“A pickup truck that broke down?” I interrupt her. I turn right to Eva. Her eyes are the size of her donut.
“Yeah, a red one,” continues Mrs. Calloway. “Parked on the side of the road, but Sharon vouched for him. Her son helped him get his truck running, and he left.”
“How long was he sitting there?” Eva asks, not looking up from her donut.
Mrs. Calloway curiously looks between Eva and I. “Is there something you two need to tell me?”
Eva quickly shakes her head. “No. But if a random pickup truck was parked on our road for a while during the same time dad’s office was being broken into … don’t you think the police should look into it a bit more?”
“They did,” she states. “His truck broke down. Sharon’s son spotted him, jumped his truck, and he left. End of story. Now, are you sure there’s not something you two want to tell me?”
I almost break. I almost blurt out that a red pickup truck has been following me for days, and that Eva thinks it’s my dad. But I say nothing, because Eva kicks me hard under the table.
“Nope,” she says to her mom, picking up her donut and coffee before standing. “Just wanted to make sure the police were doing their job. I’m going to go change. If the sheriff wants to talk to me, fine. But if he asks me details about my relationship, my past relationship,” she corrects herself, “with Porter Channing … that’ll open up a whole new can of craziness that I’m not sure Flagler is ready to hear. You coming, Bodhi?” she asks me, but doesn’t wait and starts heading out of the kitchen.
I glance up at Mrs. Calloway. I was around my own mom long enough to know that Mrs. Calloway definitely thinks Eva’s lying about something. I grab my coffee and stand.
“Let us know if we can do anything.”
“I will, Bodhi.”
I turn to leave, but spin back around. “Nine to eleven?” I repeat to Mrs. Calloway. “Those were the only times you asked them to look at the cameras?”
Mrs. Calloway nods.
“You need to have them check after that too. From the time we left your house around twelve until we came back over here around two or three? Those few hours, during those few hours someone was back inside your house, cleaning up Mr. Calloway’s office.”
Her face goes pale. “How could I forget that?”
“Mrs. Calloway?”
“Yes, Bodhi?”
“Have them check to see if the red pickup truck came back during those hours, okay?”
She nods her head. “I will, Bodhi. Thank you.”
I leave the kitchen, going right up the stairs to Eva’s room. As soon as I walk in, she closes the door behind me and stands there with her hands on her hips, a frown set on her beautiful face. The attitude, I should be taken aback with the attitude but dare I say that it might be turning me on? I sit down on the end of her bed and pat a spot next to me. She doesn’t move, so I do. I stand up and walk over to her, pull at her arms and bring her into mine.
“You think it was my dad, right?”
“Bodhi,” she sighs into my chest. “It was your dad. It was your dad who’s been following you. It was your dad who almost ran me over, and now, it was your dad who broke into my dad’s office.”
“And?” I ask, knowing there’s more she wants to say.
“And, it was your dad who cut our phone wires,” she finishes.
I don’t want to believe her. I don’t want to believe that someone I’ve idolized from afar and wondered about my entire life, could be capable of doing the things she just listed. My dad, Calvin’s son, a criminal.
“I don’t want you to be right.”
“I don’t want to be right, but we need to figure out why he’s here, and what he wants.”
“And if it is my dad who did all of this?”
“It is,” she confirms again. “And when everything returns to normal, nothing that’s happened or might happen as we figure this out, changes you and me.”
I nod a little and tug on her shirt. “Why do you think he’s here?”
She chews on her lip, looking deep in thought. “I was hoping it was to see you? But I think it has something to do with my dad, and Mr. Channing.”
“Should we head out and find him?”
“No. Definitely not. We need to let him find us, but I do think it’s time we consult with the rest of the Scooby Doo gang,” she smirks.
The guys, Coop and Beck. I love this about her. She includes them, knowing they matter in my life. I can be hers and hers alone, lost in our own little world, spending the night together doing things I’ve only dreamed about. Then in the blink of an eye she’s reminding me it’s not just the two of us.
