JANUARY
Chapter 7
Maya shifted her butt on the couch and raised the glass to her lips. Her companion mirrored her actions, taking a large gulp of the light green liquid.
“Best batch yet.” Trudy grinned and raised her drink in salute.
Maya laughed. “Strongest yet. Not that we need it.” If she was feeling the alcohol they’d consumed, her septuagenarian party companion had to be as well.
A rerun of the Eastern Time Zone countdown played on the massive television that sat on the wall of Trudy’s cozy family room. Tucked away beneath the stairs, the space was warm and comfortable and had proven perfect for their two-woman celebration of the New Year. The worn suede couch was practically an antique, covered in grape juice and spaghetti sauce stains from Everett’s childhood. Situated directly in front of it, a well-loved wooden coffee table held their drinks, several bowls and plates half-filled with snack foods, and tissues, which Maya had to use more than once to wipe away her tears of laughter as she whiled away the last hours of the year with her parents’ new friend.
“I know this probably wasn’t how you were planning to spend New Year’s Eve, Sweetie,” Trudy reached over and patted Maya’s knee, “but I sure am glad it worked out this way.”
December thirty-first was Bert and Henny’s wedding anniversary. Tradition had them traveling to a new location each year to celebrate. This year they would be spending the week in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Before leaving they’d begged Maya to keep Trudy company on the holiday. The hospital’s annual celebration had been canceled due to a flu outbreak, Mica was out of town on assignment, and Everett was out of the country on a business trip.
Maya didn’t grumble about having to bow out of plans with some artist friends. She didn’t even roll her eyes at her mother when she practically got on her knees during the overly dramatic request. In fact, she was pretty pleased with the whole thing.
Trudy was a breath of fresh air in Maya’s life. They didn’t talk about art. Her art friends were great, but there was always hidden competition and pressure about who was getting what shows. They didn’t discuss her boring factory job. And they could dish about her family openly and with the love and affection they shared for them.
And most of the time Maya could forget Trudy was Everett’s mother. The two of them had spent hours talking, laughing, and getting lit. Not once had Trudy’s hot and untrustworthy son come up in conversation. Until…
“It’s my fault.” Trudy was staring hard at Maya, her body turned fully toward her, glass held tightly in thin hands.
“What?” Maya was confused by the sudden seriousness in Trudy’s tone.
“The reason you’re mad at Everett. It’s my fault.”
Maya stumbled over her shock, mouth flopped open. She wanted to ask Trudy a million questions, but she’d been rendered incapable of speech.
“You’re probably wondering how I know why you’re angry with him,” Trudy said.
Maya nodded weakly.
“Elias and I had a talk recently.” Trudy said this as if it made perfect sense.
“Elias?” Maya’s voice cracked.
“He was Everett’s best friend growing up. The two of them were inseparable. They started the candle company together, and it was Elias who took off with Everett’s fiancée and tried to sue Everett for a portion of the company.”
Maya nearly hit her forehead with her hand. Of course, she knew about that. But in the time she’d worked there she’d completely forgotten what the second E in E.E.R. stood for. And the man’s name was never spoken at the company. “Forgive me, but he sounds like a dick.”
Trudy threw her head back and barked out a laugh. “Yes. But there’s more to Elias and the entire situation than meets the eye. I realize that now.” Trudy’s face returned to its serious place. “He called me the day after Christmas. Said he wanted me to know the things he knew Everett would never tell me because I had been a like a mother to him and I deserved the whole truth. I have to say, flattery got him everywhere. That boy was always too charming for his own good.”
Trudy put her glass down and folded her hands in her lap. “So, I listened. He filled in a lot of pieces for me. That, together with a few comments here and there from you and Everett and the way you act around each other, I put it together. You knew each other before. Maybe you were even lovers. I don’t know that part for sure. But something was there. Only he left you for Rebecca and you’ve never forgiven him. Am I right?”
