Chapter 5
CALLUM - WHEN YOU FUCK THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT, DON’T TRUST JAX NOT TO TOSS A GRENADE
Walking behind the desk, I flip to the screen to watch Lizzy and Everlee leave. Jax sits on the couch, legs parted, with his hands dangling over his knees, and chuckles coolly.
His eyes glance up to meet mine. “The boys are going to be pissed they weren’t here tonight.”
I smack my lips. “Yeah, but fuck. I saw her.” I sigh.
“At first I didn’t really believe it was her, and then I did, and then…
so many thoughts,” I say, trying to formulate a sentence.
“Why was she here? Up here with him? I knew it was her ex as soon as I saw him show up tonight for the party. But then, the way he was dancing with all those girls, there was no way they were together again.”
“So you did what any rational person would have done and walked over to her and invited her into the office for some kinky fuckery?”
“Not exactly.” A flurry of emotions tear through me and all I can do is hit the table. “She’s like a drug. I don’t get it. Why can’t I just walk away from her? Ever since I saw her that first night when we opened.”
“Sounds like you have it bad.”
“Don’t say that. I don’t. I can’t.” Right? Falling for the girl isn’t allowed. Sure, we all like to fuck them, but is that what Everlee is? I slap myself on the head because I know that’s not the case. She’s more than that.
“What are you going to tell the boys?” Jax asks.
“Me? You aren’t innocent in this.” I huff.
“Mine was more by happenstance. I walked in on you two.”
“Fuck.”
“I mean, I’m not mad.” He walks over to the door. “She looked good.”
“That fucking bunny costume.” I smile, rubbing my hands over my face. I’ve always had a weakness for costumes.
“That, too. I mean, she always looks fucking delicious, but I don’t know. Something else about her. She just seemed good. Strong. Confident. She’s always had a bit of that, but there was always a fractured piece of her you could see behind her eyes. I don’t really see that anymore.”
“I noticed it too.” With a groan, I look at my phone. “I want to call her so fucking bad.”
“She just left.”
“What if she changes her mind and doesn’t meet with us?”
Jax laughs. “Then we will kidnap her.”
“We were close a couple of times before, weren’t we?” I tease.
“We had to make sure she was okay,” he tries to justify.
It’s been hell since we walked out of her apartment two months ago.
We went to get her back after we got her note, but I realized when we were talking to her how selfish we were being.
She’s close to her family, and asking her to give them up…
we couldn’t do that. It was infuriating, but it was the right thing.
The rule breaker was the one following the rules.
It’s easier for us. We have no family. We are our family. With all our parents either dead, unknown, or not wanting anything to do with us, it makes our lifestyle easy. She’s not like us, though. They are an enormous chunk of her life, and to ask her to live two separate lives… it wasn’t fair.
So we left.
It was the hardest thing we had ever done.
The ache. The physical pain of not being around her. Seeing her. Talking to her. That was all real.
I turn back to the cameras hoping to get one more glimpse of her, but she’s gone. If it weren’t for the taste of her on my lips, I would think I dreamed her up tonight. My mind twists in torture, coming up with a list of reasons she won’t answer our calls or texts.
When Jax and I get home, we find Knox and Emmett in the hot tub on the roof.
“How was the night?” Emmett asks, his arms spread on the edge of the deck.
Jax takes his clothes off and slips in, while I walk over to the bar and pour myself a bourbon neat.
“That bad?” Knox asks.
“I’ll let Callum tell you.”
I roll my eyes, but no one sees. Drink in hand, I walk over, pull my pants up and take a seat on the edge, sliding my legs in. “We saw her tonight.”
“Everlee?” they both ask, sitting up. Body tense. Brows raised.
“Yes.”
“How did she look? Was she with anyone?” Knox asks with a hint of worry weaved through his words.
“She looked… fucking fantastic. She was wearing this satin bunny corset outfit with bunny ears. It was sexy as fuck.”
