by Elena Monroe
“I need to intercept Eve. There’s an issue and I need to get her alone before Bowen does.” I pressed my hands together praying... pleading, really.
EVE
Grace had a daily standing lunch date with her husband, my childhood enemy turned ally, and it was hard not to smile at that commitment.
She quickly became my favorite new friend, constantly sending each other voice texts as we got to know each other better, but I never told her much about my marriage. It felt too personal to have it tainted by repeating it to someone else.
Maybe I just didn't want people who villainize Bowey to have more ammo.
Just wanting to help my obvious mood change, she showed up after she knew Bowen had left to capture me for a girl’s day complete with a driving lesson. The way she was spontaneous felt child-like, and it was easy to see the connection between her and Khaos.
Instead, she saved me from reliving the trauma my own mind had hidden from me.
The car ride was gravely quiet, neither of us saying one word. I didn’t even know what she thought or if she judged me for what it may have looked like. When we were almost there I mustered up the courage to speak, out of character for me when I enjoyed seeing the swiftness in people’s features when I misbehaved in unexpected ways.
“It wasn’t what it probably looked like… He - I, I don’t want Bowen to worry. I’m handling it.” I started fumbling my words before I ended strong.
“Not my business, babe. But, I learned the hard way that honesty makes shit easier. These guys have the power to fix things.”
I instantly wondered about the story behind that statement. I didn’t ask, my mind was clinging to Elias and my new memories.
Once we were in the Clave’s parking garage and I saw Bowen’s car, I was able to take a deep breath, knowing this was a safe zone as much as it normally wasn’t.
Riding the elevator up, we stayed silent, both of us digesting before seeing the two people on this earth we don’t have the heart to lie to.
The elevator doors opened smoothly and the first thing I saw was Khaos standing there on his skateboard.
He knew.
I could see it on his face that he knew. I could feel myself cringe inward just pushing my eyes up to his.
His thumb lifted Grace’s chin, and I watched him dip his head enough to plant a kiss on her lips. “I’ll meet you in my office. I gotta talk to Eve.”
Grace locked eyes with me like a verbal confirmation it was okay to leave me alone with him. Little does she know her husband was already marked by me.
Standing on his board, he crossed his arms. “Him moving here changed my plans. I like to slowly push people to the truth, but I have a feeling the truth found you.”
I appreciated him not saying his name. Not in my safe haven.
“Understatement. Probably the only one you’ll make.” I retorted to his confession that everyone was part of his games.
Hopping off his board, he stepped on the end and it flew upright. “The only question is what kind of princess are you? The kind that slays her own demons or the kind that lets a knight in shining armor do it? His armor might be a little banged up, a little rusty.”
I felt my teeth grind down on each other. “I don’t need saving.”
Bowen had his own demons to slay, and I needed to be the strength he remembered.
Twisting on my heel, I walked away from Khaos when he bounced in front of me, forcing me to halt. “He’s not the same person, Eve. If he finds out from anyone else, he will implode all over us.”
“Then don’t say anything. Problem solved. If you’ll excuse me, I'm going to visit my husband.” The old me was back in full force, but the parts of me I didn’t want him to see were still buried under a pretty princess demeanor.
Smoothing down the long vintage band shirt I had on, I made sure it was covering the parts of me that Elias ate up earlier. Ironically enough, this ratty shirt was all I was comfortable in after being felt up by my stepbrother.
I was smoothing down my shirt but in reality I was trying to smooth out the wrinkles he left on my expression. There was only one way I was going to iron out my wrinkles and it was going to be by the flames of Bowen, the devil himself.
Wanting to replace the memory crawling my body like small insects, I found a restroom on the way to Bowen’s office. Everything was sleek and black, a kind of sinister that made you wonder what they do here to earn all the impeccable taste.
Bending at the waist, I checked the stalls for anyone. When it was clear, I snapped back up, shimmying out of my panties from under the shirt. I was determined to replace the bad memories with good ones today.
Tossing the panties in the trash, I left the bathroom like a common criminal and collided into a hard body. The scent was intoxicating, a mix of the ocean and expensive cologne. I’m sure it was called Winner’s Circle or some shit.
“Sorry,” I mumbled it without any real meaning, stupid kneejerk reaction.
He just kept staring at me with his eyes that had so many blues they resembled waves crashing against the sand. I waited for him to move when his arms crossed across his chest and his brows furrowed. “You’re good for him. You don’t listen very well, he needs that.”
I gave him a stone-cold look at his words.
Not a good listener? Seriously?
By that logic his wife must be a perfect ten for him.
Pushing past him with a strong shoulder check, I made sure my voice was clear. “I’m not good for Bowen because I don’t listen. I’m good for Bowen because I’m not afraid of the dark like your pussy ass.” Pushing my long locks over my shoulder and giving him a solid wink, I went on my way.
He would argue he wasn’t afraid of anything, but the fear that hid under his good boy looks said otherwise. Vic was in good company since everyone seemed afraid of Bowen, and I couldn’t tell if it was because they thought he was fragile or simply too dark to handle.