Maya took two deep breaths followed by a massive gulp of her drink. She set the glass down on the coffee table and leaned back in the couch. “Pretty close, yeah.”
Trudy leaned toward Maya, her penciled-in eyebrows squished together in concern. “Then let me tell you a story, Sweetie. Starting at the beginning.”
Maya took a deep breath and nodded.
“Everett’s father was the love of my life. I had a career, sure. But it always came second to him. And I left it altogether when our son was born. Rett, that’s what I called my husband, he was the same way. He put us first. Rett doted on me. He loved me so hard, as your brother Mica would say. Losing him was a nightmare.”
Trudy paused and leaned back into the couch cushions like just saying the words exhausted her. “I was lost. So lost. I became so deeply dependent on Everett. I needed him for everything. And he was here for me. His company was just getting off the ground, but he basically abandoned it for me. He left a lot of the strings to Elias. Elias earned some stake in that company, make no mistake. At any rate, this was around the time he finished Graduate school and I suspect when he was seeing you.”
Trudy paused with a question in her eyes. “Yes. It was around then,” Maya confirmed. Though she couldn’t fathom why Everett hadn’t mentioned his father’s death. In all the text messages, he’d never once let on. It stung.
“He was becoming more distant from Rebecca at the time, too. She’d even confessed as much to me. I clung to the idea of fixing their relationship. I didn’t know what was really wrong with it, and I didn’t know about you. All I could see in my mind was my son, married, with children. That’s what I thought I needed to make me smile again.”
Trudy took a deep breath. “My husband was gone and I was lonely and desperate. I wanted a daughter-in-law. I wanted grandchildren. So when Rebecca suggested one night, right here in this room, that she and Everett get married, I jumped up, ran to my jewelry box and grabbed my grandmother’s ring. I practically forced it into my son’s hand. And you know what, that boy loved his aching mama so much he proposed to Rebecca, got down on one knee right there.” She pointed to a spot on the carpet in the center of the room. “But his eyes were on me the whole time.”
Trudy’s face had fallen, her eyes half-closed. “It’s my fault they got engaged. And after four years of engagement, I knew it wasn’t going anywhere. I knew Everett would never actually set the date. But his life and hers were so intertwined by then. She’d moved in with him. She’d become a co-owner of the company. People started to see them as a married couple. He didn’t know how to end it.” Trudy shrugged her thin shoulders. “So she ended it for him. And Elias. Yes, he did the wrong thing. But he loves Rebecca, and he saw what no one else could see, that Everett wasn’t happy. So, yeah, he’s the bad guy. But I’m not so sure I see him that way anymore.”
Maya’s head was spinning a million miles an hour. But somehow she managed to stay grounded by focusing on Elias and not the other revelations she’d just been privy to. “But he sued Everett.”
“There’s more to that, too. Not that Elias tried to defend himself to me. He didn’t. But I talked to Carlos. Neither Rebecca nor Elias had any back-up plans for money when they left. Elias spent all his time before starting the business training for the Olympics. Rebecca never went to school or had any real jobs outside of the company. Scared they would be destitute or end up living in Elias’ parents’ basement, they were taken in by a lawyer who was a friend of Rebecca’s father. He convinced them to file the lawsuit against Everett to get part of the company. But the two of them eventually switched lawyers and asked for a buyout instead. That would not cripple Everett or the company financially, but would seal it permanently as Everett’s alone when it was all said and done.”
“So, maybe Elias is not such a dick.”
“Guess not.” Trudy let out a breath.
“Jury’s still out on Rebecca, though.”
Trudy chuckled. “I think that’s fair.”
Maya felt as though her world had just crumbled down on her. Everything she’d believed was simple and straight forward was much more complicated. Every bit of anger and pain directed at Everett had faded into something else as its reasoning shattered. She looked at the sweet, sad, lonely lady in front of her and felt everything all at once.
