Changing Everything (8 page)

“Because we moved away from him when my mom finally divorced him. She met my stepdad a year later and we moved here with him for his job a year after that. That’s how I met you. By that time, I was mostly just bitter toward my mom for so many things. For making me grow up watching her entice him into beating her. For leaving me without a parent or two for the rest of the night. For teaching me when I was young that calling the cops would only harm the church.” She snorted. “So by the time I met you, I was distancing myself from my mom, forgetting about my dad, and falling in love with a boy who had a calming effect on me that I’d never known was possible.”

I shook my head, still not able to grasp all this. “I didn’t even know he was your stepdad, I’ve met him . . . I’ve spent so much time with your parents.”

“He’s great, and he’s great for my mom. She’s changed a lot since she met my stepdad. But you didn’t know because I felt closer to him than I did my real parents, and that’s why he adopted me so I have his last name. My mom’s nothing like she used to be, but I still don’t like being around her. And that’s why I don’t like churches or cussing.”

“Did he ever . . .” I trailed off, not able to voice the rest of my question.

“No, never! He never went looking for the fight; she just wouldn’t stop until he did. But once the cussing stopped, he was done. And, obviously, I wasn’t about to make him mad.”

“I’m so sorry, Pay, I’ll stop. I swear I—I’ll try.”

“Eli,” she said on a laugh and tightened her arms around me. “Don’t worry about it. Like I said, it
is
more of a joke between us now. Well, and Kristen too. It’s not like I still associate those words with the person using them getting beaten up. I did when I was younger, and when we first met. But that was a long time ago; now I just don’t find them necessary—unless you really make me mad for whatever reason.” She winked.

“I don’t know how you can joke about this.”

“Because it stopped fourteen years ago.” She shrugged like she hadn’t just blown my mind . . .
again
. Like she hadn’t just crushed this idea that my Paisley had grown up with the perfect life. “Drink,” she ordered, and handed me my coffee.

“Yes, ma’am . . . ?”

Paisley bounced on her toes as she grabbed her empty coffee cup and the sandwich wrappers. “I can’t kiss you until we’re done with coffee and breakfast, and I really need to kiss you after that!”

I laughed loudly, took the lid off the cup, and leaned over to dump it in the sink. “All done.”

Her eyebrows slammed down. “That’s cheating.”

“You’ll get over it.”

Grabbing around her waist, I hauled her small body back to mine and crushed my mouth to hers. One of her arms was caught between our bodies, her hand splayed against my chest, the other hand slowly trailed along my hair as her fingers curled around the back of my neck.

“Don’t change because of that story,” she begged. “Please just be the man I fell in love with.”

“I can do that.”

She smiled against my lips before kissing me once more. “Thank you.”

Backing away from me, she grabbed all the trash and threw it away before moving out of the kitchen.

“Where are you going?”

“To brush my teeth and get dressed.” She drew out the words, making them sound more like a question.

My eyebrows rose and I scoffed. “You’re not getting dressed.”

Paisley looked down at my shirt on her body before glancing up at me again. “Why not?”

“I’m nowhere near done with you yet, and your clothes will get in the way. I want you just like that for the rest of the day.”

Her eyes widened and she bit down on her bottom lip. Letting her eyes trail down as much of my body as she could see from where I stood behind the counter, they bounced back up to my face before she took off running for my room.

I pulled off my shirt as I slowly followed behind—but my face fell when I realized her pile of clothes weren’t next to my dresser, and the bathroom door was shut. Grabbing the knob, I glared at the door when it didn’t turn.

“You better not put any more clothes on, Paisley.”

She snorted, and I heard the water from the sink turn on.

As I reached above the frame, my frown deepened when I didn’t feel the key up there. Looking around for something to jam into the small circular lock, I spotted the nightstand where Paisley always left a ton of her stuff. Right on top were hair pins that would fit perfectly.

Grabbing one, I widened it and shoved one of the ends into the lock, unlocking and opening the door all in the same second.

Paisley straightened from washing her mouth in the sink, and I made a face before looking pointedly at the key sitting next to her on the counter.

“How’d you get it down?”

“I used my shirt to hit it,” she answered with a defeated pout.

I nodded as I tossed the pin on the counter and went to stand behind her. She hadn’t changed yet and was still only in my shirt. “Why are you running from me, Paisley?”

“Because I can?”

My eyes narrowed. “Do you not want me to touch you?” From the way her chest hitched with a harsh breath and her eyes became hooded, that wasn’t it.

“I want to be able to touch you,” she admitted in a soft voice.

