Chapter Fifty-Five The Breach
Chapter Fifty-Four: Free Again
Evie watched the mid-March rain hit the window of her office, lost in thought.
Alex had been living in her apartment for a little over four months, and while things had improved for the first couple of months, by month three, he had become sullen and withdrawn.
Any inquiries into whether she had done something were met with a stiff shake of his head and mutters about being stressed at work as he left the apartment, claiming he was working overtime.
That part was genuine. Vanessa had been off for two weeks with pneumonia, and Alex had been covering both his job and hers.
Usually, Evie would be understanding, but she wasn’t sure why he was taking all his stress out on her while still managing to laugh and joke with Thorn and Tommy and head out to clubs with his friends.
She was over it and over the relationship, and she was trying to figure out the best way to end things.
Her cell phone rang, and she reached for it without looking.
“Hello?”
“Am I speaking with Evie Stanley?” The voice was bright and perky, but Evie didn’t recognize it. Figuring it was a telemarketer, she closed her eyes and sighed softly.
“You are.”
"Hi Evie, my name is Marise Latille, a publishing agent at Emperor Publishing. I just finished reading your novel and loved it. I do think it could be expanded on, though. It's a lot for a single book. Would you consider turning it into a series?”
Evie sat up straight, her heart racing. She pulled the phone from her ear to look at the screen. Emperor Publishing. Not a joke. She reached down and pinched her thigh, hard. The phone still said Emperor Publishing. Not a dream either. She put it back to her ear.
“Sorry, I just had to pinch myself.” Her voice shook, and Marise let out a bright, delighted laugh at her honesty. “Oh, wow. Yes, I could do that easily. I had to cut so much from my original drafts. I could probably write five novels.”
"Wonderful. Is this your cell number?”
"Yes, it is." Evie got to her feet and began dancing around her office in excitement. She loved her novel, and they wanted to turn it into a series. She had almost forgotten she’d even sent the manuscript out.
It was well past the six-to-eight-week timeline they had given her, but Christmas had probably slowed everything down.
"Great. I'll send you my email address. I need a broad outline of the series and a more in-depth outline for the first two books. Once I have those, I'll take it up the chain, and we'll go from there."
"Okay, I can get them to you in a few days! Thank you so much!"
"Have a great day, Evie. I'm looking forward to hearing from you."
"You too!" Evie hung up and spun in circles, coming face to face with Thorn. He chuckled, caught her hand, let her twirl under it, and dipped her, making her giggle.
"What are we celebrating?" His smile was wide, clearly enjoying her happiness.
"A publishing company is interested in my book. Not just the book. They want it expanded into a series.” Evie whisper-shouted the last part, still not wanting everyone to know.
Thorn’s eyes widened, and then he swept her into a tight bear hug, lifting her off her feet. "That is wonderful, Mali?a. I am so proud of you. I was not aware that you wrote."
"Well, that’s because only Alex and you know about it." She stepped back when he set her down. "And I’m not sure I’m ready to tell anyone else yet."
"As always, Little One, your secrets are safe with me." Thorn pulled her in for another hug. "I was wondering if you wanted to join me for a movie tonight. I feel like we have not seen each other in a while."
"Your place?" She asked quickly, not wanting to be in her apartment.
"Sure. Come up when you are done here. I have sljivovica, and we will make some gibanica to eat while we watch the latest Trolls movie. We must celebrate your accomplishment." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Have I told you how proud I am of you?”
Evie giggled. "Yes, but you can tell me that as much as you want. Sljivovica and gibanica sound incredible, Thorn. I’ll see you in an hour or so."
He waved over his shoulder as he left her office, and Evie blew him a kiss.
**********
Quickly finishing up for the day, Evie headed upstairs to her apartment to change and grab her laptop, wanting to let Thorn read her outline for her novel. She was washing her face in the ensuite when Alex appeared in the doorway, startling her. She hadn’t even known he was home.
"Where are you off to?"
"I'm watching a movie with Thorn tonight. We haven't seen much of each other lately." She dried her face and ran a wide-tooth comb through her hair before pulling it into a loose bun.
"We haven't seen much of each other either." He folded his arms and watched her with the permanent frown he wore whenever he was around her now.
"I'm home every evening at five." She shrugged, not interested in playing the game. "You're the one who isn't coming home until I'm already in bed."
