When I'm with You (Hope Town #3)

by Harper Sloan

  She hums but keeps looking at the pictures she had cataloged of my artwork, placing a few against each wall in preparation to hang the respective canvases.

  The way that her gallery is set up, it is essentially one large room with different ‘walls’ erected to hold various pieces. Normally, she has a good mix of art, even some freestanding displays for other mediums, but for my show, she has cleared off the whole floor.

  We’ve already placed half of my collection, starting with the vivid colors of my nature scenes and ending now where we have the landscapes and still-life paintings scattered to make way for the huge abstract piece that will be the big focus of the event. The black wall that holds the picture solely takes my breath away; just seeing it up there with the spotlights on it and the tiny plaque that she had attached to the right corner.

  It’s a showstopper, and she knows it. When she told me that she was putting a fifteen thousand dollar price tag on it, I almost choked on my tongue. It’s normal for some of my larger pieces to go for a couple of grand but never that much. However, now that I see it up there in all its huge glory, I now can see what Annabelle sees in those brushstrokes that make it worth that kind of price tag.

  Hell, if she sells my whole collection, I could make almost seventy-five thousand dollars. And if this show goes off as she is saying it will, it’s going to push my art to a whole new level when it comes to pricing. I’ve been waiting for this show. No longer selling five to ten paintings a month but selling that in a week. It will mean that I no longer have as much free time as I have now, but I’ll be doing what I love, and since I already paint for fun seven days a week, this will mean that my ‘fun’ will now be sold instead of sitting in closet.

  It’s an overwhelming thought, but one that I’m ready for.

  “I think we’ve pretty much got it all settled, Ember. We just need Daniel and his crew to come and hang the rest of your pieces. I can take care of placing the plaques tomorrow. You just need to spend the day focusing on getting ready for our big night. I’m so excited for you, honey.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want more help?”

  She laughs and places her hand on my arm. “You’ve done more than I ever would have asked. It’s time you go on and enjoy some relaxing before tomorrow night.”

  “If you’re sure.” I look around one more time, seeing everything start to come together, and smile. “If you change your mind, just call.”

  She nods and walks away, dismissing me as her mind starts to wander with tasks, something she has a bad habit of doing.

  When I first met her, I wondered how such a beautiful woman had never settled down with a family of her own, but I realized really fast that Annabelle Kingston is married to her work, and at fifty-two, she is perfectly content with her clients being the children she never had.

  I grab my bag, pulling out my phone as I walk to the door and checking my messages as I climb into my car and start the engine. When I left Nate’s house earlier this afternoon, he had said he was going to stop by Dirty but would be home for dinner. Seeing that it’s now five, he’s either finishing up there or already back at the house. Either way, the state of his fridge is scary, so my first stop will have to be the grocery store.

  After the night of my house fire last week, Nate had been spending less time at Dirty, something that seemed to just happen naturally, even though it had been a big stressor in his life. He still goes in every day, but it is rare that he’s there past midnight.

  “Hello?” I answer, not looking at the display when my phone starts ringing through the speakers.

  “Hey,” Nikki says, her voice low and a little wobbly.

  “Hey, you. What’s wrong?”

  She sniffs and I frown. Nikki isn’t a crier. I often joke with her that her tear ducts are broken, but she just says it’s a side effect of her black soul.

  “I broke up with Seth.” She sniffs again before blowing her nose loudly into the receiver. “Found that jerk in bed with some chick from his gym.”

  “Oh, Nik. I’m on the way to Nate’s. Meet me there in ten, okay?”

  She sniffs again, it coming out more like a snorted wheeze, but agrees before hanging up.

  Pulling up to a light, I grab my phone and press Nate’s name before placing it back down on the seat next to me. While I wait for the light to change, the phone rings a few times.

  “Is it time for phone sex already,” he drawls in a sexy rumble over the line, and I hear some deep masculine laughter break out around him.

