by Lisa Bilbrey
“Shit, I’m still a great lineman, just not with decent knees, shoulders, or hips,” Thomas snickered before turning to her. “It’s nice to meet you, Elle.”
“You, too,” she replied, smiling. “You have a great house.”
“Eh, it’s okay. I keep begging this douche to build me the perfect one, but he insists on stupid things like getting paid,” he stated, ushering them inside and closing the door.
“How can I be so selfish,” Callum replied, dryly. “You convince my father to build it at no charge, and we’ll talk.”
“Yeah, because the old man loves me,” Thomas scoffed as a small, thin woman with mousy, brown hair and eyes walked up next to him with her arms full of bottles of beer. “Elle, this is my wife Leigh. Honey, this is Elle, Callum’s chick.”
Leigh gave her husband an irritated look before managing to wave two fingers at Elle. “Nice to meet you. Excuse the buffoon; he doesn’t think before he speaks.”
“Nice to meet you, too. Can I help you with those?” she offered.
“Oh, that’s okay.” Leigh turned to Thomas, shoving the bottles into his arms. “That’s what I keep this asshole around for.”
“You don’t love me,” Thomas muttered before walking away from them.
Leigh laughed and turned back to Elle and Callum, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Ignore him. He loves it when I treat him like a slave, considers it foreplay. Make yourselves at home.”
Callum led Elle into the living room, where they found a couple dozen other people. They smiled at him and greeted Elle with a smile when he’d introduce her as his girlfriend, and then they would move on to the next people. Callum and Elle had been there for fifteen minutes when she heard Derek’s booming laugher, causing a tingle to rush through her body. Following the sound, Elle felt her heart begin to race when she saw him and Sadie standing next to Thomas and Leigh. Their eyes roamed around the room until they landed on Elle and Callum. The returning smiles that crept onto each of their faces caused Elle’s heart to beat even faster. Was it normal for her to feel anxious when they weren’t with her?
Derek and Sadie appeared to excuse themselves and made a beeline for Callum and Elle, who were waiting with expectation. They’d had a meeting with a supplier who would be able to help them get giant granite slabs for the housing development, if the price was right, of course. They would need to get their order placed sooner rather than later because of the sheer quantity they’d be purchasing. Since the meeting had been on the other side of the city, Derek and Sadie had no choice but to meet Callum and Elle at the party. It was ridiculous, but the separation had weighed heavily on Elle all day. She felt more at ease when the four of them were together, a fact that made her nervous. Was she becoming too attached to her lovers?
“Hey.” Sadie brought her hand up and pushing Elle’s hair behind her ear. “Sorry, we’re late.”
Derek sighed, sliding his arm around Sadie’s waist. “The supplier turned out to be an asshole who wants to up his commission almost thirty percent, and then we got stuck in traffic.”
“It’s Friday,” Elle murmured. “Everyone was in a hurry to get home, I guess.”
“No kidding.” Derek smiled. “I’m gonna grab us a beer. You two want one?”
“Sure,” Callum said while Elle nodded.
A few minutes later, they each had a beer and were mingling amongst the other guests. Elle struggled to keep her hands to herself, but she felt the urge to hold Sadie’s hand, or wrap her fingers around Derek’s arm — anything to feel that connection to them. Callum kept his hand on the small of her back, letting his finger graze the small bit of skin from where her shirt had ridden up. Every time he touched her, she trembled, wanting and needing more. The desire to be with them was overwhelming.
Elle had moved over to the small buffet table and was looking over the selection when Derek stepped up next to her, bumping her with his shoulder. Blushing, she shifted her eyes up to his. He was smirking; the devilish expression had her knees weakening and her yearning to be with him grew.
“Anything good?” he asked, a playful tone to his voice.
“I don’t know.” Elle sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and picked up a strawberry from the fruit tray. She shifted her eyes back up to Derek. “Bite?”
His smirk grew as he opened his mouth, allowing her to place the tip of the red fruit inside. Keeping his attention locked on her, he sucked off a bite, moaned, and licked his lips. “Juicy.”
