Best I've Ever Had

by Abbi Glines

  After another moment of debating if going in there was worth it, I took the first step in that direction. I stunk of cigarettes even though I didn’t smoke, and whiskey. That I did consume plenty of. I was sure I looked like I’d had a fifth.

  “You really going in there looking like that?” The thick southern drawl that reminded me of fucking honey every time I heard it stopped me. I turned my gaze toward the voice. I had forgotten how she sounded until she’d spoken. The memory of the last time I’d seen her wasn’t clear, but it hadn’t faded either.

  Ophelia Finlay stepped out of the shadows with a glass of something dark in her glass. The long blonde hair of hers appeared platinum under the moonlight and those eyes that could draw in any man twinkled up at me with mischief. She was stunning. Possibly the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Not that it mattered. Beauty was fleeting, it was evil, it was powerful. It could destroy a man. However, I was safe with this one. My destruction had already come.

  “They’re all pissed at you. I thought it was the not being here thing, but I see now what Micah was referring to when he mentioned ‘tattoos.’ If I wasn’t seeing this with my own eyes, I don’t think I’d believe it.”

  She wasn’t one of “them” . . . my family . . . my friends . . . someone I needed to hide from. I moved closer toward her. I could stall. Going inside was expected by everyone, except her. She wouldn’t care. “You think they’re pissed over my tattoos?” I asked her, not caring what her response was. Just that I had more seconds not to face the others.

  She lifted a bare tanned shoulder. The top she was wearing was strapless. Her tits doing an excellent job of holding the top up on their own. A strand of her hair that looked like silk fell over her skin. “I’m sure your disappearing act today and no show tonight might play a big part,” she said then tilted her head to the side slightly. Her bluish-silver eyes slanting. “Eli Hardy, have you gone bad?” There was a teasing lilt to her voice but there was also an interest that I didn’t miss. She hadn’t been interested in the man I once was but the damaged one before her was appealing. What the fuck was wrong with women?

  Showing her how “bad” I’d gone was so fucking tempting. The image of Ophelia Finlay naked pressed against me was a damn fantasy I had to stay clear of. She was attached to a life I no longer belonged to.

  “Not the same guy,” I replied.

  She took another step toward me and the way her hips swayed with the movement would tempt any man. Even one as disillusioned as me.

  She reached out a hand and one bright pink nail barely grazed my ink covering my right bicep. “It’s beautiful,” she said breathlessly. “You chose a talented artist.”

  This wasn’t something new for me. Women were drawn to the tattoos. I hadn’t realized it or cared when I’d walked into the shop to get my first one. I wondered if the man I had once been would have gotten ink if he’d known Ophelia Finlay would touch him this way. Flash her hypnotic gaze up at him and lower her already seductive voice as she spoke.

  Yes. He would have. He’d have been owned by her so easily. The wildness in her eyes would have been exotic and fucking enticing. The man I was now, however, knew the games women played. He saw the lies in their eyes. He knew the manipulation they used as a weapon.

  She tilted her head back to look up at me. Those eyes couldn’t fuck with me. I was sure she was used to using them to control men, to sink them. Ophelia had met her match. “Is there more under your shirt? It looks like it’s there.” She then moved her hand to touch my neck. The smell of coconut wafted close. She still smelled like the summer. Her scent made you instantly long for the beach. Ophelia wasn’t the kind of woman that should smell like something so warm and calming. Yet even with all I knew, how cold my blood ran, the scent of her drew me in for a moment. Made me want to taste her, feel her, explore her. All things better left alone.

  Her finger ran under the collar of my t-shirt. “It looks like it covers your chest too.” Her voice was thick and soft all at once. As if she didn’t want anyone to hear us. She knew they were looking for me inside, but she was keeping me out here. To herself. I was in no hurry and although this would lead to nothing, I allowed it go on.

  “It does. Not all of my chest. But some.” My voice was deeper than normal. I sounded affected by her touch. Fuck, I was a man. Of course I was. My soul was dark, but my desire wasn’t gone. I still had needs. I just didn’t act on those needs anymore. I hadn’t in a long time.

