Everything I Need (The Everything Series Book 1)

by A. K. Evans

  I pulled my mouth off of him, looked him in the eye, and said, “I want it, honey. Give me your pleasure.” Then, I took him back in my mouth until he came.

  Once he finished I pulled away and smiled up at him.

  “Destroyed me, gorgeous. Love this mouth,” he said as he lifted me up and set me on the couch beside him.

  He gently pushed me back so that my shoulder blades were against the arm rest. He lifted one foot and started removing my boot. Then, he did the same with the other.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I’m going to take care of my woman,” he said.

  “Is that so?”

  He unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down my legs followed by my panties.

  “Fucking right it is.”

  “You know I didn’t take you in my mouth just to get you to do this for me, right?”

  “Doesn’t fucking matter what your reason was, gorgeous. I’m still doing it. Now, are you going to stop talking so I can eat you?”

  I bit my lip and nodded.

  Wes chuckled, put his hands under my ass, lifted me, and ate. He ate like he hadn’t had a meal in months. Wes always made comments about my mouth, but if I was being completely honest I had to admit that he had one talented mouth. It wasn’t long before Wes had me shouting his name and trembling underneath him.

  When I came down from the Wes-induced orgasm I reached a finger out to touch his bottom lip and said, “This fucking mouth.”

  He threw his head back and roared with laughter.

  “Good one, gorgeous, but that’s my line.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him.

  A few minutes later we were in the truck on the way to visit Wes’ parents. We were late, but his parents didn’t seem to mind.

  Chapter 39

  Charley

  I adored James and Linda Blackman. I had forgotten how welcoming they were the last time I was over at their house. They quickly reminded me. They also reminded me so much of my own parents and having that in my life again felt great. When that thought filtered into my brain about halfway through the visit with them I decided to make plans for our next visit. Sunday morning, three weeks from now we’d be coming over for breakfast. I was determined to make it on time to that visit, though.

  Linda and I had a chance to catch up in the kitchen over some tea while the men chatted in front of the television. I wasn’t sure if Wes had mentioned anything to his parents about asking me to move in, but I didn’t think he’d mind if I brought it up to his mom. I told her that he had asked me to decorate his place for us and that he wanted me to move in. Her eyes welled up with tears and she pulled me into a hug. From that point forward you couldn’t have wiped the smile off her face. It was overwhelming and quite a relief to know that his parents really liked me.

  Three hours later Wes and I were leaving his parents’ house and heading to check on Emme. We pulled up to the condo and I sat in the passenger’s seat, staring.

  “What’s going on in that head?”

  “She’s my family, Wes. My heart breaks for her.”

  “It’ll be ok, Charley.”

  “She was so angry with me last night.”

  “That’s allowed, gorgeous. If she’s your family, she can be angry at you. But, once she’s had time she’ll look at it all and realize that she loves you more than she’s angry at you. Trust me.”

  I stayed silent. Wes was right. Emme and I were family and our love for each other wouldn’t allow this to come between us.

  “Ok, honey. I’m ready to go in,” I said.

  Wes hopped out of the truck, came around to open my door, and held my hand as we walked to the door.

  Amid everything that happened last night I was surprised that I remembered to take my house key off of the ring with my car keys so that I’d have a way into the house. I put the key in the lock, opened, and we pushed inside.

  Upon entering we found Zane in the kitchen, but no Emme. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night.

  “Where is she?” I asked immediately.

  “Shower. She just woke up a little while ago,” he answered.

  “How is she doing?” Wes asked.

  “Took a lot to calm her down, but she finally did and slept. Pretty sure it was just exhaustion that overtook her. She’s been quiet this morning. To be honest, I didn’t learn a whole lot last night, but with the stuff that she did share it was pretty fucking difficult to keep my shit together.”

  I closed my eyes and dropped my head. Wes wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his body.

  “Sorry about your brother, Charley. Sounds to me like he was a stand-up guy who, if given the choice, would do it again.”

  I looked back up and locked eyes with him. Speaking through the tightness that had formed in my throat and the tears that had spilled over my cheeks I said, “In a heartbeat.”

  He nodded at me.

  I looked between him and Wes and said, “I’m going to go check on her.”

  Wes squeezed my shoulder, kissed the top of my head, and said, “No matter what, remember she is your family and she loves you.”

  He let me go and I walked down the hall toward Emme’s bedroom. I knocked lightly on the door, turned the handle, and let myself in. She was standing in front of the door to the balcony looking out at the mountains. As I walked in, she turned to look at me. I stopped just inside the door.

  We stared at each other for several minutes saying nothing.

  “Em,” I said, my voice cracking. “I’m so sorry.”

  She held my eyes a beat before a single tear spilled over her cheek and she turned back to look out at the mountains. I didn’t move. My breathing quickened. She wasn’t going to forgive me. I had lost my parents and my brother. I could not lose one of the girls who had become my sister.

  “Emme. Please. Yell at me, throw something, do whatever you need, but please talk to me.”

  She didn’t turn to look at me, but she finally spoke.