Only a single tear fell from Maya’s right eye. But it was enough. With her own tears falling, Trudy reached out her skinny arms. Maya didn’t hesitate to fall into them.
The next several moments were silent and sweet. Trudy’s breaths were comforting to Maya’s ears as she pulled herself together, promising the meltdown she needed could be put off until she was alone in her bed. Eventually, she sat up and smiled at her companion.
“More drinks if we’re going to make it to midnight.”
Trudy laughed. “In the words of your brother. Hells yeah!”
****
Everett slammed the shot glass down on the mahogany bar and eyed the bartender. Sean laughed and shook his head.
“Come on, man. One more.”
Sean leaned over the bar toward Everett, his long, dark hair sliding over his shoulder, the tips brushing the bar. “I think you’ve had enough. Soon you’re gonna do something stupid and they’ll take away your ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ trophy.”
Everett slapped his hand against his forehead and groaned.
“I have never seen you like this, Everett. What happened?”
Everett shook his head, unwilling to tell the man he considered an acquaintance that his heart was permanently broken.
Giving up on trying to get a confession, Sean stood up straight and slapped the bar between them. “Give me your phone. I’m calling Carlos.”
Arguing proved too difficult, so Everett dug the phone out of his pocket and handed it to the bartender. While Sean called, Everett glanced around the bar for the first time in hours. His eyesight was blurred as he scanned the dark, mildly busy establishment. Beyond the long bar stood a set of round tables, each with four or six chairs, scattered across the polished concrete floor. As his gaze made its way from the corner near the bathroom toward the door leading to the parking lot, he stopped on a pair of sharp green eyes that were watching him.
Maya.
Everett froze, unsure if he’d imaged her in his drunken state. As he stared, she moved. She stood, her gaze unlocking from his for just a moment as she said something to a person beside her. Everett didn’t bother looking at the person she was with. He stayed focused on her. She held his gaze again as she made her way across the room.
“Look what I found.” Maya stopped just a few feet in front of where he perched on the barstool, hand on her hip.
Everett’s back hit the bar as he tried to take her in through his less-than-perfect vision.
“You know him?” Sean’s gruff voice came from behind Everett.
“Yeah. I work for him.” Maya’s mouth kicked up on one side.
“For now,” Everett added. “Till she leaves me to be a famous artist.”
Maya grinned. “That’s right.”
“Well, he’s a mess,” Sean said.
Everett tried to roll his eyes but had to stop when the action made the room spin too fast.
“I see that.”
“I called his bestie, Carlos.” Sean held the phone out over the bar, to the side of Everett’s arm.
Everett snagged it from Sean and managed to wrestle it back in his pocket without turning his gaze away from Maya.
“I’ll wait with him.”
This seemed to satisfy Sean and he took off, heading to the other side of the bar to help other customers.
“Fancy meeting you here.” It was lame, but Everett was drunk, so he managed to deliver the line without embarrassment.
Maya proved her relative sobriety with a full eye roll. “What are you doing, Everett?”
“Getting drunk. What about you?”
“I’m on a date.” She pointed to the table she’d come from with her thumb. Everett leaned to the side and looked past her. Three people sat at the table Maya had recently vacated, all staring at him. One was Alice Bando. She worked in sales at the candle company and was actually a good friend of Everett’s. But their friendship was not public knowledge so his gaze skipped past her to a pale, skinny guy with a long face and unruly brown hair. On Alice’s other side was the empty chair Maya had risen from, and beside that was an almost identical skinny dude.
“What the hell?”
Maya chuckled. “They’re twins. It’s a double date.”
Everett wrinkled his nose and refocused on the beautiful woman in front of him. “He’s not your type.”
Maya ran a hand through her hair and spoke through a barely repressed smile. “How do you know what my type is?”
“I’m thinking tall, dark, owns his own company, likes to fiddle with candles, that kind of thing.”
He was rewarded with another eye roll. “Come on. Let’s get you outside. You clearly need some fresh air. We should get some oxygen to that brain of yours.”
