“He made it sound like everything was my fault. I don’t even really understand what the fuck’s going on. Is that what I’m going to have to expect from the local police? Because if so, I think I’ll take my chances next time without involving them.”
“Shh, calm down, baby. You’re going to make yourself sick.” Noah pulls her forward and kisses her forehead and she visibly relaxes in front of us.
Okay, what the fuck is going on? Have I stepped into a fucking parallel universe or something? I look to Mason to see what he thinks about Noah having his hands all over what is essentially his girl, but he only has eyes for Eden.
“Right, from now on, Eden, I don’t want you to talk to the police at all without out me present. Sam has confirmed that Karl is indeed still in Germany, so we are working on the assumption that you have a stalker. I know this sucks, but I don’t want you going anywhere without one of the guys for a while.”
She nods reluctantly.
“Ryan and Caleb are on standby if you guys are needed elsewhere and I’ll have two other guys parked outside, at least for tonight. We need to find out who this guy is. I have someone on his way to talk to your old boss, but the best thing you can do is stay vigilant,” Sam tells her, all businesslike. I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard him talk.
“All right, guys, we’ll leave you to it. Call if you need anything. Eden, I will pop back over tomorrow, if that’s all right? I have some paperwork for you to sign and then the money is all yours.”
“Thank you, Malcolm.”
“No problem, honey, it’s partly my fault you’re in this mess in the first place. I mean, I’m glad it’s not Karl but if we hadn’t forced you to run then the stalker might not have felt the need to act.”
“Or something else might have pushed him over the edge and he could’ve been waiting for me when I was all alone. Seriously, you guys have to stop blaming yourselves. What you have all done since the crash has gone above and beyond what I expected.”
Sam and Malcolm take off, leaving the four of us alone. I have never felt so fucking uncomfortable in my own fucking home.
“I’m going to go upstairs and take a nap. I have a headache,” Eden says, spinning on her heel and heading upstairs. I don’t know if she does or whether she is just as uncomfortable as I am.
“I’ll come with you, pretty girl.”
When they disappear, I whirl and face Noah. “What the fuck is going on?”
“We just told you.”
“No, what is going on with you and Eden? You’re playing with fire there. If Mason catches on, he will fucking kill you.”
The weirdo smiles at that like he knows something I don’t. “He knows I like her and that she likes me. He was the one that suggested group dating.”
“Group… group dating? Are you kidding me with this, Noah?”
“What is your problem?”
“My problem is that I left the house for a few hours and my housemates got body snatched. What are you going to do when they leave, huh? Go with them? Going to be a bouncer at a strip club too?”
He walks up to me until we’re chest to chest. “I don’t know what has gotten into you, but I suggest you sort it out. I’m falling for her. At the moment, that’s all I care about. I don’t know if you’re jealous or just being a dick but watch what you say to her.”
I scoff. “What the fuck have I got to be jealous of? If I wanted pussy I could go out and get some.”
“Yeah but it wouldn’t be hers and it wouldn’t mean anything. You keep telling yourself if you keep your distance you won’t get hurt again but all that leaves you with is a cold bed and an empty heart. And if you ever refer to Eden as pussy again, I will knock you the fuck out.” He storms off, leaving me pissed off with no outlet.
Fuck this shit. I turn around and head back out. There’s a bar around the corner which should just be opening now. Malcolm’s right, who gives a fuck what time it is? It’s the perfect time to get shit-faced.
I’m rethinking that decision a few hours later when a furious Noah pulls me out of the bar and back home. Crouched down over the toilet in nothing more than a pair of boxers, I spend the next hour expelling all the alcohol I earlier felt I so desperately needed.
“Here, sip this.” Eden kneels down beside me with a glass of water in her hand. I take it and sip it slowly, hoping like fuck that I keep it down.
“Saint Jude, huh?”
My eyes snap to hers. “What?”
She indicates the medallion around my neck that I never take off. “The patron saint of lost causes. Is that what you think you are, Eli, a lost cause?”
“How pissed off are they?” I ask, ignoring her question. I don’t need her psychobabble bullshit right now.
She sighs but thankfully lets it go. “They’re pretty pissed but it’s only because they were worried about you. How would you feel if I disappeared and didn’t tell you where I was going?”
I wave her off. “That’s different.”
“Tell me, Eli, if my stalker got his hands on you when you were in such a state, do you think he would have passed up such an opportunity?”
“He isn’t after me, Eden.”
“Don’t be so fucking naïve, Eli. Whoever he is, he will go for anyone I care about. He probably sees the three of you as obstacles that need removing.”
“You care about me?”
She rolls her eyes at me like I’m dumb.
Maybe she’s right, lord knows I feel dumb at the moment.
“That’s all you heard, huh? Of course, I care about you, we all do. You can’t do shit like this, not at the moment at least. Give the guys a chance to cool down. Go to bed, take the tablets I’ve left at the bedside beside your lamp, and sleep it off. We can talk some more in the morning.” She walks off, leaving me to wallow in my self-pity.
