Catch (10 page)

“Ryan, I’m busy. What do you want?” Gabby’s voice interrupted my thoughts. I leaned toward her and peeked at her computer screen. She was halfway through an email to one of her co-workers. I only caught the first few words before she elbowed me in the ribs, indicating she didn’t want me putting my nose where it didn’t belong. I looked away but chuckled.

“You sure you want to send that? Any emails containing capital letters aren’t comforting to see.”

“Mind your own business, Ry.” She giggled. “I’m writing to Beth telling her about this extremely attractive guy I literally bumped into at the airport when I flew in.”

“So, it’s good capital letter usage?” I turned to her and raised an eyebrow. There was a smirk on her face. I knew she was attempting to throw me off by trying to gross me out with boy talk but it wasn’t working. Growing up with three older sisters made me immune to it. The trick only worked with Annabelle, the youngest sibling.

She lifted her gaze from the screen and turned to face me, then rolled her eyes. “Yes, now stop reading it. It’s private and definitely not anything I want my little brother knowing about.”

“Why?” I asked deliberately to annoy her.

“Because I’m technically still a married woman, so I shouldn’t be writing, let alone thinking about other men.”

“You’re technically
separated
and getting a divorce, so who cares? And your husband’s a jerk; he doesn’t deserve such a magnificent woman in his life. Talk about this attractive guy all you want. Hunt him down for all I care.”

She smiled at me fondly. “Thank you, little brother.”

“But just make sure he turns out better than the current one,” I added, which earned me another elbow to the ribs. We both started laughing.

Gabby stopped laughing first, and as she fixed her hair she cleared her throat. “So, this girl…I don’t know what to make of her.”

I eyed her. “Give her a chance, Gabby. She’s incredible, you’ll see.” When she turned back to her laptop without saying anything, I knew she’d made up her mind about Evangeline and wasn’t going to change her opinion anytime soon. Gabriella Fox was like that. If she wasn’t going to hear me out then I’d just have to show her. Easier said than done.

Chapter 14

When I was finally able to drag Gabby away from her computer, we headed down to the kitchen to join everyone else. I could hear my two sisters giggling and then Ma trying to defend herself. This was the classic Fox family antics. I sometimes felt sorry for Mom getting ganged up on all the time, but I knew she loved having everyone here and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Everyone was busy laughing as Gabby and I came through the doorway. Hearing the laughs of all my favorite women together warmed my heart, and I was especially happy to know they were making Evangeline feel welcome.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, smiling as I pulled up a seat at the round table next to Evie.

“Sera was just explaining to us that you were never her favorite. She claims you were needier than the rest of us and so she gave you the extra attention,” Chiara explained with a large smirk on her face.

I flashed a cheesy grin and looked at my mom, then saying, in a very terrible Italian accent, “Mamma, why you have to lie? I bring home a beautiful girl and you try to embarrass me?” I then turned to Evie, adding, “She’s lying, Evangeline. I
am
her favorite. My sisters have always been jealous.”

“Yeah, right,” said Gabby. “Being the only boy and having three older sisters bullying you around automatically made you the favorite.”

“My point exactly. You bullied me because you were all jealous,” I pointed out, turning to face Gabby.

“Well, I was Daddy’s favorite wasn’t I, Ma?”
Shit.
I tensed and quickly fell silent at the sudden talk of our father. It wasn’t Annie’s fault she never knew of the horrors our family faced because of that man. We’d kept it from her, but to have her bring it up when Evangeline was right beside me caused me to freak.

It was Gabby who spoke up first. “Stop trying to bring him up in every conversation, Annabelle! I’m sick of it,” she snapped.

“What? Why?” our younger sister replied before narrowing her eyes at Gabriella. “Why do you always do this? Why do you hate him so much, Gabby?”

No one wanted to say anything, and no one dared. Even Mom had fallen silent. My eyes fell to the table, silently praying I’d just imagined the whole conversation. I couldn’t move, couldn’t even look up to see what was happening around the room. I wanted it all to go away.

I heard Chiara growl, “No!” That must’ve been to Gabby because she then added, “Annie, why don’t you and I go upstairs and I’ll help with some of your assignments? Unless you want to help Ma with dinner.”

I was finally able to exhale the breath I was holding in. I silently thanked Chiara; I don’t know how I would have handled Annie finding out the truth about Dad and Evie knowing the truth about what I had done all in one go. I didn’t want to risk knowing whether I had enough strength to deal with that, because I already knew the answer: I didn’t. I just didn’t want to find out how I would react if it did.