Elle’s cheeks felt like they were on fire as she blew out a husky breath and looked away. “It looked juicy.”
“You should try it,” he replied, sliding an arm around her waist.
Elle managed to stifle her own moan, but it took a great deal of effort.
Derek brought his other hand up to covers hers, leading the fruit to her mouth. “Open.”
Her lips parted and he slid the strawberry into her mouth. As she bit down, a trickle of juice tipped over her lip and started rolling toward her chin. Before Elle could wipe it away, Derek leaned down and licked it off.
“Fuck,” Elle hissed, gripping the back of his head.
“Oh, boy, do I want to fuck you,” he groaned.
Someone cleared their throat behind them and they looked over to see Leigh standing there with a smile on her face and an eyebrow angled upward. Derek mumbled that he was going to go check on Sadie, leaving Elle there to defend their actions. Glaring at the back of his head as he walked away, Elle shifted nervously from one foot to the other, unsure what to say to Leigh. There was no way she’d understand that Derek and Elle were just as much of a couple as she and Callum were.
“Are you having a good time?” Leigh asked, stepping up next to Elle and letting her eyes drift over the table. “Hmm, might need to grab the rest of the pigs-in-the-blankets. Everyone seems to like them.”
“They look good,” Elle muttered.
Leigh smiled and looked up at her. “Better than the strawberries?”
“No,” she admitted.
“I didn’t think so,” Leigh snickered.
“Look, about —” Elle started to explain about her and Derek, but Leigh cut her off by holding her hand up.
“Don’t sweat it, honey,” she said. “Derek wouldn’t betray Callum like that, so it’s safe to assume that he knows about you two, and that you know there is more to him and Sadie than her just being the girlfriend of his best friend?”
“Yeah,” Elle confirmed. “We’re kind of together, like all of us.”
Leigh smiled. “Good. Those boys have been skirting around their feelings for each other for far too long. You’ll be good for them, and something tells me, they’ll be good for you, too.”
Leigh picked up the near empty tray of pigs in the blankets and carried it into the kitchen, leaving Elle standing there flabbergasted. With a feeling of anxiousness creeping over her, Elle gathered an armful of empty beer bottles and followed her into the kitchen. Leigh filled the tray before heading back out to her guests. Elle tossed the glass bottles into the trashcan before turning toward the sink and washing her hands.
When she walked out of the kitchen, she was surprised to find a guy standing there. Tall and wide in the shoulders, the man allowed his eyes to drift over her body, causing Elle to feel uncomfortable. Callum had introduced him to her when they first arrived, but she couldn’t remember his name. Mark? Marten? Mac? At that moment, she didn’t care. The way he was leering at her made her skin crawl.
“Hey, want to dance?” he asked, though there was something in his tone that made it seem like he was telling her instead of asking her.
“No, thank you,” she replied, trying to step around him, but he moved into the path causing her to stumble backward. “Excuse me.”
“Come on. Just dance with me one time,” he said again, reaching for Elle.
She moved away from him, feeling her heart begin to race. “No. Please move.”
“It won’t hurt you to dance with me,” he groused, gr
abbing her hips and pulling her toward him
The moment Elle felt his hands on her, her vision darkened and she began to panic.
“You little whore; you’ll fuck any cock that comes near you!”
Bile crept up her throat and Elle brought her fists up, trying to push him away while screaming. “Get off! Don’t touch me. Help, please! Don’t fucking hurt me!”
“What the hell?” the man muttered, releasing his grip on her and watching as Elle crumbled to the floor, wrapping hers arms around herself. “Are you okay?”
But she barely heard him as another voice echoed inside her head: “I should have known better than to trust you!”
Elle screamed again and scrambled away from the man standing in front of her as she brought her hands to her hair, tugging on her brown locks.
“What the hell is going on here?” Derek roared, but before Elle could reply, he had the man pressed against the wall. “What the fuck did you do to her, Mac?”
