by Alexis Anne
“Sorry, I forgot to tell you. They cancelled the meeting and pushed everything until tomorrow. I think if we are concise we’ll still manage to get it all in.”
This was not good news. Hiccups were never good news. “Any particular reason? Should we be worried?”
She shook her head, her long red waves dancing back and forth. “No, just something came up that required their attention. It has nothing to do with us. But…”
I raised an eyebrow. I really didn’t like where this was going now. “But?”
“It is a perfect opportunity for you and me to finalize everything.”
Alarm bells went off in my head. There was no reason to “finalize” anything. Besides, I had an entire company that could use my attention. “I don’t think so.”
She leaned against the conference table and rolled her eyes. “Despite what your wife thinks, I don’t actually bite.”
“That would be Greg. Greg thinks you bite. Eve just thinks you shoot lasers out of your eyes.”
She chuckled and looked down at her hands. “I understand all of this is bad timing, but it has been nice to see you again, Jake. I really do miss our friendship.”
It was times like this I simply couldn’t tell what Ashley was really saying. I honestly thought she was being real. But according to Greg and Eve, she was one big act. Was this real or an act?
Why couldn’t I tell the difference?
Having that doubt was something I hated feeling. It brought up old and very deep-seated issues about trusting myself. “People change and move on. It’s life, Ash.”
She looked me in the eye. “I still can’t believe you are signing away your rights. Does she hate me that much?”
That floored me. “It wasn’t her choice. It was mine.”
“All these years… she must really be something special. I don’t think I believed you until now. I always thought she was either a figment of your imagination or you were so in love you didn’t see her for who she was.”
I hated every single thing Ashley had just said. It was a serious reaction. Anger immediately boiled up inside me. Ashley could say whatever she wanted to about me, or even Greg, but Eve was off-limits. “Then you must not have ever really known me.”
She blinked and a look of complete surprise washed over her face. “Maybe. But I like to think I know you in a way no one else ever will.”
That stung as much as the other things she’d said. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Why do you think you and I worked?” she asked, standing up and glaring at me. “I’m the only one in your life who really understands your dark places because I have the same ones. Greg doesn’t understand your doubts and Eve doesn’t understand your darkness. Not like I do. I understand you. And if you think you are better off with Greg and Eve than you are with me, then fine. But just keep in mind—they don’t know you like I do.”
“You must have a nice fantasy life because I sure as hell don’t remember our relationship the same way you do.”
She took another step toward me. I didn’t like that she was standing while I was sitting. The power dynamic felt all wrong. “When you doubt yourself, you get jumpy because you’re looking for the closest exit. When you do something wrong, you beat yourself up inside just as bad as your dad would beat you up on the outside. And when you’re alone, you know you are never going to be good enough for anyone else.”
I didn’t reply to her. Not right away. If I had, I would have said a lot of really terrible things. Things I never would have forgiven myself for. So instead, I stood up slowly, adjusted my tie, and took a deep breath before looking Ashley in the eyes.
“You are right about every single one of those things.” I hated that she was right. “But that doesn’t mean you know me. I am so much more than what that man trained me to be. And I’ll be damned if I let you or anyone else tell me I have to stay that way.”
She studied me for a minute and it took all of my self-restraint to keep from throwing her out of the conference room by her hair. “You should be with someone who understands you, not someone who will get your hopes up and watch you fall when you can’t live up to her expectations. You are setting yourself up for misery, Jake.”
“I think we’re done here.”
She chuckled a little, “You’ll know where to find me when she crushes you under her boot. I’ll be waiting, Jake.”
“That will be a cold day in hell.”
She shrugged her shoulders and then stalked out of the room.
***
When I got home, my bedroom was empty. Hell, my whole house was empty. And even worse… Eve wasn’t answering her phone. I was in full panic mode. She should have been home at least an hour ago.
I’d done it all: flowers, dinner, wine, and a new movie.
But my guest of honor was missing and I was in a dark, confusing place.
As much as I hated to admit it, Ashley had done a number on me. She’d hit every button and played on every insecurity I had. I needed to screw my head back on straight.
I needed Eve.
“Jake?” her voice rang through the empty house.
“In here,” I called.
I’d given myself quite the lecture. I was going to give her time to explain why she was late. I was going to be understanding.
“You’re home early… and sitting in the dark with a drink? What happened?”
She set her bag down on the counter and peeled off her blazer. It was funny how simple her outfit looked this morning, but now it seemed sexy. Damn sexy. Her top was unbuttoned to her breasts. Her perfect breasts. My sun necklace only drew my attention to them even more. Her pants clung to her curves accentuating her amazingly sexy body.
Why did she have to look so hot in everything she wore?
“How long have you been sitting here?”
I glanced down at my watch, “An hour. You didn’t answer your phone.”
Her eyes widened some more and she flipped her bag open, “I’ve had it on silent since my meeting started. I’m so sorry.”
“You didn’t answer your office phone either.”
She set her phone quietly on the counter and spun toward me. “Jake, stop. Whatever you’re thinking… just stop.”
