by T. L Smith
“Do you like it?”
“Yes.” There’s no point in lying. I do.
“We can be extremely happy, Everly.”
When he puts me down, I turn in his arms. “Only if I let you torture me while you fuck me?”
“Do you want it soft? Is that what you want?” He starts tearing off his perfect suit. “Tender? Will that make you feel better? If I don’t worship your body, but cherish it instead?”
“You didn’t worship me, you bruised me. Every part of me.”
“Oh, no, Everly. I bit. Tasted and kissed every part of you. I worshipped you.” When he kicks off his shoes, he looks at my clothes. “Strip. You can know the difference now. Feel the difference and tell me which you prefer.”
I don’t take my dress off. I changed on the flight over, the cardigan and jeans were too warm for home. I don’t want to play any more games with him. I want to curl up and be me, just for a while. I need to sort my head out without him so close.
Breathing him in all the time isn’t good for me.
“And what if I like it my way?”
His teeth clench together. “If you really don’t like it, we can stop.”
“You don’t mean that,” I say.
He’s now fully undressed and he reaches for me, taking my dress off. “I do. If it really upsets you that much, I will.” He pauses briefly at my panties before he pulls them down my legs. “But, I will find someone else to fulfill me where you can’t.”
Shit! That’s a slap in the face, and a hard one too.
“You’ll sleep with someone else?” I ask him in disbelief.
“No. I will fuck someone else.”
“Same thing.”
He gently guides me back on the bed. “No. It’s not. I will never sleep with anyone but you. Never have and never intend to. I will fuck someone else who isn’t you, though, if you don’t like it.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Tell me, Everly. Why isn’t it?”
“Well, then I will fuck someone else, too.”
His eyes go wide, and his hand slides to my throat. “You will never. Ever.”
“But you can?”
He drops his hands and glances at me. “I have needs, and I won’t hurt you.” Before I can say another word, he kisses me softly and runs his hands over my sore body. When he gets to my sex, he cups it gently and starts to stroke me. “You like this?”
I don’t answer him. What’s the point in encouraging him? Instead, I let him take control of me. He does ever so gently. He goes down on me, kissing me softly and licking me tenderly, before he climbs back up my body and gently slides into me. I’m still a bit sore, but with each movement he gives me, it doesn’t hurt.
“What’s wrong with this?” I ask stroking his face, looking into his eyes. Staring into eyes that hold a storm is like walking into a tornado and asking it to take you away. It’s a silly thing to do, but if you love the storm you have to chase it.
“This is nice, Everly. Only nice.” And I get it. I get what he’s saying. “But with you, I will take what I can get.” His mouth closes over mine and he kisses me. It takes longer for me to come, and him even longer. When he fucked me hard and raw, it was fast. The climax was intense and would shake my body so much that it was hard to move after.
I won’t tell him, though, he can’t know that.
He lies beside me, pulling out and not saying a word.
“Tell me you love me, Gunner,” I ask in desperation.
“I love you, Everly Reid,” he replies then gets up, and doesn’t look back at me as he walks to the shower.
It felt forced.
We are two people who should probably never work, but we have to.
I wasn’t the woman who was made for him.
He wasn’t the man who was made for me.
How can I make this work?
I quickly get up, wipe myself clean, and slide on my dress and new panties. I hear him in the shower, and I grab my phone and leave.
I thought about the idea of running away from him, how easy it would be to do so. Instead, I go straight to work where I feel safe. It’s my place, which I will not give up no matter how much he says I have to. This is the place born from my ideas that eventually came to life through my own dedication to it. I put a lot of hard work, tears and hours into this place, and I will not let a single soul take it away from me.
“Well, holy shit.” I hear a voice behind me. “You’re back.”
I turn to May who walks in.
“How did you know?”
“Someone posted on the café page that the boss is back. Let the fun begin,” she says. “The better question is, why wasn’t I your first stop?” She reaches for my arm, and as she does the sleeve on my dress rides up showing the bruises on my arm. “What the fuck?” I pull my arm back. “You two into some kinky shit?” she asks.
I don’t know what to say, so I say nothing at all.
“Ev?” she questions my name making me look up at her. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Okay, so are those bruises from other things?”
“No, just as you said.”
“Oh, okay then.”
She doesn’t understand and I don’t blame her. Neither do I.
“Can you tell me why, just after your honeymoon, you never called and you come back…” she pauses, “… unhappy?”
“Confused is all,” I answer her truthfully.
“Okay. Confused as in you don’t know if you should be here today? Or confused as in holy shit I married the wrong man?” My eyes go wide as I look up to her. “Fuck! It’s the last one, isn’t it?”
“I just…” Words seem to fail me.
“Ev...” She wraps her arms around me, holds me tight and hugs me like someone who cares for me does. I don’t know how to tell her, though, what a monster he secretly is. And the scariest part is that I like what that monster did to me, even if my mind tells me I hated it.
“It’s nothing,” I say with a fake smile.
“It’s not. I can see it’s something. It’s not like you not to tell me.”
