Read A Little Harmless Obsession Online
Authors: Melissa Schroeder
Tags: #Red Hots!, #Contemporary Romance
A Little Harmless Obsession (22 page)
“So, you’re dumping me,” he said, his voice even more remote.
“No. But I do need some time, a day or two.”
She closed her eyes trying to stem the tears that threatened to spill.
“Sounds more like you’re dumping me.”
She shoved a hand through her hair and opened her eyes to look at him. He looked so confused and dejected that the need to comfort him almost overwhelmed her. But that would get them nowhere.
“I’m not. I promise. With the restaurant…everything else, it’s been crazy.” He shrugged and looked away. She knew at that moment she was losing him, losing what little chance they had together. Even as she felt her heart tearing in two, she knew she could not help it.
“I’ve got to go home and shower, then be back here to work on the lanai.” She nodded. He stepped toward her, hesitated, then turned in the direction of the door. With one last fleeting look, he slipped out, shutting the door with an almost silent click. The moment it did, she released a sigh and scrubbed her hands over her face. That had been worse than she had expected. The cold reaction…that had been worse than anger. But she didn’t know what else to do. After his nightmare the night before, she had lain awake, thinking, knowing that she loved him. She thought he might love her, knew that he had the capacity. Something held him back, something dark and evil. She had felt him shivering in that dream, heard his anguished cry when he’d woken up. Something had happened in his past that made him the way he was.
She dropped onto her bed and rested her head in her hands. May had thought she could live this way, being the only one in love…at least for awhile. But the way he had loved her last night, so tenderly, so
127
Melissa Schroeder
passionately, she wasn’t sure she could go back to brick walls. She wanted that every time they were together, the openness, the loving. It made her yearn for things she could not have, and she needed to decide if she could live this way and hope for change, or cut bait and run.
She threw herself back on the bed with a grunt. The one thing that worried her was that she wouldn’t be able to let him go.
The buzzing of his doorbell jolted Evan awake, but only for a second. The bright Hawaiian sun was piercing his eyes and his stomach threatened to evacuate the alcohol he’d drunk in the last twenty-four hours. He felt his body float, his mind drift…then the jangle of keys brought him back.
“Evan?” Micah called.
“Sweet baby Jesus.” It sounded as if he were using a bullhorn. Footsteps pounded down the hall, then he heard a sigh.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Still drunk off his last whiskey binge, Evan only had enough energy to voice his feelings with a finger.
“Good God, it smells in here. What’ve you been doing for the last day and a half?” Fuck. Micah wouldn’t let it go. If Evan didn’t tell him something, his friend would keep yelling at him.
“I needed to let loose.”
He sensed his friend squatting next to the bed. Micah lifted one of Evan’s lids. Bright light seared his eyeball again.
“Fuck!”
Micah chuckled. “From the smell of the whiskey, and given the fact I know you too well, I’d think saying the word is as close as you’re going to get to that particular activity. Damn, boy, brush your teeth and get some damned mouthwash.”
“Could you please stop fucking yelling?”
Another chuckle. “Come on, Chambers, time to face the piper.” Micah wrapped his fingers around Evan’s upper arm and yanked him out of bed. The world tilted, his stomach roiled, and all of the sudden he didn’t need Micah’s help out of bed. He ran to the bathroom, losing most of the last bout of drinking into the toilet.
After he was finished, Micah said, “I’m going to clean up this mess. You take a shower and get your ass out here.”
He glared at his friend. “I don’t take orders from the likes of you, Micah.” Micah frowned at him. “You know what, Chambers? You’re an ass. Take a shower and be sure to brush your teeth and for God’s sake, get some clothes on.” 128
A Little Harmless Obsession
Micah slammed the bathroom door, sending a shaft of pain lancing through Evan’s brain. Knowing there was no way around it, he pulled himself up off the bathroom floor and decided to do as ordered.
Ten minutes later, Evan was feeling a little steadier, if not one hundred percent, as he walked slowly down the hall. Thankfully, his friend had taken pity on him and shut all the blinds and had the kitchen lights on dim.
