fell. Stephen—he was the one at her door.
“I told you she was fine. Now do you think you can leave?” Stephen barked.
Evelyn turned around to see Brandon not a foot behind her. “Evelyn, are you all right? Who the hell is this guy, anyway? He’s not the one you were going to see last night, is he?” Brandon asked, looking at Stephen with disgust.
Like something was pushing on her chest, her breath came out uneven. The room felt like it was tilting. “Brandon, it’s fine. No, he’s not the one I was going to see. This is the other one I told you about last night. This is Stephen. Stephen, this is Brandon. Now, you both are properly introduced. Don’t say I didn’t do a good deed for the day.” Evelyn cleared her throat, trying to get a grip on her voice.
She left both of them there in the middle of the living room while she put on a pot of coffee and got her thoughts into focus. This wasn’t going to be good. Something deep in her gut told her not to let Brandon leave. She couldn’t be alone with Stephen. If he tried anything, not that he would, but if he did, she was done for. Fuck, she needed some caffeine.
“Evey, tell him he can leave. I really need to talk to you.”
Evelyn peered around the kitchen and looked toward Stephen. He looked the same: blond hair; big blue eyes; and a body to mold herself against. Intrigued, she looked back and forth between the two men. Brandon was actually better-looking than Stephen, but not by much.
“Brandon’s not going anywhere, Stephen. He knows everything anyway, so go ahead and say what you need to say and then you can go.” It came out more of a whisper than anything. She had to salvage what little sound she had left.
Cockily, Brandon sat down on the couch and gave Evelyn a reassuring smile. Trying not to be too noticeable, she smiled and looked toward the man who had torn her heart to shreds. What in the hell could he possibly want after all this time?
“Evey…”
“Don’t call me that anymore. You lost that right when you broke things off. Plus, I never really liked being called that to begin with.” It was a lie. She loved that he had given her that name. But at the moment, she couldn’t stomach it. It made things worse. The need to go to him was almost uncontrollable. Damn, she’d missed him, and she hated it. What was it about him that kept her holding on?
“Evelyn, I’m sorry,” he said, taking a few steps forward. “There’s something we need to talk about. I…miss you. I’ve been alone for the last two months trying to figure out a way to get you to forgive me. I’ve screwed up really bad. Things are not what they seem.
“I’d do anything to change the past. We can leave for Vegas right now and get married. I knew you never wanted a big wedding; I’m sorry I pushed the issue before.”
Evelyn was shocked into stillness. Had she just heard what she thought she had? As much as she had prayed to someday hear those words, something didn’t sit well. Her head swung in the direction of Brandon, who was sitting ramrod straight on the leather couch. He looked as tense as she felt.
“You don’t have to tell me anything right now. Just know that I want you back. You’ll never know how much regret I have for breaking things off. I love you, Evey. Things were complicated then. Please say you’ll at least forgive me.”
A tear spilled down her cheek, and she had never hated herself more. Weakness was something she didn’t like to show, especially to Stephen. She didn’t like giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he had damaged her as much as he had.
“Evelyn, I’m sorry. Please don’t cry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. I know I shouldn’t have said anything about marriage yet, but just seeing you again, it slipped out. For so long, I’ve thought of this moment and, fuck, I’ve missed you beyond words.”
Stephen pulled her tightly into his arms. Repulsed, she pushed away when her cheek rubbed against the hardness of his chest. She hated how the closeness affected her. His smell, his touch, it was everything that she had been longing for. It was the whole reason she gave her body so freely to men. She had longed to find a piece of Stephen in them.
Even though she wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms and cry a river, something still felt off. “Stephen, I think you should go. I can’t think right now.”
The moment he took a step back, a pain stabbed into her chest. This, Evelyn was used to. She didn’t so much as flinch. How had the pain become so familiar that she could completely keep her composure and mask any sign?
“All right, I’m leaving. Just so you know… I really do still love you. You know how to get in touch with me. Call dispatch if you want me to come back over so we can talk. I’ll be at work in two hours. I really hope you call.”
With her eyes, Evelyn followed him out the door. It took all of ten seconds before she fell to her knees and let the tears come. What in the hell had just happened? Why now, after all of this time?
Chapter 9
Brandon’s hand rubbed her back, and eventually he lifted her and set her in his lap as he sat on the couch. “Evelyn, are you all right? Do you need me to get you anything?”
Her eyes felt swollen; her throat was on fire. Not to mention her wavy hair was knotted to shit. There was no denying that she was a complete and utter mess. All of that didn’t matter. She was more messed up on the inside than the outside. Now
that
she would bet on.
“Coffee,” she managed to say before hiccups took over.
Mentally exhausted, she rubbed her sore eyes and watched Brandon enter her kitchen. “Hey, how did you know to come over here?” Why hadn’t she thought to ask that before? What was Brandon doing here?