“Want me to tell them to come here?” I ask her.
“I have a better idea. Tell them to meet us under High Bridge in like an hour?”
Eva changes into a bikini, throwing a dress on over it, and we head back downstairs. I watch as she grabs a cooler from the hall closet and starts pulling lunch meat and cheese from the refrigerator. She throws a loaf of bread at me and we stand there, making sandwiches and bagging them as if we’re parents making school lunches for our kids. I laugh at the thought.
“What’s so funny, Bodhi?”
“Nothing,” I reply, putting my arms around her waist from behind her.
I kiss the side of her neck as she leans back and smiles. I might nip a little above her collarbone while my mouth is right there too. I hear a noise escape her mouth and my mind goes straight back to last night. Knowing that I have the ability to make her feel this good, to make her moan with pleasure, is sexy as hell. My lips work back up her neck and I’m about to turn her around so I can kiss her, when I hear footsteps coming. I move my head and drop my hands just as her brothers and mom come into the kitchen.
“You guys going somewhere?” her mom asks, eyeing our spread of sandwiches on the counter.
“Going to take the boat out, if that’s okay,” Eva answers her. “Meet up with Coop and Beck for a little while.”
Mrs. Calloway opens a drawer and tosses me the boat keys. “Make sure you have enough life jackets on board for the four of you.”
“Sure thing,” Eva responds, throwing some fruit in the cooler. “Where are you guys going?”
“Putt-putt!” Miles excitedly announces.
“The boys made a summer wish list,” Mrs. Calloway explains, looking overly enthused on purpose. “Today we’re checking off mini golf.”
Rowan walks over to me and tugs on my shirt. “Bodhi, can you come with us?”
Eva lets out a laugh under her breath.
I squat down so I’m at Rowan’s level. I don’t want to destroy the little guy by telling him no. “Definitely hard to choose between mini golf with you guys and hanging out with your sister. But don’t tell her that.” Rowan smiles. “I think she might be sad if I leave her by herself. She doesn’t have a super cool brother the same age as her, to hang out with like you do.” Rowan looks over at Miles. “But how about I take you and Miles surfing this week? We can see if we can find some dolphins out there, and then we can go get ice cream. I know a really good ice cream place. Like the best ice cream in all of Flagler.”
Rowan nods his head and wraps his tiny arms around my neck. “I think I’m going to be a better surfer than my brother,” he whispers in my ear. He then skips out of the kitchen with Miles and towards the garage. I stand back up to see Mrs. Calloway and Eva both staring at me.
Mrs. Calloway smiles, nods her head like she’s agreeing to something no one else can hear, and says, “See you both later today.” She then follows the boys out of the house.
I turn to Eva, she’s still staring at me. “What?” I raise my hands up in question.
She walks over and puts her hand on my face and kisses me hard, right there in her kitchen. “Rowan, he’s not like Miles,” she then says. “He’s always been very quiet, always lets Miles talk for him, and he’s never asked anyone I’ve brought into our house to go mini golfing with him. You are really go
od with him, and he really likes you. It’s nice to see him open up a little, with you.”
“I like Rowan, and Miles,” I tell her.
“And I really like that you like them,” she grins, leaning in for another kiss.
WE FINISH FILLING the cooler and head out of her house, walking right down the dock to her boat. The water looks like glass, so smooth and perfect, the complete opposite of what I see at my house every day. Once again, it’s too quiet though. I don’t even notice there’s a kayaker gliding past Eva’s boat until he spins to face us as we approach. I laugh as Calvin waves, rocking the kayak with his movements as his fishing pole about falls into the water.
“You two want to come over for dinner later?” he calls out at us.
I hadn’t thought that far out yet in my day, but Eva shouts back, “Can we bring Coop and Beck?”
“Hell yeah you can!” Calvin replies. “Bring your mom and the boys too! Six work for you all?”