I took a deep breath.
I have to be strong.
“Evangeline and I are going upstairs,” I said without taking my eyes off the table. I reached for Evie’s hand and stood up. “Ma, just call me if you want any help with dinner, okay?”

Mom walked out of the room without saying anything. She was upset, and I knew I should go to her and check if she was okay, but I wasn’t sure if
I
was okay.

My two older sisters began bickering again. I had to do something. I didn’t want to, but if I didn’t, my whole family would fall apart at any minute.

“Evangeline, I’ll meet you upstairs in a moment,” I said, not having the balls to look at her. “I need to speak to Gabby again. Our room is―”

“I’ll show her where it is,” Chiara said, cutting me off. Great, now
she
was mad at me, too. I managed to throw a glance at Chiara to try and tell her I didn’t have a choice, but she wasn’t having it. She just shook her head in disappointment. Unable to bear it, I looked away and stared at the kitchen sink until no one was left in the room except Gabriella and me.

“
Why
, Gabby?” I demanded, when I couldn’t hear footsteps on the stairs anymore. My eyes flickered over to hers. She was already glaring at me, her arms crossed at her chest.

“You were sitting in the same room to know she’d started it, Ryan,” she snapped.

“She’s nineteen!” I hissed back.
Is she really going to argue with me over this?
“She doesn’t know what we know, remember? I think you fail to see that every damn time.”

She paused and all the anger from her face faded. “I can’t keep doing this, Ry; lying to her, I mean. I don’t mean to get mad, but I can’t help it. He’s still there, haunting every damn dream I have. I hate him so much. After fourteen years, you’d think it’d get easier. I wish it got easier.”

I exhaled, walked up to my sister and wrapped my arms around her. “I know, Gabby. Me, too.”

We stayed like that for a while, in complete silence. We didn’t need to speak; our silent words were enough. Though we were eighteen months apart, Gabby and I felt more like twins than just ordinary siblings. We’d always felt that way, even before the tragic event.

I stayed with Gabs until she calmed down and was ready to apologize to Annie. It seemed silly to do because we were all grown up, but it was something our family had done since the beginning. Despite the arguments we had, we were a very close-knit family, and it was something I treasured.

I said goodbye to her at the top of the stairs and continued walking toward my room. I stopped just in front of the door and took a deep breath before reaching for the handle.
You can do this,
I repeated over and over inside my head. My heart raced with the fear that Evie thought my entire family was crazy and it would change her opinion of me. I also didn’t want her to ask questions about the earlier incident because I wasn’t ready to answer them yet.

When I finally found the courage to open the door, I found her lying on the bed with a cheesy grin on her face. Fuck, she looked radiant.
Is ‘radiant’ a manly word?

“Who do I have to knock out for the goofy little grin on your face?”

I’d surprised her and she tried to sit up, but I stopped her before she managed by pinning her down by the wrists so both arms were above her head. “So, are you going to tell me?” I added, settling between her legs. I let my lips brush lightly against her cheek, which caused her whole body to shudder. I loved knowing I did that to her, even with just the slightest touch.

“Derek. He just said something funny, that’s all,” she replied, her eyes fluttering closed.

“Did he?” I whispered close to her ear. “What did he say?” Feeling her wriggle underneath me when I licked her earlobe caused me to chuckle.

“I told him to have fun at the shoot he’s on and he told me to ‘make fun in the bedroom’,” she continued.
Oh, did he?

Letting go of one of her wrists, I let my hand snake down to her bare thigh. She inhaled a sharp breath when I slowly trailed my hand up the inside. “I have an idea of what we can do for fun,” I whispered, continuing with the slow and torturous path up her leg.

Her legs fell apart willingly just as I reached her underwear, and I allowed two fingers to slip through the material and trailed them up and down several times before parting the wet folds. “
Bella
, you’re so wet and ready for me.”

Her only response was a loud moan as I pushed both fingers inside at once. It caused my cock to respond immediately, envious my fingers were getting a turn. And just like that, I was under her spell. I kissed her hard and hungrily, letting the real world disappear around me. Needing the feel of being inside her, I released her other wrist and let her fumble with my jeans while I continued pleasuring her.

My pants were halfway down when I felt her freeze.

“What’s wrong,
bella
?” I asked, pulling away and stilling my movements. My frantic face searched her stunned one, waiting for some sort of response.

