33. Clark #2
“You know that I’ve only ever been with two other people,” she said, rather matter-of-factly.
Wait a minute, we were about to cheat on Shepard?
“We’re not going to be like, cheating on Shepard or anything, though.
When I moved out, we decided to stop our little arrangement.
It was getting messy, anyway. Feelings were getting involved what with the baby, and neither of us were able to label those feelings, so we just gave in to the inevitable and decided to let it go and see other people.
I only brought it up because I won’t know or maybe be good at what you like. ”
I pulled her close to me in a hug, and ran one hand down her curly hair.
“I don’t care what we do, as long as it’s together.
I’ve wanted you since the moment we shook hands on that first Tuesday, you know.
I never dreamt this would actually happen since you were my boss and all, but...
” I shrugged, and she laughed and leaned forward to kiss my cheek.
“I wanted it, too,” she murmured from where she was nuzzling her mouth along my jaw and neck.
“It seems like I’ve been searching a long time to find you, and you found me instead.
” She backed away, and I saw a bolt of fear flash through her eyes.
“I’m sorry. That was a bit intense. I can be that way, when I’m sure about something.
And I’m sure that we will have amazing chemistry, Clark.
I don’t mean to sound psycho or anything, just that I want to give this a try, because we deserve it.
Everything doesn’t have to be perfect, but I can’t imagine going another day without knowing what you feel like, taste like, sound like when we are together. ”
Oh Christ, she was going to kill me with talk like that.
I groaned and captured her mouth again with a kiss, shoving our bodies as close together as I could, standing there in the front hall of her apartment.
This wouldn’t do. We needed a bed, ASAP.
Again, as though sensing my thoughts, she breaks the kiss and manages to pant, “Bed, now. My room, down the hall. Probably same place as yours.” She playfully shoves me back, pushes down her jeans and is standing in front of me in Steven Universe themed boxer briefs.
I wanted to laugh, but she reaches up behind her back and in two seconds flat, is throwing her bra to the floor revealing her striking breasts, as well.
That’s it. I grabbed her hand and we raced down the hall, her room suddenly feeling very far away.
When we get there, I don’t waste time looking around at the art or admiring any of her things. I’m too busy aching for her.
She scootched all the way up the bed to the padded headboard while I dispensed with the rest of my clothing.
She finally shimmied out of her boxers, wadded them up and threw them at me with impressive aim.
After catching the offending garment, I let it fall to the floor, and take her in for a long moment, starting with sparkly toenail polish, up well-defined calves from walking all over the city, to larger thighs and the flare of her hips.
I can just see the groomed hair of her sex from where it is cuddled into her pregnant belly.
I scanned up to her breasts, staring at the perfect shape of them, and then noticed her move her arms, as if to conceal part of her stomach.
I crawled up the bed toward her, and softly took her arms in my sweated, shaking hands and asked if I could see what she was hiding.
She nodded and lowered her arms to her sides, watching me as I could see the plethora of scars on her, from about her bellybutton to her breasts.
“What happened here?” I ask, leaning down to kiss the largest, angriest looking one.
“Um, surgery. All of them are from surgeries, most of them even necessary. I had one that was exploratory, done by a rather unethical doctor,” she continued, before I could ask. “Can we forget that these are here and just...”
“Continue?” I asked, smiling down at her, more than happy to comply.
So she had scars. I didn’t care, she was perfectly made, in my eyes.
I noticed some tears filling her eyes but stubbornly refusing to fall.
This woman. It was like she had been created to tick all my boxes, because her courage in the light of the shame she felt around some of her body made me love—whoa, hold on!
I did not just think the L word. Not yet anyway.
Had I thought it, offhand now and then, that what I felt for Olly could be love?
Yes, I realized I had, and more disturbing than that, I was okay with it.
By the time we were finished learning every bit of each other’s bodies, I could hear a sleepy voice in my head, saying, “So am I. Okay with it, I mean.”
As much as we wanted to spend the rest of the day in bed, we decided to be responsible adults and make a triage of what needed to be done.
First on our list for today would be checking out this Halifax house we had jointly inherited.
It was in the South End, but not on the waterfront, closer to Point Pleasant Park.
Now, I knew the smart thing would be to list the house right away, split the profits, and carry on with living in our cozy, bright apartments with the harbour views.
I had been told by Mr. Boutillier yesterday that I actually owned that entire apartment complex, and part of me wanted my first act as landlord to be evicting Jeff and Aaron.
But I was trying to let cooler heads prevail, and not move too fast on any decision until I had time to absorb the fact that not only was my only blood relative dead, but he had left me practically a billionaire, and the person I loved would be comfortable for the rest of their days, whether we were together or not.
I wasn’t the flashy car buyer, or watch collector or something, but the money represented stability, something I hadn’t had for a lot of my life.
And to Olly, it meant security. She’d never have to know hunger again, or worry for Bea and any other children she might have.
The money was peace of mind, in a way, and I couldn’t help but be grateful to Edward for that.
Yup, that was the part that really blew my mind.
When adding up properties around the world, investments, gold bars that I really hoped didn’t have a Nazi symbol on them—they were in a vault in a bank in Switzerland along with a collection of art, so of course my mind went to war booty—a collection of cars and boats, majority ownership of an Antarctic scientific base and the blinged up research vessel to get there and back, and just straight-up liquid assets, it was in the high hundreds of millions.
That was American dollars and Euros, so when you did the currency conversion it was just over a billion Canadian. Fucking hell.
For Olly, some art, half the Halifax house, a whack of straight-up cash, investments in The Organization’s businesses, and a position on the board went to them—if they wanted it. And a huge trust, left to the unborn child, with one big caveat. With it, came the name Evans.
It took a lot of gall for him to add that as a condition.
Just how powerful was the old man, when it came to foresight?
Did he know how much I loved Olly, and that I would propose?
Would they say yes, and become an Evans themself?
And did he know that they would ultimately decide to keep Beatrice, and protect her from the wide world, instead of casting her out into it?
He must have, but even I doubted now and then this new...
fantastical...world I had found myself in.
Apparitions, mind-reading, foresight, telekinesis, and more.
All I got from it was a headache. Surely my father had to know that there was something different about his own father, that the world wasn’t as black and white as it was made out to be, and that there were people who could, with enough power, even manipulate events in the future.
I wondered why I had not inherited these talents, gifts, curse, whatever such power could be called, but I was content with who I was.
Of course I was, I had no choice in the matter.
What I did have a choice over was what to do with The Organization, and their potentially world-altering mission.
At heart, I was educated as an astrophysicist: I believed in the multiverse, and not just because I liked Marvel movies.
I could steer some of the most talented minds on Earth toward a fulfillment of my family legacy.
Or I could call a meeting and announce that we were going to be dismantling The Organization, bit by bit.
But before all that, before any decision was made by both Olly and me...the house.