Seven Nights

by Kristin Daniels

  Because it wasn’t going to happen. He’d imprinted himself on her, and if he’d done that so quickly, so effortlessly, then she’d be a fool to think she hadn’t done the same thing to him.

  The glow through the window doused and she waited breathlessly for the bathroom door to open. The instant it did and Evan came out, she knew.

  She knew her time with him was over.

  “You have to leave, don’t you?”

  He hobbled to the side of the bed and scooped up his shorts from the floor. He looked away as he plopped down next to Garrett to yank them on. “Yeah,” was all he said.

  Her heart cracked in two. God, she could feel it hemorrhaging.

  “But why?” Okay, that sounded whiny as hell, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She deserved to know why she was losing her last half day with him.

  He balanced his forearms on his thighs and wrung his hands together where they hung between his knees. “The text was from Simon. He scored a meeting with a major architect group in Houston. We’ve been trying to get a face-to-face with the owner of this particular firm since we decided to give our business a go. Well, he got one. And it’s either tomorrow night, or not at all.”

  “Tomorrow night?”

  “At seven.”

  “But that’s a nine hour drive, if not longer. Your foot—”

  “My foot is fine. And I won’t drive it. I’ll have my buddy come pick up the Ducati and store it for the time being so I can fly back.”

  Seemed he had it all figured out, didn’t he.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said.

  She only nodded. “Me too.”

  Ah hell. She so wished she hadn’t stuffed her head in the sand all week to avoid thinking about him leaving, because right now she didn’t know how to react. She wanted to sob uncontrollably, but going off the deep end like that would only hurt Evan more. And he was drawn tighter than a clam, not saying another word. She wasn’t sure he could. Christ, the way they were all pussyfooting around each other was crazy.

  She crawled behind Garrett, kneeling at Evan’s back to wrap her arms around him. “It’s not fair. I don’t want you to go.”

  His shoulders slumped even more, if that was possible. “Riley…”

  Even though she knew they really only had hours left until they all had to check out of the house, she desperately didn’t want to lose that precious time with him. “When?” she asked.

  He hesitated slightly. “As soon as I can get a flight.”

  Oh God. She was afraid he was going to say that. Tears stung her eyes in earnest now and she had to squeeze them tighter than she ever had before to hold them back. But it didn’t do any good. The second she opened them, they spilled over and cascaded down her cheeks.

  Garrett leaned in and pressed his lips to Evan’s shoulder, adding his arm into the desperate hold Riley had on him. “Let us take you to the airport, then. Give us that.”

  Evan was shaking his head before Garrett had finished speaking. “No, no. I can’t…” He nuzzled Garrett’s temple. “I’ll just call for a car. That’d be best. I want to take this memory with me. The one of you two warm in bed, not one of you two brokenhearted at the airport.”

  With one final sigh, he stood out of their arms and went for his phone on the nightstand. Sweet mercy, she wanted to scream at him. She was dying to pound her fists against his chest for leaving them, for not staying to try to figure out some way to be together.

  But it wouldn’t matter. Commitment was commitment and she had to respect him for keeping his.

  She had to love him for it.

  Which she did, wholly. And she wanted to tell him so. God, she wanted to shout it at the top of her lungs like she had with Garrett out on the beach. But she didn’t. She held her love for him tightly inside her, counting on it to seal the fracture splintering through her heart.

  Evan flung the heavy curtains open, disappearing outside on the deck with his phone in hand. She heard him talking softly a moment later, making his reservations, which just killed her all the more.

  “You okay?” Garrett asked.

  Not hardly. She wasn’t even close to being okay. “I will be.” In a year. Maybe more. Hell, maybe never.

  “Come here.”

  She curled into his arms, listening to Evan’s mumbles out on the deck while wondering for a moment how one short week could change her life and alter her outlook so drastically. She was never going to be the same after this. Life as she knew it and the woman she’d been before, they were both gone, consequently traded for a deeper love for her husband, a heartache she’d do anything not to have, and firsthand knowledge that the old adage What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger might not be the bullshit she always assumed it was. Because, while she felt ripped to shreds right now, she knew she’d come out the other end of this more secure in who she was, simply from knowing and loving that man out there on the deck.

  When he came back in the room moments later, his body language screamed wrecked. His arms hung loose at his sides, his shoulders slumped, his eyes… Ah God, his eyes. Destroyed. They were destroyed. “The car will be here in ten minutes,” he said.

  Wait, hold on. “You’re going now? As in right now?” She shot out of Garrett’s arms. Oh no. No, no, no. “I thought you’d wait until at least morning.”

  “It’s already two-thirty and it takes a good two and half hours to get to the airport in Pensacola. There’s a six am flight that boards at five-thirty, so I’m actually pushing it to get there and through security on time. Besides, this way Simon and I can get our shit together before the meeting. And it won’t draw out our goodbyes. I don’t think any of us would handle that well.”

  No, she supposed not. “So we’ll just rip the bandage off, so to speak, and…and…” A fresh bout of tears threatened as her throat closed up tight. She was dying here. Sure as anything. Dying, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.

