Chapter Twenty-One

 

 

 

 

 

Tori

 

 

 

 

I was a light sleeper. It was a first responder thing and ingrained into all of us before our first year of probation was over.

So, when I opened my eyes and saw that Evan’s side of the bed was empty, I was surprised. It was impossible for him to sneak out of bed without waking me anytime he woke up first, much to his frustration.

It was light in the bedroom and a glance to my nightstand showed it was shortly after eight. Even though I knew I needed to get up and face reality, I decided to burrow back under the sheet. It was warm, comfortable, and smelled like Evan.

My eyes closed and it was just a few moments later that I felt myself drifting off to sleep but Evan’s voice caught my attention. It was muffled, telling me he was obviously downstairs, but I could also tell he was mad.

I slipped out from my cocoon and pulled on the t-shirt and sweats I’d been wearing the night before. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and cringed when I saw that I had over thirty missed calls and twenty text messages. The phone had been completely silenced, both vibration and ringer, and I knew I had a certain detective to thank for that. Ignoring all the notifications, I pocketed the phone and pulled open the bedroom door.

Evan’s angry voice filtered up the stairs, becoming louder the closer I got.

“I don’t care what you have to do. Get me proof that the asshole released it again so we can nail him to the fucking wall!” He paused, listening to whatever the person on the other line was saying. “Just do it. I won’t let him hurt her anymore. Call me as soon as you have something. I have another call to take.”

A smile hit my face. It was weird, honestly. After doing things for myself for so long and refusing any sort of help, even from my father and brother, it was kind of nice to have someone fighting for me like Evan was. The smile only grew when he answered the second call and I heard who he was talking to.

“Hey, Vincent.” There was silence before Evan sighed. “I’ve got people searching for something we can use to prove it was Tristan again.” Another pause. “She’s still asleep but she’s going to be okay. She’s too strong to let him keep her down and I’m not planning on going anywhere.” He laughed softly at whatever my brother said. “Damn right. See you in a bit.”

When the house went silent, I stayed where I was on the top landing for a long minute. It wasn’t until the fridge door shut that I made my feet move and carry me down the stairs. I walked into the kitchen and was rewarded with the sight of my boyfriend at the stove in only his jeans.

His brown hair was a mess, either from sleep or from running his hands through it, but he smiled brightly when he looked over at me.

“Morning, sleepyhead.”

“Have you been up long?” I asked, moving forward until I could wrap my arms around him from behind and dropping my cheek to his muscled back. He shook his head and covered one of my hands that was resting on his chest.

“About thirty minutes. I had some calls to make.”

We stood like that until he had to move to flip the eggs that were frying on the stovetop. I stepped back and hoisted myself up on the countertop in the corner.

“What can I do to help?”

Evan turned and offered me a smirk. “The best way for you to help in the kitchen is to sit back and watch.”

“Whatever,” I replied with a scoff, knowing that he was absolutely right. “I’m not that bad.”

“Yeah, Tor. You’re worse.”

We both laughed and when it tapered off, silence fell back over the kitchen. It wasn’t a bad silence, though. Evan and I didn’t have those anymore. It was a comfortable silence. I watched him cook until he asked me to pull down plates from the cupboard. It wasn’t too long before he was plating fried eggs, sausage links, and toast for each of us.

“Simon and Nick brought your car home. Oh, and Vincent will be here later,” he said once we’d sat at the table to start eating. I shrugged and put down my glass of orange juice.

“I’m surprised Vin isn’t here yet, honestly. Who called you? Him or Owens?”

“Your brother.” He looked at me with his brows raised. “Do you two seriously have that twin ESP thing?”

I nodded. “It’s always been like that for us. The negative moments hit harder than anything although I swear I knew the second he lost his virginity.”

A shudder ran through me at the memory but I pushed it away. “And then when we were sixteen, I was in chemistry taking notes and it suddenly felt like someone had taken a hammer to my hand. It was so painful and so quick that I screamed out loud, interrupting the teacher. Turns out, Vincent was in shop class and his hand had been smashed in a vice, breaking three of his fingers.”

“Wow. That’s awesome and terrifying at the same time.” He took a bite of his sausage and offered me a handsome smile. “How are you doing, Tor? For real?”

What a loaded question. It was funny how little I’d thought about the video since climbing into bed with Evan the night before. The moment I found out that it had been circulated to the New Hope departments, I immediately felt devastated and ashamed. I spent years working hard to gain their respect, to be seen as something other than a woman in a male-dominated profession. What if it’d all fallen apart in a matter of seconds?

With the LVFR, so many members of my company had immediately seen me a joke. As nothing more than a piece of ass. I wasn’t prepared to do that again. I wasn’t sure I actually could.

But in reality? I didn’t think the members of my company would be like that. The one who might have worried me the most was Chad Hughes. He wasn’t the most mature out of the bunch and could be a chauvinistic asshole but the things he’d said the night before… Well, that had given me the biggest confidence boost.

“I’m okay,” I replied honestly with a small shrug. “I’m sorry about last night. I just-”

“Stop,” he interrupted swiftly, his voice hard. “Don’t apologize for that. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

A smile threatened to spill along my lips at his stern expression but I managed to just nod instead. “Okay.”

Evan changed the subject, telling me about how Christine’s mom had tried to take on the role as his assistant at the game the day before and how mad she’d been when I showed up. I chuckled while rinsing off our dishes.

