I smirk at her but don’t say a word. I like this chick. It’s rare that someone gives Cole shit. Something about her is throwing me, though, and with the mood I’m already in, I think it’s best I stay silent for now.
“You think I couldn’t bend you over and fuck you right here?” Yup, there’s the Cole I truly know.
“Hmmm…Did I hit a nerve, Maverick?” she teases, trying to look innocent in her barely-there lingerie.
Her hand lands on my chest, sending chills running down my spine as she moves slowly, wrapping around my waist and pulling me into her. “Maybe I just want the silent type tonight.”
Flowers mixed with ginger invade my senses, making my head spin. I know that smell. It’s haunted me for years. Shit, I even bought a bottle just to torture myself and smell it when I’m really fucked up in my head to punish myself for my choices.
She faces me, but her mask covers so much of her face that I can’t focus or get my bearings before Cole swiftly turns her around. Pulling her into him, he gives me a moment to breathe.
I watch as he wraps her blond hair around his hands and slightly yanks her head down and to the right, placing kisses on her neck. My eyes squint as features start to come to light, and I shake my head, pushing any ideas to the side.
My mind is really playing tricks on me.
Fingers start to make their way across my leg, and when her hand wraps around my semi hard cock my heart pounds in a way I can’t even start to explain. Ever since I saw that photo, I’ve been thinking I see her everywhere, and this chick is about to push me over the edge.
I grip her hand, ready to yank it away and leave before I lose my shit altogether.
Before I get the chance, Cole stops his little game, saying, “See, you want this. Both of us. Why don’t you tell me your name, sweetheart, so I know what to whisper in your ear when I’m fucking you deeply?”
“I’m Evangeline,” she says so nonchalantly that I feel the bile run up my throat and burn like a spark of fire.
There’s no fucking way.
“Well, that’s a pretty name,” Cole carries on, not having a clue that my world just stopped spinning and is about to fly off its axis.
Cole may know a lot about my ex, but I’ve never told him her name. Any mention of it was too much for me to handle, so he lovingly referred to her as Satan due to all the pain she caused me. I’d laugh at the irony of it all because she was anything but. His little nickname would help calm me down, so I let it be.
“Not much of a code name, though. Care to explain your choice?” he asks.
“Let’s just say it reminded me of someone I loved once upon a time,” she purrs out as she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling away from me.
Feelings of light-headedness rattle through me as thoughts fly around. All these years, all these fucking years! How long I’ve searched for answers, for the truth, and she just shows up one night at my club, in my city. Just like that.
I’ve thought so many times of what I’d do if I ever found her. Now that she’s here, right in front of me, I’m speechless. Like all these years were a blip, and I’ve never thought of what to say.
Now she wants to fuck my friend. Or better yet, me, having no clue who I really am. I can’t. Not now. Maybe not ever. I need to get my shit right first.
I turn to leave, and Cole grabs my shirt, stopping me in my tracks. “Where are you going?”
I look at her, then back at him and shake my head, but before I can turn around, her hand is on my arm.
“I didn’t mean to scare you away.”
My eyes glance down to where her hand sits, feeling like it’s blazing a hole through my skin, but I don’t have the strength to pull away. Instead, I tuck my other hand in my pants pocket, hiding my tattoo from her.
“Don’t mind him. He’s been cranky all week,” Cole spits out, obviously done with my shit and ready for me to leave.
“Maybe we can change that mood of yours?” she says as she slides her fingers tightly around my arm, tugging me back to where they both stand. Once I’m there, I release from her grip, tucking my hand away once more.
She’s always had this control over me, and I’m learning quickly that some things never change. I couldn’t walk away then, and I can’t now.
I’m not ready to reveal my cards yet, though. I know most people would want to scream at the top of their lungs, grab her by her shoulders and demand to know why, but something is stopping me.
I can’t walk away, but a bigger part of me doesn’t want her to know who I am yet. A lot has happened, not just physically but mentally. I’m a completely different person than I was back then, and a small part of me is dying to know how much she’s changed too before she pushes me away again.
Because I know she will when she finds out.
