I nodded and turned away from him, facing the other direction before any traitorous tears fell. He scooted closer, gathering me in his arms, and the dam burst anyway. I sobbed softly as he held onto me, hugging me tight. He didn’t say anything. He simply planted kisses against my hair as we rode the storm together.
That night I didn’t dream at all.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Eli was nowhere to be found the next morning when I woke up. My eyes peeled apart, crusty and swollen. I looked as if I had I had spent the whole night embroiled in some kind of epic battle.
If only anyone knew.
I dragged myself to the bathroom, where I tried to wash away some of the damage. My eyes were puffy, so I splashed my face with cold water. I was completely mortified by my little breakdown. To have one at all was bad enough. That Eli Blake had to see it…well…
That was going to be hard to live down.
I dressed in more casual wear, even though I knew Daphne would likely disapprove. The way I saw it she already disapproved of me. I wasn’t about to twist myself into a pretzel to try and impress her. It wasn’t my job to change her mind, especially since that was something she made up long before I even got there.
Granted she was right. I was a fake girlfriend that Eli was simply using to save face. Of course she would know that. He was her son. His behavior surely wouldn’t come as any surprise to her. And she wasn’t afraid to let me know that.
Likewise I wasn’t afraid to show her that I didn’t care what she thought of me. I dressed in shorts and my FFF T-shirt and headed downstairs.
I found Eli wearing some ridiculous apron as he stood over the stove, flipping pancakes as he sang. Michael stood next to him, assisting with plates for the family. Both Daphne and Beth shared a grapefruit and some coffee, unimpressed with the stacks of pancakes I knew would likely go uneaten, by them at least. A healthy portion sat in front of Wayne, which he was halfway through wolfing down without one iota of shame, barely coming out from behind his newspaper to do so.
Gabby sat at the table. She fought a smile as she listened to her brother and her crush screw around. When Michael put a stack of pancakes in front of her, complete with a whipped cream smiley face on top, I knew she wanted to let herself go and enjoy it.
A big stack of buttery, syrupy pancakes from the cute, funny boy she liked best? The temptations were everywhere. At least that plate of pancakes offered a little instant gratification, one she’d never have to risk rejection in order to indulge.
One disapproving look from her mother was all it took to sink her mood like a stone. “You’ll get sick if you eat all that,” Daphne warned. “Nobody needs to eat that much food.”
I walked up behind Wayne, placing both of my hands on the good surgeon’s shoulders. “Looks like Wayne here ate that much and then some,” I commented with a smile. “Besides which, she’s a growing girl.”
Daphne’s cool glance traveled over my body, making no secret of what she thought of my ample curves and extra weight. She turned back to Gabby. “Suit yourself,” she said, almost like a dare.
Gabby looked down at her plate. She wanted to enjoy her food, but it was clear that if she ate it, her mother would consider it a weakness, another failed test of her character.
And I could tell in an instant she wanted nothing more than to win her mother’s favor, something so effortlessly won by her half-sister, Beth. Not only did they eat the same food, they had worn similar clothes, as if they shared a wardrobe between them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did. They were almost like a mirror image of one another, despite no shared DNA.
And then there was Gabby, the odd girl out, stuck somewhere between girlhood and teenhood, her body was marching steadily towards the awkward, hellish period of puberty, and already at ten she had begun “losing” the battle.
Or so she was told anyway. Clearly no one told her that everything she was experiencing was perfectly normal. She owed perfection to no one. She got to be who she was, even other people didn’t approve. She didn’t have to be perfect. And she most certainly didn’t have to earn the love, respect and support of the people who were supposed to give all that to her anyway.
Had I really just dismissed this whole thing as some pre-teen crush on a boy? Had I learned nothing from Wyatt?
“Mornin’, baby,” Eli greeted as he joined me, carrying my plate with him. He bent for a kiss, which I returned. He then turned to Gabby. “Eat up, G. You’re definitely going to want to fill up your gas tank for everything I’ve got planned for us today.”
