Chapter 38
CHLOE
I’d taken a seat at Evan’s kitchen table and put my head down. This day had exhausted me. But I was grateful he’d gotten me out of the miserable hole I’d been in when he found me at the storage unit.
Evan came up behind me and rubbed my back. When I looked up, he was holding a pink note.
“What’s that?” I asked as I sat straighter in the chair.
“This isn’t the typical challenge. But it’s something that will be difficult, and given that it’s my turn, I figured I’d take advantage.”
I took it and looked down at what he’d written.
Forgive me—for everything, even though I don’t deserve it.
“That’s not really a challenge,” I argued.
“Sure, it is. It requires you to let go of the resentment I caused with that phone call the other night. I know it’s still weighing on you.
That’s the last thing you need on top of everything else right now.
But this challenge extends to everything I’ve ever done—turning you down when you were a teenager, acting like a dick when you first got here.
And, yes, scolding you the other night for doing something nice for my daughter.
I’m asking you to let it all go and forgive me.
Or at least try. I want to start fresh.”
I looked down again at the note. “Yeah, of course the phone call has been weighing on me because nothing was resolved,” I admitted.
“I’m not upset because you warned me not to overdo it with Effie.
I think I might be upset because I fear you’re right, that maybe I do need to back off a little when it comes to her.
” My eyes met his. “But that also means backing off when it comes to you, doesn’t it?
” I hesitated. “The company has been pressuring me to come back to Chicago. I feel like I don’t know what’s going to happen from one day to the next, especially with Mom. It’s all very scary.”
Evan’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t realize you’d been under additional pressure from work.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “So it’s been a rough week for more than one reason.”
He took a seat at the table next to me and leaned his head on my shoulder.
“No matter what you decide is best, Chloe, I need you to know that I’ll always be here for you.
You feel like you don’t have a family here in Dry River anymore.
But you do. You have Effie and me, and you always will.
That’s independent of the status of our personal relationship. ”
While his promise was endearing, it also created more unsettling questions.
I took a breath. “So what you’re saying is, if I leave and move back to Chicago, then decide to come back here only to find you remarried, you’re gonna let me stay with you like family?
I’m certain your new wife won’t appreciate that. ”
“New wife? Well, now you’re just making up stories.”
“You don’t think that will happen someday? A man like you won’t stay single forever, Evan.”
“I have no interest in getting remarried, but that’s beside the point.”
So many emotions rose to the surface, and I needed to be brutally honest. “My feelings for you will always be raw and complicated. They always have been. Now that we’ve had a sexual relationship, Evan, I don’t know that I could depend on you to replace my family.
I don’t see you the same way I see a family member.
My heart won’t let me. And anything going on with you personally will always affect me in a way it wouldn’t if you were merely my brother. ”
I reached out to rub his chin scruff. “But in answer to your challenge… I will forgive you for yucking my yum over Effie’s bedroom. And I forgive you for rejecting me back in the day, too, because in retrospect, you were right about everything.”
He kissed me on the forehead and spoke softly against it. “Thank you.”
“That was a weak challenge, by the way.”
“Not to me, it wasn’t. I’ve felt like shit ever since the other night. I needed to know you forgive me.” He stood.
“Where are you going?” I sat straighter.
“To make you dinner.”
“I’m not hungry.”
He stopped and turned around. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Tell me what I can do for you, then. We still have time before I have to pick up Effie, and I want to make the most of it.”
How was I supposed to tell him I wanted him between my legs without sounding cheap? We’d just had a deep conversation, but all I could think about was sex.
The longer I said nothing, the longer he looked into my eyes. Somehow, he must’ve sensed the need in me.
“Come…” He reached out his hand. I took it and followed him into the living room.
“Lie back,” he commanded as I fell onto the sofa.
Evan got down on his knees. He slid my body close, so my ass was at the edge of the couch. No sooner than I could blink, he’d pulled my leggings down, followed by my panties.
He licked his fingers before pushing them inside of me, causing my muscles to tighten.
“Sit back and relax, baby. I’ve got you.”
His eyes locked with mine as he moved his fingers in and out.
And while I wished it were his cock, there was something uniquely erotic about this.
He circled the thumb of his opposite hand around my clit.
A moment later, he licked his lips before pulling his fingers out of my now drenched opening.