  “Regret is something else, Charley. Isn’t it? You make a choice on something, follow through, and then hope you don’t regret that choice. Every day. Every single day I regret my decision. I never should have called Taj that day. Maybe I could have still survived and he’d still be here. But I can’t change it. I can’t go back and choose again,” she said, finally turning to look at me. “If I had the choice to do it all over again, I would have never called him.”

  “Taj loved you like a sister. He loved you like he loved me. I’m sorry that things went down the way they did last night. I’m sorry that part of your story was told to a group of people that you don’t know all that well. But, I’m not sorry for what I’m about to say. Em, he wouldn’t want this. You need to stop blaming yourself. You need to start living your life without regret and find your happy. You need to listen to what I’m saying and do it because if you don’t, then Taj died for no reason. I understand how hard it is. It took me a very long time to get here, but trust me, you can get there, too.”

  She was crying at this point, but managed to get out, “I’m so scared, Charley.”

  I went to her and wrapped my arms around her. “That’s ok. You can be scared. You can be cautious. But, you are still here, Em, and you need to live. He would want you to live. He would want you to be happy. He did what he had to do to make sure you survived. Please, honey, don’t let him be gone for no reason.”

  She cried for a long time.

  When she finally settled, I said, “I’m not looking for any guarantees, but can you promise me one thing? Promise me you’ll try to find happy. Do it for Taj, Em.”

  She looked me in the eyes when she said, “I promise I’ll try.”

  I smiled at her. She smiled back and then asked, “So, Wes asked you to move in with him?”

  I nodded.

  “You know, I wasn’t upset about the fact that you wanted to move in with him. I’m so happy you found someone who will give you the world. I was hurt that you did
n’t tell me about it. Then, when I had the time to think on it, after having a complete and utter meltdown here last night, I realized that I haven’t exactly been the most forthcoming either. I’ve kept a lot to myself lately and I’m sorry. It was really hypocritical of me to get angry with you when I haven’t shared much with you.”

  “It’s ok, Em. I know you’ll share those things when you are ready,” I said while winking at her, hoping that I was reassuring her.

  “Is Zane still here?” she asked, hope filtering through her voice.

  I smiled and said, “Yeah. He’s out there with Wes. This isn’t me pushing you, but Emme, you should really think about that one. He cares a lot for you and, honey, I think he’s one of the good ones.”

  She nodded and then looked out the window. She stayed quiet for a moment and I gave her that time. I think she knew that what I said about Zane was the truth, but it would understandably take her some time to get there.

  “Think we should go out there?” she asked.

  “We’ve got two extremely hot guys out in our kitchen and we’re standing here. I absolutely think we should go out there,” I answered.

  I turned to walk to the door and she said, “Charley?”

  I looked back at her. “Yeah, Em?”

  “Love you.”

  My soul warmed. Yeah, Emme was absolutely my family. I said, “I know, Em. Love you, too.”

  We walked out of Emme’s bedroom and down the hall toward the kitchen. I smelled something delicious. As we stepped into the kitchen I saw Zane bringing a stack of plates over to the island as Wes set down two boxes of pizza. Both guys stopped what they were doing and looked to us. Concern was written all over their faces.

  I decided to break the silence.

  “You ordered pizza?”

  Wes and Zane both let out the breath they were holding.

  Wes smiled at me and said, “Yeah, you girls want to eat?”

  I looked to Emme and smiled.

  “Well, you two can’t exactly eat all of this on your own,” I said, hopping up on one of the stools gesturing to the two boxes on the island.

  They laughed.

  “Peppers and onions or mushroom?” Wes asked me.

  “Peppers and onions,” I answered.

  Wes put pizza on a plate for me and then for himself. He came over to sit next to me, leaned into me, and whispered, “All good?”

  I looked away from Wes to see Emme walking over to Zane. He handed her a mushroom slice on a plate, which was her favorite and I hadn’t heard him ask her, and quietly said, “You doing ok, sweetheart?”

  I didn’t wait to hear her answer. I turned my attention back to Wes and with a huge grin on my face I said, “All good.”

  He pressed a kiss to my temple and then took a bite of his pizza. The four of us spent the rest of the afternoon together, eating pizza, talking, and even playing some board games. I’m not sure if Wes and Zane were the type to play games, but they went along with it and seemed to be having fun so I didn’t dwell on it. It was a really, really nice time. Nobody brought up the events from last night and even though there was plenty of opportunity for it to be awkward, the guys made sure it never went there. I was so thankful for them.

  Before I realized how late it was Wes stood up and said, “Early day tomorrow at the office and a crazy week this week. Got to get some sleep.”

  “Yeah, I’m ready to drop,” Zane added as he stood.

  I looked to Emme and her eyes were worried. I took that as my cue to give her some space.

  “Why don’t you just crash here tonight? We can ride in to work together tomorrow,” I said to Wes, as I got up off the couch.

  “You actually want to go in with me? Didn’t you insist on being independent and showing up on your own?”

  “I figure if I am going to move in with you I need to start getting used to having company on my drive in to work.”

