by Lauren Wood
He couldn’t even say the words and Stan didn’t have an answer beyond the biggest cliché that there was.
“I don’t know, it just sort of happened.”
“I jumped his bones when I got out of jail. He didn’t have a choice.”
Carl looked at me like it took a minute for the words to sink in. “What?”
“I wanted him, that was the end of it. There is nothing to be mad about and if you insist on being upset with who I date or fuck, then you get to hear it.”
“That was too much Eve.”
“Well you’re about to start a fight and you’re acting like I’m a teen or something. I’m older now and you can’t act this way anymore. I will be with whoever I want to be with.”
“But he’s my friend.”
“Yeah, well it happened.”
I wasn’t going easy on him because I felt the guilt well up inside of me. I knew that it was an off-limits situation, but at the same time, it was said and done now, and I wasn’t going to let it change because it made Carl uncomfortable. He was just going to have to find a way to deal with it because I wasn’t going to let that part of it change. I just couldn’t.
“Outside Stan.”
I rolled my eyes and tried to stop Stan from leaving. I didn’t want the two idiots to hurt each other, not sure who I wanted to win or who would win. They were both scrappy. This was madness and I tried to tell them again that this was too much.
“Stop Stan. I don’t want you fighting my brother. I don’t want either one of you to get hurt.”
“It will be fine Eve. He’s got to let it out and I’ve got to let him. I knew that when we first got together. I wasn’t able to say no to you, even though I should have.”
I didn’t have anything to really say to that. I felt the same way about it, but at the end of the day I had pushed it. I can’t believe I’d said out loud in front of Carl, but it was done now.
Now I was going to have to watch the two people I cared about most, duke it out and it made my stomach cramp up with the idea of it all.
Chapter 23
Stan
“This doesn’t have to be this way. I love your sister Carl and I’m going to make an honest woman of her.”
Carl wasn’t really hearing me. All I could see was anger in his eyes and I knew that there was no point in even trying to see if this could be straightened out. There was no point in talking to him when he was like this, so I was just going to have to do like I told Eve and let him get it out of his system. His eyes narrowed as I stepped off the porch and he moved in to hit me.
I let the first two connect with the desired target and I instantly felt it. Carl had always hit hard and I saw splashes of color behind my eye lids as the second one landed on my eye. I was trying to decide how much I was going to take of it when he moved in to hit me again.
That one I dodged, and he was putting so much into it that it rocketed him forward because I wasn’t there to stop the force as it connected with my jaw. Carl fell forward, and I tried to reason with him again. Eve was outside, hollering at the both of us. I didn’t want to hit Carl for a multitude of reasons, one of them being that I didn’t think that she would forgive me if I did. They were close.
“Stop Carl. That’s enough.”
“No, it’s not. That’s my little sister!”
He swung at me again and again I moved at the last second and sent him reeling. He fell to the ground and I could tell he was getting tired. He was putting too much into each punch and they would’ve hurt if they had connected. I was thankful that they hadn’t.
Carl came at me a couple of more times before finally he swayed and rushed at me. He was mad and now he was just getting sloppy. There was nothing that I could do now when he was acting like this. There was no talking to him.
Eve tried to get in the middle of it when it started to calm down a little bit.
“Please Carl. Can we just talk about it?”
He didn’t want to talk to her either and he had a hate-filled look in his eyes. I could tell that he was mad at her, as well as me. He started to tell her that she was wrong for being with me.
“Don’t take it out on her Carl. I’m the one you’re mad at.”
“You’re right, but she’s my sister so stay the hell out of it.”
There was no winning in this situation and I now wish that I would have hid. It was undignified sure, but I would have done it ten times over if it would have gotten me out of this sort of scene.
I went to the back bedroom and got dressed the rest of the way while the two siblings argued. I knew that it was a mess and that I was supposed to fix it, but how? Neither one of them were listening to reason.
When I came back out, Eve was crying, and I didn’t like the way that looked. I didn’t like to see her upset, so I told Carl to knock it off. “Leave her alone. I mean it.”
Carl looked like he wanted to hit me again or try anyways, but he didn’t move towards me. Betrayal was clear in his eyes and I didn’t know how to erase it because I didn’t like the look of it. I liked even less that he had a reason to look at me this way. We’d been friends for a long time and I didn’t want it to end like this. There had to be a way for him to see that this was supposed to happen.
In the end, Carl took off and Eve was left in the middle. She was upset, and I didn’t want to push it, but it was Eve that wanted to talk about it. She was convinced that this was all happening for a reason and I didn’t like the conclusion that she was coming to. It was not the sort of conclusion that I would make.
“I don’t know Stan, maybe this is all just a sign for us to keep away from each other. It shouldn’t be this hard. I must go find Carl. He doesn’t even know the city that well and I got to bring him back. I don’t think you should be here when he gets back. I’ll get him to come around, but it might take a while.”
