Chapter 16 Everett #2
Stepping inside, I lock the door behind me to see I’m in a laundry room. I quietly look around the next door to see a hallway. The sound of her gagging has me hurrying my step.
Is some unlucky bastard fucking my girl’s face? If so, I’ll rip out his tongue and shove it down his throat. I’ve let her play around for too long. I’ve claimed her. She’s mine. There’s no going back now.
Storming into what I’m guessing is her bedroom, I hear a toilet flush, and I stop.
Then she’s gagging again followed by the sound of her vomiting.
She’s sick? She seemed fine earlier. Maybe she had too much to drink and I didn’t notice?
She flushes the toilet once more, and then the bathtub starts running.
I quickly hide in a side room as she exits the primary suite at the end of the hall and walks to her kitchen.
Slowly, I step out and make my way down the hall and to her bedroom before sliding into her bathroom.
I slip into what I’m hoping is her closet, shut off the light, and close the door, leaving it cracked for me to look out with one eye.
I’ve got to get cameras installed in her house ASAP.
Eve enters a few minutes later with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.
She checks the temperature of the water filling the bathtub first and then turns on the sink and splashes her face before brushing her teeth and rinsing with mouthwash.
I watch her face in the mirror, and I don’t see any visible signs of being impaired.
She bows her head, her disheveled hair falling to shield her face from me, and takes in a deep breath.
Picking up her phone, she taps on the screen a few times, and “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Chainsmokers and Daya begins to fill the large bathroom.
She puts her hair up in a messy bun and slowly begins to undress.
She unbuttons and unzips her jeans, her hips softly swaying back and forth while she pushes them down her lean legs. She’s not wearing any underwear because I took them back at the motel.
Bruises dot her tan skin. Most appear fresh from tonight. Some from those two men and a few from me, I’m sure. The ones I made with my teeth two nights ago in the cathedral office are prominent. She places her cell and the bottle of Jack on the side of the bathtub before she sinks into it.
The music is interrupted by her phone ringing. She looks at it and her finger hovers over the Decline button. Sighing, she answers and puts the call on speaker, leaving the device sitting on the edge of the tub. “Yes?”
“What the fuck happened tonight?” a familiar voice barks, and every muscle in my body tenses while my pulse begins to race.
What the fuck?
“I’m good, thanks for asking.” She rolls her eyes, sliding farther into the bathtub, getting comfortable.
“Eve,” he growls, “you weren’t supposed to kill them both.”
I grip the closet door’s knob, wanting nothing more than to rush out there, take her phone, and demand to know what the fuck is going on.
“How was I supposed to have known he was bringing his brother? They were expecting a two-for-one special.” She closes her eyes. “You’re lucky I’m committed to my job.”
He gives a humorless laugh. “Fuck, Eve. This is not—”
“So next time just let them rape me.” She nods to herself. “Got it.”
The man sighs heavily. “You know that’s not what I want.”
“One of them wanted to piss down my throat,” Eve adds, shivering. “No thanks.”
After a long second of silence on her end, he says, “You did good.”
She huffs before opening her eyes and taking a swig from the bottle of Jack. “Thanks.”
“What about the third guy?”
She frowns. “What third guy? Another brother? There were only the two.”
“Missy said she saw a third guy. He’s been hanging around the bar lately and followed you over to your room.”
Eve chuckles. “Of course she’s a tattling bitch,” she mumbles to herself and then adds, “It was no one.”
“Eve. Who the fuck was it?” he demands.
She drops her head back onto the fluffy pink pillow behind her and closes her eyes once more. My girl looks exhausted. She’s coming down off her high, whereas my adrenaline is pumping at everything I’m hearing. “Kashton.”
“What?” he barks. “Kash…Kashton? My brother?” His voice rises. “What the fuck was he doing there?”
Her eyes open and narrow at his harsh tone. “He’s been following me since you sent him and Haidyn to pick up the prisoner at the cathedral.”
“For the second time, that wasn’t me. Why would I send them there? I have nothing to do with the Lords,” he snaps and then adds, “Maybe Bill did.”
“No”—her gaze drops to the bubbles, and her voice softens—“he wouldn’t do that to me. Bill knows I want nothing to do with them.”
Nothing to do with them? As in Saint, Haidyn, and me?
I can’t speak for Saint and Haidyn, but she didn’t act that way when my cock was inside her an hour ago. She was begging me for it. Her pretty pink cunt was soaked, and her mouth was greedy. She wanted me.
“I’m boarding the jet now. I’ll be landing in about three hours. Meet me—”
“No,” she interrupts him. “I’m going to down a bottle of Jack and pass out.”
“Still self-medicating, I see.”
“Careful,” she warns. “That tone sounds a little judgy coming from a man who fucks any woman who will spread her legs.”
He laughs softly and then clears his throat. “Be careful, Eve.”
She stiffens but says, “I’m always careful.”
