5. Everly
Everly
Heat spread along my entire body at the first sight of him. From his nearness. His scent. The fucking graze of his fingers across my skin as he spoke. His voice alone, deep and commanding, gave me goose bumps. My senses, my entire freaking body, were overwhelmed by everything him.
Reid had arrived like a storm, full of fury, ready to destroy anything in his path.
Powerful, demanding attention from every person in his vicinity.
All while his focus had been on the bloodhound and my sister.
I knew, in that moment, he thought Evie was me.
Seeing his jealousy had sparked my own, and for all of three seconds, I’d hated my sister.
Three heartbeats that felt like an eternity.
Anger and grief, possessiveness and loss, the emotions warred inside my head and heart.
Choking me, trying to taint the bond I had with my twin that had withstood the destruction of time, years of forced separation, and my own scarred soul for what I’d had to do to get my sister back.
And then I blinked it all away, refusing to let anything or anyone come between me and the only person who mattered. Not my own feelings, and definitely not some guy I’d known for less than five minutes. I refused to let anything sabotage my relationship with Evie.
But then Reid had figured out who was who—or rather who wasn’t who. I didn’t think it was a lucky guess either. Reid was a smart man. He had assessed the situation and realized which one of us was his Everly.
Oh shit.
Stop it, Evy. I’m not his Everly.
Not his Everly yet .
Rolling my eyes at my inner, taunting thoughts, I forced my attention back to our surroundings.
The music that had never changed in volume and, more importantly, the chatter around us that had.
It was back to being a comfortable roar, thankfully drowning out that suffocating quiet that had spread with Bloodhound’s arrival at our table.
Mostly because of his ragged, rasped plea to Evie.
Someone hit the billiard balls together, which sounded like a clap of thunder in the background. Evie flinched at the sound, her eyes going to me. I smiled, hoping it was reassuring. “It’s been a long day. Maybe we should call it a night.”
I didn’t want her to burn out on the first day.
She was doing amazing, socializing, making friends…
attracting stray goddamn dogs. As much as I wanted to put distance between Evie and her bloodhound, I also needed some space from Reid’s sudden appearance.
Space and time to digest my visceral reaction to him threatening to spank me, how my stomach had done a silly little flip when he’d said I was a temptation by merely existing.
Indecision flickered across my sister’s face. She glanced at the others at our table, lingering on Abi before moving to the bloodhound. He looked at her adoringly, his bottom lip practically pouting out, giving her the puppy-dog eyes.
Fitting.
I bet he has fleas.
“But we haven’t been here long.” Evie finally spoke up, and I could have sworn Bloodhound released a relieved exhale.
She stared up at him like he was every fantasy she’d ever dared to dream come to life.
My sweet, sheltered sister who didn’t know the ugly that defiled the world was gazing at a man like he’d hung the moon and stars.
I wasn’t sure she’d ever had a crush before, but if this was the first one, things were going to get intense fast. “I’m having a good time, Evy.
I promise I’m not tired, and tomorrow is Saturday, so I don’t have any classes. ”
“You don’t have classes, but I have work,” I reminded her, trying to keep all my anxiety over what was going on right in front of me from showing on my face.
Evie was so damned innocent, and it was bleeding through for every motherfucker in the bar to soak up.
I didn’t trust anyone to treat my sister like a sacred treasure, least of all the asshole she had heart-eyes for.
She might look like a woman, but because of William imprisoning her for the majority of her life, she was naive.
She hadn’t seen how hideous the real world was, and I didn’t want to be the one to show her how truly awful some people were.
I also knew that Evie deserved absolute freedom now that she was away from William. She had to experience it all—the bad that came with the good—whether I liked it or not. Reality hurt more often than not. Hiding that side of real life wouldn’t do my sister any favors.
But maybe we could avoid the pain a little longer.
Forcing a smile, I looked at Mila then River. “And I don’t want to let my new bosses down.”
