Always Mine: An Enemies to Lovers Romance

by Natalie Lux

  “He’s my date,” said Eva in a firm voice from behind him. “Unless you want to get fired on the spot, I suggest you let him in.”

  The bouncer obeyed immediately, taking a step to the side to let me in. The second we walked through the door, Eva was bombarded by people trying to take photos with her. I tried to lead her to the bar, but even I couldn’t fight through the mob of people that had descended on us.

  Eva seemed to be used to this, however, and took pictures with everyone, embracing their adoration with a tired smile. My respect for her rose even higher. I didn’t know how anyone could be a celebrity and not want to throw themselves out of a window every night. I realized that one day if all went well, I might have to go through the same thing.

  With another pang, I was reminded of how different we’d become. A football player and an actress? I was pretty sure 99% of those relationships in the media ended in tears and divorce. No, don’t think about that tonight. You’re here to get drunk and have fun. Make the best of it.

  When the throng of people finally dispersed, I practically carried her to the bar, clearing a path through the mob of people.

  “How the hell do you do that?” I asked while we waited for our drinks.

  She smiled and flipped her hair back. Even with that simple shake of her head, my cock twitched as I imagined those bright red lips wrapped around my cock, sucking me dry. I didn’t know if I could make it until the end of the night.

  “It took years of practice, believe me. And alcohol helps when you’re learning.”

  I laughed, downed my first shot, and quickly ordered us another round.

  “Ah you must be Eva Campbell!” came a woman’s voice from behind us.

  Eva’s smile was automatic as she turned around to face the woman.

  “Yes ma’am, I’m Dave’s daughter. It’s nice to meet you,” she said.

  “It’s nice to meet you too, dear! I’m one of Sheila’s friends. She’s told me so much about you!” her face turned towards me and her smile widened. “And this must be that pop star she mentioned you were dating! It’s Colton, right?”

  I forced a smile.

  “No, my name is Reid.”

  “Oh, you’re not the pop singer?” I noticed her face fall in disappointment, as though I’d personally offended her by not being famous.

  “Nope. I play football for Evendale.”

  Her face withered and she gave me a nasty smirk.

  “Well, that’s not what Sheila told me. Oh well. I’ll see you later, dear,” she said, faking a sickly, sweet smile to Eva and sauntering off. Not two seconds later, a group of elegantly dressed women approached us and began the same routine.

  “You’re Eva Campbell? Oh my God! And who’s your boyfriend? Is that the singer? Can he sign stuff for us?”

  I was getting sick and tired of telling everyone I wasn’t some pop singer that Eva used to sleep with. Finally, I turned back to the bar, trying to pretend there weren’t three more people behind us, eager to meet the “celeb couple.”

  “I’m sorry about this,” said Eva, putting a hand on my arm. She looked even more annoyed than I was but the acting training probably helped keep herself under control. “Sheila must have invited people and told them I was bringing my ex. We can go if you want.”

  I forced another smile and sipped my drink.

  “It’s okay, babe. Don’t worry about it. You go ahead and mingle, I’ll hang out at the bar.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said again and planted a kiss on my cheek. And somehow, that was all it took to make me feel better.

  19

  Eva

  I was furious. Did every single person here come just for a picture with me and my date? I didn’t recognize anyone here. Were they all just Sheila’s friends? I found her and my dad sitting at a table, sipping champagne, talking with more younger guests I didn’t know.

  “Hi guys,” I said, marching up to the table, attempting to keep my voice steady. “Can I have a quick word with you two?”

  “Hey, honey, sure you can. Excuse us guys.”

  Sheila’s eyes gleamed with malice and I noticed a nasty smile playing across her lips as she rose to join my dad. My hands itched to smack it off her face, but I knew my dad wouldn’t be too impressed, so I resigned myself to balling my hands into fists instead.

  “Do you know what she’s doing?” I demanded when the three of us were alone.

