Fate Interrupted 3 (17 page)

Chapter
Thirty-Four

Evy sat up
straighter on the couch, stunned and unnerved.
“With Jon?”

Tasha replied
with a sheepish not in the dim light. “It was like time came to a stop and we were
the only two people on the entire planet.” She paused, squishing her lips into
the side of her face.
“Until Pam started snoring anyway.”

Evy placed a
hand over her beating heart and let her eyes drift across the apartment. “I
don’t know what to say.”

Tasha lowered
her voice. “We were
sexting
all day.”

“What! Are you
serious?”

She nodded
again, this time faster. “He made me cum three times.”

Evy kicked the
blanket off, suddenly feeling a little hot under the collar.
“Too
much info, Tasha.”

“What do I do,
Evy? I really like him.”

“So
does Pam, who, by the way, is a mixed martial artist.”

Tasha inhaled
sharply. “No!”

Evy drank from a
warm bottle of water on the coffee table.

“That’s just my
luck.” Tasha chewed on a pinkie for a few seconds, lost in thought. “So what
should I do?”

Evy screwed the
top back on the water. “I don’t know. You know she works at Sugars part-time
and the last thing we need around there is anymore drama.”

Tasha’s
shoulders slumped. “I know, but…”

“And Jon’s a
player,
Tash
! You also know he just got a blowjob
from some skanky stripper on that boat.”

“Oh
no, not a blowjob!”
She put the back of her hand against her forehead,
feigning her distress. “How shall I ever go on?” She dropped her hand and let
her face go blank. “Evy, I let a three hundred pound kid with pimples put his tiny
little wiener inside of me on multiple occasions.”

Evy raised a
palm to stop her from going further.

“We’ve all made
mistakes but that’s how we get better.” She tilted her head to one side. “And
Jon is better.”

Tasha’s words
struck a chord deep down inside Evy. She opened her mouth to belie Tasha’s case
but the words hitched on the tip of her tongue.

Tasha’s cell
phone vibrated and she pulled it out from beneath her.

Evy’s forehead
crinkled. “Where did you have that?”

“In
the cushion.”
Her face brightened in the screen’s glow. “Oh. My.
God.”

“What?” Evy
asked, knowing it had to be something about Dean. He was probably with Jon
right now and wanted to see her.

“It’s Jon!”

Evy’s heart beat
faster in her chest. Her palms began to sweat.

“He wants to
hook up!”

Evy’s heart
crumbled into a sinkhole.

“What should I
tell him?”

She pushed off
the couch and slapped her bare feet into the kitchen. “How should I know?”

“He says we
can’t go to his place because Pam could show up at any minute. And…” Tasha
trailed off, examining the crumpled blanket and pillow on the couch.

“Don’t worry, I’m
leaving,” Evy said, tying her hair back into a ponytail.

“Where are you
going?
Dean’s?”

“I’ve got some
work to do at the shop.”

Tasha checked
her phone.
“At this time of night?”

“This is what
time the donut guys get started every day.”

“Yeah, but you
and Brooke always sleep until…”

“If they can do
it, so can I.”

Tasha smiled
warmly as it dawned on her. “I remember that one time when you didn’t make the
cheerleading squad. You baked ten dozen of those peanut butter cookies with the
Hershey’s Kiss in the middle.”

Evy threw on her
black Nikes with a hot pink swoosh and grabbed her purse and keys. “Have fun,” she
said, opening the front door. She stopped and turned in the doorway. “And you
better wash those sheets!”

“I will!” Tasha
sang out, her thumbs rapidly hammering at the cell’s screen. “I’ll tell you all
about it later.”

“I’ll be waiting
with baited breath,” Evy said, shutting the door and dragging her feet down the
brightly lit hallway.

Chapter
Thirty-Five

A cool breeze
rolled in off the lake and ran its fingers through Dean’s hair, feeling good
against his face. He glanced back at the bar they had just left. “Okay, remind
me to never go in there again.”

Jon snorted.
“No doubt.
That place was nerd-soup.”

“Like a hipster
convention in there,” Dean said, inspecting the bars across the street for any
action. There were a few people milling about outside, smoking and chatting,
but overall it was quiet. Even for a Monday night. “But Becky was looking
good.”

Jon shot him a
heavy frown. “I’m telling you, man, the last thing you want to do is mix it up
with that Becky girl again. She’s hot but she knows everyone in this town and
her mouth is big enough to drive a truck through. Evy would find out for sure.”

