“Hey,” Brooke said, catching her sister’s irritated gaze. “It’s not a big deal.”
Evy nodded, not convinced Brooke was right by any means. She trudged through the kitchen, realizing she had spent the last half-hour without thinking about Dean one time. Her stomach muscles clenched, her fingers pensively caressing the bare spot on her neck. It had all seemed so right, so meant to be, but then again, so had Richie. She shook it off like the cold on a moonlit winter’s night and pushed through the heavy backdoor with both hands.
The door squeaked as she stepped out into the alley, where storm clouds had rolled in and swallowed the sun, stealing the blue skies and leaving a chill in the air.
“What’s up,” Ben said, leaning against a newly painted bike rack and flipping through his cell phone, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
“I hate to even ask, but can you run to Costco?”
He looked up from the cell, wrinkles forging canyons across his forehead. “Again?”
“I’m sorry, Ben. I forgot to order tulip liners and they won’t be here until next week.”
“Maybe you should go then.”
A worn out sigh rolled from her lips. “I’ve got stuff in the oven.”
“I’ll take care it.”
She cocked her head to one side and pressed her lips together.
“Alright,” he sighed, slipping his phone into his jeans. “But I’m not going there again this week.”
She raised her hands like it was a hold up. “Last time, I promise.”
He grunted. “You said that yesterday.” He pulled his keys out and gestured to his freshly washed black pickup. “Last time I went there, some idiot dinged my door. I even parked way the hell out and they still got me!” Ben stomped around to the driver’s side, grumbling under his breath and shaking his head. He whipped open the door and put one foot inside. “Anything else we need? Speak now or forever hold…” The words died on his lips. His face fell. “Ev?” He left the door open and hurried around the front of the truck. “What’s wrong?”
Evy buried her face into her hands, rapidly shaking her head. “Nothing,” she said, not able to hold the tears back for another second. The gradual buildup of pressure finally sent the walls crumbling down, flooding her cheeks with salty streams that glistened in the gloomy daylight.
“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, wrapping her in his arms, his biceps flexing as he hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry. I’ll go to Costco, it’s not that bad.”
“It’s not about that,” she sniffled.
Understanding washed the confusion from his unshaven face. He held her out for a better look. “Dean?”
She nodded, tears exploding against the asphalt below like translucent bombs. “I think I’ve made a huge mistake, or maybe I haven’t. I don’t know.”
“I thought you couldn’t stand the thought of having Megan and Clay in the picture for the rest of your life.”
“I can’t!”
He searched the sky as thunder rumbled off in the distance. Ben turned back to her and softened his tone. “But you can’t stand the thought of losing Dean either, can you?”
She looked up into his prodding eyes, wiping her face and feeling silly, hating herself for bringing her drama to work yet again. This wasn’t like her and for the first time in her life she felt truly helpless.
“Then you have to ask yourself which you can’t stand more,” he said softly. “And I think we both know the answer to that question.”
She held his comforting gaze, clear liquid trickling from her nose, eyes pleading for help. “What’s the answer? Because I don’t know.” A troubled laugh cart wheeled from her mouth and dissolved in thin air. “What do I do, Ben?” she whispered gravely, searching his face. “What do I do?”
His jaw moved but the words hitched on his tongue, his face twisting in the dull gray light. “I don’t know, Ev. Only you can answer that question.”
“I’ll tell ya what you do!”
They turned to see Brooke poking her head out the back door.
“You go to him!” Brooke stepped outside. “Shaun just called. Clay’s been arrested, his seat on the council suspended.”
Evy’s eyelids drew together, Brooke’s words stealing her breath. “What?”
“Dean just called Shaun from Clay’s office eight blocks west of here. Follow city hall’s bell tower and you might still be able to catch him.”
Evy turned back to Ben, her mouth hanging wide open.
He nodded, smiling softly. “Go,” he whispered.