The laugh that came from the kitchen made delicious chills go down her spine. “I came over to check on you. You were gone when I woke up. That’s when I saw your door open and some strange man looming over you. I almost killed him. I thought with you on the ground and unconscious…well, what was I supposed to think? Why did you leave?”
Evelyn watched as he stood pouring coffee into one of the coffee mugs resting on a white towel on the counter. She couldn’t help but shift uneasily on the couch.
“Staying the night with someone is so personal. I just don’t do it. I’m sorry. It’s nothing against you. I just have rules that I go by. It helps…me.”
Here she was, once again spilling her guts out to this man. Poor guy. Lord only knew what he must think of her. Why he kept coming back was beyond any conclusions she could come up with. Maybe he was a glutton for punishment.
“Do you take cream or sugar?”
Evelyn stood, walking to her cabinets. There was only one way she liked her coffee: a lot of cream and a little sugar. Brandon poured his, leaving it black. Stephen liked his coffee black. With that thought, she turned and, walking to the couch, felt him follow.
“So, do you know what you’re going to do about Steve?”
A giggle escaped her mouth. “It’s Stephen. If you call him Steve, prepare to duck—he might just hit you. He hates being called that. Don’t ask me why, I never found out.”
“I’ll remember that,” he said, grinning wickedly.
“Behave, Brandon. The last thing I want is any drama. I seem to accumulate that all on my own.”
“No kidding. What is that, three now?”
Evelyn’s eyebrows came together. “Three, what do you mean?” She raised her hand, getting his meaning. Three, Jesus! “Yes, now I have three of you to deal with. Shit, what in the hell am I going to do?”
Brandon set down his coffee cup and rested his head in her lap. It took everything she had not to spill her coffee on him. “What in the hell are you doing?”
He nuzzled his head against her thighs and lower stomach like a big cat or dog. It was rather distracting. She couldn’t form a single thought besides pushing his head deeper between her thighs. It was unnerving.
“Relax, Evelyn, just play with my hair. I like the way it feels.”
Caught off guard, she laughed. Of all the damn things he liked, he would pick his hair being played with? It might have been just her, but he seemed a little masculine to like something so feminine. Oh well, who was she to judge someone on his or her like or dislikes. She made bets on sex, for crying out loud.
Besides all of that, did she really want to be stroking some man’s hair whom she had just met the day before? Evelyn had never had a guy order her around. Why was she starting now?
“Umm, Brandon, that’s a little intimate, don’t you think?”
“Come on, Evelyn, I asked you to play with my hair, not marry me. Not yet, anyway.” He laughed.
That was the second time marriage had come up in fifteen minutes. What in the hell was with everyone and that word today? Thoughts consumed her, Stephen, Bill, and Brandon, all in such a short time. Shit, what had she gotten herself into now? Surely none of the other girls had this much trouble in life.
Evelyn hesitated while she thought through what had just happened. She hadn’t even realized that while she was thinking, her fingers had grown a mind of their own and were playing with the silky softness of his hair.
Snapping herself out of her thoughts, she looked down at Brandon’s closed eyes. He had such a peaceful look on his face. She smiled and, continuing to let his hair run through her fingers, studied how it was possible that every feature on his face was absolutely perfect. No one was this beautiful.
“I really need a shower, Brandon. There’s nothing more that I would love to do than sit here and play the lover all day, but I have things I need to do.”
Golden eyes fluttered open as bright as the sun. It was breathtaking. All she could do was stare. Every part of her body was immobile. She felt like she was sinking into a bright tunnel, being sucked down slowly but surely. It didn’t scare her, quite the opposite. He could have asked anything of her and she would have done it.
“Would you like for me to join you in the shower?”
Blinking rapidly, she broke the stare. Every pore on her body tingled, begging her to give them attention. Fuck.
Here we go again.
Somehow she forced her mouth open and said the opposite of what her mind was screaming.
“Not today. I don’t have the kind of time that entails.”
“You need to go see your other lover.”
He said it more as a statement than a question, but she answered him anyway. “He’s not my lover. It was just a onetime thing. But, yes, I need to go and see him. If for anything, I need to at least return his key.”
“Will you have sex with him? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I was just curious.”
Evelyn thought for a moment. “I’m not sure. I won’t make any promises.”
“Do you never lie?”
Brandon lifted his head to look at her better. She shifted on the couch, unsure exactly what he was trying to get out of knowing. It was a very simple question, yet she felt like it held so much more meaning than the words he spoke. It was a test, or at least it felt like one.
“I try not to lie. I would never say never, but I can’t remember the last time I came out and said a lie to anyone’s face. I’m not like that. I tell the truth as much as possible. Lies only cause unneeded problems.”
Silence surrounded them, and then slowly Brandon nodded his head. Was he expecting her to say she never lied and never would? Well, if she had to, there was no doubt in her mind that she wouldn’t hesitate. It wouldn’t be for herself, but maybe for her friends if they needed her protection.