I hardened instantly. “These weeks aren’t about me,” I reminded her.

“But—”

“I want you to, Paisley. You have no idea how much I want to feel you on me . . . but I want this for you so much more,” I whispered against her neck.

Sliding my hands over her body, I let one move to her breast as the other ran past her hips to the inside of her thighs. Spreading them further apart, I slid my fingers over her entrance, trailing her wetness to her clit.

“Oh, Eli,” she moaned, and arched her back against my chest.

“Hold on to me, Pay.”

She wrapped her hands around the back of my neck and moved her hips against my hand.

“Open your eyes.” Her dark eyes fluttered open, and I held them through the reflection in the mirror. “Look how beautiful you are.”

Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright with desire, her full lips barely open as she breathed heavily. Her chest was pushed out against my hand where I was alternating between massaging one of her breasts and pulling gently on her nipple. Her legs were spread with my fingers moving in and out of her. And now her eyes were heating as she took in the sight.

I’d never seen anything more beautiful or perfect.

Pulling her bottom lip into her mouth, she bit down and stood on the balls of her feet as her body tightened, and I knew she was close. I rolled my fingers against her clit, and her eyes fluttered shut as her body started trembling.

“Open.”

She forced them open, and her fingers dug into the back of my neck and she moaned as the trembling stopped for countless seconds before she fell apart.

I wrapped one arm around her waist when her knees gave out, but didn’t stop touching her until her body sagged against mine.

When her eyes moved to meet mine in the reflection, all I could do was shake my head in amazement. “Beautiful,” I murmured.

Mine. The girl in my arms was mine.

Chapter Nine

September 25, 2013

Paisley

“I
CAN’
T BELIEVE
you’re actually going to go through with this,” Kristen said on a laugh that clearly showed how much of a mistake she thought this was.

“You’re doing it with me.”

“Oh no. No way.” She pointed in the direction of the hallway leading to the rooms, and said, “There is no way in hell I am letting one of those ladies get anywhere near my vagina.”

“Kristen!” I begged.

“You are making a huge mistake, I’m not about to make one with you.”

My expression fell. “How is this a mistake? I need to do something, I’ve never . . .” I trailed off and gestured toward the area. “I’ve never taken that much care of it. I’m not about to have another weekend with Eli with a briar patch down there.”

Kristen’s sudden laugh was so loud that the receptionist jumped and looked over to us. “Is it really that bad?” she asked between her hysterics.

My lips twitched into a smile, and I admitted, “Okay, not
that
bad. It’s somewhere between bush and jungle though. It needs help.”

“I will be in there to support you and hold your hand, but you are out of your fucking mind if you think I’ll be spreading my legs too.”

“Language,” I reminded her, and got an eye roll.

“You ready?” one of the workers asked as she and another uniformed woman walked toward us from the hall.

“Yep!” I said excitedly, and towed Kristen with me down the hall and into the room.

“You need two of them?” Kristen asked softly, but I didn’t respond. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

“Just remove everything below the waist, and we’ll be back in a few minutes,” the same woman said once we were inside.

Once she shut the door, Kristen was looking at me and pointing. “Why are there two table thingies?”

“Because you’re doing this with me! I told you!”

“No I am not!”

“Kristen!” I complained.

“You are insane, Paisley! Eli won’t even care if you have your fucking briar patch or nothing at all.”

“Language,” I muttered as she continued.

“There is literally not one thing that could make this kind of experience worth it. There will be no difference for you either way.”

“How do you know? You’ve never done it before!” I reminded her.

“I don’t care. I don’t need to! I have enough of an imagination to know that it would be pointless.”

“Just do it with me this once—”

“No.”

“—and if I’m wrong, and there’s no difference, I’ll pay for a spa day for you.”

Kristen eyed me for a second. “Three spa days.”

“Two,” I negotiated.

After another few moments, Kristen grabbed at her jeans and started unbuttoning them. “I am going to enjoy those two days, and I’ll love them even more because you will have paid for them.”

I laughed as I stripped down as well. Once I had everything placed off to the side and was hopping up onto the table, I looked back at my friend. “If I’m right and there’s a difference after this, then you owe me.”

Kristen snorted. “This pain will be payment enough.” When she caught sight of my blank expression, she said, “Fine. What do you want, because I know you don’t like going to the spa.”

I thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind so I just shrugged. “Hundred dollars, and we’ll call it even.”

“That is so not even, you are getting the bad end of this, but deal!” After she was on her table, she pointed at me. “But you are only getting your money if there is a
good
difference from this.”

“Fine.”

