by Tina Martin
Kalina stood up. “I’m right there with you…probably won’t be taking a nap, though.”
Walking outside together, Kalina hugged Calista and said again, “I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you, Kalina.”
“And remember…no stress. Let Barry handle Everson. You focus on taking care of my niece.”
Calista smiled. “Niece?”
“Yeah. I have a feeling you’re having a girl.”
“Based on what?” Calista asked, amused.
“Based on the fact that every woman wants a girl. You can do her hair in cute little pigtails, fill her closet with pink stuff and buy the cutest little shoes!”
Smiling, Calista said, “Sounds to me like there may be a little one in your future soon.”
Kalina shrugged and said, “Hey, you never know.”
Chapter 8
Everson gathered his clothes in a pile on the bed, folding them, preparing them for the suitcase. He’d be leaving today after he talked to Eliana. He wanted to know more about Jaxson, and she was the only channel for which he could do that at this stage. She’d called him a little after six to ask him if he wanted to sit down and talk amicably about Jaxson over breakfast. He agreed, but afterward, he was heading straight home. No more games. No more frolicking as Bryson had put it. He belonged with June.
Heading towards the glass double doors, the entryway into the hotel’s attached restaurant, he spotted Eliana before he entered. She was sitting at a square table that had a clear vase in the center, holding a single yellow rose. All the tables were decorated the same, but not all the tables had a beautiful woman sitting at them. Not all the tables were angled so that a ray of sunlight struck them. And at certain angles, when she would move, the light struck her face in such a way that it made her appear majestic, like an angel.
As if sensing his presence, Eliana glanced up. Her lips grew into a smile when she caught sight of him – a smile he hadn’t expected. Their last conversation wasn’t a comfortable one. It certainly was one that wouldn’t warrant the bright smile on her face. Then again, maybe it did. She wasn’t the one in shock. He was, and he wasn’t smiling.
“Good morning,” she said.
Everson pulled out a chair, dropped in it. It wasn’t a good morning, and he didn’t want her to think she was getting off easy, after what he considered to be betrayal.
He requested a cup of coffee from the waitress, then looked up at Eliana, finding it difficult to say a word. For fourteen years, he’d had a son he didn’t know about. He’d be the first to admit that having children wasn’t a priority in his life. He even told June he didn’t want children right away. But had he known he had a child, he would’ve been a father to Jaxson. Now, the boy was a teenager. How was he supposed to bond with a teenager? That was a daunting task for parents who raised their kids from birth, so for him coming in this late in the game, it almost seemed like a lost cause. The boy was almost grown. And he was supposed to make up for lost time? Now?
“I know this is probably still a shock,” she said.
His eyes darted across the table when he said, “You don’t know what’s going through my head right now, Eliana.”
“I have an idea.”
His jaw twitched constantly as he stared at her with cold, flinty eyes. “Do you realize what you took from me?”
“I—”
“Just listen,” he said sharply. “I thought about this all night. I couldn’t sleep for thinking about this.” He rubbed a hand across his head in agitation. “You single handedly took a part of my life away from me.”
“I’m sorry, Everson.”
“Sorry doesn’t make up for the time I lost,” Everson said through clenched teeth. “I was in love with you. I’m not anymore. I’m just stating facts.”
“If you were in love with me, why’d you stop communicating with me?”
“I told you—it was a lot easier that way. We were young. Eighteen. I saw no feasible way we could be together after you moved. I was already accepted into college and you’d started a new life there. I thought it was for the best, but had I known you were pregnant, maybe things would’ve been different. No, they would’ve been different. I would’ve done everything possible to be near you and my son. Everything. But you destroyed that, Eliana. Now, what do I have? Huh? A son who’s nearly an adult who doesn’t know me. How am I supposed to feel about that?”
“I know what I did was wrong, but—”
“You should’ve told me the moment you found out.”
“I couldn’t,” Eliana said, reaching across the table, attempting to touch his arm but he moved it before she could make the connection.
“Why not?”
“There’s no need to concern ourselves with the semantics.”
“Why wasn’t I told?”
“Everson.” Eliana said his name in a soft tone in an attempt to calm him down as her eyes flitted around the restaurant to see if they’d attracted an audience.
When Everson saw the waitress approaching the table, he said, “We’re not ordering food.” How could he eat food? He couldn’t bring himself to drink the coffee, let alone eat a meal.
He returned his attention back to Eliana. ‘‘Why wasn’t I told, Eliana?” he asked, anger on full display.
“Because your parents didn’t want you to know.”
“What?” Frown deepening, he asked, “Are you going to sit here and tell me my parents know about Jaxson, knew he was my son and intentionally withheld that information from me?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
Nostrils flaring, Everson stood up and stormed out of the restaurant. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and he couldn’t accept it. There’s no way – no way his parents had anything to do with this. If anything, Eliana was trying to cover herself and her own lies by blaming someone else for her mistakes. But his parents? Elowyn and Theodore Blackstone?
