And Dorothy? I want to watch her burn.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
My legs shake, making the desk chair I’m sitting on swivel back and forth. “How long have we been friends?”
Cody rolls his eyes. “Feels like forever.”
“Can you be serious, please? I’m trying to open up to you here, which is what you’ve been asking me to do since you moved back—”
“Three years ago.”
I nod. “Right. Three years.”
“Longer if you count high school,” he notes.
“So I can trust you, right?”
His brows furrow and he uses his heels to push his chair forward, rolling across the ground until he’s close enough to take my hands in his.
My insides tense, not liking the touch, but I don’t pull away.
“You’re my best friend, babe.”
Swallowing, I nod. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
He gasps, throwing a hand to his heart. “I’m shocked. Let me guess, you’re fucking that Brayden guy?”
“I—what? No…” I shake my head. “Well, yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”
He snaps his fingers, chuckling. “I knew it. I knew he was twisting you up.”
“That’s not what this is about,” I say. “I need you to hack into a security system for me.”
His brows rise at that, and he crosses his leg over the opposite knee, resting his chin in his hand. “Go on.”
“There are things important to me. Things I’d rather not allow my father or my sister to be able to access anymore until I’m ready for them to.”
“Like a safe?”
“Does it matter?”
He tilts his head. “Kind of.”
I exhale, my stomach somersaulting as I push the words off my lips. “It’s a greenhouse.”
He nods. “You want me to help keep your plants safe?”
“Yeah. It’s for… they’re poppies.”
He moves forward in his chair. “And why would there be a security system for some poppies, Evie?”
“It isn’t necessarily for the poppies.” I glance up at him. “It’s for the lab.”
He blinks, then his face changes, surprise filtering through his features. “You’re the flying monkey?”
“I’m the creator of The Flying Monkey,” I correct.
He whistles, shaking his head. “Damn. I should have known. Okay… tell me everything about it, and then I’ll get to work.”
33
EVELINE
I’ve just gotten back to the cottage and now I’m waiting on Brayden to get here. I realized that I didn’t have his number, which is insane considering his dick has spent numerous hours inside of me, so I got it from Zeke and texted, asking him to stop by.
It feels weird having what I guess you would consider guests. Nessa gifted me this cottage right before she passed, and when my dad realized we needed a space to grow, he built the underground greenhouse, stock full of security and insulation so that even thermal cameras wouldn’t pick it up.
I can’t help wondering why the hell he went through the trouble just to be so willing to give it all up in the end.
For years it was just the two of us. Now there’s Brayden, Dorothy and Cody to add to the list of people in the know. I refuse to sit and wait around for him to invite the Cantanellis too.
There’s a knock, and although I’m sure it’s Brayden, I grip my Desert Eagle anyway, swinging open the door and aiming. I’m anxious, and it’s making me feel a little manic.
Brayden grins, stepping through the doorway, his chest brushing against the barrel. “Is this your way of asking me to fuck you with it again?”
I drop the gun and move to the side, closing the door behind him.
“Are you ever not annoying?” I snap.
He smirks, brushing his lips across mine. “Nice to see you too.”
I press my hands against his chest, my fingers rubbing the leather of his jacket. “Is this real leather?”
“Uhh… yeah, why?”
Yuck. I scrunch my nose, looking up at him. “Doesn’t matter. Listen, can I trust you?”
His Adam’s apple bobs. “I don’t know, sweetheart, can I trust you?”
I rub my tongue against the back of my teeth before biting my lip. He steps in close, running his hand through my hair and pulling me to him. I breathe in deep, enjoying the way he brings me comfort and hating myself for needing it.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
Nerves race through me, making my palms sweat. It’s a risk to lay it all on the line for him. But I want to tell him everything, and in order to do that I need to make sure he feels for me the way I feel for him. I’m terrified he won’t. After all, he’s the one who said he didn’t believe in romance.
My heart stutters.
I pull him into me and press my lips to his before shoving him away.
His brows rise and he grins again, those dimples on full display. “So you don’t want to fuck?”
“I don’t want to fuck. I mean, I do, obviously, but not right now.”
That’s not what this is about. We always get distracted by the physical and right now, when my mind is so twisted, feeling like a captive with no way out, I need his attention, not his touch.
“I love you,” I blurt.
The words are surprisingly easy to say, and I hold my breath waiting for his response.
His body locks up tight, every single one of his muscles tensing as he stares at me blankly.
I laugh, running a hand through my hair. “I know, that’s crazy, right? I didn’t mean for it to happen. I don’t even know when the hell it did happen, but I just know it’s there and it’s big. Like, can’t breathe when you’re around kind of big. And it’s…” I pause, throwing my hands up in frustration. “Fucking annoying. The same way everything always annoys me with you. And it’s stupid. Because I don’t know little things like your favorite color, or how you did in school, or your middle name. And to be honest, I really don’t care.”
I start pacing because with every word I vomit out his body coils tighter. “But it’s there. And it fucking sucks, and I hate myself for loving you.”
He takes a step closer. I stop moving, dropping my hands to my sides.
“But I hate the thought of not having you more.”
The silence rings louder than any noise ever has, my words strewn out and tattered in the space between us. The urge to take it all back is strong, but I don’t. “All this time, and I couldn’t pay you to shut up, and now you choose to go quiet?” I complain.
The corner of his mouth lifts, and then he moves.
He’s on me quick, grabbing the back of my head and stealing my breath for himself, his lips and tongue claiming, with a kiss that tops every other kiss in existence. My heart skips, my stomach flips, and for the first time in my life I feel just like any other girl.
A girl who finally has someone to love her back.
He breaks away from my mouth and presses his lips to my ear, his hands gripping my face tightly. “My favorite color is blue.” He trails a light smattering of kisses along my jaw and down my neck.