41. Chapter 41
Evan
Mom: I’m doing better Ev. Thanks for asking. I miss you.
Evan: I miss you too. I want to try to plan a visit. Maybe I can take the bus there.
Evan set their phone on the table and smiled at the thought.
It would be so good to see their mother.
Now that Cecil wasn’t in the way of the visitation, perhaps she’d get better and eventually come home.
But what home? Toronto, with no one who cared enough to locate her?
Or would a move closer to Evan be in the books?
“Talk about getting ahead of yourself.” They picked their plate up one-handed to take to the sink.
Still, the excitement over the possibility had been floating around since Cecil was arrested three weeks ago.
They could be a family again. A real family.
On top of the wonderful family Evan had found right there at O’Rourke’s.
Their cell phone chirped on the kitchen booth table, indicating a new notification awaited.
Evan took a moment first to fill the dishwasher with the supper dishes, knowing Frankie didn’t like them sitting for too long in the sink.
Thinking of their lover pulled a wider smile from Evan.
Living with the femme, being loved and desired by her, was more than Evan could have imagined for their life.
It had been a rocky three weeks for them both, from overcoming Sloane’s betrayal as well as their injuries.
Evan had been the one slowly bleeding out, but it was Frankie who suffered the longest. Cecil choking her had inadvertently dredged up a lot of buried memories, ones Frankie hadn’t been ready to face.
And while Evan’s cast had offered immediate protection for their broken arm, it would take much longer for therapy to do the same for Frankie.
But she’s tough. More than anyone realizes.
Evan’s phone went off again. Making their way back to the kitchen booth, they unlocked their cell to see who had texted. Two sat unread, one from Evan’s mother and one from Andy.
Mom: Can your girlfriend drive you? I’d love to meet her.
Andy: Claire wants to have you and Frankie over for dinner some night. If the boss can hire enough replacements LOL.
“Ugh, ain’t that the truth?” The resumes were coming in, but Frankie was having a slight issue with trusting anyone enough to get past the hiring stage.
She’d already had new surveillance put in, an updated safe for her office, and a quality lock set installed on her office door.
Evan didn’t have the heart to tell her they could pick that one too.
Let naivete take her over, at least for another week.
Perhaps Evan would shop around for a keypad entry and surprise Frankie one day.
Another notification popped up as Evan was trying to listen to the previous one.
Andy: P.S. I know I shouldn’t, but I miss Sloane. In case I never said, I’m sorry she hurt you, bro.
Evan’s jaw tightened. Sloane had been a shelved topic with Frankie, but maybe it was time to change that. The truth was, Andy wasn’t alone in that feeling. As much as Sloane had wronged both Evan and Frankie, Evan missed her too. It didn’t have to make sense for it to be sincere.
Choosing to reply to their mom’s message first, Evan went into the thread and hit the audio record button.
“She runs a pub and is busy most of the time. But I’ll ask.
” Leah Landry had been so cut off from life while Cecil had been taking control that she had no idea who Frankie truly was.
Evan had zero plans to tell her, either.
They might have been able to overcome her history with Caleb, but Evan didn’t expect their mom to as well.
They decided not to reply to Andy just yet.
The laundry still needed to be folded and the bathroom cleaned and doing it all with one working arm was a pain enough not to get distracted by text messages.
For the first time ever, Evan had been invited out by Coy and the other friends who made up the Fab Five.
They had no plans to replace Sloane in her circle, as they were certain Coy and the others didn’t either, but the olive branch was a nice touch.
In a twisted way, Sloane had brought them closer together.
Everyone was worried about her, but that was muddled into other, more complicated feelings.
A little hate, maybe, a lot of confusion, and hurt.
Sloane not trusting Evan enough to ask for help was a plausible excuse.
After all, they hadn’t known one another for that long.
But Sloane hadn’t asked anyone for help.
People she’d known and loved for years had been left entirely in the dark.
Some, like Coy, weren’t digesting that too well.
Evan met the Fab Five in the pub an hour later.
Taunya let out an appreciative whistle as they approached their usual corner booth.
“I’m loving the new glasses.” The rest at the table nodded in agreement, offering praise and generally being a notch too enthusiastic to be considered “normal”.
The scene was a bit tense for Evan, but them hanging out together without Sloane was uncharted territory. It was natural to be nervous, right?
