Meant For You: Rocktown Ink, Book 3

by Gray, Sherilee

  I flopped down on her bed when she shut herself in the bathroom. Which was when I noticed the pictures on the wall. A pinboard covered in photos. I got back up and took a closer look. There were a lot of her and me, and other people I’d never seen before. A couple of Eves with her aunt, a couple of new ones with her and Lila on their horses. One with Eves, Cassy, Quinn, and Trix.

  The door opened.

  “It’s weird knowing you were doing all this while I was in Black Stone. I kind of kept you frozen in time in my mind. That way I could convince myself you were safe and happy, so I could get through each day and not get on my bike and go find you.”

  “I wish you would have,” she said softly.

  I turned around. She was wearing shorts and another loose T-shirt, one that would look like a sack on anyone else but somehow looked the opposite on Everly. What was the opposite of a sack, fucked if I knew. I didn’t want anyone else seeing her like that, though. I knew that much.

  She climbed onto the bed and opened the laptop. I glanced down at her. She was frowning at the screen in concentration.

  The Band-Aid was gone and you could see she’d had stitches. “So how did you cut your head?”

  She flushed instantly but didn’t look up at me. “When I went out with Tanner, I tried to kiss him, and he didn’t see me coming.”

  I stilled. “You tried to kiss that dick?”

  She sighed. “We were on a date.”

  Nope. Didn’t like that, no fucking way. “And the cut?”

  “Like I said, he didn’t see me coming. He kind of turned as I leaned in, and my head met the bottle he was holding.” She winced. “Cue blood everywhere and a visit to the emergency room.”

  “So you really liked that douche?” Okay, yeah, I sounded like a jealous idiot, but I couldn’t stop myself.

  Eves shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess.” She glanced at me. “Can we not talk about this? It was humiliating enough at the time. I’m not in the mood to relive it.”

  I didn’t exactly want to think about it either. “Fine by me.”

  “Good.”

  She hit some keys, and the theme song to Despicable Me started. I grinned. I’d saved some money Cal had given me, kept it hidden, and used it to take Everly to this movie a couple of weeks after I met her. I’d just wanted to make her smile.

  I climbed up beside her and shoved a pillow behind my head while she set the laptop up between us.

  “All we need now is popcorn,” she said, fluffing her own pillow.

  “You always ate all mine.”

  “I like popcorn.”

  “No shit.”

  She giggled and my abs tightened.

  We settled back to watch.

  I didn’t see a damn thing. All of me tuned in to Everly, the way she breathed, her sweet laughter, every tiny movement. I wanted to freeze this moment in time.

  An hour later, Everly was asleep facing me, an arm flung over her head. I closed the laptop and put it on the table beside the bed. I should probably have gotten up and gone but it was nearly three in the morning and I was tired, and it wasn’t like we hadn’t slept in the same bed hundreds of times before.

  One of those times started replaying through my mind without my say-so, and like always my reaction to those memories was not only visceral but physical. My heart rate sped up, palms growing sweaty.

  “Keep hold of my hand, Eves,” I said, clinging to hers so tight I was probably hurting her. But there was no way I was letting go.

  The music thumped through the house while people sang and danced. One woman was passed out on the couch. A guy and another woman were on a chair making out. Another loser leaning over the coffee table was snorting shit up his nose. Sonya was waiting for her turn. I had no idea where Wayne was, probably passed out in the backyard.

  “Hey, sweetheart, where do you think you’re going?” someone said behind me. Everly tugged on my hand, then she was gone.

  I spun around and Earl, Wayne’s buddy, had Everly in his lap, hands on her ribs, trying to tickle her. Everly tried to fight him off, looking terrified, like she was about to start crying.

  I didn’t hesitate. I walked over and leaned in. “Let her the fuck go, Earl,” I said close to his ear so he’d hear me over the music. “Or the moment you pass out, I’ll chop off your fucking dick and shove it down your throat.”

