Without a Doubt (28 page)

Thankfully, Eva seems to catch on. “He was number two of the four, Emerson. There was a guy in high school, Luke, a guy I dated my sophomore year, and then you. I wouldn't have been able to have sex for the first time like that.” Relief pools through me. Before I can speak, she does. “If Luke is like he appears to be, I don't think I'll be coming to any more family dinners. I don't know what you want now. Are you going to be able to get over this? Or are we over when I walk out of that door?”

Am I really going to let her go because of something that happened way before we met? After she stayed through the whole Kelly situation? Is it worth losing her? Eva mistakes my brief silence for me agreeing it's over when she leaves. She shakes her head and stands to leave. I grab her wrist before she can get far.

“I'm not letting you go,” I tell her. “Not over this. Please don't go.”

She nods and finally, she seems like my Eva again. “You're going to have to feed me if you want me to stay.”

My stomach growls at the mention of food. “I'll run out and pick us up something.” After giving her a kiss, I grab my keys and leave to grab us dinner. Putting this situation behind us should be relatively easy. All we need to do is never think about it again and stay away from Luke. Eventually, whenever he decides to grow up, being around Luke and Eva at the same time won't be so bad.

Unfortunately, tonight can't end well apparently. I push open the door to my apartment I see Luke and Eva in the kitchen. They haven't noticed me yet because of their fussing.

“I always wondered whatever happened to you. Can't believe you ended up with someone like Emerson.”

“Someone like Emerson? Please tell me, what is wrong with your brother? Because he's a better person than you are!”

He ignores her question, sounding amused of all things. “You can be a bitch when you're sober.”

“And you're an ass! What are you doing here? Why are you bringing all of this up? Are you still pissed because I turned you down?”

Luke laughs. “Are you kidding? I still had sex that night. You might have turned me down, but the next girl didn't. Tell me,” he leans against the counter, “how much do you regret it?”

“Oh, my God,” Eva groans. “None! You should come off your high horse, Luke. I had to be drunk and upset to sleep with you. You realize that, right? You were so eager to stick your dick in someone, it wasn't hard to be the person you had sex with at a party. If I had to do it all over again, trust me, I wouldn't come within a hundred miles of you.”

“No? You would rather be with Emerson, who's probably imagining Kelly when he fucks you? Even a blind man could see it, Eva. He—”

“Will you leave already?” Eva huffs in frustration as she interrupts him.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” I say, catching both of their attentions. I've had enough of it myself. “What are you doing here, Luke?” I close the door, walking over to them, and drop the bag of food on the bar.

“I came to explain things to my little brother.” He grins, his demeanor shifting from how he was acting with Eva.

“You don't need to do that, so you can go.”

Luke shrugs. It seems too easy to have him leave without a fight, especially after what I witnessed moments ago. “Okay, have it your way.” He claps me on the shoulder. “You're a lucky guy, little bro.” He tilts his head toward Eva. “Best fuck I've ever had. Definitely a step up from Kelly for you.”

My fist hits him in the jaw before I can think twice about it. I've wanted to do that all day and it felt damn good to do it. Eva shrieks, but Luke grins as he holds his hands up in surrender. “Get out,” I ground out.

He nods and heads for the door. Before he leaves, he calls out, “Hope to see you around, Eva.”

I flex my fingers as soon as the door closes. He's got a hard head, that's for sure. Eva silently walks over and begins to massage my hand. With my free arm, I wrap it around her shoulders and pull her against me, kissing her temple as I try to calm down.

“Are you sure you know what the phrase 'we get along' means?” she asks, causing me to laugh.

“Let's eat; I'm starving.” We sit side by side at the bar and begin to eat the burgers I bought.

“Are you okay?” Eva sets her worried gaze on me.

“Yeah, I just want to forget today.”

“I'm right there with you.”

We both have to work the next day, and with midterms this upcoming week, I know I won't see much of Eva. Or maybe I will since Catherine has reunited with her boyfriend and according to Eva, she's spending a lot of time with him.

For the most part, Eva's past with Luke is forgotten. I do my best not to think about it. It's easier than I thought it would be, and as long as I don't see Luke, then I don't think about it. And I rarely see Luke. I'm honestly surprised my mother hasn't called to find out what happened. I'm not about to make that call though. Maybe we can all forget about it.

If I'm not at work or in class, I'm studying for my next midterm. Halfway through the week, I'm sitting on the couch with my back against a throw pillow and the arm rest. My legs are pulled up and I have a textbook resting on my thighs as I go over a chapter I've been struggling with. A knock on the door causes me to lift my head as it opens.

Eva's dressed in her work clothes and she has a tote bag hanging off her shoulder. “Keep studying. Don't mind me,” she says. It's impossible to ignore her. Looks like she's spending the night. I didn't even know she was coming over. Eva disappears down the hall and a few minutes later, I hear the water running in the shower.

