Chapter 48
EVELINA
“Someone order a lavender-mocha frappa-nightmare?”
I grin, whirling and then squealing as I almost tackle Val to the ground with the force of my hug.
“You’re back!!”
He chuckles, hugging me awkwardly as he juggles the two to-go cups.
“Back in black, baby,” he grins, winking at me. “Here.”
My eyes light up as he hands me one of the cups. “Oh my God,” I groan. “You know how much I love these.”
He snorts. “I also know Milena has banned you from drinking them because they’re full of sugar and caffeine, which do not play well with you.”
I giggle.
“So, if she sees that, and she asks, you did not get it from me.”
My lips pull into a wide grin. “Deal.” I take a sip of the hot drink and groan. “OhMyGodddd that is so freaking good. Right?”
“Oh, this?” Val makes a face, lifting his to-go cup. “No, babygirl. This is black coffee. You know, because I’m a grown up?”
I give him the finger, and he cracks up before he slings a muscled arm around my shoulders. “I fuckin’ missed you, Evie.”
We’re the first ones in the alley behind the Mercury, where the dancers congregate before rehearsal, because we agreed to meet early to catch up.
“So how was the trip? How was the Grand Canyon? How was everything?! TELL ME EVERYTHING!!!”
“Dude,” he grins. “One sip and you’re already the fucking energizer bunny. I can see why Milena put her foot down on these.”
“Oh, fuck you.”
He chuckles as we both sit on the bottom step of the black metal fire escape.
“The trip was good. I…” He rolls his eyes. “I needed to get away from all of this for a while, you know?”
I nod, putting my hand on his arm. “I get it,” I say quietly.
Val sighs. “I really need to apologize for the last time you saw me.”
“Uh, no, you definitely do not.” I shake my head. “Like, actually. That was…”
“A lot to take in?” he finishes. “Which is putting it mildly.”
My mouth twists as I turn to him. “You okay?”
He nods. “I am. A week away in the desert, alone with my hot boyfriend?”
I make a gagging face. “You can spare me the details.”
He laughs. “Deal. But no, it was great. Cleansing, you know? A reset.” He exhales. “Still, it’s good to be back.”
“It’s good to have you back,” I sigh, resting my head affectionately on his shoulder. “I really did miss you, you know.”
“Missed me because I wasn't around to be Madame Kuzmina's usual emotional whipping boy, so the rest of you got a taste of what it’s like?”
I snort. “You bring that on yourself, dude.”
“Holy victim-blaming!”
I roll my eyes. “You know what I mean. You antagonize her.”
He grins. “Yeaaah. I do.”
“Well, to answer your question, I actually missed you, shocking as that may be.”
“I missed you too, Eves.” He winks at me, then clears his throat as his brow furrows. “So, uh, how is he?”
I roll my eyes. “You could call him, you know.”
He shrugs. “Yeah, I know. I mean, I will. I just…” he frowns. “I know you’re not supposed to shoot the messenger. But sometimes…fuck.” He exhales. “I don’t know if I’m madder that he dumped all that on me, or that he was right.”
I already heard the story. A little over a week ago, right after that dinner, sure enough, Morgan reached out to Val to “talk about something important.”
To no one's surprise, it was about the kidney donor match.
Val and Roman left New York that very day to go camping near the Grand Canyon for a week. And apparently, Morgan got the message loud and clear, because he’s disappeared off the face of the Earth again, and his number has been disconnected.
I mean, really… Fuck that guy.
“How is he, though?” Val mutters.
“Vaughn’s good,” I smile. “Misses you. Wants to talk to you.”
He nods, looking away. “Yup. Noted. While we're on the subject…”
Val and Vaughn aren’t the only siblings locked in a little bit of communication gridlock. Roman and I have also not been on the friendliest of terms, mostly because he can’t—or won’t—see why I’m with Vaughn.
But we’ll get there eventually. Just like I know Val and Vaughn will.
Sometimes you just need a break, even from the people you love.
Well, not all the people you love.
Like, me and Vaughn?
No breaks required.
No space needed.
I actually want to dig my nails into his skin and open him up to crawl inside to be closer to him.
And yes, I realize how utterly psycho that sounds.
“So, Vaughn’s good?” Val asks.
I grin. “You already asked me that.”
His mouth purses as he frowns. “Fuck.”
“He really is, though.” I glance sideways at Val. “If I tell you something, will you promise not to say anything?”
“Scout's honor.”
I snort. “I have a hard time seeing you as a Boy Scout.”
“So did they,” he grins. “Kicked out when I was ten because I’m so gangster. No, but seriously. What’s up with Vaughn?”
“He's started going to therapy.”
Val’s jaw drops.
“Holy shit,” he blurts. “That’s...incredible. How the fuck did you manage that?”
I grin. ”You sure you want to know?”