  He turned his back on her then, digging through his backpack and pulling out clothes before stuffing the dirty ones lying next to it back in. He shook out a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, but didn’t so much as look their way before he spoke. His voice was gravelly, shaky almost. And just as wrecked as his posture had been. “I, um. I’m just going to shower.”

  He couldn’t even look at her. Or at Garrett. All he did was go back in that damn bathroom and shut the door, leaving the window opaque.

  Her and Garrett’s eyes met, and she knew he was gauging her, wondering if she was going to completely lose it. She wanted to. Oh how she wanted to. But flipping out wouldn’t solve the problem.

  Instead, she scrambled off the bed, grabbing up her shorty robe to slip it on. She knotted the sash too tightly, craving some sort of discomfort other than her broken heart, and bolted outside onto the deck. The night air had turned overly humid, feeling thick and damp against her skin and in her lungs.

  A moment later Garrett came out as well. The shorts he’d thrown back on hung low on his hips, and the small bedside light behind him silhouetted his masculine physique against the sliding glass doors perfectly.

  At any other time, seeing him like that would have her wanting him so desperately she couldn’t see straight. But right here, right now, all she could manage to feel was an edgy itch scurrying over her skin. His expression was shadowed as she sat on the far side of the deck in front of the copper fire pit, but she could feel him looking at her. She could feel his stare down to her soul.

  He was worried about her.

  “I’m ready to go home too, Garrett.”

  “I know. Soon, baby. We have an early afternoon flight.”

  “Same airport?” Maybe they could go with Evan…

  “No, sorry. We’re flying out of Panama City Beach.”

  “Oh.”

  He stepped over to her and kissed the top of her head. “We’ll get through this,” he said quietly.

  She wasn’t so sure she believed him.

  She hadn’t sat in front of
that cold and dark fire pit all that long before the bathroom door creaked open once again. She jumped to her feet as Evan emerged and started zigzagging around the room, picking up the few things he’d brought with him that he’d left laying out. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to fight back the pain inside her chest, but it wasn’t working. Screams blared through her mind, lamely telling her over and over to be strong. To be calm. That this wasn’t the end of the world.

  No, it wasn’t. It only felt like it.

  Still, she straightened her shoulders and shuffled back into the bedroom, with Garrett following behind her. Evan was zipping up his backpack, but he didn’t look at her, not until she came up next to him and put her hand on his arm.

  He closed his eyes, as if her touch burned him from the inside out. Hell, maybe it did. “You have no idea how much I’m going to—”

  “Don’t,” he said, cutting her off. But it was too late.

  “Miss you.”

  “Ah, hell.” He dropped his pack on the bed and wrapped his arms around her then, holding her close. So closely and so strongly that his grip almost hurt, but heaven above, she didn’t want him to ever let her go.

  And then Garrett was there too, nuzzled up behind her. He clutched her hips and pressed hard kisses against her shoulder. She deliberately pulled her strength from him, from that innate power he held so effortlessly in his body. She counted on it, simply because her supply was rapidly disappearing, breath by excruciating breath.

  In the next moment, she knew no amount of strength or power she stole from Garrett was going to make a damn bit of difference anyway, not when the weight of reality crushed her where she stood. Evan took her mouth, quickly, fiercely, then swooped in on Garrett and ravaged his lips, too.

  This was his goodbye.

  “I’ve got to go.” He whispered the words, as if he knew saying them any louder would be too much for them all to take.

  Sweet Jesus, this was it.

  He let her go, stepping back out of her arms. In that final second when their stares locked, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. But he didn’t linger. In his next breath, he turned away from her and grabbed his backpack off the bed.

  He stopped to give her one last sad smile from over his shoulder, and then he was gone.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Evan stared blankly out the taxi’s rear window the entire drive to the Pensacola airport. His thoughts were jumbled, to say the least. They bounced from how incredible Riley felt between him and Garrett a mere hour earlier to the crushed expressions on both their faces when he told them he had to leave.

  But priorities were priorities, and he couldn’t—wouldn’t—turn his back on his. He had to trust in what Garrett had told him, that somehow the three of them would find a way to work out their situation, even though he didn’t have the first clue how to go about doing it. The only thing he was sure of was that they had to. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of the anguish he’d felt after Brad and Shannon left him.

  Only this time, it was him doing the leaving, wasn’t it?

  He sighed wearily as the taxi pulled up to the departure area at the airport. He paid the fare and somehow pulled himself and the massive boot on his foot out of the cab. His muscles were still taut from making love to Riley and Garrett, which made him all the more miserable. As he limped his way into the airport, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He answered the call with one despondent word. “Hey.”

  “Little brother.” Evan wanted to cringe at the happiness in Simon’s voice, especially at this ungodly early hour of the morning. “Tell me you were able to get a flight out.”

  Unfortunately, yes. “I’m at the airport now. Don’t worry, I’ll be there with plenty of time to spare.”

  “Good, good. Marcy’s getting the extra bedroom all ready for you. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure who’s more excited about this meeting tonight, her or me.”

