A warm glow kindled in my gut. I’d never had someone tell me they were proud of me before. “You’re right. I did.”
I took a deep breath. “I think I’d like to speak to a therapist, too.”
Evan’s head snapped around. “Are ye sure? I wasn’t expecting you to make a decision this fast.”
I shrugged. “Meh. ‘Fast’ is how I make ninety-nine point nine per cent of my decisions. If it feels right, I go with it. And this does. Feel right, I mean. Clyde fucked up my past, but I’m done letting him fuck up my future. To be honest, I’ve thought about it myself before now.”
Evan stopped suddenly, pulling me around to face him. When we were face-to-face, he looked at me with such intensity that it had my breath catching in my throat.
“You’re so fucking special,” he said. “I’ll never stop being grateful that you took a chance on me.”
Then, in the softly falling snow, he kissed me.
Amonth passed in almost the blink of an eye.
While my days went back to normal with me returning to the shop, that was about all that did. Even that now had the added bonus of Evan being close by. I’d been worried he’d be too much of a distraction, but he was very well behaved.
For the most part, anyway. There was the time he sucked me off under my desk while Chester was out making deliveries, and another when he fucked me in the storage cooler, but that was on my lunch break.
The McCarthys seemed to have structured things so that Evan could be the one guarding me around the clock. I’d tried to protest, but it had been feeble at best.
The truth was that I wanted to be around Evan as much as possible.
My days off were spent with Evan too. He showed methe places he used to haunt as a kid, cooked me romantic dinners, wrapped me up in his coat at the slightest sign of a shiver.
I’d even attended more than a handful of dinners with the rest of the inner circle, and others with Hamish and Brodie. Unlike the first one, I’d managed to get through them without making a tit of myself.
The cooking lesson had happened too, although my pavlova resembled more of a pancake. For a heartbeat, I’d panicked, waiting for the censure to follow. The recriminations.Instead, Calan had simply declared that it was good that this had happened, as he fancied Eton mess and now had an excuse to make it.
Everyone had loved it too, lavishing me with praise I was sure I didn’t deserve.
I kind of loved it though.
I’d also spent several evenings gaming with Hamish and Brodie. Evan didn’t join in, but he did come with me, content to have me sitting on his lap while I yelled at the screen.
The only plans that hadn’t been followed through on were those that required me to leave the main clan lands. Other than going to work, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to go anywhere else. It was stupid—I’d be safe, I knew that. But it almost felt like tempting fate. The Clarksons might’ve gone quiet, but they hadn’t gone away. My luck wasn’t that good.
That was why I also hadn’t met up with Bryce, Mac, or Cole. I had reached out to them though. Evan had persuaded me to message the group chat, explaining that I’d been going through a rough patch, that I loved them, and was sorry for ghosting.
Their responses had been kinder than I deserved. I’dcried for a solid hour after reading them, Evan holding me in his arms. The relief at knowing I hadn’t fucked things up on a permanent basis was almost overwhelming.
One day, hopefully, they’d be an active part of my life again.
That was if this situation with the Clarksons ever got resolved.
My nights were spent with Evan. Despite spending all our time together, we never ran out of things to talk about. Often I’d fall asleep mid-conversation, using his chest as my pillow. Waking up in the same place never got old.
All in all, for the first time in months, I was happy.
I should’ve known it couldn’t last.
It was my day off, but I was spending it without Evan. He’d been summoned to the main house. Apparently, our reprieve from what was happening with the Clarksons was officially at an end. Logan had been off trying to gather information for the past couple of weeks.
Whatever he’d returned with had had Finn calling an urgent meeting with the inner circle.
Evan had asked me if I wanted to attend the meeting. After thinking it over, I’d decided I’d rather not. I trusted the McCarthys to take care of things, and Evan to let me know what I needed to.
It was foreign feeling, willingly handing my trust over to a clan of shifters. I supposed I’d been doing it for months now, but this felt different. I wasn’t just trusting them to guard me, but to sort the situation with my former family however they saw fit.
