Page 13 of Charmed By You
Chapter 6
Elliot scrubbed a hand over his face and stifled a yawn. He was exhausted. Dead on his feet. He might as well have been sleepwalking. All day he’d gone through the motions. Showering and dressing, heading to the restaurant, even cooking which had always garnered his undivided attention, were simply routines.
He was distracted. His mind was elsewhere. It was like he’d walked out of that hotel room without a piece of himself, like he’d left something important behind, which didn’t make a damn bit of sense and frustrated the hell out of him.
It had been a one-night stand. It wasn’t the first he’d ever had. It likely wouldn’t be the last. Yet it didn’t feel like a one-night stand and he couldn’t shake the memories that had bombarded him at the most inopportune times throughout the day.
He’d be in mid-conversation with someone and he’d get a flash of Henry’s soft smile. He’d nearly gotten run over on his way home because he’d paused crossing the street when he saw one of those damn billboards with Henry’s handsome face on it. He’d also burned at least three dishes today because he kept zoning out and remembering how Henry had looked at that moment right before Elliot had left.
Asleep and sex-rumpled, he’d been downright adorable. Not the perfectly put together politician. He’d just been a man. An incredibly sexy man that had no idea he’d completely ruined Elliot for any other guy.
His dark hair had been messy. The matching scruff on his jaw showing off the rougher side of him that nobody else ever saw. Henry had pulled the sheet up, covering his lower body, but his broad chest had been on display as he lay sleeping. His even breaths rising and falling, had made Elliot want to reach out, just one more time, to trace that beautiful body, to touch what had been his for just a brief moment of time.
But he hadn’t.
He’d forced himself up. Forced himself to drag on his slacks and button-down and shoved the tie into the pocket of the jacket. Then he’d stared at Henry for at least a full minute, memorizing everything about him and about their time together, before he’d turned and walked out the door back into the real world.
Henry’s bodyguard had been there waiting. Just as Elliot had known he would be. But when the gigantic man had opened is mouth Elliot had shut him down. He hadn’t wanted whatever it was Henry usually offered his one-night stands. A ride home? Money? It didn’t matter. It had been one incredible, amazing night but it had been over and Elliot had refused to let it be ruined.
He’d vowed he would keep the memories. He wouldn’t forget the way those soft hands had traced his tattoos with shaky need. He’d always remember the way Henry had made him feel. Special and important. It had been so rare in Elliot’s life that he’d fallen under the spell, fallen for the man, and he’d hold those memories tight for the rest of his life.
He’d have to because God knew after experiencing something like that with a man like Henry that he’d have hell ever finding someone that stood a chance of living up to the fantasy.
“Damn it, Elliot!” A gruff voice shouted and he jerked to attention in time to notice the pot of water he’d been boiling was overflowing.
“Shit.” He cursed under his breath and quickly removed it from the heat though his cheeks still burned as he looked up at the man standing in the doorway of the kitchen with his hands on his hips. “Sorry.”
“What the hell is wrong with you today?” His stepbrother scowled at him. “You disappear at the party last night. You show up late this morning to cook for the catering gigs. You’ve been a fucking space cadet all day. What gives?”
Elliot looked away, not wanting anything that might appear on his face to be seen by Tony. The eldest of the twins, Tony had always taken it upon himself to be his mother’s stand in for insulting, demeaning and generally abusing Elliot whenever she wasn’t around to do it herself. Despite being only four years older than him, the twins were both much bigger and stronger. Whereas he’d always been thin and lithe, taking after the mother he’d never known, the twins looked like they’d inherited some sort of Herculean gene sequence. Tony practically lived at the gym when he wasn’t at the restaurant making Elliot’s life a living hell and he knew from experience the fists the other man kept on his hips wrought nothing but anger and pain.
What Tony had to be so angry about, he didn’t know. His mother treated him as if he were made of gold. She’d given him nothing but love and affection, doting on him to the detriment of his own ability to even think for himself in Elliot’s opinion. He hadn’t asked why Tony was always so angry and he never would because it didn’t matter.
Tony hated him and the feeling was mutual.
“I said I was sorry.” Elliot sighed as he moved the pot back to the heat and added in the spices he’d lain out beside the stove. “I’m fine. You can go, Tony.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” The bigger man stepped further into the room and Elliot had to fight the urge to back up.
“No. I didn’t.” He kept his chin up when Tony all but snarled at him, “My personal life is none of your business.”
“You’re awfully cocky today. You better watch your mouth. Anything you do is my business if I say it is.”
His own temper flared and he turned back to face his stepbrother, “The hell it is.”
“That so?” Tony only smirked, “Because you’re fucking up your job left and rightlittle brother. I’m sure Mom can find someone else to sear a steak if you keep it up.”
“Don’t threaten me.”
“Aw, did I hit a nerve?” Tony sneered, “Afraid I’m gonna take away your precious restaurant? Your daddy’s legacy. The only part of him you have left. Only he didn’t leave it to you did he. He left it to us.”
Elliot’s fists curled at his side. He’d been teased and taunted by Tony before. Tony had been making the same threat for years but it hit below the belt today for some reason and ripped Elliot wide open. Maybe because his emotions were still too close to the surface after his night with Henry. He didn’t know. All he did know was that the threat that usually made him cower with fear of losing everything he loved didn’t make him cower today. It made him want to fight.
“He didn’t leave you shit.” Elliot hissed, “This restaurant was supposed to be mine the day I turned eighteen. Your family stole it from me and have been basically using me as slave labor ever since. Stop acting righteous when you’re nothing more than a thief with a bitch con-woman for a mother.”
“You’re going to pay for that little outburst…” Tony started towards him and Elliot raised his fists, prepared to defend himself.
“Anthony!” A sharp voice in the doorway stopped his stepbrother short and Elliot didn’t know whether to be thankful or twice as worried when he glanced over and saw Tony’s twin in the doorway.