Evy’s glassy eyes lowered, scouring the ground like she had just dropped something. She looked back up, blood pounding thickly in her temples, mind racing.
“Go!” Brooke cried, tears welling in her eyes.
In a blur, the apron was over Evy’s head and shoved in Ben’s chest as she pushed past him and sprinted down the alley.
“Run!” Brooke yelled, stepping next to Ben with tears rolling down her face. “You go get your man!”
Ben wrapped an arm around his wife and pulled her tightly against him in a warm embrace as they watched Evy fade down the alleyway.
“Isn’t this the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen?” Brooke said faintly, wiping at her eyes.
Ben squeezed her against him, a tight-lipped smile gracing his face. “You just locked us out.”
She turned to him with a folded brow. “Huh?”
He nodded to the backdoor. “It locks from the inside.”
Brooke slowly turned to the door and frowned. “Oh shit.”
***
Dean stared at Evy’s name in his phone, listening to the rain beat against the Jeep’s shiny hood. Different scenarios played out in his mind. One moment he saw Evy jumping into his arms with the news. The next, turning her back to him like she had done in his office, her mind forever unchanged. He deposited the phone in the cup holder and started the engine. The wipers came to life, swiping the fuzzy shapes into focus. With his seatbelt clicked into place, he flipped on the headlights and shifted in reverse, slowly backing out of the parking spot, a single destination in mind.
***
The rain came down harder, falling straight to the ground in flickering streaks. Evy’s sneakers beat against the wet pavement, her mind whirling, the tops of buildings reflected in the puddles collecting in the alley. Her lungs burned with each stride she took, yet she pushed harder, her ponytail violently swinging through the air behind her. Lightning flashed, turning some dumpsters a bright gray. Her arms pumped through the air as a crack of thunder rattled her bones. She reached the end of the alleyway and took a sharp right. Her feet slid out beneath her on the wet sidewalk, sending her crashing into a glistening mailbox. She cried out in pain and scrambled to her feet, allowing herself a quick glance at the blood already oozing through the knee of her jeans before resuming her course with a slight limp.
Up ahead stood a homeless man off to the side with a wet dog tethered to a frayed leash. The bearded man and his unhappy looking pooch watched Evy sprint by, their mouths collecting rainwater. Evy clenched her teeth and fought through the pain, pushing her legs to limits they hadn’t seen since high school gym class. Water exploded beneath her thundering steps. Her heart fluttered as the bell tower came into view. She pushed harder, strands of wet hair coming loose from her ponytail and sticking to her face, everything going by in a hazy blur.
Two police cruisers sat parked by the front doors she had used to enter Clay’s office. Her eyes searched for Dean’s Jeep in the vicinity as she bounded across the street. A Honda Civic slammed on its brakes and laid on the horn, tires screeching across wet pavement. Evy shrieked and jumped to the left, her hands pushing off the hood as the car stopped just inches from her legs. The driver yelled something but Evy was already across the street and racing down the sidewalk, thankful the rain had driven meandering pedestrians indoors who could have gotten in her way.
***
Dean shifted into drive and stepped on the gas, the rain coming down
in buckets now and definitely impairing his view. He squinted through the falling sheets, the wipers whisking back and forth on high as he slipped through the parking lot. His breath clutched when he saw the entryway to the street sitting just ahead. It was clear on the left so he pressed down on the gas pedal.
“Shit!” he screeched, mashing the brake to the floor. His head and the Jeep lurched forward with the abrupt stop and bounced back. Evy stood in the headlight beams, her hands on the hood, bracing herself for the collision that could have killed her. Their eyes met through the driving rain. Her chest heaved beneath her soaked work shirt, her hair hanging in limp strands, dripping with water. Dean blinked blankly, not sure if what he was seeing was real or not. When she came around and hopped into the front seat, the smell of her perfume mixed with the rain.