“Who cares,” he
spit back, gazing down the street to where he and Evy had their first kiss. He
could still see the heated explosions from that night behind his eyes; still
taste her on his lips. He looked away and nodded across the street. “You
wanna
check out that new place?”

Jon kept tapping
at his cell and didn’t look up. “I think I’m going to call it a night, player.”
He let out a fake yawn. “I’m beat.”

Dean took
another quick look around the usually busy downtown street and let out a tired
sigh. “This place is a ghost town tonight anyway.”

“You mind
catching a cab home?”

He snapped his
head around to Jon.
“A cab?
Why can’t you just drop me
off? It’s right on your way.”

“I’m not going
that way.”

“Which
way
are you going?”

Jon jerked his
chin toward the lake.

“Evy’s
place?”

Jon held up his
phone for Dean to see the screen.
“Just got a booty-text from
Tasha.
It’s on tonight.”

Dean folded his
brow. “I thought Evy was staying there. What’re you going to try and have a
threesome with her next?”

“She just left.”

Dean checked his
silver watch.
“To where?”

Jon pocketed the
phone. “Not sure, but I’m out.” He held up a hand and waited for Dean to take
it.

Dean flattened
his lips and, reluctantly, clapped hands with Jon, pulling him close. “Some
wingman,” he said into his ear.

Jon shot a hand
in the air as a white taxi approached. It pulled over and stopped in front of a
fire hydrant. Jon opened the back door and held it. “I’ll just make sure you
don’t wander off.”

Dean followed
his gaze back to
Kenadee’s
, where Becky waved at him
from the front window. She held the international sign for a phone to her ear
and grinned with that look in her eyes. Dean hesitated and then got in. “What
about Pam?”

Jon shut the
door and smiled as the cab pulled away.

Chapter
Thirty-Six

Evy lightly
bobbed her head to the latest Katy Perry tune pouring from Pandora on her cell
phone as she littered the stainless steel table with mixing bowls, measuring
cups and a large whisk. She set her hands on her hips and surveyed the yellow
kitchen, just long enough to take some pleasure in the success of her kid sister’s
pride and joy. After the press Sugars’ received during Clay’s trial, Evy
thought nothing could go wrong ever again. They were all making money, good
money, and even Shaun’s homemade brew had taken off with some of the bars
around town. In the end, the news reports had not only raised brand awareness
for Sugars, but had made people
feel
sorry for them as
well. When the facts hit the fan, it left a sour taste in the townsfolk’s
mouths and many felt it was their duty to take care of one of their own. That
was just one of the things she loved about this town.

Evy set a stack
of large cupcake tins down and began plunking tulip baking cups into each
rounded depression, not hearing the distant clap of thunder or the insistent knock
at the front door. She loved this town and her job but, suddenly, a small part
of her just wanted to go back home to Des Moines. Run away from it all and
never come back. She felt horrible for not returning her dad’s call but she
just didn’t have the energy to pretend everything was okay. Acting like she was
on cloud nine, with her dream wedding to her dream man right around the
corner,
was an Oscar-worthy performance beyond her means.
She smirked. Her father was probably up right now, watching some horror movie
about stripper zombies or giant crocs. She glanced at her phone and actually
considered it, wanting to talk to him now more than ever. Her fingers found the
phone. He would know what to do. He always did. A forlorn sigh squeezed out
from between her lips and she set the cell back on the table. These cupcakes
weren’t going to bake themselves. If she got everything done now, she could try
to get some sleep while Brooke and Tasha held down the fort later on today.

Evy slipped into
the walk-in cooler and piled eggs, butter and milk into her arms, stopping for
a few seconds to search for more blueberries. Megan flickered through her restless
mind, naked and holding a baby with Dean’s eyes. Evy blinked the thought away
and stayed focused on the
task at hand
. She checked a
milk crate filled with odds and ends. Sooner or later, she would have to call
her dad back. It was either that or let her parents make the five and a half
hour drive from Des Moines for a wedding that wasn’t going to happen. It would
buy her more time if she put it off, which is exactly what she wanted to do, but
she would never do that to them. She preferred to do it over the phone, but not
today.
Or tomorrow.
She gave up on the blueberries and
nearly dropped the eggs. When she came back out she screamed and dropped
everything to the floor with a wet splat. Her wide eyes stared straight ahead. “What
are you doing here?” she gasped, holding her heart inside her chest with both
hands.