When I feel like I can move without throwing up, I brush my teeth and make my way over to the bed. I take the tablets and crawl under the cool sheets, willing the room to stop spinning. I’m pissed at myself for getting into this state. I’m not much of a drinker to begin with and with the amount I put away today, I should be grateful I’m not having my stomach pumped. I glance at the clock on my bedside table and see that it’s only seven o’clock. I can hear them moving around downstairs and notice the faint smell of garlic, which threatens to start me off again. I bury my head under my pillow and try to sleep.
The problem is, I can’t switch my brain off. I need to figure out a plan of action because getting rat-assed every day isn’t a viable option. I want to fuck Eden. It’s not exactly a hardship to admit this. All that creamy skin, firm breasts that are the perfect handful, and legs that go on for miles draw me to her like a moth to a flame. If it were anyone else, I would have had her bent over the kitchen island already, but Eden deserves more than that. She deserves hearts and flowers after everything she’s been through and I’m not that guy.
Once upon a time maybe, but not now. She may be the right girl, but she came along three years too late. I won't ever put myself in a position like that again. One day you’re happy and then the next day it’s all gone. Having a relationship would mean giving her my already fragile heart and hoping she won’t pulverise it. No thanks. I have learned my lesson. If Eden leaves, I doubt I’ll survive the fallout this time. With the decision already made, I just have to adjust to the other guys being all over her without letting my jealousy show. They get to touch her and taste her and do things to her that I can only dream about. In the end, when she walks away, and she will walk away—they always do—they will be no more than shadows of the men they used to be. I will at least be strong enough to help them through it. I need to reinforce my walls a little to stop her from slipping inside. I can be her friend, but that’s just going to have to be enough for the both of us.
I toss and turn for another couple of hours but thankfully I’m not sick again. I’m just about to go downstairs to sit out on the balcony and get some fresh air to clear my head when the ob
ject of my problems pushes open my door and silently pads inside on bare feet. She’s wearing a huge shirt that comes to her knees that must belong to Mason. I quickly close my eyes and fake sleeping, figuring she’s just checking on me before she heads to bed herself. When she pulls the covers back and slips in next to me, it takes everything in me not to react. What is she doing? She curls up into a ball as far away from me as she can get. When her breathing evens out, I realise she has fallen asleep. A shaft of light appears from under my door when someone switches the light on in the hallway. When the door opens, spilling light into the room, I look up to see Noah standing in the doorway, still dressed in his jeans and T-shirt.
“She was worried about you getting sick during the night. She has so much going on that she doesn’t need to be worrying about you on top of everything else.”
I nod, knowing he’s right.
“You fuck it out of your system before you got smashed?”
“No, it wasn’t like that. Fuck, I haven’t been laid in months. I’m always with your cockblocking ass.”
“You aren’t missing much. You seem to gravitate toward women with IQ’s smaller than their G-strings.”
“Says the guy dating a stripper.”
His eyes flash with anger but I hold my hands up in a placating gesture.
“It wasn’t a dig. She is, or was, in actual fact a stripper. I was just pointing out the irony of your words.”
“You going to be cool with me and Mason dating her together?”
“It’s not really any of my business, Noah, what you guys decide to do, but I won’t cause any problems if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Fine. Just don’t start treating her like a leper. She likes you. If all you want is to be friends, she’ll be happy with that but don’t act cold toward her just so you can keep your distance.
“Pot. Kettle.”
“I know. I never said it would be easy, but I have a feeling that it’s going to be worth it.” He closes the door behind him, plunging me back into darkness.
Eden whimpers from beside me and without giving it any conscious thought, I pull her into my arms to comfort her. It’s only when she snuggles into me that I realise what I’ve done. I should roll away. I need to slide my arm out from beneath her and turn and face the other side. Instead, I find myself burying my face in her hair, breathing in her subtle coconut fragrance as I wrap my arms securely around her. Tomorrow I’ll put some distance between us. When I wake up, everything will go back to the way it should be. But for now, I just want to hold on a little longer to the girl that in another lifetime could have been mine.
My eyes snap open when I hear moaning and realise Eden is still in my arms. I hold her tighter, hating that she can’t even find peace when she’s asleep.
“Shhhh,” I whisper against her forehead.
She stirs in my arms. “Eli?”
“Yeah, it’s me, sweetheart. Everything is fine, go back to sleep.” I tip my head down to kiss her forehead but she chooses that moment to tip her head up, making our lips connect.
We both freeze before I give in and move my lips gently over hers. When she sighs and parts her mouth, I slip my tongue inside and deepen the kiss. It’s as the kiss heats up and my fingers glide under the hem of her T-shirt that I come to my senses and pull away.
“Shit, sorry, Eden. That shouldn’t have happened.”
“It’s okay, Eli.”
“That can’t happen again, Eden. Go back to sleep.”
“M’kay,” she mumbles, already drifting off, the day’s events clearly taking their toll.
I, however, just lie there reliving the single best kiss I’ve ever had. I can still feel her lips on mine and her warm breath against my skin. Every time she makes a cute little noise, my dick gets hard as a rock, making me so fucking grateful that she’s asleep.