“Nothing,” he stammered. “I just asked her to dance.”
“Doesn’t look like nothing to me,” Derek snarled, gesturing to where Elle was crutched down against the wall.
“I swear, all I did was ask her to dance!” Mac insisted.
“Elle, honey.” Looking up, she saw Sadie standing next to Callum. Sadie rushed over and knelt beside her and held her tight. “Oh, it’s okay, sweetie. He’s not gonna hurt you.”
A shudder crept over Elle. She could feel his hands roaming over her skin; smell the liquor on his breath. Her eyes fluttered to a close as she melted into Sadie’s arms. “Take me home. Please, just … just take me home.”
“Okay,” Sadie murmured. “Callum, help me.”
A moment later, Elle felt herself being lifted off the ground and tucked into Callum’s arms. She tilted her eyes up to his, expecting to see anger or hatred, perhaps even disappointment for making a scene, but instead, she saw concern. Laying her head on his chest, she allowed him to carry her out of the house. Callum opened the door to his car and placed her in the passenger seat, but Elle reached up and grabbed the front of his shirt, not wanting to let him go.
“It’s just long enough for me to climb in behind the wheel,” he murmured.
Nodding, Elle pried her fingers from around his shirt. “Where’s Sadie?”
“She and Derek are going to follow us home,” he told her before bringing his hand up to her face.
Pulling his hand back, he shut the door and ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in behind the wheel. Elle shifted her attention up to the house, noticing that Derek and Sadie were standing on the porch with Thomas and Leigh, both of whom had frowns on their faces. A moment later, Derek placed his hand on Sadie’s back and led her toward his car. Elle’s attention was drawn back to Callum when he pulled away from Thomas and Leigh’s house.
She reached over and took hold of his hand, causing him to look over at her and smile. Elle wanted to return it — more than anything she wanted to return the gesture — but a tear slipped down her face and a sob escaped from between her lips.
“Oh, baby,” he murmured, tugging her closer.
Elle laid her head on his shoulder, allowing her tears to fall once more. It had been months since she’d had a breakdown. Normally, she kept control of her emotions, being careful not to let her guard down, but ever since she and Sadie met Callum and Derek, she hadn’t been in control of anything. The scary part was she didn’t want to be anymore. She wanted to let them help her.
She wasn’t sure how long they’d been driving when Callum stopped the car. Opening her eyes, Elle looked around and noticed they were at his house.
“Is this okay?” he asked, gesturing to the building. “Our place was closer.”
“It’s fine,” Elle whispered.
Callum climbed out of the car and made his way around to her side. Once the door was opened, he held his hand out to Elle, who took it eagerly. Taking their time, they made their way up the front walk and into the house. Callum wrapped his arms around her and led her into the living room, sitting with her on his lap. She felt safe and secure, a feeling she was becoming to enjoy when around him, Derek, and Sadie.
A few minutes later, the front door opened again and Derek and Sadie rushed over to them. Sadie sat next to Callum, gripping Elle’s hands tight in hers. Her eyes were full of fear and sadness, something Elle had seen in them too many times over the last two years, and all because of him.
“Are you all right?” Sadie fretted. “Did that jerk hurt you?”
Elle shook her head. “No. He asked me to dance, and when I said no, he wouldn’t move out of my way. Then he grabbed my hips, and … I — I heard him, Sadie. Inside my head.”
A harsh breath left Sadie’s mouth. “Leo can’t hurt you again, remember?”
Elle nodded, knowing she was right, but that didn’t make the momentary lapse of control any easier to handle.
“Who’s Leo?” Callum asked.
Nine
Elle shifted her eyes up to him. Callum was looking down at her with apprehension and compassion, and when she turned to Derek, she saw the same emotions in him. Taking a deep breath, Elle tugged herself out of their embraces. If they were going to be together, she owed them the truth. Somehow, she knew she could trust them.
“Leo’s my ex-boyfriend,” Elle murmured. “He wasn’t a nice guy, and … things ended badly between us.”