I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t going anywhere. It had been a whirlwind since I went to Cambodia and met her in the jail. Ever since then it had been ups and downs. I wasn’t ready to give up now after everything was finally settled and we were back in the states together. Her brother would get over it. He couldn’t stay mad at me forever.
“Don’t let this ruin what we have going on here Eve.”
“What is it that we have going on here Stan? Is it really worth all of this?”
I didn’t hesitate with an answer. I thought it was more than worth it and I couldn’t believe that she didn’t feel the same way. She shouldn’t even be asking me that sort of question. To me, it was obvious.
“Of course, it’s worth it.”
Chapter 24
Eve
“Why are you so moody Eve?”
“I’m not. I’m just reading.”
“Then why have you been on the same page for five minutes?”
“Because I’m digesting it.”
“Uh huh. It seems to me like you’ve got something on your mind. Or someone.”
I knew what she was talking about and I just ignored her because I didn’t want to talk about it.
“Come on Eve. You’ve been acting weird ever since we all got back. You still haven’t told me what happened between you and Stan.”
“There is nothing to tell. Why don’t you want to talk about you and Qing?”
“I do, when you tell me about Stan.”
“You’re exhausting with this. I told you before, there is nothing to talk about with him. We got close a couple of times and Carl found out about it. They got into a fight, sort of and I haven’t seen him since. I figure that it’s better that way because we are a lot different. And it looks like Carl is never going to let it go. I think he is always going to be mad at me. I wish I had a friend that liked my brother and he was single.”
“You know that I’ve offered before. He’s always been super cute.”
“Yeah, but he’s still not interested. It’s just as well anyways. It never would have worked. He’s in New York and I’m here. Long distance never works. It ju
st leads to heartache.”
“Well what if he was here?”
I looked up at Callie and shrugged. “There is no point in playing the what-if game. He’s not.”
“Yeah, but what if he was.”
I sighed loudly. I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say, but I could tell that she was leading somewhere. She never had been good at hiding her intentions.
“What are you getting at Callie?”
“Well I can see him walking up to the door right now.”
“Whatever, don’t mess with me. I know he’s not here. I made it clear that it wasn’t going to work.”
“He didn’t seem to get the memo. He’s here.”
I told her to stop messing with me because even though I knew she was just messing with me, my heart still skipped a beat because I couldn’t control it. Just the thought of Stan brought back so many memories. That much about him had not changed. I still couldn’t get him out of my mind, no matter how hard I tried. Callie wasn’t helping the situation.
“Just stop.”
I stopped talking when I heard the doorbell and I saw Callie wave towards the door.
“Are you serious?”
“Yep, he’s outside right now and it looks like he has some flowers with him.”
I wanted to believe that she was telling the truth, but I told him that it wasn’t going to work out. I’d made myself crystal clear, as well as promising my brother that I would leave him alone. It just wasn’t worth all the stress and strife that us coming together had brought. It was a shame, it really was, but there was really nothing that I could do about it.
“Do you want me to get it Eve?”
The doorbell rang again, and I knew that she could see him, and he could see her. I was on the other side of the wall and I wanted to almost tell her to tell him that I wasn’t here. I wanted to hide because I knew that there was going to be a flood of emotions that took over me.
“No, I got it.”
She smiled at me and when I moved past her, I asked her if she minded. Callie said that she didn’t, but she wasn’t getting the hint that I wanted her to go so that we could talk. I don’t know what we had to talk about, but I didn’t want a witness to it.
“Fine, I will go, but I want to hear about it later. Nothing going on between the two of you, huh?”
My cheeks got red with being caught in a lie. There was something going on and I wasn’t quite sure what it was.
“Promise. Then you’re going to tell me what is going on with you and Qing.”
She said that she would, and I told her I would call her later. She grinned at Stan as he came through. “What’s up Stan?”
“Not much Callie. Good to see you’re looking better. Are you happy to be home?”
She shook her head vigorously. “Yes, I don’t know what I was thinking talking about staying there. That would have been a mistake.”
“I’m glad that you’re back and looking well.”
There was a silence and I thought I heard whispering, but I couldn’t be sure. It was a conspiracy as far as I was concerned.
When I finally saw Stan, there was too much anticipation. I was literally shaking I was so nervous and I sat down on the couch. I didn’t want to embrace him like we were old friends and feel his fingers and hands on me. That just wouldn’t be fair.
“Hey Stan. What are you doing here?”
“That’s no way to greet me.”
“I wasn’t expecting you Stan. I thought that we had parted ways for the last time.”
“No, that’s not what that was.”
“Obviously.”
He frowned for a minute and asked me if that was what I really wanted. I didn’t have an answer for him because I wasn’t sure what I wanted. All I knew for sure was that I didn’t like the way this made me feel.