  “One of these days you’re going to answer the phone like that and I’m going to make sure I had been playing with myself for long enough to just come in your ear as a response,” I smart with a smirk when he grumbles a complaint.

  “Get the fuck out of my office,” he barks, and I hear his heavy breathing as footsteps echo and the sound of his door closing. “You’ve been told not to take my sweetness, Ember. Do you need me to remind you who that pussy belongs to?”

  “Yeah, yeah, promises and all that. Listen, big man, Nikki’s upset so she’s coming over. Is that okay?”

  “I told you that you don’t have to ask permission to do shit. I want you to feel at home.”

  I roll my eyes. The same argument we’ve had since I all but moved in. “I’m still asking. It’s your house, Nate.”

  He mumbles something, but his words are too low for me to make them out.

  “I just wanted to warn you that you might be coming home to some pretty high estrogen levels and all that.”

  “What’s wrong with Nikki?”

  “All I know is that Seth cheated and they broke up. I told her to meet me there. I figured I could feed her ice cream and wine, the normal post-breakup comfort foods, and then see what else I could get out of her.”

  “Sounds good, baby. I’ll stop by the grocery store when I leave here in ten. I have your back.”

  I laugh. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to regret encroaching on a scorned woman’s emotional breakdown time.”

  “Pfft. Don’t doubt me, woman!”

  He hangs up as my laughter booms around the cab, and by the time I pull up to his house, I’m actually looking forward to helping my friend if only for the reason that I know Nate has no idea what he’s getting into.

  “AND THEN SHE JUST KEPT bouncing around on his dick like it was the next best thing to sliced bread. Just bounced and bounced. I really was worried that one of her fake freaking boobs was going to pop!”

  “What did Seth do?” Ember asks, her voice low and comforting. My eyes keep pinging back and forth between them, trying not to focus too long on Nikki for fear of my life when she gives me one scary ass look.

  Nikki doesn’t even notice Ember, though. She’s too far gone remembering walking in on her man fucking some chick. I shift when she gives me another squinty-eyed look of contempt just because I have a dick.

  “He didn’t do jack crap because his hands were tied to the bed!” she screams, still looking at me as if she would carve my eyes out with the spoon she’s eating her ice cream with.

  You would think that she would be thankful; I mean I did stop by the grocery store and buy them ten different flavors of ice cream, but nope. The second I walked into the house, she looked like she wanted to murder me along with her ex.

  “So,” I start, attempting to make my excuses and escape into my bedroom with some SportsCenter, but I snap my mouth shut when she stabs the air with her spoon. I watch Bam follow the utensil helplessly hoping that something, anything, will fall to the ground for him before looking over at Ember and praying she has the answers as to how I can get out of here.

  “Would you let some hoochie tie you to the bed?” Nikki questions me with an evil tone.

  Again, I look at Ember. I’m not really sure the truth right now will help my chances of getting out of here alive. She just winks and I know I’m on my own.

  “Uh …” I clear my throat. “No. I would not. I’m more of the one doing the tying in this situation.
”

  Ember stifles a giggle before Nikki can notice, but I don’t miss it. She’s going to pay for that later.

  “You would tie up some hoochie?! You son of a Cher!”

  “Huh?” Son of a Cher? Good God, this girl is strange.

  “Ember! Did you hear him? He’s just like all the other ones. Just thinking about his dick and some hoochie.”

  “Actually,” I interrupt, and she jerks her eyes from Ember to where I’m sitting. I briefly consider all my points of exit options that I have and figure no matter what, my legs are longer, and if it comes to it, I have no problem running like a little titty baby from this spoon wheedling woman. “I never said I would tie up some ‘hoochie.’ I just meant that when it came to being tied up or doing the tying, I would be doing not receiving. And the only woman I’m going to tie to my bed is here,” I finish in a rush and point over at Ember.