Just then there was a short knock before the door slowly opened and the two women came back in. After they talked to us for a couple minutes, they had us lie back while they finished getting everything ready. And now that I was on a table with my legs spread in front of two strangers, I was regretting this. Why I never actually thought about the whole being-half-naked-in-front-of-strangers thing, I have no clue. My only thought had been that I’d wanted to do this so I wouldn’t be mortified when Eli touched me again. If it weren’t for forcing Kristen into this with me, I would have bailed.

“Oh my God! I’m sorry, I’ll never ask you to do this again!” I screamed a few minutes later.

“Mother fucking son of a bitch, you bastard!”

“Langu—”

“Don’t even think about
language
-ing me, you—
Mother fuck!
” Kristen yelled. “I hate you! I hate all of you in this roo— Oh my God!”

I was in so much pain while being completely amused by Kristen’s yelling that I started giggling uncontrollably through my random bursts of cries and screams.

“Are you
laughing
?” Kristen shrieked. “Are you kidding me? You—ah!
Mother Russia!
”

The lady waxing me kept tapping the inside of my thigh to get me to stop laughing, but there was no stopping it now. The pain seemed to only fuel it. “Did you just—ow! Oh my God, ow! Did you just say ‘Mother Russia’?”

“Shut up, Pay! I will never forgive yo— Son of a fuck!”

For fifteen minutes I laughed between my shocked cries of pain, and wasn’t sure which one was responsible for the tears rolling down my cheeks; and Kristen continued swearing at everyone while telling me that we would never be friends again after this. When we were done and dressed again, Kristen wouldn’t even look at me; she just kept mumbling that I owed her five spa days after what she’d had to endure.

“It burns,” I complained when we were back in my car.

“I feel like I can’t close my legs.”

I looked over and laughed when I found Kristen slumped down in the seat with her legs spread as far as the car would allow her. “Does yours burn?”

“Yes, Paisley! My vagina fucking burns!” She glared at me and snapped, “Don’t even think about it!”

I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Kristen’s house, but the entire time I wanted to hold my vaj like a little kid who needed to pee. “Maybe it won’t be so bad the next time?” I offered.

“There will
not
be a next time,” she said, appalled that I would even suggest it. “I will never again go along with
any
of your insane ideas. This one was the worst of all.”

My mouth curved up, and a short laugh bubbled up my throat. “I still can’t believe you yelled, ‘Mother Russia’ while we were in there.”

“Shut up,” Kristen mumbled, but her tone held a hint of humor. “I don’t even know where that came from.” When I pulled up in front of her house and didn’t turn the car off, she looked at me in confusion. “Aren’t you coming in?”

“I can’t, I really feel like I need to go ice myself. It burns so bad.”

Kristen laughed, but when she started moving out of the car, her laugh died and her face twisted in pain. “Ice sounds good.”

“Let me know what Jason thinks!” I called out before she shut the door.

She turned to look at me, and once again she looked like she was ready to kill me. “You are out of your damn mind if you think I’m letting him anywhere near this tonight,” she said as she pointed at her vaj. “See you on Friday, and I want more Eli details!”

I said my good-byes to her and waited until she was in her house before I put my car back into drive. My amused expression fell into a frown, and I cupped myself as if that would relieve the pain. “Ow,” I mumbled pathetically to myself. “You’re so stupid, Paisley.”

“T
HIS IS ALMOST
too weird for me,” Kristen said two nights later, and I turned my head to look at her. She pointed back and forth between Eli and me. “Like, this will take forever to get used to.”

Eli laughed against my shoulder and placed another kiss there. Pointing at the glass that had just been set on the bar in front of us, he asked, “Did you want to down it? It’ll give me fair warning that you’re pissed.”

I made a face and moved his Guinness aside. “No thanks.”

“So are you dating now?” Kristen asked. “Are you official, is there a title . . . ?”

Glancing at Eli, I shrugged and looked back to my friend. “We’re just us,” I said at the same time Eli declared, “She’s mine.”

Kristen and Jason both smiled. “Yours. Got it. Very official then,” Kristen said with a wink.

Eli’s knees tightened against my hips, and I leaned back into his chest.
Mine
. He’d been calling me that all week, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Because we’d both been slammed with work, we’d only been able to see each other once this week—which wasn’t a lot for us even before all this began.

He’d let me know earlier that he was coming to my place after O’Malley’s tonight and wouldn’t be leaving until Monday morning. There’d been so much promise of what was to come, but instead of waiting in heated anticipation for tonight . . . I had been dreading it. I’d gone and pretty much ruined any chance of enjoying or experiencing those promises on Wednesday night with Kristen. I’d been dying to know if she was sharing my unpleasant experience, but was too afraid to ask because if she hadn’t, she would never let me live that night down.

