Everlyn #3
“Hello, Everlyn, it’s wonderful to meet you. Welcome to the Grave Prowlers compound. I’m Zephyr’s more handsome and charming best friend.”
Everlyn gave a short laugh as she shook her head. “I see that I’ll have to be careful around all of you, Prowlers. Charm and good looks seem to be a common theme.”
I hated hearing her say that about anyone but me, even my brothers. However, I kept my mouth shut.
“If you’ll come inside, I have your favorite waiting,” I enticed her.
Her eyes lit up, then she pretended to drag me toward the door as she said excitedly, “Take me to my saft!”
I chuckled. Of course, Fenrir followed us. I tried to signal for him to leave, but the asshole pretended not to notice. Inside, she headed straight to the kitchen.
“I’ll get the glasses if you get the liquid treasure,” Everlyn said.
“Sounds like a plan,” I told her.
Within a minute, there were three glasses filled with ice and lingonberry saft this time.
“Fair warning, this one is lingonberry. Hope you like it as much as the last one,” I told her.
“You can never go wrong with any kind of saft in my opinion,” Fenrir said.
“I loved the blackcurrant I had last time. I ordered it and added a lingonberry, too, but it hasn’t arrived yet. I’ve thought about it this week. I could’ve used that refreshment out at the work site,” she confessed.
Instead of sitting at the island, I led them to the great room. At least Fenrir sat in a chair and let me and Everlyn have the short end of the sectional. I watched her take the first sip. Her eyes fluttered shut, a look of pleasure washed over her face, and she sighed.
“It’s as good as the first one, just tarter. I see I’ll be having an ongoing supply delivered to my place. I told Allegra about it. She’s eager to try it.”
“It’s my favorite thing to drink when it’s hot. In the winter, though we don’t get a real one here in Florida, it’s mulled wine, which we call glogg. It has cloves, cinnamon, raisins, and almonds. And our mead, which is a sweet honey wine,” I explained.
I enjoyed sharing pieces of my culture with her. In the past, I’d never told a woman anything like this. It had purely been enough talk to ensure we had sex, and then we were done.
“Well, all that sounds good too, though I’m not sure about the almonds,” Everlyn admitted.
“It’s subtle. You’re lucky. Zephyr tends to hoard his saft. He says we drink it all,” Fenrir interjected.
“You do. It’s like a bunch of swarming bees. And they buy it, too. I tell them to drink their own,” I groused.
“But if we do that, then we run out. This way, we can enjoy it and still have more,” Fenrir joked. All three of us laughed after I gave him the middle finger.
The three of us talked for about ten minutes before he stood up. “I’ll leave you two to talk. I’ll see you in a bit. Thanks for the drink. Everlyn, it was an absolute pleasure to meet and talk to you. We’ll have to do some more at the cookout.”
“We will. It was really nice to meet you, too,” she responded.
Fenrir rinsed his glass and placed it in my dishwasher. He knew I hated dishes left in the sink, even a single glass or utensil. He waved as he left. Everlyn sighed as she sank further against the back cushions of the sectional.
“Is everything alright?” I asked.
“It is. I just got hit with a wave of how comfortable and relaxed this house makes me feel. I can’t really explain it. My house is lovely, but yours is different.”
“Where do you live? You didn’t mention that before.”
“I live in the guesthouse on Jeremiah’s property.
He and Allegra lived in the main house. Now, she lives in it alone.
She asked me to move in with her, but I like my space.
Plus, I’ve been thinking of moving. I’d still stay close, but I mainly agreed to live there because Jeremiah wanted us both close, and he convinced me to.
I don’t regret it. Those years allowed me to save, and I have enough to build or buy a house.
Honestly, after seeing this place last week, I’d love to build one like yours. ”
My heart jumped at her words. I had to fight not to blurt out the crazy idea that if she gave it time, she might end up living in this one. That would scare her off for sure.
“Thank you for the great compliment. If you walk around the compound, you’d find plenty of ideas. Mostly we’ve stuck to the more Scandinavian-looking homes, but everything I’ve done is adaptable to whatever design you prefer.”
“Florida has so much stucco, palm trees, modern structures, and freeways and such that it’s refreshing to find your little village tucked back in here.
It’s like finding a hidden treasure. I told Allegra about it.
She asked me to take pictures if you and the others are okay with it. She’s dying to see it.”
