Happily Evan After

by Fleur Smith

  She frowned. “I thought I told you it was a costume party.”

  He rolled his eyes. “And I made it quite clear then that I don’t do costumes. We’re not in middle school anymore Becca, you have to grow up sometime.”

  She pushed him outside, following him quickly and pulling the door shut behind them. Her guests didn’t need to see the build-up of a domestic argument. “I thought you might do something nice for me for one night.”

  “I do nice things for you all the time,” he argued before pushing himself against her body, trapping her against the door with an arm on either side of her head. His lips caressed her earlobe. “What about that nice thing I did last night.” He scraped his teeth along the spot where his lips had been a second earlier, sending a shudder of need through Becca.

  Even though things with Drew had been slightly less than perfect lately, and seemed to get worse with every date, she was willing to ignore it in the hope that it got better again soon. Besides, after the arguments came the make-up sex and that was great. Better than great. He was still the best man ever to slip between her sheets, or on top of her sheets.

  Or against the wall. Or in the shower.

  Becca squirmed as she thought about the sex, the one redeeming feature in their relationship at present. She knew it was wrong to ignore the issues, and she didn’t intend to do that forever, but Drew was still trying to settle back into life in a small town.

  “That—that’s different,” she said, trying desperately to cling to her argument when all she wanted to do was cling to his arms.

  He rested against one arm and sighed. “If you didn’t insist on having a childish party, perhaps I could have supported it a little more.”

  “Even your dad dressed up.”

  “Dad’s still trying to cling to his youth. The chance to build a more successful career and life is behind him now, so pretending to be young is about all he has left.”

  Moisture welled in her eyes. “I don’t understand how hard it is for you to put this aside for one night and have some fun.”

  “Put what aside? My desire to see you be everything you can be?”

  Every conversation from the past week came flooding back into her mind. She knew Drew was coming from a good place when he suggested that she study further to try to get into nursing rather than being “just a medical receptionist”—his words, not hers. He just wanted her to have strong career goals like he did, but she couldn’t appreciate it anymore. The things he wanted for her life and her career were simply things that she just didn’t want.

  She wanted a simple life, and a relatively stress-free job. She thought that maybe one day she’d even have children and stay at home to raise them. However, Drew wanted her to be a career go-getter and blaze the feminist trail. It didn’t matter how often she told him that she wasn’t interested in the money or the prestige, he wouldn’t listen. Her dream was a small life in the suburbs. It hadn’t done her grandmother any harm after all.

  Although she’d never admit it to Drew, she hated the idea of a big-city life and dreams that consisted of always chasing the next big goal and never being happy in the now. After all, her parents had been desperate to do everything they could to secure a brilliant future for her, and they’d passed away too early.

  There were no guarantees in life, Becca knew that better than anyone, so she didn’t want to waste hers pushing herself up an invisible career ladder that she had no interest in. She’d rather spend it doing what she loved and spending time with the people she cared about. She wanted to spend it living, not working.

  “I don’t want that though,” she said, trying to force the tears back out of her voice.

  “You only think you don’t want it,” he said.

  She might have imagined the derisive edge in his tone, but it set her on edge anyway.

  “And you know what I want more than I do, do you?” she snapped.

  “You know what’s ridiculous? That you can stand in front of me dressed as the ultimate feminist and yet spout antiquated ideals.”

  “Feminism isn’t just about having a career. It’s supposed to be about getting the chance to choose to do whatever you want to do. Don’t I get a say in what I want?”

  “I know if you look deep down you’ll see that what I’m trying to do is for your own good. Everyone wants to be the best they can be, you don’t want to look back at your life in twenty years and wonder ‘what if.’”

  She knew they could go around and around for ages. They would if she didn’t put a stop to it. She sighed. “Can we not talk about this now? Just for one night, can we put it to one side? I have guests and they’re probably wondering where I am.”

  “Of course,” he said, pushing himself back off the door and giving her the space to maneuver again. “Lead the way.”

  She’d barely got three steps into the party before Evan drew her eye. His concern was printed on his face and she realized he probably felt every emotion that had rolled through her in the last ten minutes—it was part of the reason she’d been avoiding him lately. She had no doubt that he’d have some sort of magical solution to her issues with Drew, but she didn’t want that. Ultimately, even though she wanted Evan to stay, the reality was that he wouldn’t be around forever. She needed to deal with her messes herself, or her relationship with Drew would definitely be doomed before it had truly begun.

  She gave Evan a little nod and a smile to let him know that everything was okay.

  “Why did you invite him?” Drew’s voice was sharp against her ear.

  She bit back the sigh that she felt like issuing at Drew’s jealousy. “Because he’s my friend.”

  “I told you that I don’t trust him. Whenever he looks at you, it’s like he’s seconds away from bursting into fucking song or something.”

  “I know, and it’s hard for me to explain why that is, but trust me when I say there’s nothing for you to be worried about.”

  “Because he’s gay, right?” Drew’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.

  Becca’s nerves at the lie forced her hand into action, adjusting the scarf that held her hair in place. “Exactly.”