  She didn’t move closer, but it felt as if she did. There was no movement other than her gaze slowly traveling up my arm and neck until her eyes locked on mine. She didn’t say anything. If she had, I wasn’t sure I could have responded anyway. Ophelia was talented. She knew her allure and she used it like a fucking pro. That was dangerous for men and I had no doubt she’d broken many along the way. I studied her eyes, allowed myself to search their depths. For what I wasn’t sure. Deceit, selfishness, or lust were all things I knew how to see now that I’d been blinded by them. The twisted thoughts I’d seen in another and been too naïve to understand weren’t there in Ophelia’s eyes. But then why would they be. She’d lived a life that didn’t distort or tarnish. Her family had taught her love like mine had. I hoped she never got close to the other. Those who don’t understand it are destroyed by it.

  “You need to go inside,” she said, breaking into my thoughts. I’d been silently standing over her trying to read her and she’d allowed it. Not once had she blinked or stepped away. I hadn’t met a woman yet that stood so confident under that kind of blatant scrutiny. She stepped back and her hand fell from my chest where it had been resting. Even if she didn’t realize it, she was closing the window she’d left open for me briefly. Almost as if she knew why I was looking and wanted to prove she had nothing to hide. That hadn’t been the case, but it still felt like it.

  They were waiting on me inside. I didn’t have to go in there. My gran was gone on home for the night. I owed them nothing. But they were all hurting, and my presence was desired for whatever reason. They were family and that’s what they did. The moonlight touched Ophelia’s face again as she turned toward it. Beauty no longer affected me and although she was unarguably beautiful, there was something deeper that I saw. Maybe it was the carefree spirit I missed and wanted to be near. But leaving her out here was hard and it shouldn’t be. Not just because I didn’t want to be inside that house. There was more there under her skin. I would never know what it was because when I walked inside, I’d leave this all here. In the moment. Right now, standing this close to her, I was showing a weakness. Whatever voodoo Ophelia Finlay was weaving I was a willing participant. That would lead to nothing either of us wanted.

  “It’s good to see you again, Eli. Hopefully it won’t be a year before the next time.” She flashed me a pouty look as if the idea pained her. If I could still smile, I would. But not even Ophelia’s voodoo was strong enough to change my past. She stepped around me to walk toward the house. I waited until she reached the top step before I took my eyes off her. The emptiness returned. Odd that I hadn’t realized it had been gone. It was such a part of me that I would have thought I’d immediately recognized when it eased. I frowned at the door Ophelia had disappeared into. She wasn’t a possibility I needed to entertain.

  MAY 24 / 9:15 PM

  Ophelia Finlay

  I WAS PAST that stage in my life. I shouldn’t find him sexy. All those tattoos and that crazy messy hair. No. The last guy I’d dated that looked like him had ended up in jail. He’d thought running from the cops was a good idea instead of pulling over and taking the ticket. I’d had to call my brother to come get me after my ride had been arrested.

  Walking directly to the bar, I poured myself a glass of single malt whiskey then headed for the stairs. As tempting as it was to watch the new Eli handle his angry family, I was afraid my attraction to him would just get worse. I’d been attracted to him enough back when he’d been the clean-cut, dependable sort. This, however, was way more intriguin
g. Which was typical of me. I made terrible choices when it came to men. Eli had let me see him. He’s not flinched when our eyes were locked. I saw the difference there. He was not the same guy. I shivered slightly as I remembered the haunted look he’d not even tried to mask. Was it his gran’s cancer causing such obvious pain? I couldn’t wrap my head around it, but I didn’t think that was it. There was a knowledge there. One that almost warned those that got close enough to keep their distance.

  “It’s about damn time.” Bliss’s father’s voice made me pause and I closed my eyes tightly a moment. Battling over the option to stay and watch this or get away from it. The guy I’d just met outside wasn’t who they all thought he was. The easy-going happy Eli was gone and I wanted to warn them all to be careful. Which seemed silly but at the same time I thought both Eli and the others needed a proper introduction. They didn’t know this Eli at all, and I wondered if he remembered them. If he remembered how important they had always been to him. Because the guy outside didn’t seem to give a shit that he was hurting them all by his absence.