She nods. “See you then!” She turns back to me. “I hope that’s okay? Did we have plans? Did you have plans? I just know he’s lonely …”
The sun is working its magic on Eva’s hair as she tosses it off her neck. Her green eyes are staring at mine, waiting for me to answer. She just did it again, made me remember it’s not just the two of us alone in this world.
“My plans are wherever you are.”
Twenty minutes later we’re cruising down the Halifax as High Bridge comes into view. Eva let me have full control of boating duties as she sunbathes up front in her bikini, which threw my body into a fit of constant anxiety. One, I’ve never been behind the wheel of a boat as expensive as this one. And two, I’m going to crash us right into a sandbank because I can’t stop staring at Eva.
The last time Eva sunbathed in a bikini on a boat in front of me was the day she broke her leg. She was beautiful then, not as full in certain areas of her body, her chest for sure, her hips, but I remember noticing that day that her body was changing. I still felt as awkward as hell, puberty was a bitch, but she was sitting there unaffected by the way she was looking less like the Eva who showed up at my house at twelve, and more like the Eva that was making my heart thump in my chest every time she was around. I remember thinking then, I would never find another girl as beautiful as Eva Calloway.
Goddamn, I’m a lucky son of a bitch to be able to love her, and I will spend every day from here on out, letting her know how much I do.
She looks up and catches me staring at her. “Eyes, captain.” High Bridge is getting close, and she stands up and stretches. My imagination goes wild as she walks over to me. “You wreck my parents’ boat because your eyes can’t stay on the water …”
I pull her onto my lap, and her arms go around my neck. “My eyes can’t stay on the water, because they can’t stay off of you.”
She looks at me sideways, a little smirk on her lips.
I can’t leave it at that though. “Do you know how lucky I am that I get to be with you every day now?”
I can see the water reflecting in her eyes. “As lucky as I am that I get to be with you every day now?”
There’s no one else on the water, so I put the boat in neutral for a moment as I try to collect my thoughts.
“You okay, Bodhi?”
I nod. “I am. I’m just remembering that last day, out on the boat with you and my mom. Before …” I point to her scar. She instinctively touches it. “I remember that was the day I realized I was in love with you.”
She kisses me. “You beat me. I realized in the hospital bed when you held my hand.”
I move her hair away from her eyes and say, “Our love story, it’s pretty epic.”
“That it is, Bodhi Bishop.”
I take my fingers and run them up and down her back. She closes her eyes and bites her lip a little, sending numerous different X-rated thoughts directly to my overly sensual brain.
I bring my head to hers. “Babe. I have this constant desire to always want to be touching you,” I whisper to her. “Is that okay?”
She smiles with her eyes still closed and says, “Yes. Because I have this constant desire for you to always be touching me.”
I watch her facial expressions as my fingers find their way down to the front of her bikini bottoms. She bites her lip harder, keeping her eyes closed as she breathes a little heavier. I love seeing her squirm with my touches. It’s like a drug almost. I always push a little further to see what her reaction will be.
She doesn’t stop them as they wander under the edge of her bikini, in fact, she does the opposite. She arches her body further away from me so that I have more space for my fingers to roam. I leave my one hand on her back, keeping her from falling off my lap, and I slip the other hand further under.
She gasps a little and smiles. “Bodhi, what are you doing?” she asks under her breath.
“Fulfilling our constant desires to always have me touching you,” I respond.
“You can’t do that, here,” she mumbles.
I bring my hand back out but whisper, “Who’s going to stop us?”
I want nothing more than to touch her in ways I know only I have ever touched her before, because let’s be honest here … Porter never did anything like this. He never even thought twice about making her happy. The fact only I have and will ever touch her like this, makes this action even more intoxicating. And once she comes undone right here on my lap, I’ll lay her down on her boat in the middle of the Halifax and have a repeat of exactly what we did last night.