  She gives me a big smile, distracting me for a second, but a second is all that was needed. I feel the spoon hit my forehead before falling to the hardwood in a loud clatter.

  “Oops.” Ember giggles.

  “What the hell was that for?” I ask, rubbing my head.

  “That was for having a penis.”

  “Why am I being punished because I have a dick?”

  “Because you’re breathing and thinking about using it. That’s where it all begins,” she sobs, and I watch as she drops her head to her hands as her hair falls into the almost melted container of chocolate ice cream.

  “I’m just going to go … uh, somewhere, anywhere.”

  Ember’s chest moves as she silently giggles, but she just waves me off as she moves from the chair she had been sitting on to the couch where Nikki is wailing and pulls her hair out of the ice cream. I see her look at her wrists for a hair tie and not wanting to stick around longer than necessary, I rip the one holding my hair in a bun and toss it in her lap on my way out of the room.

  What a fucking mess.

  With nothing on TV, I decided to pick up one of the books Ember is always reading. I used to make fun of Dani for reading ‘mom porn,’ but this shit is shockingly good. I’ve already made some mental notes of shit I plan to do to Ember. If she enjoys reading it so much, she’s had to have thought about reenacting some of the scenes.

  I had been thoroughly enjoying some bum fun when the door opened and a very tired looking Ember walked into the bedroom. Her white tee shirt was streaked with what I’m hoping is chocolate ice cream. Her bare feet are silent as she turns to pull her shorts down her legs, giving me a great view of her ass.

  “How is she?” I break the silence, and she jumps a good foot in the air.

  “I thought you would be sleeping,” she says tiredly.

  “I decided to do some light reading instead.” I hold up the book, and she just shakes her head with a small laugh. “I thought about getting a highlighter but didn’t want to piss you off by marking your book up.”

  “Thank you for that,” she sarcastically drones.

  I put the book down, making sure to mark the page I’m on, and pat the bed. “Come on, you look tired.”

  “I’m exhausted. Things just got worse when you left and she’s been crying between mouthfuls of ice cream for the last two hours. I finally had enough and crushed up a Benadryl in her wine. She passed out thirty minutes ago.”

  “Is that safe?”

  “Yeah. I called the twenty-four-hour pharmacist and asked if it was okay to take a Benadryl after a few glasses of wine. She’s just going to take a good, much-needed nap.”

  She climbs into bed, one of her arms going over my stomach and her head dropping to my shoulder. She shifts a few times, bringing one leg up and over mine until I can feel the heat of her knee near my balls.

  “I don’t know this ex of hers, but is this something that came as a shock?”

  I feel her finger push against my nipple ring and I remind myself why I need to calm my dick and be the sensitive boyfriend who listens instead of just fucks his woman every time she breathes near him.

  Easier said than done.

  When she gives it another tweak, I almost forget all my good intentions.

  “I’m honestly not shocked. I’ve always wondered why she stayed with him, but she didn’t have the best life growing up and I think she stuck around out of fear of being alone.”

  “I could kick his ass for her.”

  Her laughter tickles my skin, and I have to clench my jaw not to shiver like a little girl.

  “That’s sweet, honey, but I think her honor is safe and all that.”

  “Is she going to be okay?”

  Ember lifts off my chest and shifts so that her lips press against mine.

  “She’ll be fine. She’s a strong one. Just needed to get it out. Don’t be surprised if she never brings it up again and just moves on like she hadn’t just been betrayed by a man she had spent the last few years loving.”

  “That’s not healthy, baby.”

  “I know it’s not. She works on things her own way and I just make sure I’m there if she needs me.”

  “And what do you need?”

  Her smile is instant. “Just you.”

  “Always.”

  She curls back against my body, her hand going still a few minutes later as her exhaustion wins. It’s been a crazy night, but hopefully, it helped distract the nerves that she’s been fighting as her show gets closer.