Everett pushed himself off the barstool and stood, holding onto it for a second, to be sure he was stable enough to walk. “I think I got it.”
“You better. Because I sure as shit can’t carry you.”
“Neither could your date. I doubt he could carry you.”
Maya placed a hand on his upper arm and walked beside him as Everett slowly made his way toward the door closest to the bar, the one that led to the street out front. He kept his eyes on his feet as he shuffled forward.
“Muscles aren’t everything,” Maya said blandly, finally responding to his dig on her date.
Everett stopped his forward motion long enough to give her a good flex of his biceps. Based on where her hand was placed, he knew she could feel it beneath his thin cotton shirt.
Maya let out a dramatic sigh. “Just keep moving, show-off.”
Everett managed to make it out to a bench at the edge of the sidewalk and lower himself down. Maya sat close beside him, so close he wanted to reach over and wrap her up in his arms. But even drunk, he hadn’t forgotten that she would never be his.
Suddenly, Everett was hit with the melancholy that had caused his drinking binge in the first place. Unable to control his features in this state, it must have shown on his face.
“What’s going on, Ev?”
His head snapped to the side as she used the endearment. He stared into those molten eyes. “I’m sad.”
“I figured. I didn’t think you were much for binge drinking.”
“I’m not.”
“So, what gives? Is your mother all right? I just saw her last week.”
“She’s okay. You saw her?”
Maya nodded. “We spent New Year’s Eve together.”
Everett couldn’t help his smile. This woman was so incredible. “Thank you.”
She nodded, concern still etched on her face. “So what’s wrong?”
“Maybe I’m just…sad.”
Maya frowned. “All right. Forget I asked.” She looked back at the road. “What kind of car does Carlos drive? It’s an SUV, right?”
Everett was desperate to reclaim her attention. “Maya.”
She turned back to him. Her face softened, her eyes roamed his features.
“Tell me about New Year’s. Did you have fun?”
“Your mother is a riot. We had a blast. How about you? You spent it in Dublin, yeah?”
“Yeah. I actually picked up another international client. But I didn’t do much that night. And I was jet lagged so I wasn’t even up for the festivities.”
Maya nudged his upper arm with her shoulder. “You’re turning into an old man, Evans.”
“Maybe. Or maybe I’m just lonely.”
Maya’s head turned to him, her eyes swimming with something, maybe pity, he couldn’t be sure. Then she leaned in. His head angled down toward her, but he didn’t move closer. Instead, it was Maya who sat up straight, reaching for him.
Her lips were just seconds from colliding with his when a voice pierced the moment. “Hey there.”
Maya’s head flew to the side a little faster than Everett’s. The view was the same. A car was pulled up to the curb beside them, the passenger side window rolled down. And leaning over the seat looking out at them was his stupid best friend.
“Hi, Carlos.” Maya’s voice was way too chipper.
“Maya. It’s nice to see you.” Carlos spoke as if he hadn’t just ruined Everett’s life.
“He’s drunk.” Maya pointed at Everett and grinned wickedly.
“So I heard.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m not here.” Suddenly very grumpy, Everett stood and took two shaky steps toward the car. He yanked the door open and climbed inside before turning back to Maya.
Still sitting on the bench, Maya smiled at him. “Hope you’re not too hungover tomorrow.”
He couldn’t seem to muster a smile back. Sadness blanketed him. He missed a kiss, sure. But it would only have been met with rejection again. Every look at Maya was a reminder of what he couldn’t have.
Everett turned away. “Take me home, Carlos.”
****
Seven years ago
Maya was not drunk, not anymore. She took a sip of lemonade, the only damn thing in her refrigerator since her roommate seemed to have cleaned the place out before leaving for the weekend, and reveled in exactly how sober she was. And, yet, she really, really wanted to do something stupid.
“Tell me about other art forms you’ve done besides painting.”
