Chapter 3
EvanAnn
“I’m not finished talking to you!”
The muffled voice wakes me. The arms around my center tighten, pulling me back against a warm body. I almost slip back into sleep.
“I’m going to bed.” Damon?
The night comes flooding back to me in technicolor detail. The party. Chase. Damon with Olivia. Being left. Hawk. Safe. I snuggle into Hawk and his breath huffs against my temple.
“Have you been drinking?” Adam asks. My room is pitch black. The door to the bathroom is closed, but the hallway light shines beneath my door. The voices come from the hallway.
“Of course not.” Damon’s voice moves down the hall.
“Then why would you get into a fight at a party? I thought I raised you to be smarter than that. Do I have to worry about your temper? Do you need to go back to therapy?”
“No.”
Damon got into a fight at the party? Was that after I left? How did his father find out? I hold my breath, waiting to hear more.
“I don’t know what to do with you.” Adam’s voice comes through the bathroom.
I give up on sleeping and sit up. What happened tonight? Hawk keeps his arm around my legs.
“What were you even fighting about?”
Nothing from Damon. I can imagine him standing there. The tic in his jaw when he doesn’t want to say anything twitching.
“First the accident, riding at night on a winding road, and now this.” Adam sounds almost sad. “I’m calling the therapist on Monday. You’re going to start weekly sessions again.”
“Whatever you want. It’s not like I have a choice in my own life.” Damon doesn’t raise his voice.
“I don’t know what to do with you. You need to take this seriously. You’re both eighteen. He could have filed assault charges.” Adam’s voice turns my blood cold. What did Damon do?
“He didn’t and he won’t.”
“Are you going to at least tell me why?” Adam sounds tired.
I hold my breath, waiting to hear the answer, but Damon remains silent.
“We’ll talk in the morning.” The door shuts and footsteps walk down the hallway away from us.
A shiver goes through me, but I don’t take my eyes off the bathroom door.
My heart throbs in my throat while my insides shrivel.
Part of me wants to confront Damon, knowing he probably won’t tell me anything either.
And the other part wants to sink into his arms and let him hold me.
Tonight was difficult.
He moves into the bathroom, and the shower turns on.
Damon
My jaw aches, and I just want to crash, but I turn on the water and see Evan’s clothes in the hamper. Her door is shut. I didn’t expect to find her in my bed, but when I opened the door and Dad followed me, I was worried she would be.
Soft and warm, waiting in my bed, because that’s where she belongs. My empty bed is a stark reminder that I fucked up. She never would have left with him if I hadn’t wanted to hurt her like she hurt me. Even though Evan wasn’t trying to hurt me, it didn’t sting any less.
My dad wasn’t happy to pick me up at the police station. He remained quiet until we came up here.
If it were only my father at home, he’d have kept me up to talk to me—or rather, at me.
But now that he has Heather, he’s eager to return to bed.
He’s not paying attention to what’s happening in his own house.
They haven’t noticed Evan sleeps in my bed, and there are no locks on the doors to the bathroom.
Maybe my dad’s actually in love this time. Maybe she could be it for him, but she’s nothing like my mom. My mom was smart, beautiful, and kind. She was the partner my father needed. No woman could ever take her place, and I’ll see to it Heather never does.
I strip down but glance at Evan’s door. Is she awake still? Did she hear all that? I burn with the need to go in and claim her. Need to make sure that asshole didn’t do anything to her.
But Olivia wears this cloying perfume that clings to me. I need it off me. Fuck, I fucked up. What if Evan is done with me after tonight?
Will the blackmail hold her to me?
I step into the shower and long for her soft skin brushing mine. Those wide eyes looking up at me as she sinks to her knees for me. Fuck, I stroke my cock a few times, but I don’t want to come to my memory of her.
Instead, I wash my body. I didn’t notice the soft click of the bathroom door, but when I turn, I meet Evan’s stormy eyes. She’s in a nightgown, sitting on the counter watching me. Her face is expressionless.
Her legs dangle with her bare feet tucked together. I turn off the shower and grab a towel, never dropping her gaze. When I step out, I hang my towel and glance toward the open door. Hawk’s asleep in Evan’s bed.
He rescued her. She wouldn’t have been out there if it wasn’t for me.
Of course, he’s her hero. He’s lucky he wasn’t at the party when it got busted. He’s the straight-A student, the fucking golden boy, heading to Ivy League in the fall. The guy my dad wishes I was. Hawk is good at hockey. Might even be able to land a deal by playing in college, but he’s not me.