  “Honey, if there’s a problem between you two-”

  “There is.” I rounded on Sheila. “First, you didn’t want Reid to come here at all. Now you’ve told everyone here that the guy that I brought is my ex. We haven’t been able to relax all night because everyone keeps coming up to us and asking to take pictures.”

  Sheila just shrugged, the infuriating expression still on her face.

  “I’m sorry, I thought you were bringing that handsome singer. Not some wannabe football player. It’s not my fault you didn’t tell us who you were bringing, I could have planned ahead of time.”

  “Stop telling everyone that he’s a celebrity! He shouldn’t have to feel like an asshole every time someone wants to talk to him!”

  “And how much do you really know about him?” said Sheila, her eyes narrowing. “You’ve been gone a long time, dear. This town is different from when you first left. I remember his coach-”

  “Dave! Sheila! We need you two up here for the photo shoot!”

  Sheila gave me another fake smile as my dad went to the photographer, apologizing to me.

  “Good luck, dear.”

  “What do you mean his-”

  But she’d already disappeared into the crowd.

  What the hell was she talking about? How did she know about Reid’s football coach? Was there some kind of connection there that Reid wasn’t telling me about? I went back to the bar in a daze and found Reid sitting all by himself, just like I’d seen him my first day back.

  “Hey, can we talk for a minute?” I asked, signaling the bartender for a drink.

  “Another set of fans you want me to entertain?” he said with his signature smirk that got me so riled up. But I wasn’t in the mood right now.

  “Look, has Sheila been talking to you? Did you know her from before or something?”

  “I’ve never met her before yesterday, Eva. Why, what has she been saying about me?”

  “Nothing, she just acted like she knew you,” I said, averting my eyes. What she’d said bothered me more than I wanted to admit to myself. The truth was, I didn’t know how much Reid had changed, regardless of what Sheila may or may not have known about him.

  I still viewed him as the young, smart, cute kid that had been my rock ever since my mom passed away. And now all of a sudden, he’d transformed into this handsome, raucously good-looking stud who got what he wanted when he wanted and how he wanted. Could he just be using me? Was I nothing but a fuck toy to him, to get rid of when I left?

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, brushing the hair out of my face. It was my turn to force a smile.

  “Nothing, just thinking about some things. Look, we can get out of here and-”

  Before I could finish my sentence, I heard a familiar voice boom from the DJ stand and glanced up instinctively, praying the shots I’d had were just getting to my head. But there was no mistaking that mop of blond hair and obnoxious expression. Up at the DJ stand and staring straight at me was Colton.

  “Eva, baby, I know I made a mistake. Just give me another chance and I’ll make things right,” he warbled through the mic, a stupid grin on his face. He didn’t even sound like a real person. He was clearly hammered out of his mind.

  The entire club had gone quiet either looking at me or Colton. I froze, wondering how the fuck he’d gotten here. Did Sheila contact his team and tell him I’d be here? Was she the one behind this? She had to be. Who else would want to humiliate me? I knew I was beet-red right now, but it was pure fucking anger. The fucking nerve he had to come here and announce it to the entire world made my
blood boil.

  I was supposed to be here for a wedding rehearsal and everything had gone south the moment I walked through the door. Was it so hard to ask for something nice for once? A little break in my crazy, ridiculous life?

  Colton continued to stand up there, his arms outstretched as the crowd waited for me to respond. Did he really think I was going to take him back after what he’d done? I’d always told him I hated cheaters. It was a bad problem in my line of work and I couldn’t stand it. I heard more photos being taken, knowing this would probably make the front page of TMZ tomorrow.

  I needed to get out of there before I did something stupid.

  “We’re leaving,” I said to the club, grabbing Reid by the arm and stomping out the door. I was getting angrier and angrier with each step.

  “That was your ex?” said Reid, a look of surprise and amusement on his face. Even he seemed to be at a loss for words. I didn’t blame him.