  His sexy grin spread across his face and he said, “Ok, gorgeous, I’m all yours tonight.”

  “You better be all mine every night.”

  I turned to Emme and saw she was still sitting on the couch, looking down at the floor. I walked over to her.

  “You ok, Em?” I asked, quietly.

  She shrugged her shoulders.

  “Wes can go to bed ahead of me. I’m good to stay up for a while with you,” I offered.

  “I’ll be ok, sweets. Thanks,” she said.

  “Ok. You need me, you come and get me. Got it?”

  She nodded.

  I hugged her tight and said good night. Then, I walked to Zane, pulled him into a hug, and whispered, “Thanks for taking care of my girl last night and today.”

  He whispered back, “She’s not just your girl.”

  I froze in his arms at his statement, but quickly recovered and pulled back. He winked at me. My heart melted.

  “Good night,” I said, turning to Wes and wrapping my arm around his waist.

  As we walked down the hall toward my bedroom, I turned my head to look back at Zane and Emme. She was standing up next to the couch and was looking him in the eyes. His hand came up to brush down the side of her cheek. I smiled inwardly. Zane was right. She wasn’t just my girl anymore. I just had a feeling she didn’t know it yet.

  Once we got into my bedroom, I stopped and turned to Wes.

  “I love you.”

  His face warmed. “I love you, too.”

  “Thank you,” I said, pausing for a moment. “There are so many other things you could have done today, but you spent it here with me and my best friend, well, and your best friend, and you did that because she needed us here with her today.”

  “Charley, I was here for you. Sure, I knew that Emme needed to not be alone today and if nobody else was here, I would have stayed with her. But, I would be doing that for you. Today, I was here for you because you needed me. Nothing else that I could have done today is more important than giving you what you need.”

  I pressed my cheek into his chest, hugged him, and breathed in his scent.

  “Let’s go to bed, gorgeous.”

  “Ok, Wes.”

  Chapter 40

  Charley

  Count your blessings. Isn’t that how the saying goes? Undoubtedly, my life up until about three months ago had been dismal. Actually, I’m lying. I had a really great life filled with lots of blessings until I was fifteen. Then, my parents died and I tried to stay focused on the good I still had in having my brother with me. Then, he died and it became extremely difficult to remain positive.

  Three months ago, a man walked into my life and changed everything. He made me see the good again and I was so thankful for him. I began counting my blessings.

  After an exhausting weekend, I had been looking forward to a relatively stress free week at work. Lucky for me, I got just that. It should be noted, though, that aside from the two weeks leading up to the X Games, I had never really been stressed at work. It never felt like work and I thoroughly enjoyed what I was doing. Blessing number one.

  Correction. That was blessing number two. Blessing number one was the realization that after Saturday’s turn of events there should have been a much bigger fallout between Emme and I and there wasn’t. I was so worried then that the doom and gloom was headed my way, but she surprised me with her understanding of my predicament and we were able to move quickly on to much happier topics.

  So, blessing number one was my kickass best friend slash sister slash roommate who had a heart of gold. Blessing number two was a stress-free week of work.

  It was now Friday afternoon. Everything was still going smoothly in my life. Wes and I had just gone out to lunch where he told me he had something he needed to show me when we got back into the office. The excitement filtered through my body as we stepped off the elevator and walked down the hall to Wes’ office. Once inside he told me to have a seat on one of the couches. He then walked over, grabbed an envelope off his desk, and handed it to me.

  “What is this?” I asked
.

  “Fire line has been doing phenomenally well, Charley. Blackman Boards has always done well with board sales. We make a quality product, our riders are some of the best in the world, and our designs were decent. With the Fire line, we retained the same product quality, our guys are still riding at the top of their game, but we’ve added you and your designs. The Elements Series has exploded with just the first line. The Air line is nearly completed. We’ve already received numerous inquiries on when they’ll be released. I expect the Air line will do just as well as the Fire line did. I’m so proud of what you did with the designs.”

  “Thank you, Wes. That’s awesome news. I’m so happy to hear that the series is off to such an amazing start.”

  “I had some ideas about what to do with the Water and Earth lines before I even met you. Then, once I met you, saw your work, and learned about Taj, I decided what I wanted to do with the Water and Earth lines. My plans for the rest of the Elements Series are in that envelope.”

  I looked down at the manila envelope I held in my hand and back up to Wes.

  “Nobody else knows my thoughts yet. I want your opinion and your blessing on it before I proceed with it. Open it and tell me what you think.”

  I had butterflies fluttering madly in my belly. The anticipation was too much to bear, so I quickly tore open the envelope and pulled out what was inside.

  My stomach tightened at what I saw. Staring back at me on the first page was Wes’ idea for the Water line. My nose began to sting, my eyes welled up, and the lump quickly formed in my throat.

  I looked to Wes, tried to swallow past the lump in my throat, and croaked out, “Is this for real?”

  He nodded.

  I looked back down at the paper I held in my hands and took it all in. This was it. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is what the Water line should be. The paper was adorned with the front, back, and side profiles of a surfboard.