Page 18 of EverGreene
With Ever looking down at her tattoo, I took the opportunity to adjust myself. Of all the days to wear gray sweatpants.
“This? It’s a swallow. I got it about six months ago.”
Well, that seals it. Rest in peace, penis. It’s been real fun getting to know you. But there’s no way in fuck we’re ever going to recover from a topless Ever saying the word ‘swallow’ in our presence with her perfect, full tits staring me in the face.
“Now show me yours.” Ever commanded me as she opened a drawer to her dresser and pulled out a t-shirt, slipping it on.
I beg your pardon?My grandfather had a favorite saying he used in the stories he would tell me as a child, describing someone who was in a state of frozen, panicked confusion when facing any one of a number of choices laid out in front of them. He would say, “Loche, he didn’t know whether to shit or wind his watch.”
In this moment, I, Loche Greene, didn’t know whether to shit or wind my watch.
“What?” Ever asked. “Are you too embarrassed to show meyour tattoos? Will they give away your secret identity or something?”
My tattoos? Thank Christ I didn’t take off my pants.
I shook my head and gripped the hem of my t-shirt, pulling it over my head, careful not to take my mask with it, so that I was standing in front of Ever topless. Her eyes roamed the length of my body, taking in the extensive amount of ink I had beginning at chest level and wrapping around to my back. All of my ink was primarily on the left side of my body, slowly encroaching into my right side.
“Trees?” Ever asked, taking a few steps forward, her eyes transfixed on my body in fascination, instead of the sexual way I enjoyed.
A variety of pine trees, of various sizes, created a forest that traveled across my body; it was a work of art on flesh instead of canvas, all courtesy of Nix’s steady hand. “Beauty from pain,” he calls it. It’s why he’s known as Pain on the mat.
Ever’s eyes looked up at me, a question hovering on her lips that I answered with a simple nod. Goosebumps shot through my body in direct response to the brush of her fingertips against my skin, tracing the scene etched on me with precision. If ever there was a moment I didn’t want to end, it was this one. My breath caught in my throat when she reached my waistband, and she tugged my sweatpants down until the base of the lowest tree trunk was exposed. A tug or two more, and she may have released something else.
Normally, I didn’t like to be touched, but the sensation of Ever’s skin against my body was like a salve to my soul, sparking life in the places where I’d been numb before. I’d never wanted to feel anything again, hadn’t thought I would or that I would want to. Yet, here I was, wanting to feel all the feels.
“You’re so beautiful.” Ever’s raspy voice did nothing toquell the erection I was trying so hard—no pun intended—to keep under wraps.
Fuck, I was in trouble.
“Say something.” Her eyes pleaded with me, and goddamnit, I wanted to comply until she begged me to stop. The things I wanted to say to her while her legs were slung over my shoulders were downright criminal, and I shared in her desperation with my silence.
I propped her head up with my hand, pushing her chin up to force her eyes to look into my hidden ones, and shook my head.
“Why? Why keep your voice a secret you can’t share with me? I’ve seen literally all of you. Would I be able to identify you? Do—do I know who you are?”
Shit.
Ever took a step back, appraising me. She was mentally ticking through every man she’d encountered here. I could tell by the concentration in her eyes I routinely saw when she was behind her desk, trying to problem-solve an issue in a client file. Eventually, she would land on me. Whether she would connect the dots, I didn’t know, but I couldn’t let her—not now. I needed more time with her before I told her the truth. So, I did something I never wanted to do.
I shook my head, blatantly lying to her.
“Then please say something, anything. V, please. I’d like to continue whatever the hell this is between us, but I need a little give from you, too.”
If only she could hear the scream I was letting out internally. I wasn’t getting out of this without giving her something that I, frankly, did actually owe to her. The question was how.
You know how.
Dear God, no. Not that.
“V?” I sighed, taking in Ever’s confused face. Her patiencewas only going to last for so long, and I was on borrowed time already.
Well, here goes nothing.
“This is me saying something.”
Ever’s eyes widened. Speechless, she stood motionless, and I was just about to see myself out when she erupted in laughter.
“What. The. Actual. Fuck?” Tears were already streaming down her face, and she struggled to speak between fits of laughter. “Was—was that Kermit the Frog? Tell me that was a Kermit the Frog impression.”
