Chapter 22 #2
Eve’s cheeks turned a pretty pink, but she was nothing if not focused as she got us back on track.
Though we all noted she didn’t move out of his hold.
“Okay, I apologize for this information being revealed in such a blunt, public manner, but I assumed the tension in the house recently was because of what happened. Since it wasn’t, I’m going to need all of you to spill whatever is bothering you.
I can’t live like this. I swear I was two minutes from moving back into the noisy, horrible dorms.”
We all straightened in our chairs, and I wondered if they felt the same slash of horror and fear at Eve leaving us.
“You could run, little brat,” Connor drawled, though there was an edge to his tone that told me he was not at all relaxed.
“But I would find you. I would find you and drag your sexy ass right back here with us.”
“Where you belong,” Andrew added, straightening his shirt.
I couldn’t agree more, so I just nodded. Connor and Andrew? I hadn’t anticipated that, but I really should have. We were a family, just like Eve said.
The pink in Eve’s cheeks deepened, and the sweetest smile crossed her lips. She was as screwed up as the rest of us, because clearly our dominance and possessiveness didn’t bother her in the slightest.
Needing to clear the air, since I hadn’t intended to hurt her—I’d just been working through some drama—I said, “I’m so fucking sorry I made you question my feelings for you. I was trying to create a little distance between us, only so I could figure out what to do about a small issue that arose.”
That had all her attention. She leaned forward in Haze’s lap, angling toward me.
As she shifted, the big man’s face filled with almost a pained tension, and I had to laugh at him trying not to jab her with what was no doubt his mammoth fucking erection.
Yeah, been there and dealt with that, bro.
“What happened?” she asked, swallowing hard. “Another threat?”
“In a manner,” I confirmed, returning my full focus to her.
“Professor Adams spotted us in the library a couple of days ago. She came to me threatening to expose us to the college board. She’s been watching me like a fucking hawk since then, so I was trying to throw her off by acting like she imagined the entire situation. ”
The choked gasp from Eve was barely audible, but I was so attuned to every part of her, I caught it instantly.
Connor growled. “Isn’t that the pathetic cunt from the mathematics department who was trying to fuck you last year?”
Every word out of his mouth still had me wanting to punch him, but I managed to keep it together. “Yes, she wasn’t happy when I rebuffed her advances, and since she mentioned that she’d keep it quiet under the right circumstances, I have no doubt she’s angling for that date.”
Eve was on her feet, stalking toward me in a second.
She all but threw herself into my arms, and every part of the tension that had been holding me hostage, the red across my vision, and the fury in my soul, eased as I wrapped my arms around her.
The light touch of mulberry filled my nose and I breathed deeply.
“Not a chance,” she whispered into my throat.
“I’ll go to fucking jail before I let her touch you. ”
My cock jerked at the possessiveness in her tone, and I knew that we’d met our match in this girl. Her darkness stared right into all of ours and said mine.
“I would rather kill her before giving her what she wanted,” I promised her. “She’s nothing anyway. Dad’s got contacts on all the college boards. He would never let me get fired. He needs me to feed him information.”
Eve clung onto me, and I just whispered more soft words as I rocked her back and forth, my arms filled with so much warmth.
The desperate need I had to shift her in my lap and thrust into her heat was barely kept at bay.
To know she’d been questioning my feelings for her had me wanting to claim her right fucking here, in front of my brothers.
It had been torture keeping her at arm’s length the last few days. Which had been necessary with that bitch being spotted at the windows of Bluebell House.
“Dad thinks Evelyn is my girl, and she’s pregnant with my child,” Connor reminded me, and the fucker sounded smug. Maybe I’d bury him in the same fucking hole as Professor Adams.
Eve lifted her head to shake it at him. “Stop stirring, Connie. You’ve been ignoring me too. Why?”
There was another kick in my shaft, as apparently I liked when our firecracker called us out on our shit. “Do you regret what happened between us?” she asked, her voice smaller. “Are you getting back together with Lacey?”
The last sentence was strangled. I knew Eve struggled with how much she cared about Lacey too. It was complicated, which was another reason to punch that fucker in his face.
Connor was on his feet in a heartbeat, stalking across to us.
He plucked Eve right out of my arms, and I promised him death with my gaze, but he wasn’t even looking at me.
All his focus was on the woman in his arms. “I thought you regretted it,” he said, urgency in his low voice.
“You never said a word, and I figured you wished it never happened. Or that you got through it by pretending I was Ethan.”
That was an oddly vulnerable statement from my brother, who’d never once in our lives shown that he was jealous or competitive with me. He was always above me, so there was no need to be competitive. He already won as the golden child, while I was the bastard son.
Eve wrapped him up as tightly as she had me, and I knew there were real feelings between them.
Anyone could see that written across their faces.
“Not a damn chance, Connor. I would never pretend you were anyone other than who you are. A scary, growly, perfect man. I’ve wanted to do that with you for an embarrassingly long time, and I have no regrets. ”
Connor captured her lips, and we were all fucking thankful when they kept it short. I didn’t need any help in wanting to fuck Eve. Watching her moan, even against my brother’s lips, had me harder than a baseball bat.
When he finally settled back into the couch, he kept her on his lap, and she looked less stressed for the first time. “Okay, so we were all upset about things,” she concluded, “just not what I thought.”
Andrew and Haze both held their hands up.
“Not upset,” Haze reminded her.
Andrew added. “Yeah, me either. I wasn’t aware about Con, but I already knew she had feelings for all of you fuckers.
Since you’re my family, this just makes sense to me.
Logically speaking, I doubted we’d ever be able to have separate girlfriends and think it would work.
Too many personalities, and there’d be fights. This is the way it’s meant to be.”
Eve’s eyes were wide as she looked between us, and I caught the shiny haze in her eyes. “I can’t believe this,” she whispered. “I would never have believed this could work, but somehow…it is.”
When she pulled herself off Connor’s lap, despite my need to not upset her again, I still didn’t trust his motivation, so I found myself hauling up to block his path.
“You better not be fucking with her,” I whispered, leaning in close.
“This is not a game,” I repeated, “and Eve is not a competition or prize.”
He gave me a shove, just enough to remind me how hard he could push if I wanted to start a real fight.
“Never a damn game. Unless you want to call her endgame. Because that’s how I feel.
You, on the other hand, ignored her due to some useless, worthless cunt.
You need to get your priorities straight.
You’re acting like Dad, caring more about—”
At the thought of being anything like the man who used and abused my mother, before throwing her away, red tinged the edge of my vision. Connor knew he’d gone too far as he cut himself off, but it was too late.
With a snarl, I hauled my arm back and smashed him in the face. Connor, never one to take a punch without repercussions, retaliated with a heavy hit to my jaw, and I flinched at the sharp pain. Not that it stopped me hitting him again.
As we moved across the room, Eve and the others followed. Our girl was shouting at us to stop. In the background, there was the faint sound of Brodie calling, “Guys! Hey, guys. Where did you all go? I’m missing the fight. Brother-husbands?”
After a few more hits, I shoved my brother off me and stalked over to throw Eve across my shoulder. Fuck Adams and her Peeping Tom ways, she could shut the fuck up or die. I was done ignoring my girl.