14. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Evie
I wake up to the smell of bacon and smile as I roll over, reaching for Brix, but come up empty handed.
I sit up, looking around the room and stretch my sore muscles. I may have to start working out if he expects nights like that on the regular.
I can’t contain my smile or happiness. Before Brixon found me again, I never thought I would ever find love. If I’m being honest, I figured with my track record, I would end up being the old creepy cat lady that the kids in the neighborhood made up stories about.
I get out of bed and head to the bathroom, bouncing with every step as I turn on the shower. I brush my teeth and grab a new razor while I wait for the water to warm up.
I get in and let the hot water soak into my hair and run down my face and body, helping me wake up.
I smile as I wash my hair, thinking of all the conversations we had last night in between all the amazing sex. I don’t think I had half as much dick in the ten years we have been apart as I did last night.
My pussy has also never been this sore!
We got extremely drunk, and Brix asked me to marry him… Several times.
I look down at my left hand where the red sharpie is still vibrant on my ring finger. He drew a ring so that I wouldn’t forget to answer him this morning when I wake up sober and have breakfast. His words, not mine.
I may be sober, but I do have a headache, and need coffee asap.
I rush through my shower, making sure to get the sharpie off. I do my hair and makeup routine, giving it my best shot, attempting to cover the dark circles I have earned the last couple of days. Thank the heavens for fake lashes.
I decide to get dressed in simple, black joggers, a cropped burnt orange sweatshirt that says, They Missed One 1692, and black sneakers. I look at the clock and realize I only have a couple of hours before I have to go to work. I need to hire someone else pretty soon just to have a real day off.
I rush downstairs just as Brixon is headed upstairs with a tray of food.
“Hey, back in bed little witch, I want to bring you breakfast and shower together.” He almost orders, making me laugh.
“That is so fucking cute of you, but I have to go to work, remember? I can’t close the shop today. Plus, my vagina is pissed at you.” I say as I kiss his cheek coming down the stairs, taking the cup of coffee he made me off the tray as I go, taking that first magical sip to wake me up a bit.
Mm, so good.
“Well, you still have to eat. New Years Eve is in a few days. Will you take some time off?” he asks as he follows me into the kitchen and sets the tray on the counter, looking at me expectantly.
“Okay, I have time to eat. Maybe.” I smile at him as I take another long sip before I go through my normal morning routine.
“You have to sit down to do that.” He chastises, watching me like a hawk.
I pick up Jinx’s bowl, grab his cat food out of the refrigerator, open the pouch, and dump it in. I set the bowl back down, tossing the pouch in the trash, and take a seat next to Brix.
“Better?” I giggle knowing I’m annoying the shit out of him, still not answering his stupid question from last night. I sit back in my chair and sip my coffee, trying not to laugh as I take in his expression. He probably thinks I forgot.
“Well, we are sober now. Will you finally answer me?” he asks, looking a bit disheveled, practically begging.
“Answer you about what?” I ask, trying not to smirk as I take another long sip.
“You are going to make me beg aren’t you, my little witch?” he asks, smirking at me as he takes a bite of bacon.
“I’ll give you the answer you want when you ask me properly. I have never asked for much, but I would still like a proper proposal. One that I don’t expect coming!” I roll my eyes at the man who has done everything else perfectly.
He has to realize that a drunk proposal wouldn’t cut it just because it was cute, and because he knows deep down that I’m dying to say yes. This is one thing I won’t budge on.
I may not get the wedding in the long run, so I will relish the proposal. What he did last night just isn’t going to work for me. He is already full of himself at the fact that I more than willingly gave in to what I remembered and am already starting to fall for him in a whole new way.
I remember the feeling of loving him back then. It’s ten-fold now, especially after last night. He was adorable.
He sat behind me in the clawfoot tub, washing my hair and body, telling me how I was the only thing that mattered to him in this world. We polished off several more bottles of wine, asking each other all the things we were curious about, and he asked me to marry him while rinsing my hair.
I laughed, telling him he was nuts and only asking because we had lost so much time. I explained that he needs to put thought into a proposal before asking again.
He obviously didn’t think I was serious. He asked again as he fucked me under the waterfall in the pool, so I could live out my Cocktail, bartender fantasy. It was only fair since he got his whipped cream bikini one.
I told him not to ask stupid questions during sex when I’m not allowed to say no to anything, making him laugh a little, ruining his orgasm, but not mine. I still got mine!
He asked again while we watched an episode of The Originals, lying in front of the fireplace, eating cold pizza from the night before, and talking about how much our lives had changed in ten years.
I explained my fascination with all things The Vampire Diaries and The Originals when he saw my collection of little things from the shows in the library room. He had never seen or really heard of the shows, and I about lost my shit. I had to make him watch it.
I realize now that I started watching those shows my senior year in high school, wishing I could be more like Bonnie. That was the worst time in my life, when I was all alone.
He chose to ask again during a scene with Klaus and Cami. I started crying because I forgot about my best friend Cami, and he thought it was a good time to propose again.
When I said no, he grabbed the red sharpie that Emily left on the end table in the living room and drew a ring on my finger, promising to replace it when I say yes.
“I will draw this one for now, so that you can think about it and answer me when you are sober, or when I finally wear you down.” Brixon smiled wide drawing a ring on my finger, claiming me in another way. He made me laugh, acting like I had already said yes, talking about colors, flowers, who our wedding party will be, what kinds of cake we both want, and our dream honeymoon to Italy.
The only question in my mind about the actual wedding is who will walk me down the aisle. I already know that he is the only man that I could possibly ever want to be with.
“Evie?” Brixon looks at me expectantly, pulling me out of my daydream of us at the alter saying I do..