When the sun comes up a couple of hours later, I’m still awake wondering how in the fuck am I going to be able to distance myself from her when I know how good she tastes. My dick is hard as I imagine what she tastes like somewhere else too. Fuck, I need to get out of here. I slide out of bed, careful not to disturb her, and tug on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and head downstairs for some more painkillers and a coffee.
I make my drink and contemplate sitting out on the balcony, but I don’t want to disturb Mason, so I head upstairs. I figure I can sit in the chair and read on my Kindle without waking her but when I open the door she’s gone. She even made the bed, making it look like she was never here in the first place. Strangely enough, this helps harden my resolve. This is exactly what it will be like when she is really gone, so I better get used to it.
Chapter Nine
MASON
I feel the covers lift and turn to face a subdued Eden.
“Hey, pretty girl. I didn’t think you would mind me crawling in here with you sleeping in Eli’s room. That sofa is not the comfiest thing to sleep on.”
“I didn’t even think about that, Mason. Feel free to crawl in here whenever you want to, I don’t mind.” She climbs in and lies on her side, facing me.
“What’s with the frown?”
“Am I a bad kisser? I don’t have anyone else to ask.”
I look at her in shock as I take in her words.
“Was I your first kiss, Eden?” She nods, embarrassed but she needn’t be. I just assumed it was something else that Karl had taken from her.
“Don’t be embarrassed. I’m fucking thrilled.” I pull her closer grazing her lips with mine. “I would spend the rest of my life kissing you if you let me.” I can feel her smile against my mouth.
“So why haven’t you kissed me since that day at Midas?”
“Is that what this is about? Pretty girl, I’ve been giving you time to get your head on straight. I didn’t want to overwhelm you, especially now that we’ve thrown Noah into the mix and possibly Eli.”
“No, not Eli.” Her tone is sharp and decisive.
“Something happen between you two?”
She fidgets nervously, and I can see she is worried about my reaction. This is what I want to avoid, which is why talking about it is crucial.
“He kissed me but then he freaked out and said it would never happen again.”
“Eden, do not take on Eli’s issues as your own. Him pulling away and saying that shit is about him, not you. He has things he needs to figure out. Give him some time. What we are suggesting goes against the norm. Now, how do you feel about making out a little?”
I feel her tongue graze my mouth as she licks her lips and I take that as a straight up invitation. I lose myself in the moment as she finds the courage to explore my mouth with her own. We both breakaway breathless.
“Wow.”
“I second that. Gloves are off now, pretty girl. I like my hands and lips on you and there are a dozen places I can think of exploring. You always have the control. Whether you lead or I do, you are the one in control. The minute you say stop, we stop.”
“Okay. I like the sound of that. I think about it, you know. Sometimes when I’m alone in bed I let my fingers trail across my body.”
I stare at her with my mouth open.
She bursts out laughing, rolling around until tears slip from the corners of her eyes.
“You little shit.” I tickle her until she calls uncle.
“Thank you.”
Her smile is reward enough.
“What for?”
“For being you and for letting me just be me.”
“I happen to like you just the way you are, so it’s no hardship for me.” I lay back down beside her and pull her to my chest and tuck her head under my chin. “Have you thought about what you want to do now that you are Miss Money Bags?”
She elbows me in the chest. “Please, god, don’t call me that. Erm… well, I do have something in mind, but I need to talk to you guys about it first. I’m not sure how you’re going to react, more so Noah than you, but still.”
“Damn, girl, you waffle when yo
u’re nervous. What is this idea of yours?”
She’s quiet and I can practically see her weighing the merit of telling me before giving in and sighing. “I want to open a club.”
“Okay. Here in London?”
She nods, and I have to pull her finger from her mouth as she chews her nail. Shit like that makes me think of putting something else in her mouth.
“From what Eli and Noah have said there are a lot of clubs in London, which is to be expected but the Mac Daddy of clubs is Dante’s. It’s just on the outskirts of London and spread out over seven floors, each depicting one of the seven circles of purgatory.”
Her eyes light up in wonder. Looks like we’ll need to plan a night out when the stalker has been caught.
“What kind of club are you thinking of?”
“Burlesque. In my head I have this vision of gorgeous girls in elaborate costumes who seductively undress but leave a little something to the imagination. I’m thinking of mixing it up with some old school tongue-in-cheek comedy sketches and jazz music. Like a throwback to a different era.”
“That actually sounds pretty cool. If you need some security, I’m your man.”
“Yes, you are my man, aren’t you?” She places a soft kiss on my lips, confident with her actions.
“I don’t want you to work as part of the security team, though.”
I won’t admit it because this isn’t about me but that shit stings a little.
“I want you to head the whole security department. I know nothing about any of that side of things, but you do. If there’s one thing I want, it’s to guarantee the girls who work there of protection.”
“Are you serious?”
“Well, yeah. I trust you with my life. Who else would I pick?”
This girl slays me and she doesn’t even know it. Does she have any idea how little faith people usually have in me? Of course, she doesn’t. She doesn’t see me as everyone else does. I tip her head up and kiss her softly, pouring everything I’m feeling into it, everything that she’s not quite ready to hear yet.
Her stomach chooses that moment to rumble loudly, making me laugh.
The Promise of Tomorrow: An Inheritance Novel Page 9