  “Good to see you too, Cage,” Eli’s drawl was deep, and I bit my bottom lip thinking that his darkness did things to me that I should be ashamed of. I needed to just keep walking up the steps and forget this night. Forget Eli and all his hidden issues and sexiness.

  “Gran left an hour ago,” a female voice added.

  No response from Eli. I paused and waited for him to speak. When a few seconds went by with nothing I gave up on my good sense and I turned around on the stairs to see what was happening. Eli’s sister Crimson was glaring at him with a hand on her hip. She was waiting for a response. It was a stand-off that she was going to lose because Eli cocked one eyebrow at her and waited. If she wanted a sibling quarrel, she wasn’t going to get one with him.

  Everyone in the room had remained silent. Like me, they were all watching the scene unfold. Possibly waiting on an explanation from Eli I knew they would never get. Their silence, his void almost bored expression confused them all and it was making me nervous for him or maybe I was nervous for them. Hell, I didn’t know who to be worried about which was ridiculous.

  “Don’t let me interrupt,” Eli said, lifting his gaze from his sister to give the rest of the room a glance. Then he walked past his sister toward the food still out on the table. Bliss moved quickly then and went to meet him. Everyone eased back into conversation but it was still much quieter than it had been, it seemed forced now. As if everyone was still focused on Eli. Trying to figure him out and confused by what they had just seen. I was right there with them. I may not have grown up knowing him my entire life, but I’d been around him enough to know this was all unexpected. But then so had his running off after the wedding. At first, I had assumed like everyone else it had been his way of dealing with Bliss getting married to my brother. And it still may possibly have been. Whatever the reason for his running off he wasn’t returning the same guy. The one who had loved Bliss since he was a boy was gone. This was not about Bliss.

  “Is no one gonna fucking mention all the damn ink and the hair?” The deep voice came from the corner of the living room. Jimmy Taylor was pointing at Eli with the whiskey glass in his hand and grinning as if he wanted to either toast Eli or laugh. I wasn’t sure.

  I held my breath. Jimmy Taylor was a cut up. Never serious. He was trying to lighten the mood, but I wasn’t sure it was possible to ease Eli’s mood.

  I turned back to Eli, and I fought the urge to close my eyes. This may all go very bad very quickly.

  “You want some of this. Don’t act like you don’t,” Eli replied and although he didn’t smile. Which was a shame because I knew Eli had a great smile, he did appear relaxed. Not confrontational.

  Jimmy laughed then and the tension in the room eased. “Fuck yeah I do. Good boy gone bad. Sexy as hell.”

  Eli gave a shrug of his shoulders. “I did it all for you,” he told Jimmy and that got laughter from others in the room.

  I let out a sigh of relief. Why I cared so much about how this all went down, I had no idea. This didn’t affect me at all. These weren’t my people. I barely knew them. Some more than others. I tried to remember most of their names, but that was hard. Then figuring out who went with who and was related to who . . . that was a clusterfuck and I needed a family tree to keep in my pocket as a cheat sheet.

  One of Bliss’s brothers stood up and I couldn’t remember his name. They all looked alike and they all had names that started with C. It was equally confusing. “I think we should all just be thankful Saffron isn’t here for this,” he announced loudly. As if he were speaking to a crowd much larger than the people in the room.

  “Amen!” one of the other guys around his age called out. Didn’t know who he was, but he had blonde surfer looking hair.

  “Don’t y’all start in on Saffron when she’s not here to defend herself,” Bliss’s mother, Eva, scolded. She was giving her son a warning look.

  “They’d say the same shit if she was here. We all know she deserves it,” Jimmy said with a shrug. I’d heard stories about Saffron from Bliss. I’d seen her once at the wedding and she was stunning, but she knew it. I’d seen her weld her beauty unfairly which I thought made her less attractive. The twin she had was her complete opposite. Which in my opinion made the twin the truly beautiful one.