  “You know that he’s about as gay as I am don’t you?”

  She turned to look at Drew again. Over the last few days, as the arguments had increased in frequency, his hazel-blue eyes had appeared more like cold steel, lacking the warmth that she was used to seeing in another set of hazel eyes. She hated herself for making the comparison. “Please, he’s just here as a friend to celebrate my birthday with me. Can you please just leave it at that?”

  “Fine,” he said, stepping in front of her to lead the way to the kitchen.

  Becca was relieved that he was willing to let something go for once.

  “For now.”

  She sighed. Why does it have to be such hard work?

  The small noise caused Drew to spin toward her again. His gaze trailed over her face and he seemed to finally see her stress. “I’m sorry.”

  He gave her an apologetic pout, but she didn’t know exactly what he was apologizing for: being late, not dressing up, treating her like a child, or being rude about Evan. She wanted to ask, but was too tired to handle another argument just then.

  “Forgive me?” He pressed his hands together and touched his fingers to his lips, almost in prayer. As he realized she was relenting under the weight of his apology, his eyes sparkled with a hint of amusement, and one corner of his lips twitched up. “Would you like me to get you a drink?”

  “Sure.”

  “What would you like?”

  She forced a smile. “I don’t know. Why don’t you surprise me?”

  His lips grazed her cheek, sending warmth flooding throughout her before he headed through the door into the kitchen. Almost the second Drew had left her side, Evan took his place.

  “Is everything okay?”

  She resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment. The night had started so well, but it felt like it was spiraling into disaster.
A quick glance at Evan’s worried face confirmed that, just as she’d worried he might, he’d experienced everything she’d felt since Drew’s arrival. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

  “It didn’t look fine.” Evan reached one hand out, placing it on her arm. “It didn’t feel fine.”

  Becca turned away from Evan as tears pricked her eyes. How could she explain that it was okay, that it was just a little rough because her and Drew were still trying to find their common ground for future plans.

  She was certain that given enough time they’d be able to reconcile each of their ideal lives. If she hadn’t been caught in the middle of it, she probably would have found the role reversal amusing. Only, she was in the middle of it so she just found it incredibly frustrating.

  “He didn’t dress up.” Evan’s voice cut into her thoughts. She wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to be a question, but it came out as a statement—almost as if Evan was weighing judgment on Drew.

  Becca turned back to say something in Drew’s defense, but was too late. Drew was already there with two drinks in hand.

  “No, I didn’t,” he practically growled. “Some of us have more important things to do with our time than plan a silly costume.”

  “It’s okay.” Becca reached for one of the drinks in Drew’s hand, taking it from him with a silent thank you to try to alleviate the tension between the two. “I don’t really mind.” She wasn’t sure whether it was for Drew’s benefit or Evan’s, either way she wanted to diffuse the situation.

  “Drew.” Evan nodded. “Nice to see you again.” It was clear from his tone that he was anything but pleased.

  Witnessing Evan’s protective streak, Becca wanted to pull him to the side and convince him that things really were okay with her and Drew. Only she couldn’t without convincing Drew that something more than friendship existed between her and Evan, which just wasn’t the case. After a moment, she decided to take the coward’s way out and pretend that Cathy was trying to get her attention. She muttered a quick apology and left.

  “This was a mistake,” she said to her giant bee friend as she approached her.

  “What? The party? Nah, it’s great.” Gary said, bopping in time to the soft music in his robin costume.

  Becca almost snorted when she saw that his tail-feathers—which were obnoxiously long really—were tickling Doctor Petersen’s back. In fact, Becca would have put bets on the fact that Gary’s dance was timed specifically to include a back-step and butt-wiggle at random enough intervals to give the doctor grief. Each time the other man stepped further away, Gary added an extra step to his backwards shuffle.

  Feeling like the sight of a giant robin waggling his tail feathers against a tall, skinny version of Frankenstein’s monster was exactly what she needed to take her mind off things, Becca let the conversation she’d just been part of go. She was willing to ignore the tension between Drew and Evan. If they cared about her, they would try to get along. She refused to turn around and look at either of them, even though she could feel both of their gazes on her.

  She was certain Evan at least would make an effort to keep Drew onside.

  Wouldn’t he?

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “You need to stay the hell away from Becca.” Drew’s voice didn’t allow for any argument, but Evan didn’t care. He wasn’t willing to listen to someone who only wanted him to stay away from Becca out of jealousy.

  “Becca and I are friends. I’m not going to give that away just because you are feeling a little insecure about your relationship.”

  Drew scoffed. “I am not insecure. It’s just clear that you’re obsessed with her, and frankly that worries me. I don’t know where that obsession might lead.”

  “No, what worries you is that you might not be the best thing for her.”

  Standing so close together, Evan could feel and taste all of Drew’s emotions as if they were his own. He wasn’t guessing at Drew’s intentions, he knew them for a fact.

  “And who is? You?”

