Page 65 of We Own Tonight
Eli watches as I take a bite, a moan filling the silence. Heaven in mymouth.
“Did you just orgasm?” he asks with a throatychuckle.
“Wouldn’t you like toknow?”
I scarf down two more cookies that way without feeling self-conscious at all. Eli doesn’t make me feel guilty or as if I shouldn’t be eating these things. Matt would always remind me that I wasn’t in college anymore and my figure wouldn’t remain. Just another vast difference inthem.
“Your sister looked good,” Eli says before he pops a chip in hismouth.
I nod. “Today was a good day, yesterdaywasn’t.”
“Does she have more good thanbad?”
I sigh and drop the Frankensteined Oreo I’m making. I wish I could tell him that she did, but the last few months have definitely been weighted toward bad. “Huntington’s doesn’t usually get better. It gets progressively worse. Because Steph was so young when she presented, we were told the decline would most likely be like falling off acliff.”
Eli takes my hand in his, probably hearing the pain in my voice. “What does thatmean?”
“That once she starts to go downhill, it’ll be very hard and fast. There won’t be weeks and months of her suffering, though. That’s the one thing she says is her silver lining. I don’t know if it’s better or worse that way. I’ve had a few years with her symptoms being pretty mild, but I can’t say watching her struggle isn’t the worst part. I don’t know how I’ve survived so far. When my parents died, we didn’t have a warning. There was no time to worry. With Stephanie it’s the opposite, I’m literally watching her life slip away. I’ve been doing it with no one to help me keep ittogether.”
His fingers go limp and he pulls his hand up, rubbing it with the other. “I wish I could say something to make this easier foryou.”
I shrug even though nothing we’re talking about feels casual. “Tell me you’re not going to leave me, Eli. Because I can’t let myself keep falling for you if this is only going to end with you walking out thedoor.”
“Come here,” he says as he opens his arms. I don’t waver, I move into his embrace, allowing him to hold me firm. “I’m not going to leaveyou.”
Being vulnerable is a scary thing. It’s hard to give anyone, let alone Eli, unfettered access to my biggest fear. I’ve been alone for a long time, and I’ve learned to handle it. This, though? I have no idea how to handle. Having a taste of Eli’s affection is enough to make me an addict. The more time we spend together, the more I cravehim.
“You’re leavingsoon.”
It’s the elephant in the room. We can pretend all we want that Eli isn’t who he is, but there is a reality we need to face. He has to go back to New York in less than two weeks. Our time is fading before my eyes as well. I know it’s his job, I would never ask him to stay, but I’ll be without him. Three weeks ago, I could’ve said goodbye and walked away, but when my heart entangled with his, it complicated things. Why can’t I fall for a normal guy? Why do I pick the one man who literally lives every single one of my insecurities? Because I’m dumb, that’swhy.
Eli’s arm tightens. “That part sucks, but it won’t be that long. We take breaks during filming, I can come here or you can come spend time in New York. I meant what I said, Heather, we’ll make thiswork.”
“I have work, too. AndSteph.”
“I know, I’m not asking you to give up anything, just make room forme.”
When he says it like that, it seems sosimple.
Chapter Seventeen
Eli
“Nicole, Kristin, and Denise?”I ask, trying to get the names right. Heather’s best friends are her family, and I’d like not to look like a total douche in front ofthem.
“Danielle, or Danni for short. That’s whose house this is.” She corrects as she parks in front of a house in West Chase. It’s a modest two-story house on a cul-de-sac, complete with a picket fence andall.
I’m adaptable, but my life hasn’t ever been normal. I’m not sure what the hell I was thinking agreeing tothis.
Heather watches me, and then I remember why—her. She wanted me here to meet her friends, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. “Are you okay?” sheasks.
“It’s going to be great, baby. Do they know I’mcoming?”
I should’ve asked thisearlier.
“Umm, well, I kind of didn’t sayanything.”
I’m not sure if this is because she didn’t think we’d make it to the weekend or because she didn’t want her friends to freak. Well, here goesnothing.