Making my way around the office, I finally found the space that looked like his: barren and neat. His assistant at the desk was glaring at me like it would ward me off in her Harley Davidson crop top with her feet kicked up onto the desk.
No poise at all, her brash voice hit me like a closed fist. “Looking for Bo-Bo?”
Bo-Bo? That’s what she calls him?
She had long dark hair, piercing blue eyes, and an attitude that reminded me of myself as a pre-teen. She was a poor man’s carbon copy of me without the refinement I was saddled with.
I remembered her from the photos, and all the jealousy in the world squeezed at my heart. Those girls weren’t just photos, they were real people and one of them was at his desk right now.
Giving her a small smile, I breezed by her towards the door when her chair zoomed in front of me, blocking my way. “I don’t love my job but it is my job to announce all visitors,” she said while looking down at a small switchblade she toyed with in her delicate hands.
Trying to scare me off, I stood my ground, this might have worked when I was fitting into the small box of being a lady, but I was too much like my old self now to pretend to be gracious.
“Bowey is my husband.” I made sure to use his real nickname, not the one coming out of my duplicate. Sneaking past her, I could feel her backing down, maybe she was even impressed.
I would have done a lot more than brave a switchblade for him and people needed to start digesting that information sooner rather than later.
The girl with the bad attitude reminded me a lot of myself, even the switchblade in her grasp, the same butterfly kind that I used to carry because one of us had to be prepared for danger. Bowen was too busy ignoring the world, lost in his own mind and hypnotized by my boobs when they arrived.
I was the one always ready to guard our castle, even from the people closest to us.
Khaos has a scar across his leg from grade school when he decided to hit on Bowen with his flirtatious eyes and smirk that screamed, I’ll steal your most precious belongings. Instead, I
left him with a scar to remember not to try to make off with what is mine.
I was a little bit more aware than Bowey… He always saw the good in people. Sometimes it was buried deep down, but he would find it.
Slipping into his office, I watched him type with one objective in mind as I felt between my legs warm up, remembering I wasn’t wearing any panties under the long t-shirt. Only a harness over it with my boots that crawled up my thighs, bullying the hem to creep up more.
“What are you doing here? How many times do I have to tell you not to come here, Eve? It’s not safe for you.” His voice was stern and unforgiving even if I came to bare gifts.
Pushing off the door, I twisted the lock and dropped my bag in the chair next to it. The sounds of seduction weren’t very sexy, but to me they sounded like an interlude that only begged a climax I was prepared for.
“Always trying to protect me. I’m still just as dangerous, Bowey. I bite... and bark.” He sat back in his chair, trying not to react even though I could spot the corners of his lips threatening to crack.
Somehow I worked my way onto his desk, my bare ass touching the cold, smooth surface and my knees already falling apart before I was even in a comfortable position in front of him. I came here to seduce my husband and bury the trauma under it.
His hand smoothed up to my calf when he said in a whisper, “Oh, I know you bite. I’m pretty sure I still have the marks to prove it along with the hickeys you keep leaving people to see.” Pushing forward, I let my heels dig into the arms of the chair, giving Bowen a perfect view of how little I had on between us.
“Don’t be so delectable then… besides, people need to know you’re a taken man now. I’m tired of it being a shock that you’re in love, shocked I enjoy your company, shocked I can’t stay mad at you...” My whole body pulsed, and I felt a heavy sensation of euphoria just being on display for him— never mind him toying with me.
I couldn’t stay mad.
I couldn’t blame him.
I couldn’t keep upholding this silence.
His hands smoothed up my legs even more, painfully slowly. “Was there a reason you came, or you just wanted to make me aware you’re wandering around LA without panties?”
His words were cruel, but his hands? The opposite.
Those hands were controlled, slow, and torturous but sweet enough to make me come on demand if he just kept going.
I wasn’t responding, the last thing I wanted was to think about why I ran here, to Bowen. “Khaos mentioned something happened. Maybe you want to elaborate,” his voice soothed me almost into telling him.
Khaos and Grace’s position for me to tell him the truth before he found out on his own lurked into the room with us, bullying me to say what I couldn’t. Noticing the brown familiar liquor on the desk next to me that I almost knocked over, I could spot his easiness powered by being intoxicated. He was almost never completely sober and yet still hard to read.
I decided to dip my two fingers in the liquid; drenching them with the only thing he filled himself with, Hennessy.
Opening my legs more, I could see his gaze drifting downward, taking in what is his now, before I pressed back into my palm. Carefully pulling my fingers from his glass, I ran them down my wet pussy only making matters much worse.
Carefully slow, the same way he toyed with me.
“Now I’m covered in Hennessy… No sense in wasting your favorite indulgence.” Biting my lip, I waited for him to react.
His grasp on my thighs only got tighter, fingers clenching into my poreless skin on the backs of my thighs, holding my legs open as his eyes unapologetically didn’t leave my pussy. It instantly made me blush.
The same kind of blush that flamed up my cheeks when we were younger and I would catch how turned on I would make him.
