Evangeline

Gulping, I throw my shirt back on and answer the call. Dad's face appears on the screen, but I keep my phone's camera blocked with my thumb.


'Hey, Dad."

'Hey, Pumpkin." He smiles, but he's peering intently at his phone. 'I just woke up, thought I'd call to say hello. Is the video call not working?"

'Oh, um, just a second," I say, hustling out of my room while I try to smooth my hair down into a not-just-fucked situation. I hurry downstairs, bare feet quiet on the floor. It seems wisest to put as much distance between Leonard and me as possible.


Finally, I'm in the living room. I settle onto the edge of the couch, trying to look relaxed even though I'm anything but. I scrub a hand over my face. I'm not sure what evidence could be left behind, but I'm not taking any chances. Then, with a deep breath, I remove my thumb from the phone camera.

'There you are," Dad says.


'Sorry, technical difficulties." I give him what I hope is a sheepish and not a guilty grin.

'No worries. How are things going? It's been a few days. Are you and Leonard settling in okay?"

'Um, yeah," I say, keeping my voice bright. 'He's a cool guy."

I literally just had him inside of me, and I'm calling him 'cool?" Please don't blush, please don't blush.

'I thought you two would get along. And he said Carter is staying for a few days, too. They aren't getting in your way or anything?"

'Not at all. They're perfect gentlemen." When they aren't dirty-talking with their filthy, skilled mouths.

Leonard appears in the hallway, stalking toward me like he wants to say something. I warn him off with a subtle shake of my head. This is hard enough as it is, trying to keep what we did from my dad.

A subject change with Dad is needed. 'Tell me about Japan!" I say. 'How's the interpretation work going?"

'Oh, it's good. About the same as usual. I'm mostly here for the food. They could pay me in Japanese food and I'd still do the job."

That's a constant joke of his and I've heard it about five hundred times. I laugh anyway.

Leonard rolls his eyes and signals at me with his hands. I don't know what he's trying to say and I honestly don't care right now. Although I do glance down to make sure my shirt is on correctly. It's inside out, but my dad shouldn't be able to tell.

'I'm still trying to come home early," Dad continues, 'because as much as I like the food here, I hate the thought of leaving you in California alone."

'Well, I'm not alone," I remind him.

'True, true. But I'd still like to get back. If you go off and get another job and leave home before we have a chance to really bond again, I'm going to be disappointed."

'I could just stay here forever," I joke. 'The pool is nice."

'You know you're welcome to," he says. 'Obviously, I want you to have a meaningful life, with work that fulfills you, and friends and maybe even a family of your own someday. But you can stay with me for as long as you want, Pumpkin."

My dad is freaking awesome. Why did I ever let my mom poison me against him? Why was I such a brat to him?

And now I'm fucking around with his stepbrother and his stepbrother's best friend?

What the hell is wrong with me?

I run my house key back and forth over the chain around my neck, thinking. Too many questions. I need answers instead. Or rather, decisions. I need to make a decision, soon.

I've had a great time with both Leonard and Carter, but I'm realizing now, more than ever, just how tenuous this whole set-up is. What am I doing? I'm going to need a plus-one to Chanel and Thomas's wedding if I'm to have even a hope of surviving it. Maya and Saige clearly thought Carter too old for me, and Leonard's the same age—and there's also that teeny tiny issue of him being my step-uncle.

This whole situation was doomed before it even started, and the fact I was ready to fuck Leonard again before presumably drifting off into a sated dreamland in his arms just confirms the truth that I don't know what's best for me.

'Evangeline?" Dad says.

'Yeah, I'm here, sorry."

He chuckles. 'You were so still, it looked like the video froze."

'Nope, just spacing out." I ask him more questions about what he's doing, and about the region of Japan where he's working right now, and everything else I can think of to distract him so that he won't focus on what's going on here at home. The way he talks about Japan makes me want to visit, or rather, it makes me want to travel. Shouldn't I go somewhere and find myself or whatever, in a big 'embrace life" memoir-style adventure?

From the corner of my eye, I see Leonard pacing back and forth. He looks agitated. I motion for him to settle the fuck down, but either he doesn't get the message, or he physically can't do it.

Finally, my dad says he has to go. 'Big day ahead," he says, 'and I'll be unavailable for most of it when we travel up north. The next few days will be spotty on communication. Take care, okay?"

'Will do, Dad."

Leonard waves his hands again. I turn to the side so I can't see him.

'Tell Leonard I said hey, and I'll text him as soon as I can, all right?"

'Okay. Love you, Dad."

'Love you too, Pumpkin."

Now Leonard is right in front of me, holding his hand out for my phone. Ugh, why?

'Hey, wait, Dad—" I say, but my phone gives three beeps. Dad ended the call.

'Are you serious?" Leonard asks, throwing his hands in the air.

'What the fuck is your problem?" I ask.

He laughs, but more in disbelief than in humor. 'Now you'd like to know?"

'Yeah, maybe instead of pacing and growling, you could enlighten me."

'Then let me enlighten you, little girl." He stares down at me, eyes flashing with heat. I'm mesmerized by his mouth—a mouth that, only moments ago, was passionately working magic against mine. He says, 'I signaled several times that I wanted to talk to Mark, and you completely ignored me."