  “He’s a giant, cheating piece of shit,” I muttered. I heard the music go back to normal as we walked to the car and breathed a small sigh of relief. At least I’d escaped the place without doing anything too stupid.

  “I gotta say, he sounded better tonight than he did on that song from the radio.” Reid couldn’t keep the laughter out of his voice.

  “Believe me—"

  “Eva! Wait!”

  The doors banged open as Colton raced towards us, the bouncer nowhere in sight.

  Colton looked horrible up close. His usually handsome face was skinny and gaunt and there were huge, dark circles under his eyes. He looked as though he hadn’t slept in days.

  “What the hell do you want?” I growled, my voice dripping venom as he ran up to us, gasping.

  “Why did you leave me? I thought I was supposed to be coming to your dad’s wedding?” he said breathlessly as he finally caught up. I could feel a new kind of energy radiating from Reid standing next to me and knew he would be ready to deal with this creep in an instant if I asked him to.

  “Yeah well after I saw you fucking that girl the other day, I decided to rethink things a little. I don’t want to see or speak to you ever again, Colton, do you understand? You cheated on me and I’m not forgiving that. Leave me the fuck alone.”

  “C’mon, Eva, don’t be like that. I’m a musician, I deserve some random sex every once in a while. Besides, you hadn’t been home and I needed a release. What was I supposed to do?”

  The balls on this guy.

  “Not cheat on me. That’s what you were supposed to do. We’re done, Colton. Just leave me alone.”

  He took a step forward right into my face. He was a head shorter than Reid and about half his weight, but he was still taller than me and I knew he could hurt me if he wanted.

  “I’m not going to leave you alone, Eva. You’re too important to me. Just give me another chance and come back home with me!”

  I opened my mouth angrily, but Reid stepped forward, any trace of amusement gone.

  “Look, kid, I don’t give a fuck who you are, but Eva said to leave her alone. I suggest you go back to the party and drown in that bottle of champagne you were working on. Now.”

  Colton’s mouth twisted into a sneer as he turned his gaze to Reid.

  “And who the hell is this guy, Eva? Did you tell him that we were—?”

  “I told you to get lost, punk. Now get lost or we’re gonna have a problem.”

  Colton opened his mouth and no sound came out; no one had ever talked to him like this before and without his posse of bodyguards, he had no backup. He was about to get thumped and he knew it.

  “Come on, kid, back inside. Go find someone else in there, I’m sure some of those housewives would love a drunk celebrity,” growled Reid, taking him by the arm and marching him back to the club.

  “Eva, come on, don’t be like this!” shouted Colton as he was dragged away.

  “If you ever come near Eva again, you will regret it. Do you understand me? I’ll be watching.”

  20

  Reid

  I was afraid I might have gone too far. I held back as much as I could without beating the little shit to a pulp, but was it too much? I had no idea if she still had feelings for this guy. But I didn’t really care. Anyone who ignores it when a woman says “no” deserves to get their ass handed to them.

  She just stood there in front of her car, her face a mask of mixed emotions. I couldn’t tell if she was happy or upset.

  “I’m sorry, Eva, he wouldn’t leave you alone. I did what I had to do. You really think I was just gonna stand here and let him get in your face like that especially after you told him to fuck off? I wanted to beat the shit out of him right here in the parking lot, but I didn’t know…”

  She stood there, unmoving as she stared at the spot where I’d shoved him against the doors. He’d gone back inside with a whimper and hadn’t come back. Probably went off to bother some other poor girl, or with any luck, Eva’s future stepmom.

  I didn’t know what to say to Eva. Everything had been going well until this stupid rehearsal party. Why couldn’t anything go right between us? We were just supposed to be friends. I didn’t want her to think I was going too far with this even though we were having such a great time.

  Before I knew what had happened, Eva had wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

  “You have no idea how much I appreciated that,” she said breathlessly, her arms still tight around me, her head buried in my chest. “If anything, I wish you’d given me a chance to punch him in the face. After what he did to me…”

  “You aren’t mad at me? That was your boyfriend, wasn’t it? The famous singer?”