“No. You’re not. Kashton is not someone you should fuck with.”
“I can handle him.” She squares her shoulders as if he’s looking right at her.
I love her confidence. That she thinks she can take me on and win. The woman has no clue how persistent I can be. She can bring her stapler or a gun to fight with me, and I’ll still win. Every time.
“He’s bored, and that’s never a good thing.”
“What the fuck do you mean by bored?” She takes another drink, and some of it runs down her chin and onto her chest before it disappears into the bubbles.
“Saint has Ashtyn, Haidyn is busy with Charlotte, and I’m gone. He needs something to take up his time.”
“Well, that won’t be me.” She shakes her head in denial, and a few strands fall loose from her messy bun.
He’s quiet for a second before he makes a suggestion. “Maybe…maybe you should get away for a while.”
“Not this again.” Her teeth grind. “I’m not running. I like it here.” Her green eyes slowly take in the bathroom, as if she’s proud of what she has.
“Everett, you have no friends, no true family other than Bill. Pack up your shit and get the fuck out of this state.”
She sits up, water splashing off the edges at her harsh movement, and huffs. “I said no, Adam. I’m not fucking leaving my home. And I’m pretty fucking tired of you thinking you can order me around.”
“You work for me,” he says matter-of-factly. “I’m telling you now that you need to leave. Especially if you’ve got Kashton’s attention. Nothing good could come from that.”
“I can think of something.” Her eyes widen and she slaps a hand over her mouth, surprised she said that.
“Wait. You let him fuck you?” he asks, surprised. Her hand still remains over her mouth while her wide eyes stare straight ahead at nothing. “I’m proud of you, Eve.”
Slowly removing her hand, her eyes drop to the bubbles, and she whispers, “Yeah, well, it’s just sex. Everyone does it at some point.”
He ignores that and asks, “How do you feel?”
I frown, confused by the change in conversation and why he cares so much. But she lays her head back on the little pillow and looks up at the ceiling as she swallows, softening her voice. “Sick. It was a mistake and won’t be happening again.”
Is that why she vomited? Because we had sex? I made her physically ill? Like…she was disgusted with me? She didn’t act that way at the motel.
“What did you tell him?” Adam asks.
“Nothing. Not like we talked about our previous sexual partners.” She snorts. “And I’m sure there’s another dumb bitch licking my cum off his dick right now.”
Never, angel.
“No. I mean about the two dead guys he saw.”
“Oh. He asked some questions, and when I didn’t answer, he made some assumptions. I just let his mind run with it. I didn’t confirm or deny anything.”
Adam sighs heavily. “I’ll reach out—”
“No.” She sits up quickly and water splashes over the side of the tub once more. “You promised me that if I worked for you, I would get revenge. Kashton will go to the Spades—”
“No. He won’t.”
“You don’t know that. You’ve been out of their lives for too long. They no longer trust you.”
“Be that as it may,” Adam growls, “like I said earlier, Saint and Haidyn are both married now. Their wives are pregnant. Kashton wouldn’t bring them into this.”
She bows her head in surrender. “He’ll want to get involved.”
“It sounds like he already is. I’m not going to risk your life because he decides to follow you one night and fuck shit up because he has no clue what’s going on.
One second.” Adam speaks softly, ordering a drink on the private jet.
“Hey, I just got a text that the scene is cleared, but the guys didn’t have their phones on them. Did you take them?”
That’s why she told me that she didn’t need my brothers’ help. They have a whole system down.
“Fuck,” she hisses.
“What?”
Biting her lip nervously, she answers, “I… We…”
“Spit it out,” he barks.
“I passed out for a second.” You mean I choked you out, angel. “When I woke up, Kashton was already gone. He must have searched the bodies and taken them.”
“Goddammit, Eve,” he shouts.
“Hey. I did my job. You’re welcome, by the way.” He’s still shouting when she hangs up the phone. Music begins coming from it once again. She tosses it to the floor, and it lands on the white rug in the center of the room.
I remain hidden, watching her drink while she stares into nothing. It’s the same blank look on her face that I saw that night on the Isabella.
That night and the conversation she just had with Adam makes me rethink the notion that she was at Dollhouse. He said he was proud of her for having sex, and she got sick afterward.
She’s been used before. Groomed. And she hated herself after I fucked her because she liked it.
It makes me wonder if he’s fucked her, and I hate the idea of them together. That he could have had something that I wanted. I had her first, right? That night on the yacht. I met her before he did.
I’ve never been jealous, but the thought of her being with anyone else makes me see red. Even if it was before me.
Or the fact that she was used as a sex slave. What did they do to her? Obviously, she remembers at least a little bit of it, otherwise she wouldn’t have gotten sick because she allowed me to touch her.
I’ll show my girl that it’s okay to be fucked. That it’s okay to want to feel good. And I’ll make sure Adam understands she belongs to me.