“Got you a beer,” Coy said, sliding a mug across the table to Evan. The corner of her mouth tilted up. “Frankie said it’s your favorite.”
Evan bowed their head. “Appreciate it. How’s things?”
“It’s weird seeing you two face to face, being friendly.” Abi glanced between them, her glacier blue eyes bright and full of mischief. “I don’t know why, but I keep expecting, like, a pissing contest or something.”
“Kind of like how it was with the barber, you mean?” Coy quipped back, laughing when Abi threw a fry her way. She turned to Evan. “Tess, Abs’ girlfriend—”
“Fiancée—”
“ Fiancée ,” Coy corrected, catching another french fry sailing across the table at her. She popped it in her mouth, chewing as she continued, “was too shy and uber jealous of my confidence around the ladies, if you know what I mean. Abi’s my best friend, I was trying to support her—”
“Trying to get in her pants, you mean,” Krystal, the fourth friend in Sloane’s Fab Five circle, piped up. She was often less talkative, but by the looks of things, what little she did say packed a punch.
Evan joined in the laughter, loving how they were all able to tease each other yet still hold a massive amount of respect.
As they sipped their beer, Abi and Coy took turns replaying the wedding party events from a year and a half before.
And after, the conversation shifted to exactly what went on in Frankie’s apartment to result in Evan being in a sling.
They’d decided right then and there that they didn’t want to be Frankie’s age and not have anyone besides her know the truth.
And so Evan shared what they could about that night, saying their abusive father had come for them.
Which was the truth. Cecil had planned to kill Evan along with Frankie.
But the rest of it? Evan didn’t think anyone, save them and Frankie, needed to know. Speaking of …
Evan caught sight of the gorgeous woman working behind the bar; long, flowing brown curls with red and blonde highlights and dressed in the same white striped suit she’d worn the first evening they’d met.
Although they couldn’t see because the counter was in the way, Evan knew a pair of black, open-toed heels occupied her feet with blood red nail polish on her toes that they’d watched her put on that morning.
Inappropriate footwear, but Evan had learned long ago that Frankie O’Rourke did as she pleased and got what she wanted.
According to her, the moment she’d laid eyes on Evan, she’d wanted them.
It was only a matter of time before she’d turned that desire into reality. And now?
Their gazes locked onto one another from across the dimly lit pub. A slow smile started on Frankie’s beautiful face. She crooked her finger in Evan’s direction, beckoning them over.
Evan couldn’t help but smile back. Daddy Frankie wanted them. Who were they to deny their femme anything? “Excuse me,” they told Coy and the others. “I’ll be right back.”
“Grab us another round while you’re up!” Coy called after Evan. They answered with a thumbs up, knowing they would, because why not? That’s what friends did. They took turns buying rounds and sharing stories.
I have friends, real friends. I’ve got a girlfriend who would die to protect me. Family . It’s all Evan had ever truly wanted.
They took the only available stool at the bar, and it wasn’t long before the bartender approached.
“Hey, are you waiting for a table, or is here fine?”
Evan looked up at her, surprised. And then laughed, catching on. “Here’s good,” they replied, thinking of their conversation months ago. “Can I get a whiskey? Straight and on the rocks.”
“Depends,” Frankie teased with a wag of her eyebrows. She placed one hand on her hip as if she were sizing them up. “You have ID?”
“For real?” Evan’s mouth fell open. Damn, when their Daddy played, she didn’t mess around. With an exaggerated sigh, Evan reached into their back pocket to retrieve their wallet. “I’m twenty-four next week,” they said, assuming Frankie expected them to still reenact that first night.
“Anyone who looks under thirty, I’m afraid. Thanks.” Frankie accepted the Toronto driver’s license, which reminded Evan they needed to change the address. She examined the card before handing it back to them. Now both hands were on her hips.
Shit .
“It says your birthday has already passed and needs renewal. It’s illegal to use an expired ID, you know.”
Evan smirked. It was becoming increasingly harder to keep a straight face.
“Is that so? What are you, a cop?”
Frankie leaned over the counter, not seeming to care about getting her white suit dirty with spilled alcohol and stopped inches from Evan’s face.
“No,” she said, grinning widely now. Fuck, Evan loved her. They loved everything about her. “But I do own a few sets of handcuffs. If you want, we could play cops and robbers for a night. What do you say, my good boi?”