I cover her phone's screen and push it down until she has no choice but to look away.
“Talk to me, please. I’m worried about you.”
I flinch at the hollow, almost haunted look in her eyes as she finally meets my gaze.
“I was the other woman. He claimed me as his old lady in his club, but he made me the fucking other woman, Vinnie.”
I cup her cheeks in my palms and rest my forehead against hers. “Oh, Ever.”
Everleigh never lets herself stay vulnerable for long, and I get why. Her dad drilled it into her that emotions were a weakness. Loyalty and honesty are her bedrock. Once someone breaks that, she’s done. After her dad’s secrets blew their family apart, she swore those two things would always come first. That’s why I never lie to her, not even about the tiniest thing, and why she was the first to know when her brother and I started dating. I’d never risk what we have if I can help it.
It’s also why she has difficulty accepting what Alek did to me. As my friend, she’s trying not to let her views skew my relationship or my decisions.
Grimm broke both boundaries with her, and he’s honestly lucky she’s still talking to him.
But sometimes, life—especially love—refuses to fit into neat lines, no matter how much we want it to.
“And you’re still talking to him?”
Everleigh pulls away with a snort and brushes the tears from her eyes. “Hell no. I blocked his ass.” She sighs. “It doesn’t stop everyone in his damn club from reaching out.”
“Well, they need to learn to respect your boundaries. If they’re your friends or care about you at all, they’ll wait until you’re ready to come to them. If you never are, that’s something they need to accept. They shouldn’t be pushing you for whatever reason.”
She shrugs. “It is what it is. If it gets to be too much, I’ll block the rest of them. I don’t want to because I’d like to keep in touch with many of them.”
"Can I ask something?" She nods. "Why didn't you tell me about Grimm?"
Everleigh leans back with a sigh. “I did. Sort of. I told you I started seeing someone, but it was right after you and Alek split, and you weren’t in a good place. Plus, Grimm and I had just met. It was just supposed to be something fun, but then we both…” she pauses, swallowing hard before continuing, “or well, I stupidly caught feelings. It was so fucking fast. You know me. I’m cautious about this kind of shit. But with him…I don’t know, Vin. It was different.”
“Love is unpredictable and comes when you least want it to.”
“I’m not trying to keep my breakup from you, either. I’m honestly just struggling pretty bad with it, and when I talk about it, I can’t fucking breathe, you know?” She wipes the tears that fall from her eyes. “I promise I’ll give you more when I’m ready.”
I shrug. “You don’t owe me your feelings, Everleigh. You know that. I just want to make sure you’ll be okay eventually. I need you to eventually be all right.”
“Sure I will. Someday.” She smiles. “Now, enough about me. Let’s pour some damn shots and talk about what’s got your heart and head all twisted.”
“Love you, Everleigh.”
Her eyes soften. “Love you too, Vinnie.”
Grabbing the bottle of vodka, I pour a shot glass full for both of us and pass hers over.
“To karma kissing those assholes with her poisonous lips,” I say, clinking my glass against hers before tossing it down my throat.
I wince at the vodka burn, grab the jar of gherkins, twist it open, and crunch into one. I remember the first time Everleigh made me chase vodka with a pickle, I nearly gagged at the odd combo. She picked up this trick from a couple who’d just moved back from overseas after she sold them her biggest property.
“What’s going on, Vin?”
Her question cracks me wide open, and suddenly everything I’ve bottled up since talking to Alek pours out.
Jumping to my feet, I move around the room at a clip. “Do you know Alek actually knows everything about me? How my favorite color changes, my favorite foods, when I sold my first song, the name of it, and even what it was about. Who does that? Who pretends for three damn years that they don’t care about me when that seems like a lie? That little dick weasel, that’s who!”
Everleigh thrusts another glass at me. “Does he really have a little weeny?”
I pause with the glass in front of my face. “That’s what you latch onto?”
“A girl has to have priorities. Dick size is important.”
