The smell circulated around her, clouding the steamy restroom, and still her mind pulled at a reason why the words on the bottle were so important. “Cherry blossoms and almond extract…”
Had someone said something about her soap? She felt like they had. Was it the same person who drugged her? Had she been drugged? Fuck, Evelyn wished she could remember.
The soap trailed down her back while she washed out her shampoo. The feel of Brandon caressing her brought a moan. From what she could remember, he had been amazing. She was definitely going to have to break her rules and “make love” to him again. That was just an offer too good for her to pass up.
* * * *
Brandon paced the living room nervously. “Drugged? Are you serious, Stephen? You couldn’t have come up with something other than that? And what the hell were you writing down?”
“Bill’s information, that’s what the hell I was writing down. It wouldn’t hurt to make sure the guy’s not a wanted serial killer or rapist,” Stephen snapped.
“She seems a lot better, don’t you think?” Brandon stopped long enough to look over at Stephen lounging on the couch.
“Yeah, she seems happy,” Stephen whispered. “So do you think it worked?”
Brandon gave up pacing to go sit down on the couch, too. “I don’t know, we’ll have to see. She’s better than I thought she was going be. I’m not sure I like it so much. Evelyn’s memories are gone, but I’m not a miracle worker. She should be feeling
something
.”
The water from the shower turned off, and the guys looked at each other. With Brandon sensitive to sound he could hear almost all of her movement from the next room. He didn’t doubt Stephen could hear the same thing.
“So what now,” Stephen asked wearily.
“Now we wait until she kicks us out, or you’re free to leave now if you want. I’ll stay with her as long as she allows it. She’s probably hungry. You feel like eating?” Brandon asked. Even though he didn’t eat much human food, he still could enjoy some of it. It might not be very appetizing, but it was more habit than anything.
“I’m fucking starving. I feel like steak. What do you think?” Stephen looked toward him, but before Brandon could answer, footsteps against the carpet grabbed his attention.
“Mmm, that sounds great. I’m starving too. How about we all go to lunch?” Evelyn said, walking in and drying her hair with a towel.
“You do owe me so I guess we’ll call this even.” Brandon said, laughing.
“That’s right, I remember.” Evelyn laughed. “I believe I rejected you, repeatedly if I’m not mistaken.”
“You’re absolutely right. You did.” Brandon looked at how beautiful she appeared without any makeup. Not very many women could look just as good with or without, but she could. Her skin was flawless. Everything about her made him want to gravitate toward her, if not to touch her, then to at least be closer to her presence.
Evelyn reached for her black flip-flops by the front door. Watching her slide them on, he noticed her pause. She stood rooted to the floor, her mouth slightly parted. Brandon could feel panic start to take over while he waited for her to do or say something.
“What’s wrong,” Stephen asked, walking up to her. Concern was etched on his face.
The way she shook her head back and forth gave him the impression that she was confused. “I don’t know. The smell of my soap and the words on my bottle, they keep playing over and over in my mind. I think someone mentioned it. Maybe they liked it. I’m not sure. I can’t remember. I just keep hearing cherry blossoms and almond extract, repeatedly. The words want to follow, but they won’t come.”
Brandon cleared his throat. “So whose car? I’d say mine, but I don’t see how three of us are going to fit in a two-seater. What are you driving, Stephen?”
“Cruiser. My car’s at the house,” he said quietly.
“My car it is.” Evelyn fished her keys out from her purse. “Maybe I shouldn’t drive. Here, Stephen, you drive.” Evelyn handed her keys over. “Brandon can sit in the back for trying to sidetrack me, and he can kindly explain why in the world he tried to distract me from not remembering about the soap.”
Brandon opened his mouth and then closed it. “Fuck, all right. I said the information about the soap. Once I tell you this, you will remember.” Brandon kept eye contact with her while he approached.
“Think back to when we were on our way home from the bar. You told me to tell you something that I wouldn’t know. I told you…” Brandon looked over at Stephen, who was paying extra attention. “I told you,” he started over, “that you weren’t wearing any panties, that your soap was cherry blossoms with almond extract, and…”
He watched as Evelyn’s face transformed. The memory Brandon had just placed back in her head was one he really didn’t want there. It was what had started her doubt in the first place. Well, shit. Not much he could do now. It was better than her searching for something that wasn’t there. But if she had recalled the soap, what else would she recall?
“You said I was ovulating. I slammed on the brakes. I remember!” She laughed. Then her smile twisted slightly. “That was really creepy, you know? You shouldn’t joke around like that. I was sure you weren’t real. Wow, I was really drunk, wasn’t I.”
“I would have thought the same thing,” Stephen said, glaring at Brandon, who just smiled back at him. “Shall we go eat?” He held the door open for Evelyn.
Giving Stephen a smile, he watched Evelyn walk out into the salty sea air. The waves could be heard crashing even from the second-floor walkway. It was windier than usual. There was definitely a chill in the air, too.
He tried not to think of the consequences for what he’d done as they headed for the parking lot. If he knew one thing it was that locking someone’s memory wasn’t always permanent. But hopefully they could reach some sort of a conclusion before things backfired in all of their faces.
Chapter 14
Two weeks had gone by without anything significant happening. Evelyn looked down at her watch and went back to surfing the Web on her office computer. In ten minutes, she’d be able to leave. Office duty had been hers this week, and she had to admit that this was the part she hated the most about her job. It was so boring, sitting here waiting for someone to come by.