“Do you always
leave the backdoor unlocked?” Dean asked, diving into her green eyes and despising
himself for being so weak. The cab had taken him all the way back to his place
and he had even gotten out of the backseat, only to climb back in with a new
destination at the last second. “Do you want to get gang raped?”

“Tasha,” Evy grumbled
under her breath, examining the mess around her feet. She looked back up, heart
fluttering in her chest. His cologne inflamed her senses and she hated him for
it. “What’re you doing here?”

“I was in the
neighborhood.”

She bent down and
started picking broken eggshells from the floor and placing them into the
carton.
“Where?”

“Jon and I went
to
Kenadee’s
.” He kneeled down and helped her with
the eggs, brushing his fingers against hers and sending sparks flying.

“Well, that
didn’t take long to get back in the swing of things.”

Dean puckered
his brow. “Where’s your ring?”

Her eyes darted to
the tan line around her finger. “At home,” she lied, standing up and dropping
the soggy carton into a silver trashcan.

He grabbed the
gallon of milk that had burst upon impact and threw it away, careful to avoid
the mess on the floor. “Well, that didn’t take long to get rid of.”

She turned off
the music on her phone, plunging them into a tension filled silence. “How’d you
know I was here?”

A heated breath
seeped from his lips. “Listen, I need you to know that Megan just barged into
my place without knocking. I thought she was you!”

Evy sharpened
her gaze.
“Oh yeah?
Coming back to
beg for your forgiveness I suppose?”

“Why did you
come back?”

“Because
we agreed to never part ways angry.
Remember?”

He nodded, unable
to break her spell. “I just…”

“You what,
Dean?” she asked, going to the sink and washing her hands.

“I just want you
to know that it wasn’t what you think. I know how it looked.”

She dried her
hands on a black towel that matched her apron.
“And what
about her boobs hanging out?
Was that how it looked?”

“You know firsthand
that she’s crazy as hell! I tried to…” He exhaled a tired breath. “Look, I’m
not going to break my neck trying to convince you of my innocence. You’ll just
find something else to feed your doubts two seconds later anyway.”

“Are you saying
I’m jealous? Because the last time I checked, I just caught you with your
ex-wife
!”

His temper
flared. “You didn’t
catch
me doing
anything because I wasn’t…”

“Her boobs were
out, Dean! And you were holding her!”

“I was trying to
stop her!” Dean inhaled a steadying breath and softened his tone. “Listen, I
love you and don’t want to be with anyone else and if you don’t know that by
now, you never will.”

She stared at
him without speaking.

“That guy in the
past you keep digging up is dead,” he said, holding his hands out. “This is me
now. Here with you.”

Evy remained
unmoved. Raindrops began pattering the rooftop.

Dean dropped his
hands and chuckled. “That’s all I got. You want better and that’s what you
deserve.” When she still didn’t respond, he fanned a hand through the air at
her and turned for the hallway leading to the backdoor. His blood boiled with
each step he took. He glanced into the office and saw the purse he had bought
her for her birthday, sending another dagger through his heart. After
everything they had been through, she was just going to let him walk out that
door and it royally pissed him off. Despite that, he bit his tongue, wanting to
tell her off but pushing on the backdoor with both hands instead. The door
burst open into the dark alleyway behind Sugars. The smell of rain hit him in
the face, the ground glistening from a popup shower.

“You’ll never
get rid of her!”

He stopped just
outside the door, raindrops pelting him on the head. Dean almost kept going
past the rows of commercial garbage cans and cigarette butts, but turned
instead. “That’s not true!”

“She’ll never
let you go, Dean, and I don’t have the energy to keep fighting. I want normal
and
this
is not normal!”

Dean came back
inside so he could see her face. The door slowly swung shut behind him, muffling
the distant sound of thunder. The lights flickered as his shoes squeaked down
the hall. He passed the office and found Evy standing in the same spot in the
kitchen.

“Trust
me,
she’s never going to bother us again.”

A skeptic laugh
shot from Evy’s lips. “It’s not just her, Dean. We run into mini-
Megans
everywhere we go and it’s embarrassing.”

“Evy…”

“You think I
don’t know who those girls are? You think I don’t see the way they look at you?
Or how they hug you for a little too long?”