Turning away from her, I go back to doing what I came in to do. Gunner hasn’t come to find me, and for that I’m thankful. He won’t give me all night, though, and the sun is setting.
“Okay, how about just a few drinks. Let your staff close up, you aren’t even meant to be back yet anyway.”
“Drinks?” I mumble.
“Yes, drinks. If not, we can go out to eat.”
“No. I want to drink.” I need to drink after the week I’ve had. I need to get shitfaced and hope that my reality changes somewhere between one drink and the next.
“Great, let’s go then.”
She drives. Her place is pretty central, and her closet is next-level insane. It helps that I fit into all her clothes, and we have the same shoe size. So she dresses me, and I even let her do my makeup.
We drink while she makes me pretty, and she flinches when she sees my bruises, but doesn’t ask any questions, for which I am grateful. I have hickeys on my inner thigh and some on my stomach. Most are on my breast area, plus the bite marks. Thankfully she doesn’t see those. I’m not sure if she will stay quiet if she does.
“I don’t think I’ve drunk this much since high school,” I say reaching for the third bottle of wine. I’m well over tipsy, and my vision is blurry now, and we haven’t even left her place yet.
May laughs and taps me on the back. “You’re getting fucked up. I like it.”
“I need it,” I whine as we walk out of her place now all dolled up.
“Marrying the sexiest man in this country isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?” she jokes.
“It’s not.”
“I’m sorry.”
My phone rings again, and when I see his face, I answer and FaceTime him and it’s the worst mistake. Because now I can see his beautiful face.
Stupid drunk me.
“Where are you, Everly?�
� He’s quiet when he says it, but loud enough for May to hear. I eye her and she rolls her eyes, making me laugh.
“Everly.”
“Goodbye, Gunner.” I throw the phone and it lands on the street. May screeches as a car runs over it.
I shrug my shoulders. “Let’s go dance.”
“You’ve lost your mind.”
“Maybe, but freedom is what I need right now.”
“I can’t believe you did that.” She giggles again.
“I had to call him, I can’t carry you,” I hear May mumble into my hair. She strokes it back from my face as I hug the bowl in the women’s bathroom.
“You shouldn’t have.” I wipe my face and warm hands wrap around me as I’m picked up.
“It’s all right, squirt. I got you.” My head lies on Alec’s shoulder as we walk. He’s careful with each step as we make our way outside.
May touches my shoulder. “Don’t be mad. Okay? Your drink could have been spiked, and I know you didn’t want me to call ‘the husband.’” She uses air quotes. “So, Alec was the best option.”
“You just want to sleep with him,” I say lazily.
I hear her screech.
“No, she doesn’t mean that. I mean, unless you know… you want to?”
“No,” he says then I feel him moving.
Ouch. I’m not going to hear the end of that.
“Squirt, go to sleep.” I feel him move me into a car.
And that’s the last thing I remember.
27
A loud bang wakes me up, then an even louder voice. My head hurts, and the bed I’m in isn’t my own.
“Squirt.” Alec’s voice makes me jump. I place my hand to my heart and look around.
“Where are we?” I don’t recognize this place.
The banging on the door continues, and a muffled voice is yelling from the other side of it.
“You’re at my condo. Listen, Everly.”
“Everly,” I question him. He never calls me that.
“Look, we need to talk.”
The banging becomes much louder, and I go to get up but my head hurts.
Shit! I drank way too much last night.
“Bathroom?” I ask covering my mouth.
Alec points, and I run, opening the door and just making it in time.
“Shit, squirt. I’ll get you something.” His footsteps disappear, and I don’t hear when they come back because my head is back over the bowl. I’m physically ill until my stomach hurts and nothing’s left.
“We don’t have long.” I barely hear him as I manage to sit next to the bowl, wiping my mouth. He hands me a cloth and water. I rinse my mouth before I spit it back out.
“Who’s here?”
The banging doesn’t stop and my head throbs in time with each new pound on the door.
“Your husband.” I sit taller when he says that.
“How?”
Alec shakes his head, his hand running through his dark hair. “I don’t even know, but we need to talk before he gets past security.” The door bangs loudly, and footsteps are heard. Alec stands in front of me. I reach for him, pulling myself up. When I do, I see Gunner’s shoes now standing in the doorway.
“Get out of my way, Alec.”
“No. She doesn’t want to go with you.”
“What? And she wants to stay with you?” He laughs while shaking his head.
When I step to the side of Alec, I see a very angry Gunner. His hand comes up and he offers it to me. “Everly, let’s go, you need to stop this nonsense. You’ve had your fun.”
I cringe at his words. “Fuck off.” I put emphasis on the words, and then I realize how much they have hurt my head when I speak because it makes me feel physically ill again.
“You know what happens if you leave, Everly. You. Are. Mine.”
I can hear Alec’s breathing becoming heavier next to me.
“No, I’m not. I may love you, Gunner, but this is all so fucked up. And before you, I was living a normal life.”