Maya tried to focus back on Everett’s words. “Huh?”
He rested his cheek on his hand, propped up against the back of the couch, and smiled at her. “Well, I was thinking that you just finished four years of school in fine arts. And while everything in your show was oil paintings, you probably had to take a variety of art classes. And I just wondered…”
“I suck at sculpture.” Maya put her glass of lemonade down on the small metal table that sat beside the couch and copied his position, facing him. She tucked one leg under her, bringing her knee close to his lap. “I struggled to pass it. I like watercolor, but it doesn’t do it for me like my oils. And I’m a decent sketch artist, but I tend to use sketches to produce ideas for paintings.”
“I guess we like what we like, right?”
Maya scooted closer to him, bringing her face closer to his. He was so handsome. It was hard not to be drawn to him like a magnet. “What do you like, Everett?”
His eyes dipped down to her lips. “I like a lot of things.”
“Like?”
“Math, soccer, making things with my hands, you.”
“Math?”
Everett moved closer to her and whispered. “Yeah, math.”
“And me,” Maya breathed.
“I definitely like you.”
“You barely know me.” Maya’s eyes drifted closed.
Everett’s breath mingled with hers. “It doesn’t feel that way.”
“No. It doesn’t.”
His lips pressed against hers and the sensation was so desired, so anticipated, Maya immediately sighed, opening her mouth and letting him in. Everett angled his head and dipped his tongue past her lips. Fire shot up Maya’s spine as she met his tongue with her own.
Everett was nothing short of the best kisser Maya had ever had the pleasure of experiencing. His kisses boiled her blood and created reactions she didn’t know were in her repertoire. Moving up onto her knees, Maya threw her arms around Everett’s shoulders and pushed him back against the arm of the couch.
Everett’s arms circled Maya’s waist and his hands found their way up into her shirt, his long fingers moving up her bare skin along her spine. His mouth traveled across her jaw and found its way to the shell of her ear. “You are so beautiful, Maya.”
Maya pulled back to look at him. “I don’t usually do this.”
He nibbled at her neck. “Do what?”
“Bring home strangers and…”
“I’m not a stranger, remember.” He pulled one hand between their bodies and cupped her cheek. “But we can stop anytime you want.”
Maya put her palm at the base of his head and pulled his mouth back to hers. When she came up for air she whispered against his lips, “I don’t want to stop.”
“Thank God,” he groaned.
The kisses and caresses continued for what seemed like an eternity. Neither of them was in any hurry to advance beyond that delicious phase of tasting and exploring each other. But desperation eventually took hold, and Maya helped Everett remove her blouse followed by her bra and skirt.
Everett seemed so happy to have her nearly naked he wasn’t helping her do the same to him. His talented mouth traveled from her lips down her neck, over her ample breasts, to her nipples and back again several times before she was able to stay focused long enough to tug at his shirt. “Off,” she demanded.
A stoic look on his face, Everett turned them over so Maya lay across the couch and he was kneeled above her. He quickly unbuttoned his shirt and threw it off. Maya ran her hands from his muscular pecs down to a defined set of abs. “Nice.”
If Everett heard her praise his body he didn’t let on. He was already back to lapping at her nipples, his body arched over her. Before she was done fully appreciating his chest, it was pulled out of her reach. He trailed his lips down across her ribs and over her belly then settled his shoulders between her thighs.
Everett’s thumb pressed up against her over her panties as he looked up through hooded eyes. “Baby, let me taste you.” His voice was wrecked.
Maya moaned. This man would kill her with pleasure, she was sure of it.
“Yes?” he asked again, his thumb circling a special spot and driving Maya insane.
“God, yes.” She pushed the words out through heavy breaths.
Everett didn’t hesitate after that. He pulled her legs up and stripped light pink panties off in one swift move. Then he repositioned her legs on either side of his shoulders and dove in. Maya nearly vaulted off the couch as his lips and tongue played at her very core.
