Complicated by You (13 page)

“I’m not sure.”

“I am and he will. You told me that I was always right about Jay. I’m telling you that Jay would be compassionate to your feelings the whole time. Just try it for a week.” Pipe’s phone rang. He checked the screen, sucked his teeth, and shoved it back in his pocket.

“Who was that?”

“Ex-boyfriend.”

“Ex? I thought you two just got together.”

“That was before he told me that he was married with three kids.”

“Oh.” I rushed over and embraced him. He tried to push me away, but I wouldn’t allow it. “Why didn’t you tell me that when we first met in the library? In fact, why are we even on my situation when you’re going through this?”

“‘Cause you and Jay would treat me like I’d just gotten shot, or found out I was diagnosed with cancer. Even worse, Jay would drive down to Miami and beat the shit out of him.”

I grinned. “Like he did with your last two ex-boyfriends, but in all fairness, they both did deserve a good ass whipping.”

“This one does too, but if Jay beat him up, Jay would be in a world of trouble. Shawn is a billionaire. His money stretches far. He has people all over the place.”

I leaned away from him. “Really?”

“Yeah.” A tear spilled from his eye. He wiped it away with shivering hands. “Like for example, he just texted me to say he’s outside of this building and wants to talk. He had a detective find me.”

I released him and jumped up. “No way. No fucking way.” I hurried over to the window and yanked up the blinds. Sure enough, a limo was parked in front. An older man in a black suit with an opened shirt collar leaned on the side and typed on his phone. Pipe’s phone sounded. He checked it.

“What did he say?” I asked.

“That he’s coming up here, if I don’t come down.” Pipe stared at the floor.

“You want me to go get Jay?”

He shook his head.

“Why not? I’ll make sure he doesn’t try to hurt him or anything, but you don’t have to deal with this Shawn if you don’t want to.”

Pipe blew out a long breath. “That’s the problem, Evie. I really do want to deal with him. It’s all I’ve thought about tonight. I figured coming up here would change things. You two could always make me forget about anything and anybody, but it never happened. Not even being Dr. Frank-N-Furter could keep Shawn’s image out of my head. I love him.”

“But he’s married.”

“I wish I could hear that and just stop.” He rose from the couch and adjusted the corset on his chest. “I wish I could be like you and deny myself the one thing that I’ve always wanted. How do you do it, Evie? How do you say no to something that’s perfect for you?”

I parted my lips, but had no answer.

“Cynthia just wants you to try it. I bet if you didn’t like it, she would just step aside because in the end, Jay loves you and would never give you up. No matter what he says or who he’s lying next to, he’s always seen you as the one woman he could never have.”

He said that to me.

“Now that he realized he can have you, he won’t give up.” Pipe’s phone hummed again. “I’m going down there.”

“Wait. Let me get my shoes so I can go with you.”

“No, Evie.”

“Pipe?”

“No. I have to do this by myself. Either I’m strong enough to be without him, or maybe there is a way we can figure it out, but I have to at least try this. What if I just hid in this building or had Jay go scare him off? What if I did all of that and he’s the
one
for me?”

“There will always be others.”

“Is that how you feel about Jay?”

I swallowed down the ache that came at the thought of me being in love with anybody else but Jay. “No. I don’t know if I will ever feel as strongly about anybody.”

He pulled the hat off his head and brushed his fingers through his hair. “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

“And if you don’t come back?” I asked as he sashayed down the hallway. The cape wavered with his movements.

“Then don’t wait up. I’ll call you.”

“But, Pipe?”

He spun around. Darkness hid him. I only could make out his silhouette in the dim hallway’s light.

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“Sometimes love makes you do dumb shit. Stuff that you always told yourself you would never do, that you’d never let happen. Then you fall in love, and all those limits shatter away like glass. You get cut, but you don’t feel it. All you sense is love. Only that connection keeps you breathing another day.” Pipe backed up and turned toward the door. “But it’s your life, Evie. Are you going to stop being a pussy and live it, or are you just going to be scared and run away?”

The door slammed behind him.

I’m not scared. I’m using logic.

I headed back into the room. Peculiar things ran through my mind. Pipe going down to see this Shawn guy dominated most of my thoughts. Cynthia’s proposition conquered the rest.

Darkness bathed the room, not even the Kermit the Frog light was on. Moonlight seeped through our thin curtains. Jay and Cynthia made no noise or movements as they lay on her side of the united beds.

They’d kept them together. The stupid Love Bed. I bet Cynthia came up with that when I left to go get snacks.

I laughed and covered my mouth so I wouldn’t wake them.

How did I never see Cynthia’s proposition coming? Well, because she seemed like the average normal person.

In our room, she stayed to herself. No one really came by to visit. I figured she met her friends outside of our space.
Then again, I thought she talked on the phone out in the lobby when it rang and interrupted their sex, but she’d said it was just her alarm. So what did she do, just sit in the lobby by herself, waiting for him to go to sleep?

Shaking my head, I got in on my side of the Love Bed and slid under the blankets. I could make out Jay’s muscular chest in the dim light as it rose and fell. Cynthia usually slept on his chest. Tonight, she had her back to him. Barely three feet lay between him and I. Part of me longed to touch him. The rest froze in fear.

Where are we now? Earlier today, he’d said that he would break up with her in two days. Tonight he told her he loved her, and even when we all talked about it, he said he wouldn’t break up with her, that not having sex was okay with him. Was it really?

Knowing Jay, he’d stay with her for as long as he could. He’d already been with her this long and seemed to be enjoying their relationship somewhat.

He said he loved her. How could he, when he was just inside of me out at the beach? Did he have feelings for both of us?