My clit throbbed as I waited for his next move.
He spread my knees wider and lowered himself. I gasped at the feel of his wet mouth on my tender flesh.
“Mmm…” he groaned, sending a vibration followed by ripples of pleasure through my body.
I bent my head back, surrendering to the ecstasy. The more I let go, the harder he devoured me, lapping with more intensity as his beard scraped against me.
Evan managed to give me exactly the escape I needed. It didn’t matter how I performed or whether I pleased him. This was all about me, his way of making me feel better when he knew very little else probably could.
I tugged at his thick hair, guiding his movements, completely turned on by the barely audible sounds of pleasure coming from his mouth as he ate me. When he inserted his tongue all the way inside while also massaging my clit, I nearly came.
Instead, I tightened my muscles to stave off the orgasm, gripping his hair tighter.
“That’s it. Show me how you like it,” he muttered.
I knew this had to be killing him. While I appreciated the selfless act of oral sex, I wanted nothing more than to feel him inside of me.
Pulling his head away, I scooched back.
“I need to come, but I want to do it with you inside me.”
“You don’t have to ask twice,” he said, whipping his belt off and throwing it down. His hair was a tousled mess as he gazed down at me, and he’d barely slipped down his boxer shorts before lowering himself to enter me.
Evan groaned loudly as he thrust. “Fuck, Chloe. Come whenever you’re ready because I’m already about to explode. I got so damn worked up eating your pussy.”
I reached down to rub my clit. He pumped hard into me a few times before I felt the heat of his load.
“Shit,” he muttered.
I hadn’t expected him to come first, but apparently going down on me like that had done a number on him. I released my climax, extremely turned on by his lack of control and the warmth that filled me.
“Give it all to me,” he murmured. “I love feeling you come.”
The orgasm passed through me like it had taken me to another dimension. I’d certainly forgotten my worries for a moment. I’d unloaded all the stress of the day into Evan. And it felt glorious.
After he slowly pulled out, he hovered over me, resting his head on my neck. “You good?”
“I’m great.” I felt more relaxed than I had in a while.
Evan took my mouth in his. As I raked my fingers through his hair, I almost felt ready for round two.
“You forgave me for acting like an ass,” he said. “Now I think we should take one day at a time, not overthink anything. I want to enjoy my time with you, whether it’s for three months or forever.”
That was the first time he’d ever indicated that there might not be an end to this, that forever was a possibility.
Reaching for his chin, I positioned his face to look at me. “I can live with that.”
Before we left to go pick up Effie, I opened the drawer in Evan’s kitchen and took out the same neon pink sticky note pad he’d used earlier.
With a black marker I wrote: Tell Effie about us.
After I handed it to him, he looked down at it for a while, speechless. I knew he’d have a lot of trepidation about it. But it was important to me not to have to hide what we meant to each other for whatever amount of time we had left together here.
“I know you haven’t wanted to tell her that we’re more than friends,” I said, my voice wavering.
“And I understand that. But she’s not stupid.
She’s asked me straight out if I’m your girlfriend, and I’ve continued to maintain that we’re merely friends.
And while we’ve never had a discussion about a name for whatever’s going on between us, it’d be nice to hold your hand when she’s around and not have to feel like we’re hiding.
” My heart raced as I waited for his response.
He looked up from the note. “It’s not that I don’t want her to know.
I just don’t want to get her hopes up when you said yourself that you don’t know what’s gonna happen.
” He looked into my eyes. “That said, I think you’re right.
I don’t give her enough credit for how smart she is.
If she’s asked you about it, that means we haven’t done that good a job of hiding it.
And I owe her honesty.” He nodded. “So yeah, let’s tell her. ”
I let out a relieved breath. This challenge was a little selfish, my way of gauging where things stood at a time when I needed direction. “It doesn’t have to be tomorrow,” I assured him. “Just when the time feels right.”
Evan kissed me on the forehead. “Deal.”
Since Drew’s was on the way to the storage unit where my car was parked, we decided to pick Effie up first. That way I’d also get to say hello to her.
On the drive over, I continued to feel much calmer than I had earlier in the day.
But it was short-lived.
Millie called about a mile before we got to Drew’s house.
“Is everything okay?” I asked when I answered.
“I’m so sorry, Chloe. I tried to wake your mother up to eat, but…I think she’s gone.”