He groans. “Ew! Not anymore, I don’t! Fucking gross!”
I giggle. “Now, Val, when two grownups love each other very much—”
“Please do not finish that sentence. That's a visual I do not need.”
“Welcome to my world,” I laugh. “And I lived with the two of you!”
“Ohmigod, he’s back!!”
We look up to see Milena and Naomi shrieking at the top of the alley.
“You better finish that or get rid of the evidence,” Val snickers, nodding at my lavender mocha.
“You sure you don’t want some?”
“I have never been surer of anything,” he chuckles. Then his brow furrows. “Hey, are we all…I mean you and Roman, and me and Vaughn…” He frowns deeper. “We’re all going to be okay, right?”
“Do you love my brother?”
He cocks a brow. “Uh, obviously?”
“Do you love your brother?”
“Begrudgingly at times, but yes,” he grins.
“Well, I love your brother—”
“Evie, this is getting fucking weird.”
I roll my eyes. “And I love my brother. And you know what, Val? I love you, too. There. Now everyone loves everyone. It’s sweet, isn’t it?”
“Any sweeter and I'd puke, Evie.”
I’m exhausted by the time rehearsal is over. Even so, I tell Naomi and Lyra that I’ll have to catch up with them later, because I’m going to stay and work my Black Swan piece a few more times in preparation for the revue. I text Vaughn that I’ll be home late, then I get to it.
Two hours after that, “exhausted” isn’t the right word anymore. I could curl up on the stage and just…stay there. Physically, I’ve got nothing left in the tank.
A shower will have to wait until I get home, especially since the idea of taking one here alone, with no one else left in the building, freaks me out.
I throw shorts and a hoodie over the leggings and t-shirt I’ve been dancing in, sling my dance bag over my shoulder, kill the lights, and then make my way to the back door of the theater and shoulder it open.
The scream chokes in my throat as the hand wraps like iron around my neck. Adrenaline explodes through my system as I’m yanked out the back door, my dance bag slipping off my shoulder before I’m slammed against the brick well.
Sheer terror slices through me as I look up into the faceless, hulking shape of the man all in black, wearing a ski mask over his face. His hand clenches tighter around my throat as he holds up a knife, glinting in the dim of the streetlight further up the alleyway.
“Please!” I choke through his grip on my throat. “Please don’t—”
His face surges close to mine, so quickly that I flinch and shut my eyes.
“I just have one. Fucking. Question,” he snarls.
I blink, shuddering as my pulse skips.
“Are you going to be a good little whore for me.”
The fear wrapped like ice around my heart shatters and melts, liquefying in my core and pooling between my thighs.
It’s Vaughn.
Then heat blooms across my cheek.
It’s Vaughn, and he just slapped me.
Not hard, but enough that it’s clear he wants to play rough. I whimper as he squeezes my throat and drags the tip of the knife across my jawline.
“I asked you a fucking question, slut.”
“Yes,” I whimper, my legs quivering. “Yes, I’ll be a good little whore for you.”
“Get on your fucking knees.”
He lets go of my throat, grabs a hank of my hair, and violently shoves me to the ground. I groan as my kneecaps bite into the pavement, my breath catching sharply as he tugs my head back hard.
The jangle of his belt cuts through the sounds of the night, and I squeeze my thighs together.
Vaughn pushes his black jeans down over his hips, and suddenly, his swollen cock springs free.
I moan when he slaps my cheek again.
“Give me that fucking mouth, slut.”
I open my jaw wide as he grabs his cock and shoves it between my lips.
Fuck. Yes.
I know it’s deranged. There's still a part of me that is outright horrified by the way I behave with him, and things I need from him.
But that part of me can be as shocked as she wants. The rest of me craves this.
I gag as his huge cock rams into the back of my throat, choking me as I sputter and whimper and wrap my lips around it. My tongue swirls over the underside of his dick, teasing over every bulging vein as he drags his cock from my mouth only to shove it right back in.
I moan and slobber on his fat cock, spit and precum dripping from the corners of my mouth onto my hoodie as he grabs my hair and starts to fuck my face.
“Mmmm,” Vaughn growls. “Such a good little cocksucker I’ve caught. Open that throat, baby. Let me fuck this face like it’s a tight, wet pussy. Good girl.”
His hips thrust, his big cock ramming over my tongue and hitting the back of my throat. Lewd, wet, sloppy glucking sounds fill the alley as Vaughn pins the back of my head to the brick wall and does his very worst.
When he pulls out I gasp loudly, sucking in air and moaning as I look up at his masked face. Spit and drool drip from my chin and string from my bottom lip to the swollen head of his cock.
I cry out, whimpering as he yanks me up by the hair and slams me against the wall. A moan ripples in my throat as he drops to his knees, and twirls that vicious hunting knife in his hands.