I decide that although it’s a lot of prep, stir fry would be a good idea. One, I haven’t had it in ages and B, the noodles should help absorb some of the alcohol so we can drink more.
Setting up a chopping board and a knife for Jensen along with the carrots I show him how to cut them when he steps up behind me.
“What’re we making, Angel?”
“Stir fry” I say music starts echoing around the kitchen and I can’t help but dance along.
“Come here, Angel” Jensen, holds out his hand to me and starts spinning me around the kitchen in a dance that doesn’t go with the style of the song at all but I couldn’t care less. I’m giggling as he moves and he ends the dance by dipping me backwards like they do in the movies. My heart melts and I’m pretty sure I’m wearing the goofiest grin imaginable right now. Jensen’s smirk turns into a gorgeous smile as he looks down at me and he lowers his lips to mine. He kisses me slowly like he’s savouring me and my heart pounds in my chest. When he pulls back I get the overwhelming urge to say a certain three words to him, as soon as the thought crosses my mind it’s quickly followed by panic, fortunately he doesn’t seem to notice my internal freak out.
“Let’s get dinner done, I’m up for more drinking” I chuckle as he rights me and we go back to getting everything ready.
My eyes drift over to my guys sat in the living room before they land on Atlas, who is already staring back, I smile and turn back to chopping up the veg.
Atlas
“You alright man?” Rafe asks me.
It’s still odd to hear him speak but it just goes to show how much influence Ever has over him, over them all. I’ve got to admit it seemed odd to me when I realised that they were still so affected by losing her when they were kids, when I first met them in freshmen year.
I get it now.
Fucking hell do I get it now.
She approached me without any fear, she wasn’t even just masking it, she genuinely wasn’t afraid of me and I think that terrifies the fuck out of me. I’m an intimidating guy not just because of my size but I don’t exactly give off happy, approach me vibes but she just breezed right past all my fucking defences like they were made of fucking paper and I have a feeling she’s in now and won't be going fucking anywhere. I have no chance of rebuilding those defences against her. It’s still too early to know whether I’ll want to or not yet.
With that terrifying thought, I turn my attention back to her. Not that I’ve really taken my eyes off of her since she kissed my scar, no one kisses my scar, even girls I fuck avoid it like it’s somehow catching. I wonder if she would still look at me without fear if she knew how far it extends or even the story behind how I got it. I doubt it, that would be too good to be true.
I shake my head at my ridiculous thoughts.
How has this wraith of a girl got me so tied up in knots already.
My eyes connect with Jensen’s as he approaches Ever’s swaying body, he grins knowingly at me and nods once, almost like he gets it and it’s ok. Out of all the guys Jensen understands me the best because the darkness that rules me live inside him too, he just has the option to push his back.
I watch as she starts dancing, her tight little body swaying to the beat and making my dick hard. As Jensen spins her around the kitchen, her eyes lit up with joy, I look around at the guys. Surprisingly there’s no jealousy or tension between them, they just look happy that she’s happy and that one of them can do it for her.
Rafe’s crazy as fuck plan might actually work for them.
I ignore the pang that hits my deadened heart when I don’t include myself in the idea.
Even when Jensen kisses the fuck out of her, they don’t seem bothered, if anything they look like they want to join them. I can’t say I blame them, watching Trick and Cash with her earlier was hot and it shocked the shit out of me that I thought that. Riot just smirked this irritating as fuck grin at me like he knew something I didn’t.
The fucker.
“Atlas?” Rafe questions again and I realise that I’ve been too busy watching Ever and Jensen and didn’t answer his question.
I glance at him briefly catching his smirk before my gaze switches back Ever as if it’s completely out of my hands.
It’s a compulsion.
I don’t know what it is about her, actually I do. Not only is she stunningly beautiful but she saw beyond my mask with an ease that should of terrified me, and instead of leaving me to feel exposed and admittedly vulnerable, she showed me her own demons.
She has almost as many shadows in her eyes as I do in mine and it makes my teeth grind at the thought that any of them are from things remotely close to what I’ve been through. Quite honestly it makes me fucking murderous.
If I ever find out who put those demons in her eyes the fucker will be left wishing for death before I’m fucking done with him.
Speaking of, my gaze lands on the grazes on her face. I have a feeling that they cover more of her body and she answered my silent question earlier, so I know she didn’t get them by accident. I don’t know how to answer Rafe’s question truthfully right now, everything is just so fucking complicated. So I deflect with a question of my own.
“Where did the grazes come from?” I rasp quietly.
The tension in the room goes up and before any of the guys answer, Ever does.
“I had a stalker, he kidnapped me and got pissed when I didn’t do as I was told. The guys rescued me before he could act on his plans for me though” she explains casually and smiles softly at the guys, it’s obvious she adores them.
My blood boils and I fight the red that bleeds across my eyesight, a sure sign I’m about to fucking lose it.
When I’ve managed to calm myself enough to talk, I make sure that Jensen has Ever distracted and then look to the guys.
“He dead?” I ask completely serious, I have no idea if Ever realises how dangerous these guys are but they are perfectly capable of killing someone who harmed her.