"I'm home now," he pointed out, stepping aside as she walked into the bedroom to dig through her dresser for comfy clothes.
"And I wasn't expecting you to be, so I made plans with Thorn.
You should have let me know if you wanted to spend time with me.
" She changed into jogging pants and a tank top, laid her hoodie on the bed, and tried to get out of there as soon as possible.
"You moved in four months ago so we could spend more time together, and almost immediately, you started working more.
We see each other less now than before you moved in. "
"What's going on with you and Denton?" he asked abruptly.
"Nothing." She stared at him, confused. "We talk sometimes, we’ve gone to lunch a few times, which I invited you to and told you about. That’s it. Why?"
"Cause I've been hearing it's more than that." His tone was sharp, and he watched her carefully, waiting for a reaction she didn’t have.
"Well, you're hearing wrong." She rolled her eyes and kept digging for socks. "Is this why you've been a pill?"
"How do you expect me to act when my girlfriend is getting cozy with another man?" He stepped closer, following her so tightly she could feel his breath on her shoulder.
"I expect you to talk to me at the very least." She sighed. "So, what did your surveillance tell you?" Something told her he was using Tower security to spy on her.
"Nothing," he muttered. "But I don't have access to the cameras..." He trailed off, realizing he had just walked into a trap.
"Right." She stood and made her decision. There was no point dragging it out. "We’re done. I can't do this anymore. You need to move out."
"Evie! That wasn't fair. I thought you were cheating on me!" Panic hit his face, and he grabbed her arm to stop her, but she shook him off and picked up her hoodie.
"And instead of asking me, you spied on me." She walked into her office to grab her laptop. "You have thirty days. I'll stay with Tommy until you find a place to live and move out."
"That's it? No conversation, no compromise, just done?" He followed her down the hall. She didn’t look at him, but she heard the panic rising under the anger.
"Yep. All you had to do was come to me and say you'd heard something about Aaron and me, and I would have told you exactly what was going on. I would have let you read our messages if you wanted. Instead, you spied on me. And even after spying showed I wasn’t doing anything wrong, you still asked me what was going on between us.
" She finally turned to meet his eyes. "Who told you, and what did they say? "
"Crystal Furlong," he muttered, cheeks flushing red. "She saw you get lunch a few times and said you talk and hug a lot."
"Ah. Crystal. Because she hasn't been blatantly hitting on you for years.
" Evie shook her head. "Every time Aaron and I have gotten lunch, I’ve texted you and told you that you were welcome to join us. Aaron wanted to get to know you. And yes, we’ve hugged.
Usually, after he talks about his dead wife or about how his best friend lost his whole family in a house fire just before Christmas while he was deployed in Iraq.
He hugs me and thanks me for being there for him. "
"Evie, please, I'm sorry!" He reached for her hand again, desperate. "I made a mistake. I'll do better. I swear."
"I'm sorry, Alex, but if we’re honest, we’ve been dragging this out way longer than we should have." She left the apartment, got into the elevator, and hit the button for Thorn’s without looking back. Happiness she hadn’t felt in almost a year settled over her, light and dizzying.
**********
There you are." Thorn grinned as he opened the door and let her in. "I was starting to think you changed your mind."
"No, I was breaking up with Alex, sorry." Evie smiled as he wrapped her in his arms, breathing in the faint scent of sandalwood that always clung to him.
"I am sorry to hear that, Little One." He held her tight and kissed the top of her head.
"I'm not. We've been together for three years, and I feel free for the first time in a long time." She stepped back and grinned at him. "So we have two things to celebrate. Break out the sljivovica, and let's start on the gibanica."
A couple of hours and more than a couple glasses of sljivovica later, Evie was properly drunk. She giggled as Thorn told her about his last job, even acting out parts of the story. When he finished, he smiled and dropped onto the couch beside her.
"Cole was right," Thorn said.
"About what?" Evie smiled as she climbed up behind him and began braiding his hair. "You needing a haircut?"
He chuckled and closed his eyes, leaning slightly into her touch.
"No. He said Alex made you dull. He was correct. You are much sparklier."
Evie hummed and undid the braid, running her fingers through his hair before wrapping her arms around his neck from behind.
Want to read the outline for my novel?"