  I stepped back, my hand dropping to the hunting knife I was wearing that I’d saved up and gotten a few weeks earlier.

  Earl’s gaze dropped to it, then slid back up to mine, and, yeah, he saw I meant it, because I fucking did. He shoved her off roughly, and I caught her before she fell.

  “Get the fuck out of here,” Earl said and stumbled to his feet.

  I curled Everly into my side and rushed her through the party to my room at the end of the hall, slammed the door shut, and slid across the lock. Everly stood back and I dragged my dresser in front of the door as well, something I’d done so many times there were permanent gouges in the wooden floor.

  Everly ran at me as soon as it was done, and I held her tight. “I won’t let anyone hurt you,” I said against the top of her head, even as I shook so hard from fear and anger I thought I might throw up.

  “I know,” she whispered.

  There were many nights like that, too many. So many close fucking calls. Nights when we slept in the yard in an old shed at the back of the property when things were really bad. Nights when I was so afraid that someone would hurt her I refused to sleep.

  But I think they saw something in me, something they were afraid of, because they pretty much stayed away from me. Perhaps they saw the truth in my eyes, that I’d do anything to protect Everly. Anything.

  Wayne often said I had a demon inside me, that he could see it in my eyes. He was wrong, of course. What he saw was straight-up hatred. But I was more than happy to let him think it.

  They only had us there for what they could get, so ignored us most of the time, which meant I’d eventually found ways to contact my family. But at the start, when I was first put into the system, Cal had been too fucked up after his accident to do anything for me, and Bull had been in prison. So I’d said nothing about my living conditions, knowing how hard things already were for them, knowing even then that there was nothing they could do.

  Then Eves came and we both stayed quiet because we were afraid if we told the truth they wouldn’t believe us and things would only get worse. But the thing that scared us most, that kept me from telling my family, was Everly and me being separated. Sent to different homes.

  I rubbed my hands over my face, forcing the memories away, refusing to bring them here. I didn’t want them here.

  It was done. Over.

  I glanced at her again and seeing her safe beside me helped to wash the last of it away.

  It was hot as hell in Eves’s room. I usually slept naked, but since that wasn’t an option, I yanked off my shirt, flung it aside, and tried to get comfortable.

  * * *

  Despite being tired, I’d stayed awake most of the night, but I’d obviously managed to drift off early this morning, because I woke with the sun trying to burn my retinas out of my head and Everly plastered against me.

  Only she felt a lot different than she had the last time I’d slept in the same bed as her.

  I was on my back, and she was on her side facing me. The front of her hips was snugged up against my waist. She was under my arm, her head on my chest. One of her legs was thrown across me, her thigh on my dick, and her boobs mashed up against my ribs, soft and…so hot.

  And fuck me. I could feel her fucking nipples.

  I glanced down at her and my breathing became shallow, rougher. The light made her skin glow. Her lashes, a shade darker than her hair, rested on her smooth cheeks. My gaze dropped to her lips, pouty and full. The tight grip behind my ribs moved down low in my gut.

  The sensation, I knew, was a mashup of a whole lot of emotions I’d been trying to suppress, truths I’d refused to believe,
a fear so deep it shook me to my core.

  And there was no locking all of that down anymore. Not now that I had her back.

  I didn’t want to.

  I’d done a lot of thinking in the dark when I couldn’t sleep, while Everly slept silently beside me, and I’d come to an obvious conclusion. Obvious because that’s exactly what it fucking was.

  It was time to get out of my own damn way.

  Everly was mine. She became mine the moment we met. The beautiful girl asleep beside me was meant for me, and I was meant for her.

  I was in love with my best friend.

  It didn’t hit like some lightning bolt. The truth settled around me while I watched her sleep. It was like a veil being lifted, revealing what had always been. Everly had dug in so deep, was a part of my soul, and I didn’t know how I hadn’t seen it before.

  I’d lain here and let that sink in.