I could tell that brightened her mood, even though she was still miffed at her brother. “Like what?”
His smile broadened. “Carly has never been to Colorado, so I thought we’d go into town, see the sites, maybe go hiking. You’ll need your energy.”
To make his point, he dove into his own massive stack of pancakes. It still wasn’t enough to make Gabby eat. Instead she was watching me, to see what I would do. Despite the tickle in my brain that hinted, echoed even, that I too needed to impress a mother figure, I picked up my fork and I ate with every bit as much gusto as the men who sat at the table, despite the wretched looks of contempt I got from both Daphne and Beth to do so.
I stopped apologizing for myself or making excuses for myself a long time ago. I wasn’t about to start again now.
So what if Daphne Huntington didn’t like me, or find me a suitable mate for her son? I had another five months to go and I’d be out of their lives forever.
But then my eyes fell on Gabby, who had started to mirror my behavior. She ignored her mother’s sighs, or the way she’d clear her throat when Gabby lifted a forkful of pancakes to her lips. She got whipped cream all over her mouth, which made Eli and Michael laugh. Gabby laughed too.
She had allies now. She wasn’t alone. That was the only thing that mattered to me.
Daphne couldn’t resist making another snide comment as we were getting ready to head out for the fun-filled day Eli had planned. “You just spent the whole month with your brother,” she said to Gabby. “Beth and I have an appointment with a new trainer today. Perhaps you should stay here and join us.” She glanced at the way Gabby’s clothes clung to her body, hugging every awkward new curve. “Undo some of that damage your Eli inflicted on you in California.”
My palm itched. I often wanted to smack the shit out of Eli, but nothing compared to how I felt about Daphne in that moment. And of course, me being me… “The body is more resilient to damage than the soul.”
Her eyes met mine. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Eli came up behind me, taking my elbow in his hand as he extricated me from the conversation. “She just means that after a month in the city, we all need to center ourselves by communing with Mother Nature.” He gave me a pointed look. “Right, honey?”
My eyes narrowed. “Of course,” I murmured. “You’re always right, dear.”
We then got the hell out of that cabin before I had a meltdown of Rhonda-like proportions.
I wanted to take my frustration out on him the second we stepped off the porch, but he kept the conversation pointed in a very clear direction. This wasn’t about us. It wasn’t about Daphne. It was about Gabby.
I could hardly argue with that. We piled into one of Wayne’s many cars, in this case, a vintage, restored 1958 step-side truck painted fire engine red, to head into Fairplay. Just as we were about to leave, Michael trotted up to the truck. “Got room for one more?”
“I thought you were going fishing with Wayne,” Eli said. Michael shrugged.
“The fish will be there tomorrow. Besides, I need to get a gift for Beth’s birthday.”
I felt Gabby’s spirit deflate. I knew she wanted desperately to spend some quality time with Michael, but there was a definite price to be paid.
Eli remained blissfully oblivious. “Okay. But you’ll have to ride in the back.”
Michael offered a winning smile. “No problem.”
Gabby perked u
p. “Can I ride in the back too?”
“Nah,” Eli decided. “I need to keep you up here.” She pouted instantly. His eyes met hers. “It’s my job to keep you safe, G.”
His motives were completely sincere, but what he was really doing was taking yet another choice away from her. I could almost hear her brain ticking away, scrambling for how she could get control again. I put my arm around her and gave her a smile. “I tell you what. Since this is your town, how about you pick where we go first?”
“Can I?” she asked, and I looked at Eli. He sent me a silent questioning glance, which I answered with a nod.
“Of course,” he finally agreed. “From this day henceforth, it will be known as the Day of Gabby.”
Gabby giggled. She liked the sound of that. She had all her favorite people in one place, and complete control over how we spent the day.