  Evan’s stomach tied itself into a knot and then untangled again, before repeating the pattern. He couldn’t answer Drew though. His tongue wouldn’t allow him to speak a lie and say that he wasn’t, but how could he admit to Becca’s boyfriend the things that he couldn’t admit to Becca?

  Drew’s cold-steel gaze traced over Evan. “What could you possibly have to offer her?”

  “What?”

  “What do you even do for a job? From what I’ve gathered from Becca it’s not a lot.”

  Evan wanted to defend himself, but how could he? “I’m a cupid” didn’t exactly scream job security. “I don’t need to offer her anything. I’m her friend. Just her friend.”

  “And I’m Santa Claus. It’s clear that you’ve got this little fantasy about the two of you in your head. I can practically see your illusions about the two of you printed on your face.”

  Evan opened his mouth and then closed it again. It wasn’t that obvious was it? He thought he’d tried to keep it hidden as well as he could, but first Cathy and now Drew seemed convinced about his feelings for Becca.

  “Just look at you, and then look at me. Only one of us is right for her, and I think we both know which one.”

  Evan blinked at what Drew had said and realized that the statement was one hundred percent correct. In some ways they were similar, but Drew was the alpha to his omega. Drew was strong and muscled where Evan was slender and weak. They both had similar colored chestnut hair, but Drew’s was perfectly styled while Evan’s just hung around his head, soft and limp. Even the hazel eyes they shared were markedly different—Drew’s unique and almost blue, Evan’s just plain and almost muddy.

  But despite the fact that Drew was a physically perfect version of Evan, only one of them deserved the wonderful woman that Becca was. Only one of them understood her desires and could act on them. Only one of them wanted her for the person she was, not the person she could be shaped to be with the right level of training.

  “You’re right,” Evan said quietly. “I—I have to go.”

  A row of perfect white teeth gleamed from within Drew’s smile. “I knew you’d see reason.”

  Evan didn’t want to listen to Drew anymore. Instead he stalked forward toward the one person he needed to speak to. Despite the plans and decisions he’d made, he couldn’t be patient any longer. He couldn’t pretend that he didn’t feel things for her and let her wander off into the sunset with someone who just saw her as a prize to be won. He wouldn’t be her friend if he stood idly by and said nothing about how big a dick Drew was. Sure a certain amount of it might have been jealousy, Evan wasn’t stupid enough to think that the green-eyed monster wasn’t clouding his judgment slightly, but it didn’t change the fact that Drew wasn’t right for her.

  Evan was, and he would do everything in his power to show her that.

  “Becca, I think I’m going to go now,” he said, as he lightly touched her arm. “But if you can talk later, I’ll be in the usual place. There’s something important I need to say.”

  “What’s up?” The look of surprise on her face was evident, but he hoped she’d understand where he meant. Regardless, the middle of the party wasn’t the time or place to talk to her about what he needed to say. But he didn’t want to stay and give Drew a chance to ruin everything either.

  “I can’t really talk about it right now. I don’t want to cause you any more problems tonight.”

  “Is it something to do with Drew?”

  Cathy watched their exchange with wide eyes and a knowing smile.

  “I’d rather not say at the moment, I just really need to talk to you as soon as you’re alone. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she said. Her confusion was still clear, but he didn’t want to linger any longer. He headed for the front door, walking through it before checking the coast was clear and returning to her basement darkroom in his own special way.

  After taking off his costume, and briefly popping out to return it to the closed shop, there was not
hing for him to do but wait while the noise of the party continued above his head.

  Becca couldn’t stop thinking about what Evan had said. She wondered whether he’d been instructed to leave by his bosses. Had he been granted permission to stay for her party but not any longer? When he said he would be going now, did he mean going for good? It played on her mind for the rest of the evening. When the party had begun to wind down, she found herself more interested in going down to the darkroom to meet him and find out what he was talking about than socializing with her remaining guests any longer.

  Cathy and Gary stayed behind to help clean up, and so did Drew—although his version of helping to clean was to sit at the kitchen table with a glass of wine and bark orders at everyone else. Sometimes his “better” breeding was all too clear.

  “Aren’t you finished yet?” he asked as she dragged another bag full of trash through the house.

  “Well, it would be a bit quicker if everyone helped,” she replied through clenched teeth.

  “You can’t expect your guests to stay behind and help, that’s not the way it works, Becca.”

  She ignored the fact that Drew had completely missed her point. “Of course, my mistake,” she muttered.

  After Cathy and Gary left as well, Drew stalked toward Becca like a predator toward its prey. The look in his eye left no doubt what he wanted and for a moment, Becca was sorely tempted to take him up on the offer. For all of his faults, there were certain things he was great at. Fucking was definitely one of them.

  Then Becca remembered that Evan was waiting for her downstairs. The thought was like a bucket of ice-water tossed over her libido. If Evan was going to leave, she didn’t want him to go without getting the chance to say goodbye first.

  “Can I take a rain-check?” she asked as Drew pulled her into his arms and attacked her throat with warm, open-mouthed kisses.

  His attention slowed, but didn’t stop completely. One of his hands caressed her ass.

  “Are you sure?”