Rain water
dripped from his nose to the floor, his heart breaking for her. He hated
himself for putting her through this and wished he could back in time and do
things differently. Be a different person. But it was too late for that now. He
had made his bed… “Those girls are nothing now. Don’t you get that? They will
always be nothing to me!”

“Those girls are
baggage.
Your baggage!”

“Oh, and because
I don’t live in the same town as Richie and never bump into him, you’re little
miss innocent?”

“He’s one
person!”

Dean sharpened
his gaze, water hitting the floor in thick droplets.
“Stop
being afraid.”

“I’m not
afraid.”

He stepped
closer, chest undulating beneath his wet shirt. “Yes, you are.”

Evy folded her
arms across her chest. “I’m tired is what I am.
Tired of
everyone’s bullshit.”

“Let’s move then.”

She stared at
him, shell-shocked. “Move?” she laughed. “Are you crazy?”

He took her hand
and she pulled away but he tightened his grip. “Anywhere you want to go.
There’s nothing tying me to this town. My nearest relative is in Nebraska.”

Evy yanked her
hand away. “What about your job? They just made you partner last year.”

Dean took both
of her hands this time and pulled her against him, her heat flushing his front
side. “My job is boring. Why do you think I’m never there?”

She stared up
into his eyes, searching for something to hang onto. “I can’t
move
. I just moved here, and I like my
job.”

“We’ll start our
own place. I’ve got the start up cash.”

Her jaw lowered
but nothing came out. She pushed away and he pulled her tightly against him.

“We could move
to Charleston and open a
paddleboarding
shop.”

“
Paddleboarding
shop?”

“Okay, a
paddleboarding
cupcake shop.”

She swallowed a
laugh. “You’re out of your mind.”

He brushed a
loose strand of her hair behind an ear and caressed her cheek with his palm,
swimming in her emerald pools. “I’d be out of my mind to lose you.”

“But…”

He pressed his
lips to hers and kissed her hard and wet, taking her face in his hands and tilting
her head this way and that. Sparks flew behind his eyelids, lighting up the
night. A clap of thunder vibrated the walls. They parted, both chasing their
breath.

“I love you,” he
whispered.

Evy swallowed thickly
and refused to speak, but her lips betrayed her. “I love you.”

He kissed her
again and pushed her up against the kitchen island, sweeping everything off the
table with one arm. Metal bowls and cups clattered noisily to the floor,
crashing against the wall. His hand slipped up her t-shirt and seized her left
breast before she could stop him. Evy let out a soft moan and squirmed
backwards, knocking a cooling tray to the floor. Dean snapped his fingers behind
her back, freeing her bra, and yanked her shirt up over her breasts. In a
flash, his lips found her nipples, sucking on one after the other. Evy grabbed
him by his wet hair and made him stop just long enough to pull his shirt over
his head without fumbling with the buttons. Her fingers ran trails down his
back, absorbing every muscular bump, while Dean unbuttoned her jeans and yanked
them to her ankles, feral in his approach. His fingers slid her ice blue
panties to the side and rubbed her wet lips before she could change her mind.
Evy arched her back and pushed against him when he plunged two fingers inside,
powerless to stop it from happening. After a few breathless seconds, she
stopped resisting and pressed her breasts together with her forearms, writhing
in warm ecstasy as Dean’s fingers worked her just right.

Suddenly, she
sat up and pushed him away and frantically unbuttoned his jeans. Evy used both
hands to jerk his pants down, taking his breezy boxers with them. His hard cock
popped free and bobbed in the air. Her hands found it and it was like coming
home. She rubbed his swollen head across her nipples as they held each other’s
steamy gaze. Dean licked his lips and freed her ponytail, running his hands
through her long hair as she took him into her mouth and began sucking. He
closed his eyes and tipped his head back, hanging onto her hair with both hands,
heart swelling in his chest. Evy’s lips slid down his shaft and rose back up
over the rim of his rounded head. Just the way he liked it.

“Oh my God,” he
groaned, grinding his teeth when she went faster. His breath quickened as his
manhood filled with blood. When she abruptly stopped, Dean looked down. Evy
turned and bent over the table, staring at him through sultry eyes over her
shoulder. With one hand, Dean pulled her panties to the side. With the other,
he grabbed his hard-on and rubbed the tip against her wet lips below.