Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Even as we sped up, it happened as one. Not rough or desperate, as we had screwed so many times before. But steady and loving. Every movement like he’d been made specifically for me.
As we came together, our cries drowned out in the hot Midland afternoon, I relinquished my last hold on control. I hadn’t been waiting for a moment to show someone the real me. I’d been waiting for Whitt, the person who’d discovered it for himself.
24
Whitton
Eve was my girlfriend.
Mine.
All mine.
On Monday morning, I was still on a high from the weekend away while I drove West and Harley to Ransom Canyon for the annual Wright barbecue at Jensen’s lake house. Eve would be there later in the day after she finished the showing she had with a couple who had come into Lubbock for the weekend to look for houses for when they moved here at the end of the year. She hadn’t been happy about not driving in with me. Frankly, I wasn’t either, but I understood her work mentality. She rarely took a break and giving up a whole weekend to Midland had been a lot for her.
For my girlfriend.
Another smile hit my lips, undeterred.
“So, like, are you going to talk about it?” Harley asked from the backseat.
“Talk about what?” I asked.
West snorted next to me. “The stupid look on your face.”
“I don’t have a stupid look on my face.” I dropped my smile at the comment. Ass.
“Yes, you do,” Harley said. “Like you’re in love or something.”
Well, wasn’t I? Holding Eve in my arms under the trees in Midland had been the closest I’d ever gotten to feeling like that. The feel of her heated skin under my touch. The taste of her sweet lips. The face she made as we came together. And better than all of that had been the words she used. The fact that she’d finally relented to what we’d both been feeling.
“Oh my God, you’re in love!” Harley said when I didn’t say anything.
“Adorable,” West teased.
I punched him. “Shut up.”
West laughed as he rubbed his arm. “Careful. I need these to play keys. I’m heading back to LA soon.”
“Don’t remind us,” Harley grumbled. “I just got back, and you’re leaving.”
“He won’t stop talking about it. I don’t know how we could forget,” I muttered.
“Can’t help it that I’m famous now.”
Harley groaned, and I punched him again. It was so nice to have siblings.
“Anyway, back to the important matter at hand,” Harley said. “I see you changing the subject.”
“I didn’t. West did.”
“What’s going on with you and Eve?”
“We’re dating.”
“Yeah. You were dating before.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” I added, the stupid smile returning to my lips.
“Yay!” Harley cried.
Even West grinned at that. “Congrats, man! She makes you smile. So, I like her.”
“She’s a badass,” Harley added. “I approve.”
“So glad I have your approval.”
I pulled onto the main road that led into Ransom Canyon. West Texas was shaped like the surface of a golf ball with lots of flat spots and little divots all over. It was why it flooded every time it rained and why we had these beautiful canyons just outside of town. Ransom Canyon was the closest to Lubbock with beautiful houses around a large lake. Jensen’s was on the far side of the lake, and we had to drive over a man-made dam. The house came complete with a dock with a boat and a few Jet Skis. Already, a bunch of cars lined the narrow road and covered the drive for the party.
I parked down the street and grabbed the cooler out of the back. Jensen had said we didn’t have to bring anything, but I felt weird showing up to a party empty-handed. We were almost there when my phone rang in my pocket.
I tugged it out and saw Dad across the screen. I sighed. He’d called while I was in Midland, too, but I hadn’t answered. Eve’s family was enough to deal with. I hadn’t wanted to add my own troubles to the mix. But now, I should probably figure out what the hell he wanted.
“I’m going to take this,” I said, holding up the phone.
They saw who it was, and both groaned.
“Don’t do it,” Harley said.
“Yeah. Just come enjoy the party,” West said. “He can wait.”
“He called Friday, too. I should probably take it.”
West sighed. “Fine. But be quick.”
He jerked the cooler out of my hand and nodded his head at Harley. She dragged her thumb across her throat, as if to tell me what to do to the man we all called Dad. I shook my head, and she doubled down by pretending to tie a noose around her neck and sticking her tongue out.
I pressed the green button to answer. “Hello?”
“Hey, Whitton. Good to hear your voice.”
“Yeah. You, too.”
“What’s going on over there?”
“I’m at Jensen’s for his Labor Day party.”