I involuntarily crossed my legs together, and had to bite back a cry of unwelcome pain at the action. I sighed and wondered how I was ever going to get out of this weekend with Eli.

Kristen elbowed me and leaned in close. “So what did he think . . . ?” She raised an eyebrow and looked down, and I laughed awkwardly.

“I haven’t seen him until we showed up here, but I really don’t think he’ll have much of an opinion,” I grumbled lamely.

“Jason cared. I’m pretty sure Eli will too.”

My eyes widened. Even though I was experiencing the most awkward pain of my life, I loved knowing that after how skeptical Kristen had been, there had been a difference. “Better or worse?”

“Better.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly before remembering that it didn’t matter for Eli and me anyway. The reminder made me so uncomfortable I didn’t even want to tell Kristen that she owed me a hundred bucks.

“Oh yeah.”

Eli pulled me back and nuzzled against my neck. “What are you two whispering about?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Kristen challenged. I
so
did not want him to know.

“Actua—”

I stumbled back into the bar stool when Eli’s voice and body suddenly disappeared from behind me, and I turned at the same time Kristen gasped.

“Brett!” I screamed when he punched Eli in the face. “Brett, stop!”

Eli was lying on the ground, and Brett had a hand gripping the back of his shirt, his other was still in a fist as he cocked back his arm to hit him again. Eli’s hands moved quickly, one gripping Brett’s forearm that was holding on to his shirt, the other to grab his fist that was aiming for Eli’s face again.

Jason had run to pull Brett off, but stopped when Eli shoved Brett away and to the side.

Scrambling to his feet, Eli shoved his shoulder into Brett’s stomach when he charged him again, sending them both into the wall we were sitting by.

“Stop!” I screamed, but Eli was only holding him there.

“I suggest you stop before I do something I regret,” Eli warned.

“Why?” Brett growled. “After all these years, why now? You had her for
years
. Years, you bastard!” He tried moving out of Eli’s hold, but Eli didn’t budge. “Then I find her and she’s finally living apart from
you
, and you have to come and decide that you want her now? You had your chance!”

“You got your hit in, but you won’t be getting another.” Eli said calmly, but his tone was dark and threatening. “I deserved that, I know, and I’m sorry for what I put both of you through.”

Brett’s chest heaved as his eyes narrowed on Eli.

“But understand this, she always has, and always will, belong to me.”

Two security guards walked up behind Eli and he looked over his shoulder when they spoke. “Break it up or take it outside.”

“It’s over,” Eli said calmly, and pushed off Brett to come stand in front of me.

Reaching behind his back with one arm, he brushed my stomach with his fingers—as if to make sure I was still there and not leaving. I gripped his fingers with both my hands, but kept my eyes on Brett as he walked toward the doors of the bar. Just before he went through them, he turned to look at me—the pain and sadness apparent on his face. My chest ached, but even through the pain I still had no doubt I’d made the right decision. Watching him walk away and leaving him last week was nothing compared to walking away from Eli.

It was like trying to compare a tidal wave to a ripple in a pond—it couldn’t be done.

“Are you okay?” Eli asked. His palm slid across my cheek to hold my face in his hand.

Moving my eyes from the doorway to Eli’s blue stare, I balked. “Me? Of course I’m okay, are— You’re bleeding!” I reached for his face to wipe away the blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth, but he gripped my hands in his, stopping them.

“I’m fine. But, Paisley—”

“What even happened? You were there and then you weren’t. By the time I turned around you were on the floor, how many times did he hit you?”

Eli pressed his forehead to mine, and immediately his calm demeanor flooded my veins. “Once, only once. He pulled me off the bar stool and I hit the floor. But I’m not worried about me right now.”

“Of course you’re not.” I laughed shakily and rolled my eyes.

“That’s the first time you’ve seen him since . . . ?” he asked, the question trailing off, but I knew when he was talking about.

“Yeah.”

“Then I need to know if you’re okay. I need to know what you’re feeling right now, Paisley. After seeing him . . . after what just happened.”

My gaze darted to the door before looking back into his stormy blue eyes. “Honestly?”

“Always.”

“It hurt seeing him, but not as much as it would kill me to have you leave. I made the right choice, Eli. There’s no questioning that.” Pulling one of my hands free from his, I placed my hand over his jaw and brushed my thumb over the blood, wincing when his body jerked. “Sorry.”

“He can punch, I’ll give him that.”