Back then it started as a happy accident, not understanding how I would affect him by just being myself. My body went from a curveless board to filling out while his hormones raged just as wild and we both stumbled through new urges.
We still slept in his bed, cuddled up the way we always did, in close proximity to a line that would force us into something more than friendship. Every night for months I pretended to be asleep while he relieved himself, and every day since I begged myself to be brave enough to risk our friendship. Until I was ripped from LA before I had the chance.
His tight grasp yanked my hand in his direction along with my attention when his mouth closed around my fingers to suck every drop of Henny off them that was mixed with my own wetness.
His tongue flattened against my fingers, and I felt the air trap in my chest. He was only making my ache worse by giving me an inch when I wanted a mile.
“I know what I do to you. Are you going to pretend you aren’t hard and find relief without me? We aren’t kids anymore, Bowey.”
I could feel my bundle of nerves pulse harder and the wetness trying to convince my thighs back together to ease the warming sensation between them.
Kissing the pads of my fingers, his eyes got a murky kind of gray that looked like a storm was headed my direction when he stood up, his closed fist pushing into the desk as his body leaned into mine. “And what do you think you do to me, Evey?”
My nickname rolled off his tongue and slipped right down my body like a hot caress.
Another inch but no miles.
He wanted to push me into a corner and force me to crawl my way out when he already broke all the parts of me that sat pretty while he tortured me. I was caged, and he set me free.
Now I was free to wreak havoc on his life, starting with showing him my bark to match my love bites.
Letting my hand squeeze into the small space between our bodies, I let the palm of my hand slip down to how hard he was. Palming every inch, I breathlessly whimpered, “For starters? This.”
A low groan echoed against me when his head dipped, and I felt his forehead rest on my shoulder. “You’re inexorable, Evey. You deserve better than me.”
His words were cruel but his heart? The opposite.
Trying to reach his pants, I unbuttoned them and let my hand dip inside, my hand exploring how turned on he is without the jeans in the way. I was out of breath just trying to fit my way into his pants when his fingers danced up my chest putting a firm grasp on my throat.
It was his kind of warning; scaring people is easier than letting them see how weak we all are when it comes to our demons and sins fornicating.
“Eve…” It sounded like a question with no more syllables coming when I pushed the band down on his underwear, letting his length fall out between us.
Taking the glass in my hand, I pushed it to my lips before sitting further up, tilting my head back, purposely letting it cascade down my chin, neck, down into my shirt. I was starved, famished for him, and it felt like dying but never making it to the grave.
The glass barely made it back to the desk when I choked out my words against his hand slowly tightening around my neck. “Don’t you get it, Bowey? I’m covered in you, that’s how badly I need you. I only want you.”
His hand traveled up to cup my face as his lips finally clashed with mine. As soon as his tongue slipped inside my mouth, I felt my body give into relief when his fingers stormed my entrance.
Practically falling into him, I had to pull my mouth away from his to plead some more. “No more fingers, Bowey. I want more. I want you again. I need you.”
Attacking my mouth again, I moaned into his lips while his three fingers stretched me into compromising through the taste of the alcohol on our tongues. His husky voice poured into me. “Don’t you get it? My demons will ruin whatever is left of your halo.”
Wrapping my legs around his waist, I pushed him into me even more. “I never wanted a halo anyways.”
His hand found my neck again as he pulled away, forcing me to stay in place when the punishing grip of his free hand pushed my ass down his desk further. Teetering on the edge, I watched him drop down to his office chair, eyelevel with my soak
ed pussy.
“It’s your damnation, Evey.” The smirk faded like he was remorseful for sending me to a proverbial hell when I wasn’t even sure I believed in the first place.
Without any warning, I felt his lips gently kiss between my legs sending a wave of chills down my spine. Jumping at his touch, I held my breath waiting for more.
“Bowey.” My horse voice spat out his name like I was begging for him to use his tongue.
“You wanted more…” His hot breath fell over every sensitive curve of my body, and I fell deeper into the dizziness of him.
Drunk off Bowey and I only tasted him.
His eyes were locked on mine, the overcast gray full of depth, as his tongue swiped up me, forcing my hips still. I wasn’t letting any movements ruin soaking up how warm he felt.
My legs didn’t fall apart like I expected when his tongue disappeared inside of me and flicked my clit in a way that made me feel possessed. Instead, my legs wanted to squeeze him in place and pray it never stopped.
My fingers laced through his hair, pushing it back as I kept my eyes on him while I carefully watched him relish me. Watching him only made the buildup between my legs even more unbearable when I pushed my sight up to the bookshelf.
There were no photos or personal items, yet the panties I sent with him to work in a brown bag as a joke were framed on the shelf. I was trying to stave off coming as long as I could, but the sight of those panties he cherished enough to frame sent me over the edge.
My legs trembled and shook with his mouth closed around my clit and his hands were leaving marks on my hips just to keep me still. The orgasm washed over me in a wave, holy water be damned, I was soaked in something much more pure.
I was prepared to drop to my knees and worship every inch of him.
I was prepared to let him hold my head down until I tasted him at the back of my throat.