“No, too many fucking witnesses” Trick growls his jaw tensing and a dark cloud descending over them.
They hate it as much as I do, there’s a threat out there to Princess, I mean Ever, and they can’t do fuck all about it because of circumstances.
“Jensen called in a favour, he’ll be wishing he was dead as soon as he steps foot in the prison.” Rafe growls as he smiles darkly.
That’s more like it.
“Good” I reply, earning looks from them all and smirks.
“Fuck off, she’s something else” I growl and the fuckers just laugh at me.
“She really is, just you fucking wait Atlas, she’s going to have you wrapped around her little finger by morning” Luc grins, smacking me on the back.
These guys are the only ones who get away with touching me without losing limbs, them, Rage and apparently now Everleigh.
“That’s if she hasn’t already” Cash chuckles, always observant and sets them all off, I can’t help but join in as I smirk.
“Did you travel light?” Ever asks suddenly and my attention lands on her as she lays the table.
“Yeah,” I say confused, I don’t know how she knew that but I can’t exactly explain why I had to travel light.
“The guys have a spare bag for you, if you wanted to change” she says and the guys smile at her in absolute adoration.
I don’t know about having me wrapped around her finger but she’s certainly got them.
There’s no hint in her voice for me to tell her more, she’s not fishing for information, she’s just letting me know. I am curious though so I decide to push.
“Why do you think I’d like to change?” I ask, raising my eyebrow and crossing my arms across my chest.
She smirks.
“You have blood on your shirt” she says completely unconcerned and my eyebrows hit my hairline.
“Fucking hell, she’s even more observant than you,” I curse my gaze snapping to Cash.
“I don’t even know how she did that,
I didn’t notice until she said” Cash shrugs, like it’s not that surprising that she’s picked up on something that he didn’t.
“Where’s the blood from?” Trick asks, firmly.
“Ran into some trouble a couple of towns away, don’t worry it’s taken care of” I grin darkly.
Sent a nice little present back to my father too.
Trick just nods, trusting I’ve taken care of it.
“She’s not going to ask?” I can’t help but ask myself, “and you guys packed me a bag?” I ask raising my eyebrow, it’s not that they wouldn’t care to, more that it just wouldn’t occur to them and they’re all happy to share their shit.
“Nope, I won’t ask. You tell me if you want but I’m not going to pry” Ever calls over to me from where she’s setting drinks out on the table, not even facing me, I shoot an incredulous look at Trick and he just shrugs.
“It was Ever’s idea, she assumed that from what you said in your text you’d probably be travelling light so we should pack you a bag” Rafe explains.
She gets more and more intriguing with every new thing I learn about her. Without saying anything I take the stairs two at a time and go to my room, stripping off my blood stained shirt and chucking it in the trash, I prefer black for a reason but if she can spot the stain someone else could too. Although to be fair that’s unlikely since people rarely have the balls to stare at me for any length of time.
I sit down on the edge of bed and just take a breath. Ever really threw me through a fucking loop. My heart is still pounding and I swear I can still feel her lips on my cheek. She’s stunning in all aspects and meanings of the word. I can’t help but feel that there is a lot more to her. Yes she has demons but I don’t think she just lay down and took it, I think she fought back. I don’t get protective over people, I just don’t give a flying fuck, in life people die so fucking often what’s the point. Besides, the more people you feel protective over the more weaknesses you have. The guys and Rage I’m protective over. They’re family, I actually really want to introduce the guy’s to Rage, they’d get on amazingly but I can’t bring them into this mess even though I know they are more than capable of handling it.
I am already feeling protective of her though and I’ve only been here for an hour. It worries me if I’m being honest. The guy’s would be used against me but hell help any fucker who tries, I know they can take care of themselves. It’s my own doubts that keep me from bringing them in on it. If they ever find out they’re going to be seriously pissed.
I have no idea how well Ever can take care of herself and that scares that shit out of me already. He would delight in using her against me.
Shaking off my dark thoughts I make my way back downstairs just in time to see the guys all take a seat at the table, Ever is bringing the last dish of salad over and I step into her path dipping and kissing her cheek, unable to stop myself from letting my lips linger against her soft as silk skin. She trembles slightly and I pull back worried that I’ve scared her. She looks up at me with heat in her eyes and my heart stops before beating double time.
“Thank you, Princess. It’s been a long time since someone’s been thoughtful enough to care about me” I rasp quietly, I have no idea why I admitted that to her.
I know the fuckers are probably gaping at me again. Not only do I not like being touched but I never initiate it and I have with Ever twice.
What is she doing to me?
“Anytime Atty” she grins and places the final dish on the table.
That nickname makes my heart beat faster and I have no idea fucking why but I like it. Idiot. I take my usual seat and we all start dishing up. This whole scene is very domestic and a small, buried part of me that I thought had died years ago, stirs with yearning. I’ve missed these fuckers, but it really is just safer for them to not be around me until I’ve sorted this mess out. Even then I’m not sure it will be safe.
“This is really good, Firecracker” Luc compliments and we all grunt in agreement.
“Oi fuckers I helped too” Jensen grumbles and makes Ever laughs.