  The multiple conversations all began to start back up as if nothing had happened. I let my gaze go back to Eli who was talking to Nate. My brother didn’t look pleased with Eli, but Bliss was there at Nate’s right arm. She was saying something to my brother. Unlike the rest of the laughter and laid back conversations in the room, theirs seemed tense. Nate wouldn’t care about the difference in Eli. His dark scowl and darker mood would only piss Nate off more. Because in Nate’s eyes, Eli was upsetting Bliss and my brother didn’t allow his wife to be upset. I’d seen my father react to situations involving my mother my entire life. The men in my family were ridiculously protective of their women. Eli didn’t know this I was sure and I was tempted to go save him.

  I didn’t necessarily think he deserved it. Being late tonight was a douchebag move. But I wasn’t so sure that he’d done it to be an ass. There was more to this change. It was possible he was dealing with his gran’s diagnosis in his own way and he needed space to accept it. Whatever the reason, I didn’t think my brother was considering any of this as he spoke to Eli.

  Bliss was saying something to both of them and Eli looked as if he were somewhere else. Her words not even registering. The uninterested expression said more than he realized. Even though I knew good and well I should go upstairs and read a book . . . in a bubble bath . . . alone, minding my own business, I went back down the stairs I’d climbed.

  I made my way back through the room and I was almost to the small group when Eli’s eye caught my approach and he turned his attention fully on me. Had I ever realized how amazing his eyes were before tonight? No . . . I didn’t think so. Until we had spoken outside, I had never truly looked at Eli closely. He’d just been Bliss’s best friend. His eye never being something I wanted to explore. The way they locked on me now was a bit unsettling. If I was a weaker woman, I would have turned around and left for the bedroom. The secrets I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to know locked inside those green pools were too damn intriguing to walk away from. It wasn’t that he appeared happy to see me either. Heck, he didn’t even look relieved.

  The man could at least appreciate the fact I was here to save him from a situation he didn’t want to be in. I could see that from across the room. It wasn’t like I had come over here to flirt with him or get his attention. Even if he didn’t disturb me slightly with his odd behavior, I wouldn’t consider him relationship potential.

  Eli Hardy was not an option. He was my sister-in-law’s best friend or he had been. The new Eli I wasn’t so sure felt the same. But he had been in love with her when she’d met Nate. He may not have loved Lila Kate when they had dated, but he’d been pretty damn attached to her when I first
met him. Those two connections made him off limits. I didn’t think there was a girl code for something that complicated, but I was sure it would be a big NOPE if it ever was dissected.

  “Hey, y’all are monopolizing the most interesting person in the room,” I said in a light teasing voice as I stepped up beside my brother and just inches away from Eli.

  Nate shot me a glance as if to decide what I was up to. I could see his eyes studying me hard. I winked at him then turned my attention back to Eli. “They all got a look at you. Your parents have left with your gran. Want to walk me down the beach so I can get a break from all these voices?”

  His eyes narrowed for a brief second. The flirting was a bit much for even me, but I was going with it for the sake of the audience in the room. Surely Eli could see that.

  “Or you could stay in here and listen to my brother bitch, possibly get verbally scolded by your sister again.” I pretended to glance around to see who else was here although I already knew. “There’s also your aunt Larissa who I see coming this way. She’s gonna hammer your ears too, I imagine.”

  Eli followed my gaze to see I wasn’t lying about Larissa. She was headed this way.

  “Fuck,” he muttered.

  “What did you expect?” Bliss whispered.

  Eli turned his head and his eyes came back to me. Before he could say anything, Larissa was there. “When did you become a little shit? Hendrix has always reserved that role in the family.” Larissa sounded more disappointed than anything. I had no idea who Hendrix was, but Eli didn’t seem insulted.

  “He’s still a shit,” Eli replied.

  “Was it his comments this morning at breakfast that kept you from showing up like a decent human being tonight?” Larissa asked.