  Simon’s wife was a spitfire, for sure. And Evan knew how much Simon wanted to make her proud of him, and how far this meeting with Ashland & Avery would go in doing just that.

  “If I had to bet, I’d say Marcy.”

  Simon chuckled. “You’re probably right. If she could, she’d probably ask me to wear a wire so she could listen in on the whole thing.”

  Evan knew he was supposed to laugh at that, but he couldn’t find it in himself to show the least bit of outward joy while his insides were so torn up. “I could see her going that far.”

  Simon paused for a beat. “What’s up, Ev? You sound like shit.”

  Evan stopped behind a woman wearing too much perfume in the line for the ticket counter. The overpowering flowery scent had him hopping a few steps back on his good foot. “Thanks. And nothing’s up. I’m fine.”

  “Uh huh. That sounded convincing.”

  Evan decided it was easier to hint to Simon about the shark fiasco instead of spouting off to his brother about his uncontrollable feelings for Riley and Garrett. “I had a little accident. It’s no big deal, other than it hurts like a mother.”

  “What kind of accident?”

  One that turned my life upside down. And he wasn’t talking about the shark bite. “Let’s just say I have a nice-sized gash on my foot and leave it at that. Like I said, it’s no big deal.”

  Thank God his brother knew when to let a subject drop. “All right. If you say so.”

  “I do.”

  “Okay, okay. What time does your flight get in? Want me to pick you up?”

  “Yeah, sure. I get in around eight.”

  “Sweet. I’ll be there waiting on you.” Damn, his brother sounded almost giddy. “We’re going to rock this meeting tonight, you know that, right?”

  They were beyond prepared, if that’s what Simon meant. But they’d only truly kill the meeting if Evan could snap out of his funk, which he didn’t see happening any time soon. Damn it, he was going to have to force it. He was going to have to push all thought of Riley and Garrett out of his mind if he and Simon were to pull this off. After he dubiously agreed with his brother and ended the call, and all through the wait at the ticket counter and the winding, long lines of the security check point—and hell, even while boarding the plane—he tried not to think about them. But it became more and more apparent that his efforts were pointless. Forgetting about those two amazing people he left standing emotionally crushed in that beach house simply wasn’t going to happen.

  Ever.

  Worn out beyond belief, Evan slept during the entire flight. Once he arrived in Houston, he again hobbled outside to the sidewalk where his brother was waiting for him. He threw his backpack into the rear of Simon’s SUV and plopped himself in the passenger seat with a weary sigh. During the mostly silent trip, his brother kept giving him the side-eye as if he wanted to make a comment about how awful Evan looked, let alone acted.

  Thank God he didn’t.

  Once they arrived at Simon’s, Evan made a beeline straight for the bedroom Marcy had set up for him. He tossed his backpack on the floor and damn near fell onto the bed. He knew Simon wanted to sit with him and go over their presentation for tonight’s meeting, but Evan just didn’t have it in him. He wanted to be back in Inlet Beach.

  He wanted to be back in Riley and Garrett’s bed.

  He closed his eyes and swore out loud to the empty, sunlit room. And damn if all the walking this morning didn’t make his foot start to throb again, which only served to bring back memory after memory of the hell that took place on the boat, of how Riley took care of him during that crazy situation even though she looked terrified out of her mind, and of her and Garrett and the loving way they stood with him in the hospital. A familiar lump formed in his throat, but he wasn’t about to give into it. Being here, doing what he promised Simon was what he had to do, like it or not.

  Still, he voted for not.

  He tried to cling to what Garrett had told him yesterday afternoon, even though Evan knew vacations or holidays or long weekends a few t
imes a year wasn’t going to cut it for him, not by a long shot.

  He opened his eyes as his phone vibrated in his back pocket. He pulled the thing out and drowsily peered at the screen.

  Riley.

  He read her text, swallowed past the rock in his throat and replied that yeah, he’d arrived safe and sound. He wanted to tack on how much he missed her already but he didn’t. He couldn’t. Her quick reply back to him was just as short as his.

  Good.

  And then she added on what he hadn’t been able to.

  Miss you like crazy.

  Shit, there went his heart, breaking all over again.

  Me too.

  That was all he could muster. Any more than that and he’d flipping lose it.

  He laid his phone on his chest, wondering if she’d text him again. He dozed off and on waiting for the familiar buzz to bring him out of this miserable state he found himself in, but it didn’t readily come. So he waited some more, letting thoughts of the last week take over his mind. Ones of Riley kissing him. Ones of the way she tasted. Of the heat of her hand wrapping around his cock. Of the hardness of Garrett’s in his mouth.

  He couldn’t breathe with the thoughts slamming into him one after the other. Oh God, he could practically feel them with him. Smell their erotic scents. He wanted to touch them so badly. He tried reaching for them through his mind, but they were slipping away. He resorted to shouting, pleading with them to come back, to come with him. But his roar didn’t matter. They were dissolving, becoming more and more blurry, until… No, please God, no.

  A blue-black smoky haze engulfed them, and they finally disappeared into nothingness.