He's so close now, I could stand on my tiptoes and lick his chin. I'm tempted to do it, too—maybe he'd lighten up a little, take that massive stick out of his ass.

'So?" He crosses his arms. Those powerful arms that were holding me down in my bed while I writhed through my orgasm. 'What do you have to say for yourself, Evangeline?"

The absolute heavy-handed nerve of this man. I stand up, but I don't lick him—I hold up my phone like it's a piece of evidence. 'I was in the middle of a conversation!"

'And I wanted to talk to my brother!"

The front door opens, and Carter steps in. Immediately sensing the tension in the room, he says, 'What's happening?"

--

Carter

Evangeline's face is flushed, and she's standing toe to toe with Leonard. He looks like he's about to haul her over his shoulder and carry her off for a spanking. His light brown eyes look darker than usual, and his jaw is tight. He's pissed, but why?

Evangeline sets her phone on the far edge of the coffee table, as if wanting to escape it.

'I wanted to tell him," Leonard says, looking from me to Evangeline.

'Tell him what?" I ask. 'Tell who what? Me? Fuck, you guys gotta catch me up."

Still glaring at Evangeline, Leonard says, 'Evangeline and I just fucked in her bedroom, and Mark called right after. And our little liar here pretended nothing happened between us."

Evangeline points at Leonard, the tip of her finger hovering over his heart. 'You told me he must never know. You said that."

Not backing down, Leonard says, 'I changed my mind because we fucked again, Evangeline. Either we're in this or we're not."

She shakes her head, steps back, looks away. 'Then we're not."

I hold my breath. The entire room goes still. It's so quiet, I can hear the hum of the refrigerator from the next room.

Evangeline's body is rigid with tension, her shoulders back, fists clenched at her sides. And her beautiful blue eyes are shiny with tears.

'What are you saying, Evangeline?" Leonard asks, his voice quiet. 'Spell it out for us, please."

'I…I guess what I'm saying is we should stop messing around," she finally says.

I take a step forward—I don't want this to be true. We were building something good. Kinky, yes. Hot, yes. But there was affection there, too…a higher meaning, I guess.

Leonard just looks at her.

'You're serious about this?" I say, stopping before I reach her.

She nods.

Damn. It kinda hurts. But I shrug. 'Whatever you want, doll."

--

Leonard

I must be fucking insane. I wanted to tell Mark. I still do, to be honest. It's always been impossible to keep secrets from him. When I was a teenager and learning how dominant I truly was, I spent a lot of time worrying that I was some kind of predator. I was filled with fear and self-loathing. Mark could tell something was wrong and he got me to open up about it. He reassured me it's a kink and as long as all parties are safe, sane, and consenting, I wasn't a predator.

Sometimes I think my brother saved my life.

And that's why I don't want to keep this from him.

But if Evangeline's putting a stop to all of it, there's no 'this" to tell him. So, whatever, I guess. I'm not going to let it bother me.

Evangeline has no idea, but she broke Carter's heart. He'll be fine—he bounces back—but I can tell he's disappointed. He had all those ideas about 'fate throwing us back together" and shit like that, but what life comes down to is sometimes things happen just because they happen. Not because they're part of some grand plan. If fate is a thing, it's fickle as fuck.

* * *

Carter

My tablet is resting on a pillow in front of me. The house is quiet. Leonard's gone tonight—there was a hiccup in Nevada at a remodel we managed, so he drove out with the plan to stay the night.

I think he was glad for the excuse to get away. Living with Evangeline and not being able to touch her? It's a special kind of torture. He can hide his feelings somewhat, but I know he's still pissed off that Evangeline doesn't want to confess everything to her dad.

I'm not pissed…I'm disappointed. I think it's too soon to call things off, and yeah, it is torture living here with her and not being able to fuck around.

I could leave, too. The big conference in San Esteban that prompted me to stay here instead of in a hotel is over by now. But the thing is, I don't want to give up hope. I told Leonard I'm staying because Mark's place is more comfortable than any hotel could be.

But really, it's because I want to be closer to little Evie.

Three days have gone by since she told us she wanted to stop fucking. I feel like we had barely started, so it shouldn't matter this much. Maybe it doesn't matter to her, but to me, it was more than fucking.

Footsteps shuffle from down the hall. The clock on my tablet tells me it's half past midnight. I wonder why Evangeline is up—she's usually an early-to-bed, early-to-rise girl. I listen for sounds of her on the stairs because she's probably going down to the kitchen for a glass of water or something.

But instead, she approaches my room.

My heart catches in my throat at the sight of her standing in my doorway. She's wearing a baggy t-shirt with a tiny pair of shorts, her legs looking especially long. Her hair is pulled into a low ponytail, blond strands lying over her shoulder.

'What's up?" I set aside the tablet.

She shrugs and shifts from foot to foot, looking nervous.

'Can't sleep?" I ask.

'Carter," she says, 'I'm sorry, I just…I don't know."

She might not know, or she might not want to say it.

But I can see it in the way she's biting her lower lip, in the way she stands in the doorway, hesitant yet eager at the same time. In the way a faint blush covers her cheeks.

I know exactly what she needs. Maybe because I need it, too.

'I can help you out." I push the sheets down and pat the side of the bed next to me. 'Come here, doll."