I live hockey. Before Evan. Before that fucking accident. I could have been signing a deal right now to start playing professionally. Instead, I’m here, starting fights and trying to get into this girl’s pussy.
My cock twitches. It’s hard for her, and I’m not about to hide it. This girl has me.
I walk over to my sink and turn on the faucet, grabbing my toothbrush. She releases her breath, but remains quiet, watching me as I brush my teeth. There are bruises forming on her arm that I didn’t put there. My grip tightens on my toothbrush. I should have broken his nose.
After I wipe my mouth, she brushes the backs of her fingers over the bruise forming on my jaw. Her gaze lingers on it. I want to ask her what happened, but I’m afraid her answer will have me flying out of here to find Chase and put him in the ground. If he hurt her...
“Explain tonight, please?” Her voice is quiet and steady.
I lean into her touch for a moment, savoring it. “I had to prove a point to Olivia.”
Her hand drops into her lap. “What point was that?”
Fuck. I lower to my knees in front of her and rest my head on her lap. Her fingers thread through my hair.
“That you being on the back of my bike meant nothing.” I turn my head and kiss the inside of her knee.
Her fingers pause. “Why would it mean anything?”
“I don’t let girls ride on my bike.” I release my breath and massage her calves.
“You have a helmet.” She sounds confused.
“That never gets used.” I lift my gaze to meet hers. “I couldn’t let her decide you were competition. Olivia has been cruel to girls who liked me before.”
“Did you—” she cuts herself off and swallows.
“Never.”
She searches my eyes. “You were in a room with her.”
Her voice is steady, but her breath hitches.
“To prove a point.” I don’t drop my gaze.
“Did you?”
The only thing I proved was this girl has a hold on me I’ve never felt before. “We went into that room, and the only girl I could think about was you.”
She searches my eyes, confused.
“Did you kiss her?” Her fingers hesitate in my hair.
“No, little devil.”
“Did you touch her?” Her fingers sink into the strands and tighten.
“No.”
“Did she touch you or kiss you?”
A wary smile crosses my lips. “No, little devil.”
She breathes out, and some of the tension eases from her.
I slide my hands up to the backs of her knees and massage. Her breath catches and her eyes widen.
“Tell me what happened, Evan.” I need to know.
She blows out a breath and looks away from me, taking those eyes, shutting me out. “Chase was aggressive tonight. You saw the kiss I couldn’t stop if I tried. I don’t know why he was like that.”
“We’ve been circling you.” It makes sense. “He wanted to stake his claim.”
“Who did you fight?” Her fingers trail down to my jaw. Her gaze follows her fingertips.
I don’t answer, instead I rest my head in her lap. “Did he hurt you?”
“No.” Her fingers stroke through my hair, and some of that tension inside unwinds. “He scared me, and I ran into the woods. He didn’t chase me because he was afraid of injuring his knee.”
I inhale her woodsy scent and kiss the soft skin on the inside of her thigh.
“What do we do now?” she asks.
I stand and lift her against me. “We go to sleep and figure out our plan in the morning.”
When I move toward my bed, she pulls on my hair.
“Hawk,” she says.
I glance over my shoulder at him sleeping in her bed. I say his name louder, and he jerks awake. His sleepy eyes meet mine. I nod my head toward my room, and he pushes up.
I don’t bother with boxers but lay Evan down and crawl into bed next to her, gathering her against me. She curls into me. So much shit happened tonight. I just want to hold her and know she’s safe in my arms, in my bed.
Hawk climbs in beside Evan. “What happened?”
“Party got busted. Cops took us to the station. Cam’s dad picked him up before my dad arrived.”
Hawk puts his hand on Evan’s hip and slides up next to her. “He was drunk when I left.”
“He was still drunk at the station.” I slide my hand on Evan’s waist and meet Hawk’s eyes. “There will be consequences from tonight.”
Evan’s gaze tips up to me. “I didn’t—”
“Not you, little devil.” I brush my lips against hers. That longing to sink into her and claim her presses on the back of my mind. But she’s been through a lot, and tonight isn’t the night to push. “We’ll all have consequences from our actions.”
She rests her head against my chest, and her breath blows across my skin.
“Annie doesn’t want to be alone with Chase,” Hawk says. “She told him she knows about his cheating.”
“I broke up with him.” She trembles in my arms. I wish I’d fucking killed him.
“We need to talk tomorrow. Figure out how to handle all this, but for now, we need to sleep. We have a scrimmage in the morning.”