I do my best to focus on my textbook because once she comes out, I won't be able to focus unless she's going to study as well. I doubt it since she only came with one tote. Literature has never been my strong suite and all the terms have similar definitions or sound alike. All the words are starting to blur together when Eva walks into the room, wearing her pjs. I toss the book onto the floor as she settles between my legs, her back to my chest.

“Were you done?” she asks.

“Nope, but if I don't know it by now, then I'm screwed anyway. I didn't know you were coming.”

She sighs. “Turns out, I am a clingy girlfriend.” She tilts her head on my shoulder to look at me. “You don't care, do you?”

I shake my head and kiss her, long and slow before speaking. “Not when you seem to show up at the best times. Were you going to study?”

“No, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on everything. I don't want to overdo it. Want me to help you? What class is it? Who's your professor?”

“Argumentative Lit with Decker. You don't have to help; I'm tired of studying anyway.”

“Do you feel prepared?” When I shrug, she says, “Give me your textbook; I'll help. I had Decker and his exams are extensive. You need to feel confident.”

If she hadn't said his exams are extensive, then I might have argued with her. Instead, I reach down to grab my textbook and hand it to her. Eva helps me study for two hours. She's really good at it too. I feel ready by the time we're finished.

“Are you sure we don't need to go over it again?” she asks.

“Yep.” I grab the textbook from her hands and throw it on the floor. I slip my hands underneath her shirt, allowing my fingers to explore her skin. “You know how it's good for fighters to have sex before a big fight? I'm thinking it may be the same for exams.”

Eva laughs. “I thought they
weren't
supposed to have sex before a fight?”

“Either way, I think we will both do better tomorrow if we have sex tonight. And maybe again in the morning.” It's been over a week since the last time, I think. We're long overdue.

She's trying not to smile, and she playfully pushes at my hands as I cup her breasts. “What if I'm not feeling like it?”

I scoff. “This is you and me. How can you not want to?” I move one hand down her body and underneath her pajama bottoms. She's such a liar. She's more than ready for me based on how wet she is.

“Maybe because you suck at flirting and initiating sex.” Her voice is all breathy and I grin.

“That hurts to hear, especially since you suck really well.”

She laughs loudly, the sound filling my apartment. She rolls over, causing my hands to move from where they were. “Okay, okay. You've convinced me.”

“Here, the floor, or the bed?”

“Mmm, you pick.”

I picked the floor. As my hands move over her soft, beautiful skin, I can't help but be grateful we're back to normal. Hopefully, we can stay here for a long, long time. Nights like these with Eva, where we hang out, laugh, and just be together, they ground me. They remind me of what I love about her and why I love being with her.

Me realizing I love her doesn't come as a shock. It doesn't even make me pause for a moment. It feels too right to do that. I want to tell her, to whisper it between kisses, but I don't. I'll tell her, but not quite yet.

MIDTERMS ARE OVER, we all did really well, and now, we have Friday through Tuesday off. Tonight, it's only Catherine and me. We've been so busy this week, we need to play catch up. We're currently trying to figure out what we want to do.

“There's a couple of parties going on. We haven't been to a party in forever.” Catherine frowns. “We're already becoming old, boring people and we're not even out of college yet.”

“No way am I going to a party.” Not after this past weekend.

“Why not?”

“Do you remember that guy I slept with freshman year? He thought my name was Catherine because—”

“Yes! I remember! He was hot and you went on and on about how good he was in bed.”

I glare at her. “He's Emerson's brother.”

Her jaw drops and her eyes widen. “No way.”

“Yeah, I found out when we had a family dinner this past weekend. Luke basically told everyone while we were at the dinner table. It was terrible. Not to mention he came over to Emerson's afterward and made it even worse. I don't have many regrets, but he's definitely my biggest one. He's such a jerk.”

“Which you wouldn't have known since all you two did was shove your tongues into each other's mouth.” I pin her with another glare. “It's true!”

“Doesn't matter. Emerson was pissed, more at Luke and how he found out than at me. Anyway, now you know why I'm not going to a party. Those days are officially over. Besides, we need to do something where we can talk. I need to know what's been happening with you and Parker.”

“We should probably go out to eat then.”

“It's too cold,” I complain. October's weather might as well have bypassed fall and ran straight to winter.

“Oh my God, Eva. Don't say that. We are not some eighty-year-old grandmas who don't leave the house based on the weather. Let's shower, get pretty, and go eat.” She claps her hands and adds, “Chop, chop,” when I make no move to get up.

Grumbling, I stand. “Why does everyone compare me to a grandma?”

“Because you're just like one!” She stops as if she realizes what I said and adds, “Who else compared you to one?”

“Emerson. He said I reminded him of his grandmother.”

Catherine busts out laughing. I grab one of my pillows and throw it at the back of her head. It doesn't stop her giggles though. We shower and pretty up like she said we were going to do. When Catherine starts listing places we can go, I interrupt her.