“I meant, how did she seem?”
“Good.” I lift the glass to my lips and let the warmth of the bourbon burn through my chest.
“Callum had sex with her.” Jax drops the grenade.
The boy's eyes nearly pop from their sockets, making me lean back in defense.
“Thanks, Jax,” I say deadpan. “He was there too.”
“You both got to?” Emmett whines, letting his face fall into the water for a second.
“It just sort of happened,” I retort.
Knox bats the water. “Damn it! I knew I should have been there tonight!”
“If you had booked our flights like you said you did a couple of months ago, then you wouldn’t have had to scramble,” Jax reminds with a stern tone.
“Thank you, daddy.” Knox pumps his eyebrows.
“Did you get us tickets?” Jax asks, ignoring Knox’s feeble attempt to get under his skin.
“One better. Our buddy, Mr. Michael Dufrey, has a little plane he uses for some of his contract work,” Knox says in an all-too-proud voice.
Michael did a tour with Jax, Knox, and Brady and currently works as a contractor handling off-the-books government ops or private sector ops.
He reached out to Jax several times to bring him in on a mission, but Jax always declined.
He never approached Knox, which I don't think bothered him.
While Jax and Knox both served together, they were cut from a different cloth.
Knox is too much of a lover and an overall optimist. Jax…
is not. He does a good job of hiding it, but. ..
“He’s letting us use it this weekend?” Jax asks, interrupting my thoughts.
“He’s on another mission with a buddy, so he won’t be needing it.”
“Good job, Knox.” Jax bats his hand across the water, sending it into Knox’s face.
“Thank you, Daddy.” He claws at the air playfully, and Jax shakes his head.
Emmett interjects. “We aren’t done talking about Everlee. Don’t think you two can try to change the topic. You fucked her. Seriously?”
“She’s coming over next week to talk things through.”
“This is going to be the longest fucking weekend,” he groans.
“But we get to see Mrs. Mary and celebrate all of her contributions to the community,” I say, trying to cheer him up.
Mrs. Mary is the foster mother who raised us.
Loved us. Emmett is probably the closest to her, sharing her love of cooking.
He would always stay back to help her in the kitchen or clean around the house.
He latched onto her and never let go. She’s probably the reason he’s such an excellent cook today.
She found that spark n him and fanned it until it burst into a flame.
It’s the same thing she did with all of her children.
She never once let the fact that we were her foster children stop her from loving us fully and giving us everything we could ever want or need.
He smiles. “That will be nice. I haven’t been checking in with her as much since opening Bo’s. I can’t wait to tell her all about it.”
Silence fills the space as we all escape into different thoughts.
Once I finish my drink, I clean out the glass and put it back on its shelf before saying goodnight to the men.
I’m tired, but more than that, I’m mentally exhausted.
Since I saw Everlee, it’s like my brain hasn’t stopped flipping through all the possibilities of our conversation next week.
“So early?” Jax asks, holding his arm to the water.
“I’m heading by the club in the morning to work with Low. I want to make sure she’s ready for tomorrow night.”
“How’s she working out?” Emmett asks.
“You did good. She’s smart and works hard. Also, doesn’t take shit from anyone.” He nods, satisfied.
After my shower, I lay in bed mindlessly flipping through the pages on my e-reader as my thoughts drift back to Everlee, and that kiss, and her pussy—the taste, the feel.
I’m getting hard with each passing second and before I know it, I’m grabbing lube out of my drawer and pumping my cock as images of her float around in my head moving so fast from one to the other that it’s like my personal porno video.
The same and only video I’ve been watching since she walked out.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t find anyone else, because plenty of girls have made passes at the club, but I didn’t want anyone else, and maybe on some level I thought, rather hoped, this was not over with us.
With another pump and a jerk, I cover my chest and hand in my come. After a minute passes, I climb out of bed and head to the shower for a quick rinse, and again, memories flood my mind.
Fuck!
I just need to get through this weekend.