Sure, they had a receptionist to lock up, but she was the one who took calls if anyone was interested to know the price of a certain property. The only time she got to leave was at lunch, whoopee big fucking deal. One hour out of the nine.
“Evelyn, don’t look so depressed,” Sarah said, walking over to her desk. Her stilettos clicked on the tile as she approached.
“Thank God. I thought I was going to go crazy. Where has everyone been today? You didn’t even call me once.” Evelyn glared playfully at her friend.
“Sorry, there was this cute little dish I had to shag before I started the weekend off. Now what’s this I hear about you hiding Stephen out in your apartment? Are you seriously talking to him again after everything he put you through?”
Evelyn felt the sharp stab of pain in her chest. That damn feeling was happening more frequently the last two days. “I’m not hiding him out. We all watch movies at night. I forgive him. He’s going through something similar at the moment. Sheila and Stephen broke it off, and he’s upset. I know how that feels.”
“Personally, I think you’ve lost your damn mind. I would have booted his ass right out of my house.” Sarah paused. “Wait, who is ‘we all’?” Her friend narrowed her eyes.
Evelyn blushed. “Brandon. He’s here until right after spring break, so he says. He’s really funny, actually.”
Sarah mouth parted. “He is such a hunk. And…so interested in you, I might add. I couldn’t even catch his attention that night in the bar. He watched you like a hawk. I don’t even think he blinked once. I thought you liked Paul, though. Whatever happened to him?”
Evelyn searched her memories. “Oh, him. He was hot, but something about him told me to back off. I don’t know. It was weird.”
“Well, he might be there tonight. You are going out for Bets, right? You’re not playing Betty Homemaker already, are you?” Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Of course I’m playing Bets.” Evelyn’s stomach twisted just thinking about going out to the bar. What if she got drugged again? Tonight, she vowed not to drink anything she didn’t watch made personally.
“Well, good, because you owe Melissa drinks. She did bet you, by the way, and you didn’t go through with it, so…”
“I know, I know,” Evelyn said, grabbing her purse. Finally, she could leave. Then it was off to get ready to go out. The guys weren’t planning to come over, so she didn’t have to worry about them. It was time to have a little fun, she hoped.
They walked toward the entrance of the building, waving at the receptionist on their way out. Another sharp pain had Evelyn paused at the door of her car. Trying to brace herself, she gripped her hand against the door handle.
“Hey, you all right?” Sarah asked, looking over at her from her car.
“Fine.” Evelyn tried to catch her breath. She opened the door, got in, and blindly searched for her keys. What in the hell was happening to her? It wasn’t heartburn. The aching feeling made her feel hollow. She wanted to ball up and cry from the immense loss she felt nestling itself inside her.
The engine roared to life and she watched Sarah drive out of the lot in her shiny red Corvette.
Lucky bitch
. Oh well, Sarah didn’t have a mortgage. She refused to buy a house when she swore that someday, she’d marry a guy who would do it for her. Her platinum blond friend was more the Barbie type. Everything about her radiated the perfect female. But Evelyn knew she wasn’t what she appeared, no matter how hard Sarah tried to hide it.
Evelyn drove out, using one hand on the steering wheel while pushing the other against the emptiness in her chest. If anything, she felt like her heart had been ripped out. One minute she was fine, happy-go-lucky, ready to play Bets, and the next she wanted to hide so she could scream and cry at the sadness she felt.
Port Aransas wasn’t that big. It took her less than five minutes to pull into the resort parking lot. Breathing deeply, Evelyn grabbed her purse and walked to the stairs. Both Stephen and Brandon were sitting in chairs in front of Brandon’s window.
When had they become friends?
They argued worse than her grandmothers did. Even when they were watching movies, they sniped at each other.
Trying to climb while she used one hand to clutch the railing and the other to clutch her chest was painful. She didn’t want to talk to them right now. The need to be alone consumed her. If she could use a good hour to cry for no apparent reason, then she’d feel better.
“Hey, beautiful, how was work,” Brandon asked, looking over at her.
Evelyn forced a smile. “Good, I’m just tired. I’m going to go in and rest.” She pushed her fist between her breasts harder at the sight of Stephen’s sympathetic smile. He probably thought she was tired, but tired was the last thing Evelyn was. The need to hold Stephen, to ask him why he had left her was like whiplash. It was enough to make her nearly stumble down the stairs. Thank God, she was clutching the railing.
“Are you okay?”
Brandon was suddenly on his feet. Evelyn hadn’t even seen him stand from the chair. She looked over and Stephen was standing too. When had that happened?
Tightness consumed Evelyn’s throat. Hysterics were moments away. What in the hell was the matter with her? The thought that she might cry in front of these two guys was enough to make her angry, which for some reason brought the tears on even more.
“I’m fine, really. I’m just tired. Maybe I’m getting sick. My chest has been hurting the last few days. I’m going to nap, and then maybe I’ll see you two later.”
The guys both looked at each other with concern. Evelyn pulled out her keys and locked herself in her apartment as fast as she could. Relief that she had made it inside made her eyes blurry with moisture. Now she could release and no one could see her. Everything would be fine, and tonight she would go and have fun.