  Then I’d spent the next few hours analyzing my shit behavior in the past, really thought about my anger and where it came from. Helplessness was the big one, the driving force. And the more I’d acted out because of it, the farther I’d felt from Everly and the tighter I’d clung to her, terrified she’d see me the way I saw myself and leave me anyway.

  Everyone I loved had left me. First, my parents had up and fucked off, because apparently they had better things to do than raise their sons. Then Cal, Bull, and Gran were taken away.

  Then Everly.

  They’d all been torn from me.

  In the end, I’d been so fucking afraid of that happening again with Everly, I’d gotten in first. I’d fucked up so bad I thought I’d lost her forever, that I would never be good enough for her, and I’d walked away before I got hurt even more, and hurt us both in the process.

  She loved me, I knew she did, but she’d given up on me because I’d given up on myself.

  I knew what I had to do now. I knew what I wanted.

  I had to get Everly to fall in love with me.

  Anything else was unacceptable.

  She stirred and jolted, like she’d given herself a fright. Then her head tipped back and she looked up at me, and instantly relaxed.

  “I forgot you were here,” she said, trying to blink the sleepiness away.

  Her hand was low on my stomach, and suddenly I was having trouble breathing. Now that I’d decided I could have her, I wanted her, so damn bad it was a struggle to hold myself back.

  “I should probably get going. Got clients this morning,” I said, even though leaving was the last thing I wanted to do.

  She made this mmm sounds that was kind of husky, and things started happening below my belt. Things that would’ve freaked me out a couple of days ago, but now that I’d come to my decision, my realization, not at fucking all. I let my dick do whatever the hell it wanted. No guilt. It was…freeing.

  She planted her hand on my chest and lifted her head to look at me. Her skin was bright and smooth and, Jesus, did I want to taste those pouty pink lips. She blinked a couple more times like she was still struggling to wake up. She was adorable and sexy, and, fuck me, I was struggling to think or form words into coherent sentences.

  Her gaze drifted over me sleepily. She was all rumpled and warm and beautiful, and I wanted to kiss her so bad my mouth tingled.

  She blinked at me again and some of the sleepiness vanished. “Is that…” Her head shot up, mahogany eyes colliding with mine. “That’s my name on your chest.”

  I was waiting for her to see it, and her reaction did not disappoint. I mean, I’d inked the girl’s name on my fucking chest, and still it took me this long to work out how I truly felt, to let myself feel it. “Yeah. I designed it and Riff inked it for me.”

  She stared at the red script on my left pec.

  “But…”

  I shrugged. “I missed you, Eves.”

  “You call or text or look at old pictures. You don’t tattoo someone’s name on your body.”

  Her voice had gotten kind of high.

  “I do. You don’t like it?”

  Her hand crept up and her finger moved to the E, tracing it, giving me goose bumps all over my skin. “Of course I like it. It’s beautiful.” She looked up at me again. “It’s really…it’s beautiful. But…”

  “But what?” There was so much going on behind her eyes, and I wanted to know what she was thinking, all of it.

  “What will your wife think?”

  “Last time I looked, I wasn’t married. Fucking hope not anyway.”

  She shook her head, and her hair slid over her shoulder, brushing my abs. “One day you might be.”

  I shrugged again and chuckled. “I’ll find her a space on my skin if she’s earned it.” The point was moot as far as I was concerned. Everly was the only woman’s name I’d have on my body. She wasn’t ready to hear that, though.

  Eves playfully hit me, then dug her fingers into my ribs, and I laughed, because I was ticklish as shit and she knew it. I grabbed her hand, stopping her.

  “I earned a place on your skin, huh?” she said.

  “Yeah, you belong there. Always knew I was going to put you right here,” I said, touching the spot close to my heart.

  She rested her head on my chest and puffed out a breath, hot against my nipple. “You irritate me, you know that?” she said, lips brushing my now oversensitive skin.

  I ran my hand over her hair. “How’s that?”

  “You’re overprotective and kinda nuts when it comes to me. You’re also incredibly sweet and hard to stay mad at.”

