Page 27 of Meant for You

“You think me teaching you how to get some asshole off is going to make this any less complicated?” I asked.

When I looked at her, I saw them both—the girl and the woman. They both looked back at me, and that made it so damned hard to let go of that role I’d taken in her life. So hard.

“I know this sounds…weird, but I think it’ll put us on a more even footing, and I think it’ll stop you from looking at me like I’m perfect. I’m going to date—I’m going to do a whole lot of things—without you, Dane. But I’d rather do it going in with confidence. I’ve felt…God, weak, afraid, lost, so often in my life, in so many situations. I don’t want whoever I date to see me that way, too. I want them to see me as confident and sexy. And there’s no one else I trust more to show me how to be that, without judgment or ridicule, than you.”

I glanced at her, gut in knots, and I forced myself to say what I’d been desperate to know since she told me what she wanted. “What are you actually asking for here, Eves? You want me to…touch you, show you…or am I just relaying my greatest hits, telling you what I like, what gets me off?”

“I think touching…like that, could make things way more complicated. You’re my best friend, Dane, even after everything. I don’t think anything could destroy that. But I don’t want to risk ruining what we’re trying to get back. If you really don’t want to do it, maybe you can help me find someone else? Someone you trust to help me?”

Like fuck. No motherfucking way.

I was going to do it.

There was no way I could say no to her after that, and she fucking knew, too.

We arrived at the ranch, and I walked her to her room off the barn, trying to work out what the hell to do next.

“Do you want to come in? We could watch a movie on my laptop. I don’t think I could sleep.”

“Sure.” There was no way I was sleeping with everything we’d said on the drive there flying around my head, but if I was doing this with her—and I was, even if it was just taking her out and talking about fucking—we were taking it slow.

I was in no hurry to see her with some guy, dating some prick, and knowing she was using the moves I’d taught her to get the asshole off.

She switched the light on, and I followed her in. The room was an okay size once you were in it. It had a decent-sized built-in closet, and there was a bathroom off to the side.

Eves had her bed at the far end up against the wall and a small couch down from that. There was also a bookshelf full of books on the opposite wall, which didn’t surprise me. Everly had always loved to read.

“Nice setup.”

She smiled over at me. “Cassy offered me the guesthouse or to stay in the ranch house with them, but I didn’t like the idea of rattling around in that house on my own, and I didn’t want to invade their private space either. I like it out here.” She motioned to the bathroom. “I’m going to wash my face and get changed. The laptop’s on the bed. Why don’t you pick something?”

I flopped down on her bed when she shut herself in the bathroom. Which was when I noticed the pictures on the wall. A pinboard covered in photos. I got back up and took a closer look. There were a lot of her and me, and other people I’d never seen before. A couple of Eves with her aunt, a couple of new ones with her and Lila on their horses. One with Eves, Cassy, Quinn, and Trix.

The door opened.

“It’s weird knowing you were doing all this while I was in Black Stone. I kind of kept you frozen in time in my mind. That way I could convince myself you were safe and happy, so I could get through each day and not get on my bike and go find you.”

“I wish you would have,” she said softly.

I turned around. She was wearing shorts and another loose T-shirt, one that would look like a sack on anyone else but somehow looked the opposite on Everly. What was the opposite of a sack, fucked if I knew. I didn’t want anyone else seeing her like that, though. I knew that much.

She climbed onto the bed and opened the laptop. I glanced down at her. She was frowning at the screen in concentration.

The Band-Aid was gone and you could see she’d had stitches. “So how did you cut your head?”

She flushed instantly but didn’t look up at me. “When I went out with Tanner, I tried to kiss him, and he didn’t see me coming.”

I stilled. “You tried to kiss that dick?”

She sighed. “We were on a date.”

Nope. Didn’t like that, no fucking way. “And the cut?”

“Like I said, he didn’t see me coming. He kind of turned as I leaned in, and my head met the bottle he was holding.” She winced. “Cue blood everywhere and a visit to the emergency room.”

“So you really liked that douche?” Okay, yeah, I sounded like a jealous idiot, but I couldn’t stop myself.

Eves shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess.” She glanced at me. “Can we not talk about this? It was humiliating enough at the time. I’m not in the mood to relive it.”