“You chopped shit up” Rafe chuckles.
“Still counts” Jensen smarts back.
“So what are we doing after this?” Ever interrupts before their fight can dissolve even further.
“I vote hot tub” Trick smirks and sends her a wink which surprisingly has her blushing.
“I’m up for that” she says letting her eyes trail over all of us, even me and then smirking.
I debate saying I’m going to sit this one out but the asshole in me wants to test her and her reaction to my scar. She can’t be as perfect as she seems and I’d rather find out now if it scares her. I’m also man enough to admit that I just want to see Ever in a bikini.
I smirk and Trick catches it grinning wider. I decide to distract him before he can call me out on it. He’d just love that. He always said I just had to meet her and I’d understand and I always denied him and said I’d help find her for them but she’s all theirs. He is so going to gloat, the fucker.
“So, did you give Ever the tour?” I ask.
“Yeah” he replies.
“Good, I’ll show you how the safe room works, Princess” I offer. Ignoring the looks I get when I let the name slip for the second fucking time.
“Sounds good to me” she replies and although curiosity burns in her eyes she just carries on eating and doesn’t immediately starting questioning me about why I would feel the need for our house to be equipped with a safe room and weapons.
Which leads me to the next question want to ask. I already know there’s more to her than you’d first assume but my need to make sure she knows how to protect herself is riding me hard and that’s why I ask my next question.
“Can you shoot?”
The room falls silent and the guys raise their eyebrows at me in question. Ever doesn’t react how I expect her to. She doesn’t make a joke, doesn’t act nervous or scared, she just pauses eating and looks me straight in the eye before answering.
“Yeah, I can shoot” she smirks.
“Good” I say simply. Feeling somewhat appeased and carry on eating. The guys though are staring at her incredulously and I hide my smirk, she obviously hadn’t shared that with them.
“You can!?” Riot exclaims, recovering quicker than the others.
“Not tonight” she says firmly and shadows flash across her eyes before she pushes them back.
I pause, that makes me a mixture of curious and pissed which seems to be par for the course when it comes to Ever so far. Oh and turned the fuck on, she can do that to me almost embarrassingly easily. The guys must guess at some of what she doesn’t want to talk about because anger darkens their eyes as darkness flashes in Jensen’s before he can lose himself thinking about whatever it is Ever has alluded to, she kisses him hard and fast nipping his lip and effectively shutting that shit down before he gets to the point where he needs to fight it out.
My own darkness tries to take over, Jensen doesn’t let his out to play for no fucking reason and I know it has something to do with her demons.
I raise my eyebrow as his gaze drifts to me, he just smirks and nods again telling me she really does work to shut it down.
The lucky fucker.
“Come on the hot tub is calling me!” She exclaims, grinning and effectively distracting everyone.
“Shots first!” Riot exclaims.
We soon have shots set up and take them all at the same time. The guys help clear the table, I join them not wanting to be dick and it’s only fair since Ever cooked. I want to know more about her past so fucking badly but she is giving me the courtesy of not asking me questions about my own past so I’ll return the favour.
“Come on Atty, hot tub time!” She grins as she once again takes my hand with absolutely no hesitation.
“Aren’t you going to put a swim suit on?” Jensen asks and Trick promptly smacks him on the back of the head.
“What was that for?”
&
nbsp; “Do I really need to answer that?” Trick says chuckling and Jensen groans.
“Oh yeah, good point. I’ll be back!” she says as she rushes up the stairs. I want to smack him myself for making her let go of my hand, he see’s my look and chuckles before racing after her.
The rest of us follow at a more sedate pace to get our own swim stuff on.
Chapter Seventeen
Everleigh
As I get to my room I take a second to just breathe. The guys were right, Atlas does seem to suck the air out of the room but not like they think he does. I imagine normal people find him intimidating enough that he sucks the air out of the room with his presence.
I never claimed to be normal though.
I find myself inexplicably attracted to him, as much as I’m attracted to the guys, my heart beat just hard for him as it does for them whenever their lips land on me. I had to hold myself back from kissing the fuck out him when he kissed my cheek to thank me in the kitchen. I’ve only just fucking met him.
What, am I just going to start developing feeling for every hot guy now?
Seriously Ever!
On the other hand I’m pretty damn tipsy. Sober me can deal with this shit.
I find my suitcase with my clothes in and throw everything out of it haphazardly as I search for my bikini. Finally finding it, I admire it for a second. It’s a simple tie top bikini and high legged bottoms with a white paisley pattern all over it. I love it. I strip quickly grateful that I remembered to shave all the important bits earlier, although not my scraped up leg.
Ouch.
My leg is healing nicely although it doesn’t look particularly great, and there’s a few scrapes down my arms too that were hidden by my clothes earlier. I don’t bother putting anything else on too excited to get into the hot tub as I bounce back down the stairs and straight out the back door. I instantly regret not wearing anything but a bikini right now, I forgot it was fucking snowing. The guys fall silent as soon as I step out of the door but I’m to busy hopping around like a lunatic and trying to get to the hot tub as quick as possible without my toes falling off because of the cold.
Secrets Worth Keeping (Finding my Home Book 2) Page 16