He shuffled over to the kitchen table where Micah had placed a glass of water and some aspirin.
“You look better,” he tossed over his shoulder.
“Fuck you.”
“No, thanks. You’re not my type.”
Irritated, Evan lapsed into silence as he sipped his water after downing the aspirin. Micah brought over toast and set it in front of him.
“Eat. I have coffee brewing.”
Evan sneered. “Well, aren’t you little Miss Susie Homemaker.” Micah said nothing, and Evan knew he wouldn’t. Years together had taught him that Micah had a wealth of patience. That just pissed him off more.
Instead of fighting though, Evan tore off a piece of toast and chewed it. Micah silently poured two mugs of coffee and then brought them to the table. After sitting, he did nothing but blow on his coffee, take a sip and stare at Evan.
Uncomfortable with the speculation in Micah’s eyes, Evan looked away.
“You going to tell me?”
“What’s there to tell? I had a few drinks.”
“A few drinks? Really? It looks more like a few bottles, and probably since yesterday morning. You called in sick yesterday, then didn’t call today.”
He gave Micah the stink eye. “I don’t work for you.”
Micah grunted. “If so I would have fired your ass.”
“Then what the hell are you doing here?”
“Because Jerry—you remember him, right, he’s the supervisor at the business you’ve been ignoring for a day—called me this morning. I had to drag my own ass out of bed, and away from a particularly delicious morsel of a woman, to drag your drunken butt out of bed.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
Micah sighed. “Shut the fuck up. You might not care, but the people working for you do. They hadn’t heard from you and your secretary was worried you were dead.” Evan said nothing.
“I called them to tell them you were alive—sick—but still alive. So tell me.”
“I said—”
129
Melissa Schroeder
“I know what you said. It’s a load of bullshit. Son, I’ve known you for too long. You don’t drink to get drunk. You drink for enjoyment. You don’t let yourself lose control.” Evan didn’t want to talk about it, not with the raw feeling of abandonment still scratching his heart.
“I take it this has to do with May.”
Evan looked at him, saw the sympathy in his gaze and looked away.
“What happened?”
“Nothing. She wanted more, I didn’t.”
“And you decided to crawl up into a bottle of whiskey to celebrate.” Micah shook his head. “Not buying it.”
“I had the dream while I was at her house for the night.” Micah studied him. “So?”
“So?”
Micah shrugged. “I expected you had it on a regular basis.”
“I’d fought it for the last few years.”
“But let me guess. Lately, it’s been popping up.”
Evan nodded and decided to start on the second piece of toast now that he knew his stomach wouldn’t get rid of the first piece he’d eaten.
“What did May want from you?”
“She wanted to know about the dream, then the next morning she pushed. Gave me an ultimatum.”
“That being, marry me or I’ll dump you.”
“No. She just wanted to know what was going on with me. I guess she wanted me to tell her that I love her.”
“Why didn’t you?”
He shot Micah a dirty look. “I don’t love her.”
Micah snorted and crossed his massive arms over his chest.
“Seriously? You keep telling yourself that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ever since Chris hired her, you’ve been smitten.”
Evan frowned. “I don’t get smitten.”
“God, you’re such an ass. You have been intrigued by her, and until you knew for sure that she was a sub, you could tell yourself she was off limits. That changed the night of her submission. You couldn’t even play at the club with Susan that night, and don’t tell me you just weren’t in the mood. You couldn’t because you needed May. She was the only one you wanted.”
“I can’t have her. I can’t have children.”
“You’ve been tested?”
130
A Little Harmless Obsession
Evan frowned. “No. What do you mean?”
“Oh, so this is the same old bullshit about tainted blood?”
“I can’t escape the fact that I have my mother’s blood in me.”
“Yeah, and so what? So you had a lousy mother. Join the crowd. Yours sold you to pedophiles so she could make money for drugs. Get over it.”
“Gee, Dr. Phil, you’re such a good therapist. Your gentle understanding just overwhelms me.”
“Listen, you had a fucked-up mother. Your childhood sucked, but you survived. I was left at a truck stop when I was five because my mother wanted a night out on the town. We both had sucky childhoods.
