After sliding a hand into his hair, I tugged his head back and kissed down the hard, masculine curves of his neck.
I knew he was kidding. Henry’s coming into my life wasn’t fate. At best, it could be considered a fluke. But, as I made my way down his sculpted chest, ten years’ worth of resolve disappearing, it was clear: For once, luck had been on my side.
“This is going to end badly, isn’t it?” I mumbled—more to myself than him.
“Not if I can help it.” He arched his back off the bed as I teased my tongue down the hard planes of his torso.
“Evan,” I ordered, grazing my teeth over the sensitive flesh on his stomach.
He squirmed under me. “Evan. Shit.”
“What if you can’t help it? You know, random acts of God and all.”
“A few inches lower and I’ll talk to God myself.”
I started to laugh when I peeked up and found him watching me. The blistering heat in his gaze crashed down, enveloping me.
My heart was thundering, but I wanted this—to take him in my mouth so I could give him one of the tiny pieces of myself I’d been protecting since Shannon had left me broken.
I wanted the freedom I’d been denying myself for too long.
And I wanted it with him.
Unfortunately, I would have to wait.
The Sesame Street theme started blaring from his phone on the nightstand.
“NOOOOO!” I YELLED as Evan continued to kiss toward my rock-hard cock. Fucking inches away—and my phone was blaring the only ringtone I couldn’t ignore. “Hold that thought. Okay?” I said, blindly slapping my hand on the nightstand to find my phone.
He eyed me skeptically.
I scooped my phone up and pressed it to my ear. “Hey, kid. Now’s not a good—”
“I need help?” Robin cried on the other end.
My heart lurched, and I sat straight up, forcing Evan to roll to the side.
“What’s wrong?” I rushed.
A man’s voice cursed in the background just as she shrieked, “I’m trying. Back off.”
“Robin!” I called, jumping from the bed. “What the fuck is going on?”
“There’s this guy…and I owe him some money.”
“Fuck.”
She continued to cry, but she lowered her voice to a desperate whisper. “I know, I know…but please. Just one more time. I swear. I’ll get clean. Please.”
Blood boiled in my veins, but guilt overwhelmed me. I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed the phone painfully tight as I ground out, “How much?”
She blew out a relieved breath. “Twenty-two hundred.”
I clenched my teeth together, but my hands began to shake. Marching from Evan’s room, I tagged my jeans and my shirt from his hall floor. Frantically pulling them on, I barked. “Where are you?”
“You can just transfer it to my bank account.”
And that was when I lost it. “Where the fuck are you?” I roared.
She sobbed. “Please don’t send Carter! Please. I’ll do anything…”
Oh, I wasn’t sending Carter. It was time I handled this shit with her myself.
“I’m in town.”
She gasped, “No.”
“Where are you, Robin?” I repeated, barely keeping it together.
“Henry, no! You can’t come down here.”
I was searching for my other shoe when I caught sight of Evan walking from his room fully dressed. He was eyeing me closely, but he didn’t touch me as he walked to his hall closet and dragged a hoodie out.
“Last chance,” I growled. “Either you tell me where you are or I’m hanging up.”
“Send someone else—”
I closed my eyes so tight it’s a wonder I didn’t disappear. I wished I had. Because, one second later, I felt the jagged pain of my heart shattering.
I hit the end button and dropped my phone to the floor. My knees quickly followed.
“Oh, God,” I breathed when the reality of what I’d done consumed me.
Evan was there immediately.
Kneeling, he pulled me into his arms. “Jesus, what the hell is going on?” he asked as I broke down.
It had been a long time coming. I’d barely been fighting off that breakdown for the last five years.
“I’ve…I’ve never hung up on her,” I stuttered, trying to catch my breath, but it was one race I wasn’t going to win.
“Okay, let’s calm down.” Tucking my face into his neck, he counted into my ear. “Ten, nine, eight.”
If anything happened to her, I’d never forgive myself. But that was the problem. Something had already happened to her…because of me. She was probably in some dirty crack house, track marks running up and down her arms, scared to fucking death, and I’d hung up on her.
My throat nearly closed, and I struggled away from him, but he moved with me.
“Shhhh. Seven, six, five.” One of his hands was anchored on the back of my head, and the other smoothed up and down my spine. “Take a deep breath. Four, three—”
The Sesame Street theme interrupted him.
We both looked down at my phone vibrating on the floor as if it were some kind of ticking time bomb. But what he couldn’t possibly have known was that, for me, it was.