  “Was being the key word. I don’t need him anymore,” she said, her eyes shining as she looked into mine.

  I felt a gravelly laugh burst from my lips. Eva had definitely changed. Hollywood had made her even feistier, tougher, more mature. She’d grown up and it just made me want her even more.

  Dealing with her piece of shit ex created a certain kind of fiery excitement in me. By the time we got back to the house, her clothes were already off and I was already carrying her over my shoulder to the bedroom.

  There was a different sort of fire that I was feeling now. Seeing one of her exes flipped a switch in my brain. I wanted her to know she was all mine. I wanted her to know that none of her exes mattered. She belonged to me now.

  I dropped her on the bed and immediately began kissing her, burying my face in her neck, sucking her. Her first moans triggered me even more as I pulled her dress off, my mouth salivating at her beautiful body. I took a small pink nipple in my mouth and began to suck, her soft skin trembling under my touch.

  My lips started their journey south, showering her entire body with kisses before I reached her sweet spot. God, I couldn’t get enough of the way she writhed in my arms, eager for me to take her and do whatever I wanted. My tongue traveled to her inner thighs, tasting her as I teased. I wanted her to scream for me. I wanted her to scream my name and tell me that I was hers and no one else’s. The same thing I wanted to tell her.

  I reached her clit and began to eat her out, one hand firmly on her breast, the other working on her tight, wet hole. I let my tongue take over, tasting every inch of her beautiful pussy while I fingered her. She bucked in my arms, her entire body arching as she shuddered with pleasure.

  “Reid… please… I want…” her eyes were closed as she writhed in my arms, my cock hardening almost instantly at the sound of her begging. I pulled off my pants in a flash, tossing them across the room as easily as I’d tossed her shithead ex. Eva was mine. She would always be mine.

  I covered her moans with my lips, giving her a taste of her sweet juices as my tongue slid into her mouth. The kiss became more and more intense as she moaned into my mouth, one hand in her tousled hair, the other guiding my cock into her.

  She let out a groan of pleasure as my cock entered her heat. I realized that this is what I’d needed. Her. The feeling of her body underneath
mine. Her touch, her scent, her taste. Friends be damned, I wanted her forever and I didn’t care. Her legs wrapped around my waist as I began to move in and out of her, picking up speed quickly.

  Her hands clutched my back as I worked, her nails digging trails of scratches along my back. I continued to kiss her neck as I fucked her, my groans joining hers as we shared our pleasure. I fought back the urge to come with her as she came for the first time, her body shaking as she let out a yell, her pussy tightening against my cock.

  It was as though no time had passed between us. When we were in bed together, we were still the same kids who’d fallen hard for each other in those last couple years of high school. We were young, wild, adventurous, obsessed with each other’s bodies. We know each other so well there’s no need for communication. We both know exactly what we want. What we’ve always wanted.

  I paused as she came again, her moans getting louder and louder.

  “Oh fuck, Reid!” she gasped. She always knew I loved to hear the sweet sound of her voice screaming my name. I flipped her body over easily as her moans turned into giggles and then back into moans as I began to take her from behind, getting even more of my cock inside of her.

  The sight of her beautiful ass was almost enough to make me bust right there, but I couldn’t come. Not yet. I grabbed her breasts as my thighs slapped her ass, my mouth all over her neck. I pulled her up and kissed her mouth again as I felt her pussy tighten around my cock one more time, giving me the signal.

  We lost control at the same time, her body grinding against mine as I spent my seed inside her. When it was over, I kissed her tenderly on her lips, her eyes wide and full of passion. She was so good at saying so much with those eyes, knowing they drove me crazy. We lay there for what seemed like forever, in each other’s arms. I was completely fine with that. I could stay with her forever and I’d die a happy man.

  9 years earlier