“You knew you had to meet me eventually. I simply changed our fate. Made it happen more on your terms. It should have made you happy.”
I scoff, loudly. “Happy? Happy that you lied to me and then you did this to me.” I pull down my top showing him my breasts and the bite marks that cover them. Also the bruising.
Gunner grinds his teeth. The look of anger is worsening. “Close your fucking top.”
I do, and he looks at Alec.
“Did you tell her?”
“He doesn’t need to tell me anything. You need to leave.”
Gunner ignores me. “So she doesn’t know.” Gunner smirks and with it I want to hide. “I’m going to go, Everly, so you can see. But you have twenty-four hours to come home. And then, if you don’t, I won’t be so forgiving. And the first person I will kill, will be him.” He points to Alec and then turns and walks out.
I collapse back on the bathroom floor and pick up the water Alec gave me and drink it.
“What was that on you? What did he do?” Alec’s hand touches my hair and begins to stroke it.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” I wince.
“Squirt, it’s fine. But he’s right, we have to talk.”
“Can I shower first?”
He nods then walks out, shutting the door behind him. I manage to get in and wash my face. The makeup May put on me last night is still there and my eyes have black shit clumped all around them. Getting out and drying myself, I find one of Alec’s clean shirts and I put it on and walk back out to find him sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.
When I walk out, he lifts his head to stare at me. His light eyes are filled with worry, and his large frame appears to shake as he sits there watching me step closer.
“I’m not your uncle.”
“What?” I ask, not sure if I’ve heard him right.
“Your papa is not my brother. We aren’t related.”
I back up until I hit one of the chairs in the small room and sit on it. “But…” I search his face and see he’s telling me the truth, “… Papu raised you and my father.” He nods his head. “Thomas killed my mother when I was a child. He took me in and raised me as one of his,” he says referring to my grandfather, Papu.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“I was meant to marry into the family, I was meant to marry you.” My head starts shaking. “They didn’t tell me about the contract, though. I didn’t know about Gunner until it was too late for me to do anything.”
“I…”
His hand touches me as I clamp on, not sure what to say. My whole life’s a lie?
“Everly, what I’m trying to say is… if you want to leave him, I will help you.”
“Leave?” I ask, confused. “You know about the contract?” I ask him.
“I know bits and pieces of what your father would tell me. But you didn’t have options then, you do now.”
“What?”
“Marry me, Everly. I love you.”
I touch his hands. “I love you, too, Alec. But I can’t marry you. I’m already married.”
“You don’t want to be.”
I shake my head at his words. “I don’t. Not like this. But Alec, I do love him. Despite how we are together right now, I do love him.”
Alec pulls his hands back. “You’re a fool then,” he says with hurt evident in his voice.
“This I know.” I smile at him.
He stands and walks to the small kitchen and makes us some tea. “You should stay, I’m sure you don’t want to be around him just yet.”
“I don’t,” I say, agreeing with him.
When he walks over, he hands me a mug and I take it.
“You aren’t in love with me, are you Alec? I mean, I love you but I’m not in love with you.” I ask him because my head is trying to piece everything together, and it just doesn’t make sense. I take a sip of my drink as he sits opposite of me with his head down.
“Do you want that answe
r, Everly?”
“I think I do, but I’m not sure.” Drinking the rest of my tea, I place it next to me and wait for him to answer me.
When he does, the words start to blur, but I do hear him. Even as my eyes start shutting and my body begins to slouch.
“I do, Everly, I’m in love with you. I have been since I was eighteen years old.”
Gunner
In twenty-four hours, I’m waiting at the door for her, but she doesn’t come. When I call, she doesn’t answer on Alec’s phone. My anger has reached all new heights, and there’s no way I plan to cool off anytime soon. Driving straight to that little fucking shack he had her in, which wasn’t easy to find once I tracked him down, there’s no sign of anyone. The door is open, and when I walk in, she isn’t there. My fists hit the wall, hard. The plaster smashing around my wrist.
I call her father.
He answers on the first ring. “Gunner, what can I do for you?”
“Where is he?”
“Who?”
“Alec. Where is he? He took her,” I seethe into the phone.
“He wouldn’t. He cares for her.”
“He’s in love with her,” I say. I’ve known it for as long as I’ve known her. He loves her all right because she’s so easy to love. Impossible not to fall for.
“Yes, he is,” he finally admits.
Walking over to the bed, a single image is sitting there, one from a portrait camera. It’s a sleeping Everly lying on this bed. Captioned below, ‘You won’t find me. Stop looking.’
“I will kill everyone that he knows, and then when I get hold of him, I will kill him too. But I will do it slowly, and I will enjoy it immensely. Do you understand me? And if I find out you’re helping him, I will kill you and your wife, too. And I will keep Everly locked in my fucking basement for the rest of her life, and only use her to fuck her. Do you understand me?”
“I understand. I have a tracker on his phone. I’m sending you the details.”
Walking out the door and to my car, the tracking information comes through. I shake my head when I see where it’s blinking—my fucking house.