Emotions all over the place, heart pounding, breathing forceful, Everson contained his anger in two fists, but when he felt Eliana’s hand on his arm, his fingers slowly unraveled and unexpectedly his anger waned.
“Come with me,” she said. “I want to show you something.”
Everson looked at her, held her gaze and resumed awareness, realizing she was holding his hand now.
“Please,” she said tugging at his arm but a tug wasn’t enough to move him.
“Come with you where?” he asked.
“To my room, I need to show you something.”
Everson took a step but freed his hand from Eliana’s dainty grasp as he followed her through the lobby of the hotel. Standing in the elevator with a clouded mind, it didn’t dawn on him that he would be alone in her room until he found himself there, listening to the door close and latch behind him. He glanced around her room. It was the same layout as his, but none of her things were packed. She must’ve been staying an extra night.
Eliana rummaged around in her suitcase until she came across an envelope. She took it out, handed it to him. Crossed her arms.
“What’s this?” he asked, opening the envelope and unfolding a letter that was inside of it.
‘‘It’s proof of what I just told you.”
Everson focused on the letter and began reading:
To: The Simmons,
Let me apologize that we couldn’t have this conversation in person, but what we have to say needs to be said. We think it would be in the best interest for both of our children if Eliana gave the baby up for adoption. Think about it. She’s not capable of being a mother or raising a productive child, and Everson is in no way prepared to be a father. They’re too young. They have their entire lives—bright futures ahead of them and a baby would destroy those plans. There’s no need for Eliana to reach out to Everson to include him in any discussion involving the baby. Shall you decide not to give the baby up for adoption, we will provide all the monetary assistance you need as long as you keep Everson out of this. The choice is ultimate
ly yours to make. We’ve made ours.
T & E Blackstone
___________
Temples pulsating, Everson looked up at Eliana. “I don’t know where this came from, but you certainly didn’t get it from my parents.”
“My mom gave this to me. She said it came to her email three months before Jaxson was born.”
His eyes narrowed. “That’s ridiculous! My parents wouldn’t do something like this,” he said waving the paper in his hand. “How do you know this email is even legit? And how did my parents know you were even pregnant?”
“Because my parents told your parents. Shortly after, they got this email.”
Everson sat down on the bed with the printed email in one hand, his phone in the other. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this right now.”
“No,” Eliana said, sitting next to him, so close that they were thigh to thigh. “If you want to confront your parents about this, it shouldn’t be over the phone, Everson.”
“Why not? I need answers now.”
“No,” she said, placing her left hand on his taut thigh. A shiver ran through her when she did so. “What you need to do right now is determine whether you want a relationship with Jaxson.”
“Yes,” he said, turning to his right to look at her. He thought that was a given. “Of course I do. What kind of man do you think I am, Elly?”
Elly…
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I don’t know you as a man. I know you as the boy I fell in love with way back then. I would’ve loved to have known you as a man. You don’t know how much I wished it could’ve been us—that we could’ve grown up together, built a life and raised our son together. It should’ve been us, Everson. Me, you, our son and any other children we would’ve had by now.” Eliana placed her hand on top of his, then used her index finger to trace his hand, focusing on the root-like veins running all through them.
Everson’s hand twitched. He looked at her to tell her he had to go – that he would contact her to figure out how to move forward with Jaxson, but then he made the mistake of glancing at her lips after his gaze left her longing, seductive eyes. Why’d he do that?
She chewed just slightly on her bottom lip, looking at his lips as she did so, moving closer to him.
He moved closer to her. The willpower to pull away had died at the moment.
Before he could change his mind, before his conscience kicked in, she took advantage by closing the space between them. When her lips connected to his, it felt like a dream come true. Her entire body shivered and turned to mush when he shifted his muscular body towards hers and wrapped his arms around her. She moaned, tightening her grip on him, right around his neck. This is what she’d been missing. This is what she needed. Love, affection and attention from her first love – her only love.
Everson lost himself when he slipped his tongue between her moist lips, taking a dip in the mouth of the woman he used to love. All those feeling from back in the day were slowly unraveling as his tongue brushed against hers. As he held on to strands of her hair, deepening the kiss, nearly devouring her. She was the woman who’d given birth to his child – a child they made together in the heat of passion. Their connection was always electric – every time he touched her back then, he set both of their bodies ablaze, producing enough current to blow out transformers. Eliana was right. It was supposed to have been them. And their son.
He leaned the weight of his body against her, lowering himself on top of her, groaning, remembering how much he loved her once before. Eliana gasped as her back went flat on the bed, him – the man she desperately needed – on top of her, kissing the tongue right out of her mouth. She needed this connection more than she needed to breathe. How could she ever be with another man when she loved this one so much? How?
She worked up his shirt, needing to touch his skin while their mouths remained connected. He felt it – her sizzling hot hands strumming his back but it didn’t trigger him to stop. It added to the fire – made him remember how close they used to be. How even back in high school, they were totally in sync and knew they belonged together. Knew they were soulmates in every aspect of the word.