“What are you…”
She stopped his words with a wet kiss, their lips pressing together like she had just been freed from prison. With great reluctance, Evy broke the kiss to appease her burning lungs, inhaling deep breaths that made her chest swell almost as much as seeing him in person. “I love you no matter what happens and I’m sorry for turning my back on you.” She paused to catch her breath. “On us. It was a mistake.”
He stared into her emerald eyes, his heart inflating to twice its size.
She blinked water from her eyes. “I don’t care what my future holds as long as you’re in it.”
“I will always be in your future, if you will let me.”
Her smile lit up the car, pushing the gloom and doom back outside where it belonged. “I was hoping you would say that.”
He frowned in the lightning that pulsed around them. “What happened to your knee?”
She glanced at the blood seeping through her jeans. “I fell.”
“Are you okay?”
“It’s just a strawberry.”
He looked up to find her mesmerizing gaze, not knowing where to even begin. “The cops arrested Clay for accepting gifts.”
“We heard from Shaun,” she panted, wiping water from her face. “What gifts?”
“The house for starters.”
Her face wrinkled. “The house he bought for a…”
“That’s the one,” he said, saving her from saying the words.
She clutched her chest, still clamoring for much needed oxygen. “I can’t believe it. How?”
“The mayor helped me connect the dots.”
“The mayor?”
Dean couldn’t help but laugh. “Once it hit me about the house, Mayor Andrews was more than willing to help me do some digging. Turns out, I’m a good lawyer.”
Evy squeezed her chest tighter. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”
“Oh, but it gets better.” Dean glanced at his cell phone in the cup holder. “Megan just called.”
Evy’s heart skipped a beat and thunder rattled the dash. She wanted just five more minutes to savor this well deserved victory without the mention of Megan’s name, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. Darkness still loomed around every corner. She looked him in the eye, working up her courage to find her voice. “What’d she want?”
The rain pounded in their ears as he held her gaze.
“I’m not the father.”
She stared at him, tunnel vision setting in, her mind getting lost in a kaleidoscope of swirls. “What?” she said weakly.
His eyes turned as glassy as hers. “I’m not the father.”
Evy clapped a hand over her mouth, terrified she would wake up on her couch and find it was all just a dream. “Oh my God,” she said as one word. “Who is?”
“She doesn’t know.”
A horn beeped two times. He glanced in the side mirror at a red Ford Fusion behind them, the driver holding his fuzzy arms out.
“Hang on,” Dean said, pulling out into the street and taking the first parking spot he could find. He shut the car off and turned to face Evy, taking her hand in his and ravishing her with his eyes.
“Was she even pregnant to begin with?”
Dean nodded. “She’s starting to show.”
Evy paused to let it all sink in before asking her next question. “Why did she tell you?”
“Said she met some guy with a pregnant woman fetish and she wants her house key back.”
Water dripped from her nose. “Normally, I would say that surprised me.”
He laughed, feeling her soft skin against his.
She turned to the blurry front windshield, her future flashing before her eyes: Dean and her together, doing normal things that normal couples do, being happy on a regular basis without interference from the rest of the world. Dean and her together. “Did she know about Clay?”
“No, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her either. I just wanted to get off the damn phone before she could say she was kidding.” Dean followed Evy’s distant gaze out the front window, a knot of pity tightening in his gut at the thought of the challenges awaiting Megan in the not-so-distant future. He pushed the thought back down, concluding Megan and her father had given him enough grief to last a lifetime. Maybe the new guy would stick around past his fetish. Or maybe not. Either way, it was no longer Dean’s burden to bear and for that he was eternally grateful. It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders and he would never make a mistake like that again. Saying he had dodged a bullet was a stretch, for it had grazed him and would leave a mark, but he would live to see another day. Even in the midst of the gray storm, everything looked brighter already.
“When did she find out?”
“She got the test back this morning,” he answered, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand.
Evy searched his eyes. “What did you say to her?”