Mila sat forward in her chair, propping her chin on her hands. “Girl, you are giving us such a good show tonight, I’m thinking of giving you a bonus. Haven’t had this much fun on a girls’ night out in years. I’m not even buzzed yet, and I’m already having a blast.”
“Agreed,” River said with a grin. “I kinda have whiplash from snapping my head back and forth to keep up, but it’s totally worth it to watch Chance get on his knees. That was surreal. Still not one hundred percent sure he’s really our Chance Reid.”
“Chance…Reid?” I was so confused. And oddly hurt. Maybe a little pissed off. Did Reid lie to me about his name? No, why would he do something like that? Unsteadily, I pointed to the man at my side. “But isn’t he Reid?”
“It’s a long story,” Lexa said with an amused snort. “There are plenty of Reids around this town, babe. But there is only one Reid .”
A firm hand touched my back, brushing along my waist before settling on my hip.
I could feel the heat of all five fingers splayed wide, seeping beneath my skin, trying to settle deep within me.
I melted into him without meaning to. It was a struggle to listen to Lexa speak when my mind was shutting down and my other senses became hyperaware of everything… him.
“My name is Reid Barker. It’s a little complicated. The short version is, my parents were broken up when my mom gave birth to me,” Reid explained quietly, his breath teasing across my ear and neck as he leaned closer to speak only to me.
I felt a tumbling sensation in my belly. Like I was free-falling.
Straight into him.
He rubbed his hand in a slow circle before giving my ass a squeeze. I blinked up at him, biting my lips together to hold in a moan.
As if he knew my struggle, he winked down at me before continuing to tell me the story of why he was named Reid.
“Mom didn’t think she would ever see my dad again, so she gave me his name in the only way she could think of at the time.
When they eventually got back together, she refused to change my last name from Barker because, one, she didn’t want me to be called Reid Reid.
And two, she wanted my grandfather’s last name to continue on. ”
“Kids can be mean. Even cruel at times. I bet she didn’t want you to be bullied at school.
” I didn’t know why I was defending his mother’s reasons for not changing his name.
She wasn’t there to argue her point of view.
Plus, she’d wanted her son to have a piece of his father, even thinking the man wouldn’t be a part of their lives.
That had to mean something—I just didn’t know what.
It wasn’t as if my parents had ever given me a reason to think they cared about anything but themselves.
Blue eyes sparked down at me in a way that screamed danger , while simultaneously hissing hot . I almost squeezed my thighs together in search of relief from the sudden throb between my legs.
“Not sure anyone would ever have the balls to bully Reid, but it’s cute she thinks it’s possible,” someone, I thought it might have been Delaney, commented.
But I was too enthralled by the color of Reid’s eyes to know for sure. He was so close, all I saw was those irises, that glacier blue which had lines that seemed to glow when the light hit them just right.
“Yeah, my mom is a true angel in disguise. You can’t tell me differently. She’s gonna want to meet you, sweetness. Real soon.”
“Okay,” I whispered, because I kind of wanted to meet the woman who’d birthed this man, who had cared so much about his name. A mom who loved her child. That seemed like a fairy tale to me, yet I knew it existed.
“Yeah?” He smiled, causing his eyes to brighten, the startling blue beautiful with his sun-kissed skin and dark hair.
Up close, I noticed he had some gray sprinkled in.
Why that was an even bigger turn-on, I had no idea, but the awakened slutty-kitty between my legs might as well have been purring for him.
Damn it!
I was worried about Evie falling for the stupid—albeit hot—bloodhound, but apparently I needed to figure out my own crush before I started trying to give my sister advice.
Because as easily as I saw my twin falling for Chance, I may have already jumped straight into something a helluva lot more dangerous with Reid.
It was too easy to let go and just fall straight into him. All I’d wanted was a new life with Evie. Looking for a relationship outside of that was never on my radar. Love was too unpredictable. Too…scary.
But when I was looking into Reid’s eyes, I felt no fear. For the first time in a long, long time, I felt safe.