“Eve, you always answer your phone. Always. What happened tonight?” I desperately wanted her to have a simple and easy explanation that would make all of these ridiculous worries in my male pea-brain go away.
She put her balled up fists on her hips and glared at me. “Please, tell me how your day with Miss Sweet and Delicate went.”
“This is not about me, Eve. I came home to an empty house.” She was not turning the tables on me.
“Then why aren’t you answering me? Just because you came home on time doesn’t mean nothing happened during your day.”
“I have nothing to hide. Unlike you, who seem to be hell bent on keeping your missing hours a fucking secret!”
For a split second I saw fire in her eyes. “You have lost your mind!”
She spun on her heel and stomped out of the room, but there was no way I was letting her out of there while we were still talking. “Eve, get back in here. We are not done.”
“Fuck off!” she yelled, stomping down the hallway.
“Hell no. You are my wife and we having this discussion whether you like it or not.”
She slammed the library door in my face and turned the lock before I could get my hand on the handle. It didn’t stop me from trying anyway. I was too pissed to be calm and reasonable. I jiggled the handle and beat my fist against the door. “Eve, open the damn door.”
“Fuck. Off.” she yelled back and I heard the squeaky sound of her throwing herself on the leather couch.
I hit the door again and then rested my forehead against the cool surface. I absolutely hated having a barrier of any kind between us. It felt physically wrong on a good day, but when we were fighting I wanted to incinerate anything that kept me from her.
The fact
she wouldn’t tell me what she was doing kept running through my head on a loop. “Eve, I’m serious. We need to talk.”
“And I need to calm down. Go away, Jake.”
Calm down? Calm down? What in the hell did she have to calm down from? She was the one who stayed late at work and didn’t answer her phone. “If you don’t open this door I will go full-on Rhett Butler. I will kick this door in and carry you up the stairs kicking and screaming.” I’d been forced to watch that movie with Eve more times than I could count.
The lock clicked and the door opened. “You are such a bastard sometimes.”
I let her walk back across the room while my anger boiled. “I may be a bastard, but I love you. There is nothing scarier than the idea of losing you. Maybe I’m an asshole and I’m overreacting, but I’m your asshole. I will overreact any time I damn well please when it comes to you.”
Her arms were crossed and there was a scowl on her face, but the corners of her lips turned up just a little. “Where is this coming from?”
I suddenly realized I’d picked a fight with my wife on purpose. I was completely rattled by Ashley. “Ashley was weird today.”
Eve flushed a little. Her blood pressure must have just skyrocketed up to my level. “Weird how?”
“Apparently she thinks she knows me better than anyone else ever has or ever could.”
Eve shot up off the couch, marched right past me, and out of the library. “Where are you going?” I asked as she grabbed her keys from the bowl by the door.
“I’m gonna kill her!”
Eve was hot when she was mad. “Don’t leave. You don’t need to kill her.”
She reached for the door handle just as I rushed forward and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her body back against mine. The contact mixed with her scent set my senses on fire.
“Let me go! I need to kick the crap out of her delicate ass!”
“No,” I whispered against the sensitive part of her ear. “Don’t leave me. I need you right now.”
“Fuck,” she sighed, relaxing back against me.
I took the keys from her hands and tossed them at the table (missing completely, I might add) while she pushed the door shut and locked it, keeping her palms flattened against the smooth surface.
“I want to rip out her throat.”
I smiled against the skin of her neck and flexed my fingers into the soft flesh of her hips. “And that makes me love you even more.”
She leaned forward, letting her head move down between her shoulders and her ass press against my quickly hardening cock.
When she spoke it was a whisper. I had absolutely no idea I was feeling so tested until that moment. “Does she?” I knew exactly what Eve meant, but I was too overwhelmed to respond. “Does she know a part of you I can’t?”
I spun Eve to face me, pressing her back into the door as I moved against her with my hands and elbows flattened against the door beside her head and my body pressed flush against her.
“There are two people who know all my weaknesses and vulnerabilities, Eve. And both of them use it to their own advantage. Ashley knows how to exploit me, Eve. She’s more screwed up than I was. Maybe she still is.” I felt so raw. I’d been wrong about so many things.
There was one thing that mattered to me, and I was staring into her beautiful eyes. “You are my life.” I kissed her gently on the lips. “After today, I hate Ashley almost as much as I hate my father. I didn’t realize that until she tried to convince me I was better off being the man I used to be. She has no idea, Eve. She doesn’t me at all. You do. You know me and everything I want to become. That difference is everything.”
The two of us became something else entirely at that point. We were ruled by emotions and driven by desperation. Eve unbuttoned her own blouse, popping a couple of buttons along the way, while I unbelted her pants and pushed them down toward her ankles. A minute later I had her pressed up against the front door while I buried myself inside her.
I grunted while Eve moaned, pulling hard on my hair as I nailed her to the door with her legs wrapped around my waist. “Oh god, Jake. Harder…” she moaned. It was like she wanted me to brand her. As if how hard I was pumping into her was somehow comparable to how much need I had for her.