My fingers move further down again, back to where they were before, when her eyes suddenly open. They are wild, starving for this affection that I’m giving her. She stares at me as I move my fingers exactly where I know they need to be to get her to that point of no return. She brings her forehead to mine before moving her mouth to my neck.
I close my eyes. Her lips sucking on my neck feels hypnotic. She might not have the experience I have, but she knows exactly what to do to get my heart racing like mad in my chest.
“Jesus, babe. Don’t stop.” I whisper.
Then she does stop though. My eyes open to see her looking over my shoulder. She lets out a sigh and points to High Bridge. I look behind me, it’s close, way too close, even though we’re just slowly drifting. I groan, bringing my fingers to her stomach again as I pull her body back into mine. I know she can feel me underneath her. How turned on this made me. She puts her forehead on mine and her breath dances teasingly on my lips.
I brush her hair out of her face as I whisper into her ear, “I’m absolutely addicted to you, Eva Calloway. In ways I have never felt before.”
Her lips find my neck again, and then her mouth finds my ear. “Good. I want you to be addicted to me. Just me.”
“Only you, Eva. Just you. It’s always been just you. Forever.” I grab her waist and bring my mouth to hers.
She bites onto my lip and then gradually pulls away, grazing the outline of my face with her fingers. “We have two options right now,” she says, her lips back on mine, her hips moving in closer. “This,” she points between her and me. “Or them,” she points to High Bridge.
I push my mouth onto hers, letting her know exactly what my choice would be. “This. Definitely this.”
Her fingernails dig into my back. “Bailing on your friends is not cool.”
“Our friends,” I tell her, my fingers close to untying her top. “And please, don’t tempt me.” I pull her in for another kiss, as she places both her hands on my chest. She then slyly shifts the boat off neutral and to forward, deciding for me. “Eva,” I groan, grabbing the wheel and looking back to High Bridge.
“How about we pick this up later?” she smirks.
“Like now?” I respond, grabbing her waist with my one hand.
She stays there on my lap, her head in the crook of my neck, until we’re almost under High Bridge. We can already see the guys standing on the small dock, waiting for us.
She gives me a slow kiss and brings her m
outh back to my ear. “Every minute that we spend with them today … all I’ll be thinking of is when your hands will be back on my body.” And then she stands, throws her dress back on, and walks over to the guys, as if she said nothing at all.
chapter twenty-eight
Bodhi
I slowly pull the boat right up to Coop and Beck. I don’t even acknowledge either of them at first. I’m not exactly capable of doing anything at the moment besides trying to calm down what’s happening under my swim trunks. Eva, she makes me go completely insane with just the words that roll off her tongue.
“Welcome on board, ladies,” Eva greets them.
“Damn, woman,” Coop says, grabbing her hand and jumping over the side. “Is this your boat?”
“That it is. Well, my parents’ boat, but they never use it.”
“I could get used to cruising around on this beauty,” Beck says while stepping onboard. “You fish on this boat a lot?”
“Hell yes,” she smiles. “Caught a shark on it last year. Wasn’t sure what to do with it and didn’t want my arm chopped off, so I cut the line and let it go.”
“Is that another tall tale, Eva?” Beck narrows his eyes.
“I took a picture on my phone if you don’t believe me,” she smirks, waving her phone in the air.
Beck raises his hands in defense and I laugh. “Don’t mess with her,” I say to him.
Coop throws himself down on a seat across from me as I make our way out of the High Bridge area. “You two have a good night while Beck and I worked our asses off in the rain?” he asks us. “We closed down Dolly’s as the sun was coming up.”
I can see Eva blush as she walks over to take the empty seat next to Coop. I grab her hand and pull her back down onto my lap.
“Our night went fine,” I say back, glaring at him as he winks at me. I’m fully aware that Coop knows exactly what Eva and I did last night, but he won’t say anything else right now. “It’s this morning we need to talk to you two about.”
“This morning?” Beck repeats.
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