Typically, we wouldn’t allow anyone to photograph our compound. But in her case, I was willing to allow her to photograph my house. The rest of the compound would be up to Raider and the owners of the other houses.
“You can take photos of mine. We’ll ask about the rest. Or better yet, we’ll have to figure out a day and have her come with you.”
“I understand if they don’t want photos taken. I can tell you like your privacy and don’t want anything or anyone to ruin it. I wouldn’t either. As for inviting Allegra, thank you, but we don’t want to intrude.”
“It wouldn’t be intruding, but we can talk about that later. Tell me how your week really went. I could tell that you were tired and a little defeated-sounding this week.”
“It was mainly Bishop Reeves. He keeps visiting the site, trying to order people around as if we work for him. He won’t listen to reason.
He’ll show up, stomp around, bitching about ridiculous stuff, then he argues with me.
When he leaves, he yells that his shoes and pants are ruined and that he’s sending me the bill.
He’s the goddamn idiot who comes to a worksite wearing expensive loafers and dress pants. ”
“The guy is an utter asshole who isn’t happy unless he’s making everyone around him miserable,” I told her, but what I didn’t say was that it was time to visit Mr. Reeves.
He’d been warned that first day. I kept that to myself because I knew she’d say she’d handle him.
And I had no doubt she would. But if you can have a biker or maybe a small group of them drive the message home, then do it.
I’d take care of him first, then tell her.
It was easier to ask her for forgiveness rather than permission.
“He is a miserable asshole with a chip on his shoulder. I don’t know who shit in his cereal, but get over it,” Everlyn said.
I chuckled at her words. She grinned.
For the next hour, we talked about our work week.
I told her about the legit stuff I did. I kept the other work to myself.
Deep down, I hated that I couldn’t tell her.
If I wanted to be with her, I wished she could know all of me.
But that was too risky. Maybe if this developed into something real and lasting between us, she could be told some of it.
When we finished up, and I knew we’d need to be at the outdoor kitchen in an hour, I decided to take her around to see the exteriors of all the houses.
The quickest and easiest way was to get on my bike.
Everlyn wore jeans, tennis shoes, and a T-shirt.
Boots were better when riding, but we weren’t leaving the compound, so that would be fine.
“I’ll show you the houses from the outside, if you want. The easiest way is on my bike. Are you willing to trust me? Have you been on one before?” I asked.
“I can’t wait to see the others. As for riding your bike, it’s been years since I’ve been on one, but I’m not afraid.”
Instantly, a flare of fire erupted in my gut. I almost demanded who she’d ridden with. I caught myself before I spewed it out. We’d been headed outside, via the mudroom, into the garage when she answered. Everlyn kept speaking.
“When Allegra and I were in high school, a son of a friend of Jeremiah’s had a bike. He was over one day on it. We asked if we could ride it. He was sweet enough to let us. It was quite thrilling, if I’m honest.”
Her explanation slowly eased the flare. The garage door was open, so all we had to do was get on my bike and go. Everlyn stopped beside it and studied it.
“I think this paint job is perfect. And I see it’s a Harley, but that’s as much as I know.”
“It’s called a CVO Street Glide. The paint job is called Raven Fade,” I explained. I liked talking about my bike.
“What does CVO mean?”
“It stands for Custom Vehicle Operations. That means Harley began producing limited-edition, premium factory-custom motorcycles in 1999. They’re available in lower quantities with exclusive paint and such. I got this one last year.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get on this beauty and go see more drool-worthy houses before I get introduced to a swarm of big, intimidating Viking bikers,” she said cheekily.
“You can handle those Vikings with one pinkie finger. Bat your lashes at them, and they’ll fall at your feet,” I told her.
Her giggle made me smile. I took a few minutes to review safety reminders on where to place her feet, watch the hot pipes, and how to lean with me.
Finally, we were on it. She clapped when the engine started, and I revved the throttle.
And just like that, I took us out of my garage, and we began slowly gliding down the street.
We passed Fenrir’s place first. Pirate and Icelander were the others on the street on that end. Then I took her down Aegir Street to Baldur Pike, where Slayer, Spoiler, and Plunderer’s houses sat, and vacant spots for two more houses.
I retraced our path back up Baldur and Aegir and back past my house to turn up Loki Road to Thor Pass.
I passed Invader’s house on the opposite side of my place.
I pointed out Thor, Barbarian, Harbinger, Raider, Berserker, and Norse’s houses.
When we were finished, I looped us back to my house. We would walk to the barbecue area.