“I said, thanks for calling,” he replied flatly, filling his lungs with her scent and growing quiet. A shadowy figure hurried by on the sidewalk and disappeared into a corner tap with a neon Schlitz sign glowing in the window. Dean studied Evy through thoughtful eyes, his mind still whirling. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
She covered her gaping mouth. “I can’t believe we’re free.” Her eyes fell to his full lips, drawn to them like bees to pollen. She inhaled a full breath, like she was about to dive underwater, and pressed her lips to his. They shut their eyes and kissed hard, their heads tilting back and forth in perfect rhythm, needy hands exploring one another in the murky light. Evy wasn’t sure if the bright flashes against the back of her eyelids were from the storm or the fireworks going off in her head. It was Milwaukee Street all over again, everything melting together like she was with him.
He pulled away and took her hands, his staggered breath coming and going in short bursts. “I will never hurt you again.” His eyes searched hers for understanding. “And that’s a promise.”
Evy’s insides swelled with something she could never explain, the pouring rain battering the roof as fiercely as her heart was her ribcage. The corners of her lips pulled up into her flushed cheeks. “You better say that.”
Lightning flashed again as their lips reconnected. Her hands found the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head. Their mouths parted just long enough to remove both of their shirts. He paused to take her in, her bare breasts stealing his breath. He seized them and squeezed hard, waking something in his pants he feared would sleep forever.
She kissed him with an unbridled fervor, her fingers tracing the cuts in his chest to the v in his hips. Her fingers found his belt buckle and sinuously wrestled it into submission. His pants popped open with ease and her hand slithered inside to collect what was rightfully hers. Her fingers coiled around his hardness, his breath hot against her cheek.
Dean pulled away, gasping for air as she stroked his cock with gentle urgency. Evy wet her lips, loving the way his body responded to her touch, watching him squirm. When she bent over and took him into her mouth, he pressed his head against the headrest and set his jaw. Lightning fractured the sky, reflecting off her wet hair before returning to gray.
Her warm lips slid up and down his rigid shaft, her tongue tickling his underside with each blissful stroke. The boom of thunder vibrated the car’s windows, prompting her to work faster. Dean pushed against the steering wheel with both hands, pressing into the seat, already uncertain how much more he could take. It had been too long.
“Evy,” he groaned, veins bulging in his neck as she stretched him to his limits. “Stop.”
She sat back up, an impish grin framing her lips. He took a moment to catch his breath and then she squealed a little when he undid her jeans in a frantic frenzy. Evy lifted off the passenger seat, barely noticing the pain when he slid the denim and silk panties over her grazed knee. With her shoes kicked off, the wet garments fell to the floorboard.
He stared at her naked body, spellbound by her natural beauty, the rain providing a curtain of blur between them and the world. “Goddamn you’re beautiful,” he murmured, running his pupils from her eyes to the socks on her feet.
She shoved him back into the seat with force and swung a leg over him, filling his lap like a stripper and looking down at him with more than a touch of mischief dancing in her eyes. Slowly, she began rubbing her wetness against his hardness, up and down the length of his twitching shaft like she was riding a slow moving carousel. He massaged her ass cheeks with both hands, kneading the flesh as she grinded against him.
“You like that?”
He nodded, struggling for breath. “I do.”
“You want more?”
“Yes,” he panted, staring up into her green eyes. “I want it all.”
She bent over and kissed his lips, reaching behind her and throttling his swollen dick. A blast of hot air shot from his nose when she guided it to where she wanted it most. A raw groan fluttered past her lips as she gently eased down on top of him, taking every inch he had to offer, sparing no expense. Lightning pulsed, giving Evy a glimpse of the tension gripping his face.
“Oh, Dean,” she sighed, using her knees to power her greedy thrusts.
Dean flicked his tongue against a nipple before sucking it into his mouth and biting down. She cried out and pulled at his hair. He used his hips to help her but she pinned him to the seat and took control.
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