Eliana’s belly fluttered when she opened her eyes while Everson was kissing her. She closed them. Satisfied and overwhelmed. Moaning louder. It was actually happening and she couldn’t believe it. She thought she’d lost him forever when she found out he was married, but here he was with her, in her room, kissing her with an intensity that gave her body a constant quivering. She could feel that firm, impressive part of him pressed against her thigh, a sure signal that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him. She kissed him with desperation as the thought of them possibly making love again wreaked havoc on her emotions. She gasped, savoring the feel of him again, opening her mouth wide to accept his lips, his tongue, holding him there with her hands rubbing the back of his head and lifting her head up from the bed to fully encapsulate his mouth.
Carried away, Everson’s mouth left her lips, trailing kisses down to her neck, desperately kissing her there, remembering how he used to love her. His breaths were heavy. Breathing, uncontrolled – as unrestrained as his desire.
“Oh, Everson,” Eliana panted in a moan-like cry. “I miss this. I miss you so much.”
That’s when he stopped. Stilled. When the blood flowed back to his brain. When reality kicked in. That wasn’t June’s voice floating in his ear. It was Eliana’s.
He sat up, frowned. What am I doing?
“What’s wrong?” Eliana asked.
Inches away from her face, he looked at her. Shocked. Didn’t say a word.
She frowned. “Everson?”
He closed his eyes for a moment to process the gravity of this situation. He was kissing another woman. He realized his mistake and caught himself before it went too far.
“Everson?”
“I can’t do this with you.” He backed away from her, lowering his feet to the floor, standing, collecting himself. How did he let things go this far?
“Don’t go, Everson,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Please don’t.”
Angry at himself, he bellowed, “I can’t do this with you, Eliana!”
“But you want to,” she said glancing at his midsection, eyeing the bulge in his pants. “Your body says you want to.”
“This can’t happen again. It won’t happen again. I’ll be in touch about Jaxson.”
With that, he hurried to the door exiting out of it. Bryson was right. He should’ve left yesterday. If he had, the last twenty minutes never would’ve happened.
Chapter 9
Everson had a lot to think about on the drive home. Too much. He had a son. According to Eliana, it was his parents who tried to keep him away from Jaxson – well tried and succeeded. Then he kissed Eliana, and there was nothing innocent about it. He went in, nearly devoured the woman before he came to his senses. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe how fast his life had changed in one weekend. He couldn’t drive fast enough to get home to June.
He glanced at the clock. He’d been on the road for an hour. He turned the radio up a notch to distract his mind from going there – visioning being on top of Eliana in her hotel room. Kissing her. Feeling a desire stir inside of him to make love to her. He thought about what Bryson had said. What if June was doing something like that behind his back? What if she was in a hotel room with a guy, kissing him and feeling a desire to sleep with him? The thought made an angry chill slither down his spine, and June was innocent. He, on the other hand, had done that very thing. He was the guilty party. And how would June feel when she found out about Jaxson?
He didn’t bother answering June’s call since he would be home in less than twenty minutes. At this point, he wanted to surprise her.
Pulling up in the driveway, he left his suitcase in the car, walked up to the door, unlocked it and walked softly through the foyer and on to the kitchen. She wasn’t there. He jogged upstairs and could hear her on the phone in t
heir bedroom. He leaned against the door frame, watching her as she held the phone to her ear and put away laundry at the same time. She had on a pair of yoga pants with a black crop top that exposed the lower half of her flat stomach – her navel on full display. Her cinnamon brown hair was gathered in a ponytail. Sexy was one of many words to describe June. She was everything and then some. What more could he want when he had a woman like her?
“Yeah, I’ll let you know for sure when I can confirm everything with Everson,” she was saying. “Okay. Bye.”
June placed her phone on the dresser.
“Confirm what with Everson?” he asked to get her attention.
Surprised, she looked towards his voice – the voice of her husband that she missed so much. “Everson!”
“Come to daddy, baby,” he said.
He didn’t have to tell her to come to him. Everything in her wanted him. Instead of walking, she ran to him, lunged into his arms and locked her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist as their mouths merged together. Everson kissed her with an insatiable hunger escalating his desire to make love to her. And she matched him with the same amount of hunger. He needed her. Needed her bad. He couldn’t recall this much anticipation to make love to his wife. Well, maybe during their honeymoon, but still, by the way he stroked her mouth with his tongue, it may as well have been the first kiss. Their first time.
Carrying her to the bed, barely breaking the kiss so they could breathe, he lowered her to the bed’s edge, then pulled her shirt up over her head, her breasts in full view. He tugged at her skin-tight pants, peeling them down the length of her legs, then reached for her lacy, beige panties, pulling at them so quickly, they ripped.
“Jeez, Everson,” June said, laughing. Panting. “What’s gotten into you?”
“I missed you,” he said, tossing his shirt across the room, stepping out of his pants, relieving the strain at his zipper. He lowered his boxers and June chewed at her bottom lip, taking in the naked form of him. No man was as fine, as hard-bodied, as fly as her husband. No man could stir this kind of fire in her. Only Everson. The swell of him made her stomach jump with anticipation. Made her lose all the sense she had.