“Harder…” she moaned again.
The door wasn’t going to cut it. I couldn’t get the kind of leverage we needed. I spun us around and lowered her back onto the rug, driving deeper inside her. Her head fell back and her eyes rolled into her head. We both seemed to like the new angle.
I placed my elbows above her shoulders to keep from driving her across the floor and giving her rug burn. Eve pressed her heels into my bare ass, begging me to continue.
By the time she was screaming my name, her hair was a mess and I was sweaty and breathless. I collapsed on top of her, our muscles twitching and my cock spasming inside her while her body continued to randomly pulse around mine. These emotion-fueled sessions were more intense and exhausting than anything I’d ever done.
She was panting and her eyes were closed as I kissed up and down her neck. “I love you Eve.”
She ruffled my hair and smiled with her eyes still closed. “Tell me she ever loved you like I do.”
It was what I’d said to her about Sebastian. “No Eve. No one will ever love me like you.”
Chapter 29
~Eve~
It was well after midnight. The moonlight was streaming in through the open blinds and bathing our bedroom in a blue-white glow. It threw long shadows across the floor and bed, and cast Jake’s sleeping face in darkness. His bare chest and arms were exposed but the red blanket covered the rest of his body.
Maybe he was sexy as hell, or maybe it was just because he was Jake and I was Eve, but I loved his body. I always had. Young and lean Jake was every bit as handsome and sexy to me as grown-up and strong Jake. I loved running my hands over the hard lines of his muscles and feeling the deceptive softness of his skin beneath my fingers.
When I couldn’t sleep, I always sat up and studied him. Like everything else concerning my husband, he was an example of extremes. He was either twisted and tortured as nightmares I couldn’t imagine ruined his sleep, or more peaceful and relaxed than I’d ever seen him.
He didn’t know it, but if I saw him having a nightmare I always woke him up. Sometimes I would pretend it was me, that I had just woken up from a nightmare and needed him to hold me. Other times I would simply nestle into the side of him and gently shake him until the nightmare subsided.
Tonight, miraculously, he was peaceful. So I was watching him sleep, wishing I felt even half as relaxed as he did.
I was frustrated.
No, fuck that. I was pissed. I had a barely contained anger burning inside me and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. There was what I wanted to do, and what I knew I should do.
Jake wanted me to let the Ashley incident go, suffer through Monday, and let her ride off into the sunset—hopefully to never be heard from again.
But it didn’t feel like enough. What Jake described to me tonight was unacceptable. One screwed up abuser in his life was too many, but two…
I didn’t just want Ashley to leave, I wanted to destroy her.
And so there I was, sitting up in the middle of the night trying to make sense of my feelings. I thought about calling Jennie. I knew she’d talk to me, but I was too afraid she’d talk me down off the crazy ledge.
I liked it on the crazy ledge and I had no intentions of quietly climbing back down.
I’d hoped my initial threat would have worked, but clearly Miss Sweet and Delicate either didn’t see me as a truly terrifying threat, or I was barking up the wrong tree.
I had a very good feeling I needed a new tree. I needed to find what made her tick and hit her where it hurt.
I unplugged my phone from the nightstand and slid out of our room. Inside my library I cuddled up on the couch and texted Greg.
A minute later my phone rang.
“Did I wake you?”
Greg snorted, “Do I sound asleep?”
No, actually he sounded wide awake. “Thanks for calling.”
“No problem. Why are you awake?”
“I need to know more about Pita. I need to know what makes her tick.”
“He told you my nickname? Do you like it?” he sounded like a giddy kid sharing a new secret.
“It’s perfect. I’m a little sad I didn’t think of it myself, actually. It’s so much more concise than mine.”
“But, yours is very accurate.”
We were both quiet for a minute. “I tried, Greg. I really did.”
“You tried harder than you needed to, in my opinion. What did she do?”
I debated how much to divulge. On the one hand, Greg was Jake’s best friend. They told each other most things and I certainly didn’t feel the need to keep things from him. But on the other hand, this was very personal and I wasn’t sure Greg needed to know the particulars. I decided to play things close to the vest. Less information was usually better in my experience. “I gave her a line and she crossed it today.”
There was grumble on the other end of the line. “That explains my afternoon. She was hell on wheels and Jake barely said two words when he left.”
“I want to hurt her.”
“I don’t blame you.” his voice was eerily low. I got the impression Greg was almost as mad as I was. I wondered if Jake knew how much he was loved—really loved—by the people in his life.
“And I need to make sure she gets the message loud and clear this time. There is no place for her here.”
“Fuck yeah. Well, let me tell you what I know…”
Greg and I talked for the next thirty minutes. He clued me in on everything he knew about Ashley from the professional end: who her mentors were, where she attended school, what her plans were for the future.
One thing was clear. Ashley was more like Jake Sr. than I ever realized. Her red-headed beautiful exterior was window dressing on a monstrosity hiding inside. She was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. She was evil.
And like all evil people, she thought she was in control. She thought she was playing her part perfectly, pulling the strings and watching the puppets dance.