“You’re like catnip to all of those soccer moms. You’re lucky I’m not an insecure person.”

“If I’m catnip to soccer moms then you’re catnip to the male species in general.” Evan placed his hands on the counter on either side of me, caging me in at the sink. “What’s the deal with Lennox?”

“Lennox? Tyson Lennox?” I was momentarily confused but burst out laughing when I saw how serious Evan’s face was. “We’re really good friends. Let’s just say Tyson and I are close because we’ve both seen some shit in our lives.”

Evan’s face softened and he leaned in to brush his lips against mine gently. “You bring out the caveman in me, Tor. I want to pound on my chest and make sure everyone knows you’re mine.”

A thrill ran up my spine with his words. A year before, I would have kneed someone in the balls if they had tried to declare that I belonged to them. The way Evan Coleman said it made me feel cherished, desired, and maybe even loved. I welcomed it.

I threw my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, touching my tongue to his. He didn’t hesitate to kiss me back and I somehow ended up with my legs looped around his waist and his hands squeezing my butt.

He had just carried me to the kitchen table and I was rubbing against him like a shameless hussy when the doorbell rang four times in quick succession. I groaned and pulled my lips from Evan’s so I could bury my face in his shoulder.

“I hate my twin right now.”

His body rumbled against mine as he laughed and I sucked in a sharp breath as I slid down Evan’s body. The doorbell rang four more times as I steadied myself on my feet with a disgruntled groan. I started to head for the front door but paused when I realized Evan wasn’t behind me. I glanced over at him questioningly but he just shook his head.

“Be there in a second.” He looked down pointedly and my eyes followed. A huff of laughter escaped my lips when I saw how little his shorts did to hide his arousal. “I’m not interested in getting hit by your brother today.”

I grinned and continued towards the front door, feeling a bit more powerful as I put some sway into my steps. The doorbell had just begun to ring again when I unlocked the door and pulled it open.

“Finally.” I had about half a second to glimpse the worry on my brother’s face before he was scooping me into a tight bear hug that lifted me off the floor. “Are you okay?”

With my face buried in his shoulder, I nodded. He smelled like sweat and chemicals, a sure sign that he just got off work, but underneath that he smelled like my childhood.

“I’m okay.”

He put me on my feet and pulled back to inspect my face. “If anyone at your station gives you shit, heads are going to roll.”

My eyes are what ended up rolling but Evan approached us before I could reply.

“Vincent. Good to see you again.”

My two favorite guys shook hands and Evan looked at me once they separated.

“I’m going to go for a run.”

“Okay.” I reached out and squeezed his hand, knowing full well he was only going for a run to give me some time alone with my brother. He always ran in the mornings but never this late due to how warm it was. “Be safe.”

He disappeared upstairs to go change and I sat on the couch next to Vincent. I told him about the night before, starting with the beginning of our shift and ending with when Evan brought me home. I left out the details of what we did once we were home because I was a nice sister like that.

“You’re better than I thought you’d be,” my brother said quietly, tugging on a strand of my hair. “I kind of expected to show up here and find you a complete wreck.”

“I felt like I was falling apart when Owens first told me the video had been emailed to everyone,” I admitted. “I just saw it all happening like it had all those years before but, I don’t know… I feel like I have more people behind me, ready to support me, and that makes me stronger than I already am. My biggest fear has been that my company mates would see and treat me like a piece of ass or like I couldn’t do my job.”

“But they’re not going to do that.” Vincent’s green eyes were full of fire when he spoke. “The difference between this company and your last is glaringly different. You guys operate like a family and family always has your back, Vic. Trust them to have your back.”

“I do.” And I really did. It was amazing what some supportive words, a good night’s sleep, and some mind-blowing sex could do to put things in perspective.

“Good.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my temple. When he sat back, he raised his brows. “Looks like Coleman’s taking good care of you.”

I smirked and pinched the skin on the underside of his wrist. “Oh, he’s taking very good care of me. Want details?”

“Gross, never mind.”

A snort of laughter escaped my lips but I let out a sigh as I relaxed into my brother’s arms. “He’s pretty amazing, honestly. I don’t know how we even ended up where we are but I’m glad we did.”

The two of us sat there in silence for a few moments and I smiled when I realized how true those words were.

“Okay,” Vincent said about five minutes later. “I left as soon as my shift ended and didn’t eat breakfast. What do you have in this kitchen that I can eat?”

He was polishing off a box of Frosted Flakes I had in the pantry when Evan reappeared from his run, shirtless and sweaty. As he took a long drink of from his water bottle, I watched a few drops of sweat trail down his chest, all the way across his muscular abs.

I didn’t even realize I was staring until my brother groaned and put the empty cereal box on my counter. I snapped my eyes to him and saw that he was trying not to smile while looking grossed out.

“And on that note, I’m out of here.” He reached over to obnoxiously mess up my hair and gave a chin nod to Evan before leaving the kitchen.

The front door had barely slammed shut before I was hopping off the counter and wreathing my arms around Evan’s neck.

“Any interest in finishing what we started earlier?”

He responded by lifting me slightly and encouraging me to wrap my legs around his waist again.

“I believe I was taking you over to the table before he showed up.”

I nodded and ran my tongue along his bottom lip. “I believe you’re right, Coleman.”