“Define badly,” Derek said, and Elle looked over at him.
“Every year at Berkeley, the head of the architecture department holds a showcase, a contest really. Only the top five students in the program are invited to participate, so it’s quite the honor. At the beginning of the winter semester, we picked a project out of a hat, anything from designing an energy-conscience building, which could operate on solar power, to creating a state-of-the-art hotel that defied the rules of physics. I was the last to draw, and my task was to design a futuristic shopping mall.
“The point of the project was to teach us to think outside of the box, and dig deep into our creativity. I took the challenge serious and spent every free moment I had on perfecting my plans and building my model. Leo hated how much time I devoted to my work, always complaining about me neglecting him.” Elle shook her head. “He knew how to manipulate me into shifting all of my focus onto him.”
“He’s a bastard,” Sadie muttered, and Elle nodded.
“He is,” she agreed. “But I didn’t see it at the time.” Elle turned her attention to Derek and Callum, both of whom were frowning. “The only part of my life Leo hated more than the time I spent on my project was my friendship with Sadie. I think he suspected that our relationship went deeper than just being friends, but we were never together while I was seeing him. I would never betray him, or anyone, like that.”
“Elle and I have a rule that if either of us is in a relationship with a man, we don’t sleep together, present company excluded of course. I had been seeing a guy named Anthony at the time,” Sadie added.
Derek and Callum nodded, showing that they understood, but didn’t say anything.
“We presented our projects during the department’s end of the year showcase. Imagine hundreds of architects, students, and professors milling around, scrutinizing every aspect of your model. In fact, Samuel was there, but I don’t think he looked at my project. After the showcase was over, the department head, Professor Stevens, invited those of us in the competition out to dinner, where he announced that I’d won. As the excitement calmed down, we left the restaurant and I hugged Professor Stevens, thanking him for everything. He’d been a mentor to me, someone who always encouraged me to work harder. “
Elle paused once again in her storytelling, bringing her hand up to her mouth. Thinking back to that night sent a shiver through her. “When I got home, I was surprised to see Leo’s car in the parking lot. That morning he had told me that he had to work and wouldn’t be able to come to the showcase, but I was in such a good mood that I didn’t care. I figured we
’d spend the night in bed, celebrating my victory. I found Leo sitting in the hallway outside of our apartment. He looked up at me with … hatred and anger. Before I could say anything, he was on his feet and had grabbed my arm, slammed me against the wall, and called me a whore. The palm of his hand connected with my face before I even had a chance to realize what was happening. He’d hit me. I just couldn’t understand why he would hit me,” Elle cried, sitting on the edge of the coffee table so that she was facing Derek, Callum, and Sadie.
“I tried to push him off of me, while screaming for him to stop, but he hit me again and again, accusing me of cheating on him. One of our neighbors — an older man named Mr. Hubert — had heard me scream and came out to investigate. Leo took off, and I assured Mr. Hubert that I was okay, though I was far from being all right. I managed to open the door to our apartment and called Sadie, begging her to hurry home.”
“Anthony and I were at dinner, but as soon as Elle called, I told him she needed me,” Sadie said, sliding her hand into Elle’s. “I think he knew she was my girl because he just nodded, paid the check, and drove me home. I expected him to leave, but he didn’t. He insisted on hanging around in case Leo came back. He stayed in the living room all night while I held Elle in my arms, soothing away her tears. I knew in that moment my relationship with him was over. Elle needed me and it wasn’t fair for me to string him along anymore. Anthony deserved better than being second best.”
“Anthony had an early class the next morning so he left just after seven. Less than an hour later, Leo was beating on our door, begging me to talk to him. I refused to face him and screamed that we were over because no man hits me,” Elle whimpered. “After several minutes he left, and I thought it was over. I’d never be able to trust him again, not after that. For the next several weeks, I went on with my life. I finished my classes, made it through graduation, and started looking a job. I hadn’t heard from Leo and assumed that he’d moved on.” Her eyes fluttered a close. “I was wrong.”