“Ryan, we’re at your mother’s house. We shouldn’t be doing this sort of stuff here, and definitely not when the house is full.”

Is she being serious? Is that all she’s worried about?
I chuckled before pressing my lips against her forehead. The girl was fucking adorable.

“What if we’re quiet?” I whispered.

“Ryan…”

It was meant to be a joke but when her response sounded a lot more serious, I knew I had to explain my reasons. I exhaled and briefly closed my eyes. “I need to be inside you, Evangeline. You help take everything away.”

“What do you mean by that?” I heard her say.

I didn’t want to open my eyes, but I knew I had to.
Great, now I’ve done it.
I pulled my fingers out of her and stared into her eyes for a minute, just searching for something, but not sure what. After a moment, I gave up with a sigh and rolled off. I couldn’t risk telling her the truth; she wasn’t ready to hear it, and I wasn’t ready to lose her…

I remained lying on my back with my eyes on the ceiling, refusing to look anywhere else. I could feel Evangeline’s eyes on me, making me nervous as each silent minute passed. “Do you want to talk about what happened with your sisters?” she asked in a barely-there voice.

“No, not really,” I replied instantly. “Shit, I shouldn’t have brought you here. I don’t know what I was thinking.” What
had
I been thinking? I should have taken her home the very minute I found out Gabby was in a foul mood. I didn’t want her to meet Gabby that way; I’d wanted them to get along. And at that moment, not only did I have a fourteen-year-old secret ready to come out and tear my family apart, I had the one girl I’d do anything for caught in the middle of it. Why would she choose to stay with me once she found out the truth?

“I don’t understand your decision either, but I’m okay with being here,” she started. “Besides Gabriella, the rest of your family has been wonderful. Your sisters are lovely and your mother is a beautiful woman, but…”

Huh?
Where is she going with this?
“But?” I asked, finding the courage to turn to her. Her face dropped the moment our eyes met. To be honest, it hurt. Suddenly, I didn’t want to hear what she had to say next.

For some unknown reason, she appeared to be struggling with her next words. “But what does your mother think about us?” she said eventually. “About our situation?” Her cheeks grew bright red. “I mean… outside, you said what we have is complicated. I get that, but is it always going to be like this?”

My eyebrows pulled together as I took in what she was trying to say. “You want us to be exclusive?”

“No! I mean, I don’t know what I want…” She mumbled the rest. Seeing her awkward and nervous was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. If we weren’t discussing such a serious topic, I’d be all over her again. But we were…and that changed a lot.

“I can’t do relationships, Evangeline,” I answered straightforwardly, but my eyes fell to the mattress, which only made me look like an asshole.

We fell silent for a while. I knew I had to tell her it wasn’t because I was sleeping with every other girl in the country, but rather because I had secrets which would cause her to run very fast in the opposite direction. I wanted to tell her…but where was I meant to begin? If I told her then she’d start asking more questions. And would she believe me?

Shaking away my thoughts, I glanced up to find her staring at the same spot on the mattress I had been just a moment ago. Every now and then, tiny lines would form on her forehead as though something troubled her. I knew I was the cause of those troubled thoughts.

“I haven’t been with anyone else since you, Evangeline, if that makes you feel better,” I said in a lowered voice. I had to at least admit that part.

Her thick lashes fluttered before she glanced up at me, a worried expression on her face. “It shouldn’t matter whether you have or not,” she responded.

Sweet Evie, always trying to be brave.

“But it matters to you; therefore, it matters to me.” I placed a hand on her cheek. I took a deep breath before saying the rest.
Here goes nothing…
“I know I have a reputation, and the media harass you because of it, but that’s only one side of me, Evie. If things were different, if they were easier and I wasn’t afraid of possibly losing you forever, I’d share the rest of me. I’d give you everything and do anything you want of me…”

“Ryan, what are you trying to say? I’m fine with the person next to me. He’s more than I could ever want.”

Her words caused me to smile. “To hear you say that once you knew the truth…” I whispered, lightly stroking my thumb against her cheek.

She didn’t say anything and I was glad she didn’t. I let her search my face for the answers for a moment before pulling her in close.

We lay there quietly, unable to take our eyes off each other until hers fluttered closed. I knew I’d kept her up until late last night, but we’d woken up at the same time this morning, so it was a little worrying to see her look so tired. I tried to tell myself it was because we were both so comfortable; hell, I could fall asleep if I wanted to, knowing she was beside me. But instead, I waited until her breathing evened out and I quietly slipped from the bed, making my way downstairs.