“Huh?” I ask, not hearing what he asked.
“Do you still like gumbo?”
“Yeah, why?” I ask looking at him like he is nuts. Everyone loves gumbo. What kind of a duh question is that.
“Noah is making dinner tonight and wants us to be there.
“He opened a restaurant back in Florida. He named it Bayou Bites. We all own several businesses as well as properties there.” He explains.
“Oh, are you going to want to move back there?” I ask, not knowing if that’s something I can do, realizing we talked about a lot of things, but not much about him and his businesses now. He told me about his strip / sex club but wants to wait until I see it to really explain it all.
“Actually, I think I want to stick around here and make the club a chain. Liam has been looking at a few options with a new realtor that works with the Deveraux Corporation, which is one of ours. It’s time the Diocese come back to NOLA and claim their birthright. Things have gone downhill here since we left.” He explains further, making me feel a little better, knowing deep down that I can’t say no to him.
“I’m happy to hear you say that, Brix. I don’t know if I could ever leave New Orleans, it’s my home, all I’ve ever really known.” I smile, relieved.
“I figured it was bothering you after our conversations last night. I will want and need to go back to Florida from time to time for business, and you will have to start taking vacations and hiring people to work at the store so that you have days off to go with me. We can finally have it all, Eves.” His smile reaches his eyes as he takes my hand and kisses it softly, sending butterflies in my stomach again before I’m hit with another vision.
We are in the bayou; it was our first time. I watch as the red and blue butterflies surround us. My attention is broken from me and Brix to a man in the shadows of the bayou, hiding behind a cluster of cypress trees in a black trench coat and hat. He is chanting something, holding my father’s grimoire, watching us.
He looks up at me, showing his face and bright green eyes in the moonlight, continuing his chant. He is holding a necklace dangling from a long silver chain that looks like a ruby. The man smirks as he holds out a hand towards me. I notice he is also holding the purple crystal, but its one whole piece. He flicks his wrist and I feel like I just got punched right in my lungs as I’m thrown back into the present, flopping back in my chair as I pull away from Brix, gasping for a deep breath.
“Fuck, Evie, are you okay? What did you see baby?” Brix is on me quickly, pushing my hair out of my face.
I look up at him as he cups my face, my eyes meeting his as I try to remember how to breathe, “Someone else was there that night, when we were together the first time. I can’t be sure, but I think it was Mark. He has the same eyes as my mom. He was doing a spell or something, I couldn’t hear him, but he had the grimoire I found. He did this to us, not the ancestors. Or maybe with the ancestors. I don’t know!” I try to explain as my lungs finally allow me to take deep enough breaths to get my words out.
I watch Brixon’s face morph from worried to pissed off.
“Tell me what he looked like. I don’t know Mark personally, but I have seen photos. I might have one.” He says as he gets up going over by the stove, grabbing his phone.
I watch him tap on his phone and scroll for a minute, “Is this the guy?” he asks, flipping his phone around towards me.
I look at it intently, focused on his eyes, “Yeah, that’s him.” I say, dropping my eyes to the table.
“It’s okay, Eves, he is hiding right now, but we will find him. We will figure this all out.” He assures me, before kissing my forehead.
“That’s my dad. The guy who gave me away so he could be with some sadistic bitch from hell. He looks evil. I still can’t believe that the scholarship, grant money, and everything else I thought I accomplished on my own was all a lie.” I confess as if his sins are mine just because I came from him, making me feel even more like a fraud.
“You earned your degree and were top of your class. He just made sure you were provided for. It was his way of doing one thing right in his entire life. He made sure you had the opportunity to make it out of this life. You are the only good the man ever offered the world. Don’t let him, being who he is, take that away from you.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m still just processing it all. I know I have earned it, but to know where it all came from now. The money I got after I got my bachelor’s degree, which was supposedly from an anonymous donor for my research, ultimately helped me open the store. It just makes me feel dirty, knowing that all of that money was blood money.” I try to explain why I just feel dirty.
I worked so hard to do everything the right way, just for me to find out it was all a lie.
“I get it, but you took that money and did good with it. That has to account for something. You aren’t a bad person. Technically your dad paid for your college, and made sure you were still provided for, that’s all. Most parents do that and buy their kids grades in our world, at least you can say you did it all on your own.” He tries to make me feel better and I know he’s right, it’s just a lot.
“Thank you, I will get over it, but I also want him to pay for what he has done. It’s only right.”
“Come on, let’s have a nice breakfast without all the heavy today. I know we talked about a lot of things last night, and we have a lot more to talk about, but let’s take today, and just think about how lucky we are to even get a second chance.” Brixon’s eyes shine as he gives me an almost pleading look.
“Okay, what time is dinner, and what should I bring?” I ask, knowing that worrying isn’t going to change anything.
I just need to accept the things that I can’t do a damn thing about right now and enjoy what I have been given.
“You don’t have to bring anything; Noah will have everything ready by six. If you thought his chicken piccata was good, wait till you try his gumbo. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.” I watch as his eyes light up talking about his best friend, our brother.
I have always loved Noah like a brother. When we were kids, he got picked on in school for being little. We had each other’s backs from first grade on.
I think about how lost I was going back for my Senior year to a new private school, not having any friends. I was a loner, always a good student, but I knew then that something was missing. I guess I have known that for the last ten years, until it all just came crashing back, hitting me like a fucking tidal wave.
It's nice having family again. I have had Emily, and that was enough for me. I love Em and can’t imagine where I would have been the last couple of years without her, especially after mama died. Em came in when I needed someone the most. She saved me as much as I saved her.
I don’t know how much longer I can keep what I know from them. I know I can’t tell them either. I just hope that what I am trying to do will change the outcome before my time is up.