Unintelligible sounds left Maya’s throat as her body hummed and an orgasm built inside her. She heaped praise on the man who was drowning her in pleasure. “Everett. Ev. God. Ev. You are so…Jesus!”
After an incredible climax, she tried to yank on his hair but it was too short. Instead, she leaned up and cupped her hands under his jaw, tugging him toward her. He laughed as he made his way up and over her body, stopping a few times to drop kisses on her stomach, breast, collarbone. When he reached her lips she devoured him in a searing kiss.
Maya pulled away and rested her forehead against his. “Let’s go to my room.”
“You sure?”
She loved that he kept giving her outs. It was part of the reason she had no intention of taking any of them. She wanted him so deeply, so intensely. She thought she might die if she didn’t have him inside her soon. “Yes. You want me, don’t you?”
He kissed her then, deep and possessive. “You’re kidding, right?” Everett stood and pulled Maya up with him. “Show me the way.”
Maya took his hand and led him along the short hallway to the room at the end. She swung the door open and ushered Everett inside. She didn’t give him a chance to examine the modest queen-sized bed or the worn dresser across the room from it. She didn’t so much as glance at the yellow and red star quilt before pushing Everett down on top of it and climbing on.
Maya worked at the button and zipper of his pants. Everett stretched his arms up and watched her, a smile dancing on his lips.
“You letting me have my way with you?” she asked.
“Hell yes, I am.”
“Good.” Maya pulled his pants down to his thighs then climbed off the bed and yanked them all the way off. She went back for his boxer briefs, taking a moment to appreciate the way they accentuated his beautiful form, before pulling them down and off as well.
Maya crawled over Everett’s legs, dropping kisses on his strong thighs as she went. Without warning him, she swallowed him whole. Everett’s torso pivoted off the bed and he cried out. As she moved her mouth and tongue up and down he settled back, his hands weaving into her long hair. Everett smelled and tasted great, and Maya loved the way she controlled his pleasure. She listened to each sound he made and felt a sense of pride and power.
“Baby, please. You have to stop.”
She loved the way his voice broke when he called her baby. She looked up to see him biting his lip. It was both gorgeous and adorable.
“Please, come up here, Maya.”
Maya moved up his body, settling on top of his hard muscles, her curves and his dips fitting together perfectly. She kissed him long and hard before reaching to the side to open the drawer in the little wooden table beside her bed. She reached in blindly and pulled out a condom.
Everett kissed her neck and collarbone as she worked open the packet. Then, reluctantly, she pulled away from his mouth and straddled his hips. Everett hissed as she rolled the condom onto him.
Maya gazed into Everett’s eyes for a long moment. She knew she wanted this, wanted him, perhaps more than she’d ever wanted a man before. Holding his gaze, she lowered herself onto him, fitting their bodies together in one glorious movement.
Everett’s head fell back and the veins in his neck popped out as Maya began to move. Her thighs pressed her up and down as she straddled him. His hands, so big and strong, held onto her waist, his tongue dipped out of his mouth and along his lower lip as his gaze fell back to hers.
They never looked away as they moved together. Each sound, each moan, each utterance, was made while staring into each other’s eyes. It was the most intense sexual experience of Maya’s life. She would have loved for it to go on forever, but she felt an orgasm building deep inside her and knew it would have to end.
As her pace increased, so did Everett’s chanting of her name. As her climax hit she squeezed her thighs together and collapsed onto him, her lips pressing against his. With a final thrust, Everett moaned and went still.
Maya pulled her mouth from his and buried her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling the scent of man and sweat and sex. “Oh my God.”
“Maya.” Everett’s hands ran up and down her back. “Oh, baby.”
“Stay.” Her voice was soft as she rolled off him and tucked herself into his side.
Everett removed the condom, tied it, and it disappeared from Maya’s view and left her mind. “Yes.” His hands free, he wrapped them around her and kissed her temple. “I’ll stay.”