Their Goddess - The Roses, Book 3 (Completed)

Part 2. Elijah

I sit and watch across the common room as Evie and Nick sit with their friends, his arm casually around the back of her chair and I smirk as I see her eyes dart to me, a faint blush starting as she tries to ignore my stare.
"Stop it" Noah kicks my leg under the table, his back is to her, but he knows what I am doing "oh don't be such a spoilsport, its fun watching her reaction" I laugh at him.
"Incoming" Riki warns from my side and I grimace as we are surrounded in a cloud of overly sweet perfume. "hey boys" Mandy squeals sliding onto the seat next to Noah and pushing herself up against him, my eyes flick across the room and I see an expression flare across Evie's face, was that jealousy?
"What do you want Mandy?" Noah grunts moving away from her but she just follows him "oh your party, I just wanted to tell you how wonderful it was and to see if we could go out sometime, maybe you could show me around your house" she tells him breathily.  I share a look with Riki "ugh" he mutters under his breath and I smile when I hear him.  Mandy catches sight of the smile and her hand comes across the table to mine, I pull away quickly "Oh boys, I would love to see more, of all of you" she coo's and I gag before laughing, as Riki pins her with a look and tells her loudly "Fuck Off Mandy, we're not interested in you".
She huffs up from the table and glares at us all before storming off, my gaze returned to Evie and I can see her watching with relief on her face before she catches me looking and masks it by turning away.
I grin to myself, well, well, looks like Gabe maybe right. Evie had reacted to Mandy being near us, she didn't like it and had watched us, before she hid again.
xx
Mom was waiting for me when we got home, "Eli, can you take this down to Keepers Cottage, its heavy and I didn't want Evie carrying it", she indicated a large flat wrapped parcel.  "What is it?" I asked curiously.  "A frame, Evie's helping me with a gift for your fathers" Mom blushed as she told me and I raised my eyebrows at her "Mom, what are you up to?" I teased making her blush more before she shook her fist at me "its a surprise" and I held my hands up in surrender. "okay, okay, i'll take it down now" I tell her and grab the frame.
I knock at the door of the cottage but there was no answer, I had a brief moment of deja vu when I let myself in the side gate and followed the path around the cottage.  Mrs Thorn was sat in the sun asleep with a book on her lap and I coughed gently to warn her I was there.
"Oh, Elijah, sorry, I was asleep, I didn't know you were coming" she rushed out and I smiled back, "No worries Mrs Thorn, I have a delivery for Evie from Mom, I didn't want to leave it out front" I told her and indicated the large frame at my side.  "oh goodness, that's big, umm, can you take it to her studio for me, i'll grab the key and let you in" she disappeared into the kitchen returning with a keyring and leading me down the garden towards the old shed.  I know Mom had said Evie was doing her art here but nothing had prepared me for what I saw when Mrs Thorn opened the door, "just lean it against the wall there" she told me as I looked around me in awe.
"Wow" I said as I turned in a circle, my eyes running over the work covering the walls before my gaze stopped on a picture of my brothers and I, I glance at Mrs Thorn who watched me look around, "she's very talented" I tell her and watch her relax at my words before replying "I know, I just wish she would believe in herself more and share her work" I nod as I step forward towards the picture that had caught my eye, I could remember the day but hadn't realised she was watching us, she had put all our clothes in a tree whilst we had been in the lake, the picture shows our naked rear view heading across the field towards the tree, I knew it was us but she had developed it in such a way unless you were there you wouldn't know it was us.  I grinned to myself and moved further into the room, seeing more images of us from over the last two years, both with our family and us together and individually,  she had been watching us.
I could feel Mrs Thorns eyes on me as I looked around "don't let her know you were in here" she told me quietly and I turned to her "Why?"
She took her time to answer, carefully choosing her words "I don't know what happened after our first summer here but after that, any mention of you boys and my daughter turns into someone else" I look around the room again and nod "I won't tell her" I promise and she leads me out, locking the door behind us.
xx
"Do you remember when she put our clothes in the tree by the lake?" I ask them as we chilled out in our lounge, they looked at me and nodded "she was there watching us, she has a photo from that day in her studio" I tell them.
"How do you know?" Eli demands and I smile thinking of the space I had seen earlier today, "Mom asked me to take a frame down to Evie, her Mom let me into the studio, its incredible" I tell them before adding "that day is not the only time she has taken our photograph, there's quite a few of us on her walls, with family, together and on our own".
"Where's the studio?" Riki asks confused and I describe the old shed at the bottom of the garden that has been turned into her studio.
"Does this mean she's interested, do you think?" Noah asks and we sit back thinking about what it could mean for us.