“I don’t understand why you are here?”
“You said that we couldn’t be together because of all of the things keeping us apart.”
“Yes, I did. So why are you here?”
“I live here now. Well not here, but a couple of miles away.”
“You live here now?”
He nodded his head and told me that he had came to a truce with Carl if he did one thing.
“And what is that one thing?”
“I don’t know if we are ready for that yet. I am, but you aren’t.”
I kind of knew what he was talking about. He’d mentioned something about it before when the two of them were fighting. I’d been irked that they thought they could have that conversation without me, like I had no say in it. But at this moment I wasn’t irked, just cautious. I think Stan was right that I wasn’t ready for it. There was no point in disagreeing.
“So now what?”
Still I didn’t have an answer and he moved towards me like he was going to make one. As Stan sat down, I got a little nervous. I was glad that I was seated now because he had that famished look on his face like he was starved. About a week was all he could stand before he was back for more.
“I don’t know Stan. I didn’t expect to see you again and I certainly didn’t think you would move. Isn’t that a big deal with your job?”
He told me that it wasn’t that hard to get licensed in Illinois as well.
“I don’t want to talk about my job. You’re so practical when you’re not being stubborn. Tell me that you don’t want me here with you and I won’t bother you again.”
“You came all this way, moved, quit your job for an ultimatum?”
Stan was a little confused and then it was like something dawned on him. He leaned forward and kissed me. It was a possessive kiss and he pulled back to look at me.
“You’re mine Eve and that’s that.”
“That’s better.”
He mumbled something about never understanding me before he kissed me again. There was no promise of what was going to come tomorrow, just a feeling that we were going to try and see what happens.
Who would have thought that after all these years, I would be the one in Stan’s arms?
I thought of the girl from so long before and a surge of jealousy welled up inside of me and I held him tighter. “You’re mine too Stan. Only mine.”
He chuckled and looked at me like he didn’t know what came over me and I didn’t say what. I just moved back into his arms and had to agree with him, he would probably never understand me, and I can’t say that I blamed him. Ever since he’d came back into my life again, I wasn’t sure that I understood it all either.
THE END
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I hope you enjoyed FIRST TASTE. For more enjoyment, I have included some bonus stories along with sneak peak of my other books.
Please check Table of Contents. Enjoy!!
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MOUNTAIN MAN’S BRIDE: A MOUNTAIN MAN ROMANCE
Chapter 1
Molly
It was going to be a good day. The sun was already shining out of my windows and I had a feeling that it was going to be a good one. I told myself that every day, but something convinced me that I was actually going to be right this time. Either way I was going to be as positive as I could be. It was something that I told myself years ago when I got divorced and found myself as stress as I could ever remember being. It was then that I had decided to make a change and that was what I had worked on the last five years. I was getting good at it if nothing else.
Moving off of the porch and the crisp air that was negated with the sun shining down on me, I went and refilled my coffee cup. It was a second cup kind of day and I don’t know why I thought that just that I did. The store was already opened; Denise called to tell me that everything was in order. I left it in her hands, knowing that I would have a little while longer before the amount of business would make me a necessity at the restaurant. Until then, I just wanted to enjoy the weather outside for a little while longer. Fall would be here before I knew it and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the warmth just yet.
I went back out to my favorite
spot and tried to settle in for a while, but the phone was ringing. I got back up and tried not to let myself get aggravated. I should have turned the ringer off. It was my own fault for not doing it. There was no peace unless I went out of my way to get it. I knew that and I picked up the phone, still unable to let the machine get it.
“This is Molly.”
“Hey Molly, I was wondering if you could come in a little early. There is someone here to see you. He is really cute and I think you should come up to the shop right away.”
Now I was intrigued, but Denise didn’t have any more information. The man had come in looking for me and quickly left, saying he would be back in an hour. I didn’t have long to get down there, but my curiosity spurred me on. I wasn’t expecting any out of town visitors and he was definitely not from Nome according to Denise. I wondered who it could be and my brained whirled with the possibilities. I didn’t really come up with anything that really stuck in my mind and I tried to think of something else as I made my way in after I got dressed.
When I pulled up, there were no out of state or even out of county cars in the parking lot. I was a little early from when he said he would be back and I wished that Denise had at least gotten a name. It was most likely someone I never would have thought of or someone that I didn’t even know. It was more of a chance that it was government personnel more than anything else.
Denise was waiting for me by the door and I smiled at a few early morning customers before I moved behind the counter. “So you look good this morning. You were sounding like you just woke up when I called.”
“No, I was up a while. I had to feed the animals. They don’t let me have a day off, so I was onto my second cup of coffee when you called.”
“Sorry about that, but I figured that you would want to know someone was looking for you.”
“I do want to know, but I wish I knew who. You sure you didn’t catch a name?”