  “Does this mean you’ve forgiven me?” I said, smoothing back her hair again.

  She looked up at me. “I wouldn’t go as far as that, but I don’t want to kneecap you as much as I did before.”

  I laughed again. “I’ll take that.”

  Her gaze moved over my chest. “You have a lot more ink than when I last saw you.”

  “You like it?”

  “It looks good.” Her gaze moved over me again and, shit, I felt it, like she was touching my skin. “Wow, you really have both nipples pierced,” she muttered. “Besides the one in your tongue, you took the rest out?”

  “Yeah.” No fucking way was I telling her about the only other one I had. She’d discover it herself soon enough.

  She glanced back down at my chest. “Can I touch one?”

  Christ. “Sure,” I choked out.

  One of her delicate fingers touched the ring through my right nipple, lifting it and sending zaps of pleasure through me. Fuck. I needed to get the hell off this bed, or her innocent exploration of my piercings might kill me.

  “What does it feel like?”

  My dick pulsed. “Ah…”

  Her head tilted to the side. “Like when they’re tugged on or whatever?”

  “Yeah, good.” I sounded like I had a vise on my throat.

  She flicked it again, and I grabbed her hand, gently pushing her back and climbing off the bed. “I need to go.” I yanked my shirt on. I wanted her in a way that bordered on insanity, but I had to be careful and approach this the right way. No matter what she said, she still had a way to go to forgive me. I’d hurt her, and she wasn’t going to just forget that overnight.

  “I had a good time last night,” she said.

  “Yeah, me, too.” I needed to get the fuck out of there before she saw what was going on behind my zipper. Still, I stopped at the door before I walked out. “I’ll call you later?”

  She smiled and nodded.

  My abs did that fucking tightening thing again.

  “And, Eves?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Dating lessons start this week.”

  I heard her suck in a breath as I walked away.

  Chapter Seven

  Everly

  I climbed out of the truck and rounded the hood. It was hot and I’d been out in the sun all day working. Cassy had taken pity on me and sent me to Rocktown to get more feed. Since she’d gotten to know a lot of people through Cal, she’d managed to get a better deal
there than she could in Springhaven. And I didn’t mind the thirty-minute drive one bit.

  A chance to wind down the window and blow off some steam by singing at the top of my lungs was always welcome.

  I was also hoping to see Dane. I’d missed him in my bed last night, which was crazy since I’d spent years without him beside me. But having him back for one night, that feeling of safety, of comfort…it was addictive.

  Probably dangerous as well. I couldn’t let myself get used to it. I was trying to be more independent, not go back to the way we were.

  “Dating lessons start this week.”

  He’d also texted me this morning, like he always used to before he disappeared on me. I was still struggling with some seriously mixed emotions. But I knew the idiot had been trying to protect me when he left—I did—but as usual he’d done it in that single-minded way when it came to me.

  Somehow I needed to make him understand, get it through to him, that I didn’t want or need him making those kinds of decisions for me.

  Spending more time together would help with that. Getting to know each other again, who we were now. He wanted to start my “lessons” this week, and so did I, but things were so busy at the ranch. I thought while I was here I’d go see him and we could work out when we both had some free time.

  I pushed the doors open to Rocktown Ink and walked in, and as usual, music was playing loudly.

  Jimmy Chew, an unlikely mix of beagle, greyhound, and cattle dog, came running out to greet me, all long legs and wagging tail. “Hey, Jimmy.” I gave him some love, patting his boxy head and down his long slender body, and got a big doggy grin for my trouble.

  I glanced up at Trix, who was standing behind the counter, and grinned. Trixie Faraday was twenty-three, Jimmy Chew’s owner, and was one of my best friends. I loved her style and regularly wished I could pull off her look. Trix dressed super feminine, was blessed with pixie features, vibrant green eyes, and had the most amazing riot of black-and-blond streaked hair. Her arms were covered in bright beautiful ink, and she had a small gold nose ring.