She started by getting that pesky birthday gift thing out of the way. The second we got into town, she directed us towards one of Beth’s favorite stores, so that she could work as Michael’s own private shopper as they closely toiled together over gift choices.
Eli and I hung back. “So that’s the guy, huh?” he asked.
“That’s the guy,” I confirmed.
“You don’t think…,” he started, but couldn’t complete the thought.
I shook my head. “He’s a good kid,” I said as I watched him treat Gabby with all the brotherly affection as Eli himself. He likely knew the kind of torch that she carried, and handled her with kid gloves as a result. He was going to make the crush as painless as he could. “How he ended up with Beth is anyone’s guess.”
Eli chuckled. “Right?” He sighed as he picked up a knickknack. “Eh, it’s not really her fault. She was only two when Mom and Wayne got married. Her mother had no interest in raising her, so Mom jumped in. Since I was turning out to be a massive disappointment, she turned Beth into her pet project.”
I did the math in my head. He would have only been about fourteen when his mother remarried. “Why were you a massive disappointment?”
“Too much like dear old dad. He was a frustrated musician too, so he encouraged me the minute I decided I wanted to play. Mom thought I should worry about getting a degree, something a little more stable. But I saw what settling did to Dad. I preferred the idea of being a rock star. Asleep all day. Performing all night. Lots of pretty girls to throw their underwear at me,” he added as he leaned forward with a deepening smirk. I rolled my eyes, which made him laugh. “But Mother values security. When Dad got laid off, she took a job working at Wayne’s office. Six months later she was divorced. Six weeks after that, she moved us into the big fancy house of her new husband.”
I found myself reaching for his hand, almost unconsciously. We did that kind of thing in public all the time. It was almost second nature to us now. Whether we were friends, lovers, boyfriend and girlfriend or some other hybrid/mutation in between, we were a team. “I’m sorry, Eli.”
He shrugged. The pain had subsided over the years. It was just a “thing” now, something that happened in his past, but he was as emotionally detached from it as he could be, like it happened to someone else.
I knew a little about that kind of thing.
“She can’t begrudge your path now,” I pointed out. “You’ve clearly turned yourself into a success.” I knew that he out-earned even the good doctor, and it was clear that kind of thing meant something to his mom. Financial success was concrete success, one that could be measured in numbers and figures and invited no argument.
A light bulb went off as I realized maybe that was what had driven him to get that out of the way first, just to have permission to do what he wanted to do later.
As much as it physically pained me to do so, I said, “I may not agree with how you did it, Eli, but there’s no question you did something pretty incredible, crafting a career out of thin air like you did.”
He gasped, holding a hand to his chest in feigned shock. “Is OGWO really going to give me credit for something?”
I laughed. “I said I didn’t agree with how you did it,” I reiterated. “But there’s no question that you did do something amazing. People dream of the life you live. You made it a reality.”
The smirk faded into a genuine smile. “Not yet. I’ve only scratched the surface of what I want to do.”
“You’ll make it happen,” I said softly. I knew it was true. Eli Blake could have anything he wanted simply because he had the balls to go after it and the audacity to believe that he deserved to get it.
“Me?” he echoed. “Look at you. Look at what you guys are doing with FFF, and what you’re doing with Tempestuous. You’re changing the conversation, just like you wanted. You are doing everything you set out to do.”
It was my turn to smirk. “I couldn’t have done it without your blood money.”
He shrugged. “Maybe that’s how it’s meant to work. I told a lie. You rewrote it into truth.” His eyes met mine. “We make a pretty good team.”
He bent for a kiss. Again it was something we did all the time for show, though I wasn’t entirely sure who we were supposed to impress at this point. Gabby knew the truth. Michael couldn’t care less. And with only about 700 souls, the town of Fairplay wasn’t exactly some bustling metropolis that would end up on Miles O’Rourke’s radar. For a town that had finally paved the majority of its streets in 2005, these people really didn’t care who the hell Eli Blake was.