But I thought you’d moved beyond that.”
“I have.”
Micah’s eyes narrowed as he leaned closer. “Then why are you letting that bitch win?”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“You know, the last thing I remember about my own bitch of a mother was the way she told me she needed time away from me. ‘So long, kid.’ That woman had no right to be a mother, but her blood, along with the blood of a fucking wife-beating bastard mingles with my own. I refuse to let her win. So she didn’t want to be a mother and left me with strangers. Fuck her. I refuse to let her be that important. You need to ask yourself if your crackwhore mother is more important than May?”
“Shit.”
“I know you know you love her. It is written all there on your face. She’s worth it. Don’t you want to fight every obstacle to have May with you? If I were you, I would.” Micah’s earnest expression and his quiet, determined words started cracking through some of Evan’s desolation. Everything Micah said made sense, in some strange way. Hope seeped through the depression he’d been mired in the last day. Could it be that he had a chance with May? Could they actually work at having that happily ever after?
“Ah, I see the light is coming on.”
He looked up at Micah. “Thanks.”
“Well, I fed you, cleaned up the mess in here. I’m leaving that disgusting bedroom to you.”
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Earth to Chambers. I already did.”
“No, could you follow May home tonight? Her brother had something, a date or something, and I had told him I would.”
“I thought we solved this problem. You love her, she loves you. Done.”
“Yeah, but I need to give her time. She asked for it, and I need to respect that.” Micah did another eye roll as he stood and walked to the door. “Take some more advice from Dr.
Micah. Don’t give women too much time to think. It never ends up good for either of you.”
131
Melissa Schroeder
He shut the door and Evan smiled. He would give her a day or two, then he would go to her. He just had to give her that time, and then everything would work out.
132
Chapter Eighteen
May was locking the door behind a couple of customers when she noticed Micah striding toward the front of the restaurant. For a moment, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that he was there and staring at her as if there were something wrong. Then she realized he expected her to open the door. She unlocked it and opened it a crack.
“We’re already closed.”
He smiled. “I’ve been sent to follow you home.”
“Sent?”
Micah rolled his eyes and slipped through the door. “Chambers made me promise to follow you home.”
She shut the door and locked it. “I don’t know why he would be worried.” One eyebrow rose.
She cast her eyes heavenwards. “I haven’t had a problem in a few weeks. Why Evan would worry is beyond me.”
She turned and headed to the office. She had to finish the receipts before going home and collapsing into bed to stare at the ceiling. Day two of her separation from Evan had taught her one thing—she needed him. She wanted him so badly beside her she couldn’t sleep and was going through the motions at work.
She’d been short-tempered and nasty toward everyone, including her grandfather.
She sat behind the desk, the paperwork for the day lying in front of her. This usually took her about fifteen minutes at most, but she had already been at it for twenty. With the big bad alpha staring at her while she did it, she didn’t know how much longer it would take.
“Evan is in worse shape than you are.”
She shot him a look. Micah laughed and held up his hands palms out. “Hey, don’t be aiming those killer looks in my direction. I’m not the one who fucked it up.”
“Evan didn’t fuck it up.”
He crossed his ankle over his knee. “Sure, he did. If not, you wouldn’t be here by yourself.” She tried to concentrate on her work, but the man just kept staring at her.
She glanced up. “What?”
He smiled. “Nothing. Just trying to discern if you’re a superwoman or not?” She frowned. “What the hell do you mean by that?”
Melissa Schroeder
“I always thought the woman who brought Evan Chambers to his knees would be a superhero of some kind.”
“I didn’t bring him to his knees.”
He nodded. “The man is going to have calluses on his knees before you’re done with him.”
“You’ve known him a long time?”
“Since our first lock-up in juvie.”
Her eyes widened. “Juvie? Like in juvenile detention?” His smile faded. “Yeah, but I always thought those words too clean for what it truly is.”
“Did he have something happen to him there? Something that hurt?” He narrowed his eyes. “Nothing good comes of spending time in juvie.”