A sigh escaped his lips. He rolled over and faced me. Tension built in my shoulders.
Was he awake?
My answer came as he seized my waist with his hand and dragged me to him. A shriek lodged in my throat as he tugged me forward like I weighed nothing and latched hard muscle around my body.

“What’s wrong?” His voice sounded even lower than a whisper. That vanilla, mint fragrance of his assaulted me.

My breathing sped up. My pulse’s thumping turned to hard-hitting banging. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“You’ve been grinding your teeth since you laid down. You grind your teeth when you’re worried.”

“No. I don’t.”

“Yes. You do.” He pulled me in closer, until my body molded against his. “Is it what Cynthia asked you to do?”

I almost didn’t answer. It was so obvious. “Of course.”

“Then we won’t do it.”

That simple? But where did that leave me? Oh God. I sound like Cynthia now.

“And … what are you going to do?” Fear crept up my spine as I waited for his reply.

“I don’t know,” he muttered under his breath.

I shut my eyes as my heart broke right there in my chest. “So you’ll never break up?”

“I would feel bad if I did. I should at least give this a chance. I can’t quit her just because she is incapable of having sex.”

“Okay.” The word came out like a wimpy screech. I pushed at his arm. It remained around me, hard and unyielding. “Let me go.”

“No,” he whispered.

“Please.”

“No, Evie. I love you and I really want you in my arms tonight. It’s all I’ve thought about for a long time.”

“You told her you loved her too.”

“Because I do.”

Those three words from his lips were like strong hands clamped around my neck, blocking the oxygen to my lungs. I could barely breathe, or think, or concentrate on anything but the emptiness that seeped into my chest.

He loves her.

Quiet filled the space for a few minutes. It was like opening a thousand awesome gifts on Christmas morning, and then someone comes by to take all my gifts away. Why had Jay confessed his feelings to me last night, only to steal them from me and break my heart this morning?

I tried to scoot back.

“No.” The word came out like a growl.

“Let go of me before I punch you.”

“Why?”

“You love her?”

“I do love her in my way, but Evie, you’ve got to know that what I feel for you doesn’t even compare to my feelings for her or anybody else. What I feel for you can’t even be put into words or expressed in a few seconds or minutes. It would take a lifetime.” He hugged me hard. “I’ve tried in my way to show you what you mean to me. Anytime I saw you struggling and you would let me help, I did. Anytime someone or something hurt you, I did my best to destroy it.”

“
You’re
hurting me now by not just being with me.” I knew it came out spoiled and selfish, but it was how I felt. “I want you all to myself.”

His body stiffened under me. He rested his forehead on mine. We stared into one another’s eyes. Our breathing merged as one. When he exhaled, I inhaled and took him into me, needing more than the simple connection.

“You would have me pretty much all to yourself. You wouldn’t be some chick I just had sex with. You would be everything you are to me now, but even more.” He pressed his lips against mine and pulled away. “Just don’t ask me to break Cynthia’s heart right now and leave her alone. I would feel so bad. I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the mirror. I don’t think she has anybody else.”

I closed my eyes again.

“Evie?” His voice hummed through me.

I shook my head. “Stop.”

Our chests touched. His heart boomed against mine. “Evie, please.”

He rolled me over, pushing me until I lay on my back. I struggled to get away from him. It was a lackluster performance on my end. A large part of me hoped he would never let go, never stop fighting to have me. Each time I got away, he brought me back. The bed wobbled around our quiet wrestling. Soon we would wake up Cynthia, if we continued. Finally, after a few more minutes, I gave up.

He took his time moving in closer and hovered on top of me. “You can’t say no. I need you. I finally get to have you the way I’ve always longed to. Don’t say no. I fucking love you, more than anybody on this planet. You’re everything to me. Let me have you the way I need you.”

“But I’m not getting you like I want you.” I pressed my palms against his chest. His skin warmed beneath mine. I shoved. It was useless.

He remained there. “Try it, please.”

“No.”

He lowered onto me. His muscles flexed in his arms. The bed creaked. I gasped as his body formed into mine. He dove his tongue into my parted lips, trapping our tongues into a duel that I couldn’t stop. It just felt so good, so right. Fire rushed to my core and spread all over me. My blood boiled and yearned for him to consume me. I spread my legs. I couldn’t help myself. My center pulsed and throbbed, an ongoing thumping in my clit that wouldn’t cease. It needed to be played with. It craved his fingers, his tongue, the pressure of him rubbing against me, the point of his cock circling it until I screamed for more.

“Say yes.” He yanked my shirt open in the front. A button or two snapped off. “Say yes, damn it. I can’t wait for you any longer. I’ll go crazy.”

I moved my lips out of his way. He shifted his attention to nibbling my neck. I moaned. “This isn’t fair. You can’t ask me like this.”

“Then I’ll answer for you.”

“You can’t.”

“Fuck that, Evie. You’re mine.” He wrenched my shirt open. Cool air brushed over my bare breasts, tickling my nipples until they hardened right before his eyes. He tilted to one and lapped at it like a cat gulping up honeyed milk. That warm, wet tongue flicked over the point some more until I writhed and squirmed under him, panting like I’d been sprinting.
God help me. He’s everything I dreamed he would be.
I moistened between my legs. Dampness drenched the whole area, soaking my thighs, saturating my panties, and wetting the bed under me. I’d never been so aroused.

He paused and pierced me with his gaze. “We’re together. Period. There are no other choices, questions, or possibilities for you.”

“You don’t get to order me around like that.”

“I back down when I know I’m wrong. I back down when I know I can’t win. With you I won’t back down, I’ll keep coming harder and stronger. I won’t sleep or eat. I won’t rest. Someone comes near you and they’ll be broken into pieces within the hour. We’re together.”