Gross? Yes.
But sex had its not so glamorous parts, and I had a feeling Graham didn’t wrap it up before owning his wife.
“That’s disgusting, Evie.” Lila glanced at me over her shoulder with a sour look on her face.
“Yes or no?” I kept a straight face. I wasn’t trying to be anything or do anything but help my friend get to her really expensive wedding reception without smelling or feeling like a sperm receptacle.
She blew out a hard breath, eyes averting to the side as she returned a single nod. I unzipped her dress and helped her step out of it. Then she waddled to the toilet, sliding a hand between her legs. Men had it so fucking easy.
Without exchanging any more words, I helped her get dressed, and then fixed her hair and makeup. That’s what friends did. They overlooked embarrassing situations and had each other’s backs.
“Did he hurt you?” I had to ask, just before we got to the door that led to the reception in the Porter’s private art gallery. It killed me to ask her, but I wouldn’t have forgiven myself had I not said something.
Graham loved her. I knew that. I really did. But her cry still echoed in my ears. Ronin was wrong. There was no way I sounded like that.
“Evie …” Lila turned toward me, taking my hands in hers. “Graham would never hurt me. How can you even ask me that?”
“Because I heard you scream, and it sounded bad. Not like you were enjoying it.” God … I felt stupid and embarrassed having that conversation with her.
Her grin didn’t help my situation. “There’s a reason why we’re friend soul mates, Evie … you always have my back. Literally.” She winked and blew me a kiss before making her grand entrance into the gallery of people waiting for the bride.
I rubbed my forehead. Lecturing her on any sort of taboo sex would have been very hypocritical of me. I knew what I had done with Ronin.
But fuck … I didn’t scream like that. Only victims in my horror movies screamed like that.
The rest of the evening rebounded back to the same kind of perfection as the wedding. I expected nothing less with three wedding planners and an endless budget.
“You’re mine on the dance floor, Evelyn.” Graham held out his hand to me.
Ronin nudged me off his lap. “Go show him your moves.”
I begrudgingly accepted Graham’s hand and looked over my shoulder, sticking my tongue out at Ronin.
He laughed, sipping his beer.
“I requested this song just for us.” Graham pulled me into his arms, gazing down at me with all kinds of mischief.
Rob Thomas, “Lonely No More.”
I suppressed my scowl, pretending I didn’t get the significance of the song even though I knew. It was the song that played on MTV the night we surpassed the legal limit and had sex. Quite fitting since, aside from the alcohol, the only good reason we had for testing our friendship with a stupid decision like sex was sheer loneliness.
“Thank you.” Graham kissed the top of my head as we attempted to slow dance to a song that wasn’t really a slow dance or a dancing song at all.
“For what?”
“Lila.”
I swallowed my tiny lump of regret, still hearing her scream from earlier. “You’re welcome. If you hurt her, I will kill you.”
Graham chuckled. “I’d expect nothing less of you.”
We swayed together as the song played on, Lila on one side of the room shooting me a big smile and Ronin on the other side of the room chatting it up with my parents while also giving me the occasional wink and grin.
As the song came to an end, Graham gave me one last hug. A tight, sincere hug. “I love you, Evelyn, more than you could possibly know.”
Peering up at him, I didn’t even try to hide the tears in my eyes. I loved him too. There was really no good reason why we didn’t end up together other than that thing. I believed for two people to fall in love there had to be a lot of definable things like common interests, goals, and the obvious attraction, but also the thing that couldn’t be defined. It had no label. It was just an invisible component of a relationship that made it work—that part of you that physically felt empty without that other person.
“I love you too, Graham. But I love Lila more … and so should you.”
He kissed my cheek, letting his lips linger against my skin as if it was some sort of goodbye. “Agreed,” he whispered. “We love Lila more.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Two years later …
Governor Graham Porter.
It’s not that I didn’t think he’d get elected. Money and influence mattered. No one had more money and influence than the Porters. Hoped … that was a better word. I’d hoped that he would choose a different path, more for Lila’s sake than his wellbeing.