  It’s been on the tip of my tongue the last few nights, especially after the fire, to tell her how I feel, but because of the bullshit I had done in the past to hurt her, I know that she needs to be shown. I fucked up and because of that, my biggest fear is that my words won’t be enough. Actually, that’s a lie. The thought that I might feel what she did all those years ago when she bared her soul and I let the pain come to it is a very real insecurity for me. I know deep down that won’t happen, but until I can make her say it again and prove to her that I won’t take that gift for granted, I’m going to keep proving my feelings for her.

  Hell, any fool can say those three little words but not all can show it. It took me a while to figure out what I needed to do was demonstrate that having all of her is something I not only want but also crave. Turning her down will always be one of my biggest regrets—even if it was the best thing for her at the time—because now that I have her, I know the only way I would have ever felt true happiness is in her arms.

  Everything I have ever wanted is coming true. I have Dirty, and already, I know with no doubts that place will continue to thrive. My family is healthy. I have my own home, a badass truck, and friends with a bond that most people would kill to have. Everything that money could buy, I have. But getting the gift of Ember’s love will without a doubt solidify that I’ve made it.

  Nothing in the world is worth having if it isn’t with her.

  I know that now, and it’s my job to make sure that any lingering doubts she might have are erased.

  With a smile on my face and a plan forming in my mind, I pull her a little closer and drift off to sleep.

  Tomorrow is going to be fun.

  “WOULD YOU SIT STILL!” MY sister yells, throwing another Q-tip down on the kitchen table. “I swear to God, Ember, you act like you’ve never put eyeliner on before.”

  Blinking back some of the tears in my eyes, I look up at her and smile, or try to, but my nerves are going nuts in my gut and I’m too focused on trying not to puke.

  “You’re lucky I love you,” she fumes.

  Nate wisely left when the girls showed up earlier. I think he would have stuck around, but when his sister started talking about her night with Cohen, he gagged and left with the promise to be back in time to escort me to the gallery.

  “When is Stella getting here?” Dani asks, twirling another lock of my hair around her flat iron. I’ve always wondered how she got those amazing curls to stay so long but never thought it would be a flat iron doing the trick.

  “Dunno,” Maddi hums, her breath hitting my face as she
attempts to put my liner on—again—and I fight the urge to blink when she starts to come at me with the pointy end again.

  “She had better hurry; she’s got my dress,” I mumble. When I realized that the fire had destroyed the one I had picked out, I knew Stella, or her father rather, was my only hope.

  “What happened to the one you bought?”

  I look over at Dani with a sad smile. “It was hanging on the molding in the doorway to my kitchen. I accidentally brought it in there with the groceries and just decided to leave it there.” Even though I’ve come to terms with what I lost in the fire, it still hurts. My studio being the biggest of heartaches. But everything besides that room that had meant something to me was salvageable, so I need to focus on that and not on what I lost.

  “Damn, sorry, Em,” Dani mumbles.

  “It’s okay. Things are coming along with the construction, according to my dad. I’ve slowly started to rebuild my supplies, so I’ll be fine.”

  “And luckily she kept a lot of her overflow in the guest room, so not all was lost, right Em?”

  I smile at my sister and nod my head.

  “That’s good. You should take over a place here,” Dani contemplates out loud.

  It isn’t something I haven’t thought about, but I don’t want to take over Nate’s space with my stuff. He has a bonus room upstairs that has so much natural lighting and a huge picture window overlooking his backyard. When I first walked into the room, something that he had been using for a man cave type game room, I couldn’t help but think of what a perfect space it would be to set up my easel and get lost.

  His property is set away from the road, gated and secluded. When you stand in that room and look out the window, all you can see is the beautiful woods, the small creek, and the birds flying around. The trees aren’t heavy back there, not like they are around the sides and front of his property, so the sun just gives a shadowed grayness to the land.

  I’ve already decided that I would be painting it soon. My phone was quickly filling up with various angles and images from his woods and property in general.