It was rather refreshing. It allowed us all to let our hair down and live like normal people. We headed into a store that specialized in Native American jewelry, pottery and cutlery. Gabby steered Michael away from the jewelry he wanted to buy, focusing his attention instead on a lovely soapstone box that the sales clerk had promised would provide a calming energy to the recipient. Given his girlfriend was very high maintenance Michael couldn’t whip out his wallet fast enough.
Not to be outdone, Eli made a purchase himself. He found a drop necklace that featured a cabochon amber pendant hanging from a sterling silver chain. It was a simple design for the striking stone. “It’s said that amber turns negative energy into positive energy,” the clerk told Eli, which was enough for him to whip out his wallet as well. He bought two, one for me and one for Gabby.
“For my two favorite girls,” he said as he affixed both necklaces in place. His fingers lingered on the back of my neck, which sent a chill all over my body. Our eyes met briefly but I glanced away. He’d seen enough already.
Our morning shopping excursion left us all a little peckish. We stopped by a funky café to grab some sandwiches to go, before heading down to a local park that featured its own disk golf course. I had to laugh. “Do you play?” he asked.
I nodded. “I haven’t played since Texas, though. Clem and I have it on the list of things to do, but we just haven’t got around to it yet.”
“Oh, this is happening,” he said as he pulled a bag from the back of the truck, filled with what turned out to be his and Gabby’s own equipment. “You are going down, Miss Reynolds.”
Again I laughed. “Just don’t tackle me again and we should be fine.”
He grabbed me close with a playful growl. “No promises,” he said before booping my nose.
The trash talk continued through lunch. I watched Gabby closely, who watched Michael even closer, to gauge how much to eat. I was sure she was starving by then, given she didn’t eat that much at breakfast thanks to her mother. She had elected for a vegetarian sandwich like me, while the guys ate huge sandwiches with fistfuls of meat. Still, she watched how much Michael ate and ate about half of that.
I sighed. I knew this was probably training from her mother and her sister.
In protest I finished my whole sandwich.
I also suggested that we should play girls against boys. She needed a win in her favor as far as Michael was concerned, one that didn’t depend on him to get it. At first she pouted a bit that she couldn’t be on his team, but when it became crystal clear that
she had played this game—a lot—with her brother, I knew she’d get a lot more out of beating him than playing with him.
So we played to win. She followed my lead as I goaded both boys, which they found amusing as hell, even though they were losing. Eli started to make noises to distract us as we lined up our shots, but apparently this was something that Gabby was used to. She blocked it all out to focus, and ended up playing better as a result.
I, however, called him out on it. “Courtesy!” I chastised.
“All’s fair in love and disc golf, babe,” he grinned. “Maybe we should make a new wager.”
My eyebrow arched. “Replacing the old one?”
His voice was soft. “Who says they’re not one in the same?”
A shudder ran through me. It was his kid-friendly way of putting a tussle in the sheets back on the table. “And if I win?”
He chuckled. “I think you know what will happen if you win. Multiple times,” he added, a not-so-subtle reference to the epic fest of orgasms he had given me before. That teasing smile only confirmed it. Just looking at that sensual mouth made my body came alive at the memory, much to my chagrin. I made my shot anyway.
When I reached him, he said low enough for me to hear, “Looks like somebody wants it.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I muttered as we watched Gabby and Michael interact. “She needs this win. Every girl needs to know that she can win without the help of her man. And every man needs to know it too.”
He linked his fingers with mine. Our eyes met, but neither of us said anything.
To his credit, he didn’t throw the game. He made it every bit as challenging for her as she needed it to be. Neither of the guys went easy on us, which only made us go even harder. Eli amended the wager to include Michael and Gabby, by making the bet non-sexual. The winner got to pick that night’s entertainment. Since we won by three strokes, Gabby decided that she wanted to go camping for real this time, not just some tent erected in Eli’s media room.
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