I think I'd figured out why I loved pushing Evelyn's buttons so much. She just looked so adorable when her eyes got all big as she glared daggers and her mouth formed into a kissable pout. The entertainment from having a verbal volley with her that more often than not led to mind-blowing sex was an added bonus.
"Do you feel any shame at all?" Evelyn asked, glaring at me with her pretty eyes.
I pretended to think for a bit before clicking my tongue. "Nah. Not unless I'm doing something shameful. Which I usually don't do."
She groaned in frustration, her cheeks tinted pink as a woman passed by us, giving us the side eye. She stomped toward me, her lips pursed in a flat line. "This is a lingerie store for God's sake! Can't you wait for me outside at least? Everyone is staring at us," she hissed.
"No can do," I said, turning to another rack of clothes. "What if you buy something cheap just to get out of this? You told me to buy you a new bra since I ripped yours so I'm doing just that. Now look over here, they have some good-looking stuff in lace."
"You are impossible!" she huffed, turning around to go the other way.
Deciding to give her some space, I lingered near the rack of colorful bras while Evelyn checked out the other racks. She kept picking things up only to keep them down after seeing the price tag. For all the talk about making me regret ripping her favorite bra, she was thinking a little too much about my expenses.
I heaved a sigh when she did the same thing for the fifth time in a row. Maybe I should pick something for her on my own.
I looked around and caught the saleswoman's eye, beckoning her over. She immediately made her way to me with a bright smile on her face. "How can I help you sir?"
"Hi, you see my girlfriend over there? The one with pretty reddish hair?"
The word girlfriend slipped from my mouth with ease and surprisingly I liked the way it sounded. Something to unpack later.
The saleswoman looked past my shoulder, nodding when she spotted Evelyn. "She is having a bit of trouble making a choice. Could please go help her? Maybe show her something that she would like?" I asked.
She beamed. "Of course."
I watched her approach Evelyn and immediately distract her with all the options. Ensured that Evelyn was occupied, I slipped to the other part of the store, selecting things that Evelyn had picked up before. I also got a few more things of my choice, hoping she would wear them someday. And maybe show me too. Especially the lacy red corset set.
My phone pinged in my jeans pocket and I took it out to see a text from Evelyn.
Evelyn: Where are you? I'm heading to checkout.
I stood on my tip-toes to search for Evelyn and found her an aisle over with the saleswoman, heading toward the checkout counter. I rushed to gather the remaining stuff, throwing in some more pieces of lingerie before following after them.
As I had suspected, there was only one thing on the counter when I reached there. Even the saleswoman looked disappointed that after all her efforts Evelyn had got only one item. And I could bet that it was the cheapest of the lot.
"We are taking these too. Please pack them and ring them on my card," I said, handing her my card along with everything I had selected. Evelyn's eyes widened but I ignored the pleading look she was giving me.
"Sure." The saleswoman, looking much happier now, got to work.
"Have you lost your mind? Do you know how much that's gonna cost? Everything is so expensive here," Evelyn hissed, coming to stand beside me.
I shrugged. "Won't even cause a dent to my account. Relax, Rosy."
She made an irritated sound. "That does not mean you'll splurge. And it's not even on yourself."
"I want to splurge on you," I said, looking down to meet her gaze. She seemed so genuinely bewildered and vulnerable that it melted my heart.
With a sigh, I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her to my side. "I'm happy to pay for it. After all, I have torn quite a number of your panties and bra."
She gasped and smacked my chest, looking around to see if anyone had heard us. "Can you try not to scandalize people around us?" she mumbled and my lips twitched to make yet another scandalous comment but I refrained. "Also, those weren't expensive at all."
"Well, since these are expensive, hopefully they'll last longer," I said.
Evelyn stayed silent, watching the saleswoman pack our stuff. But I could feel her twitch beside me, almost hear the cogs in her head turn to calculate the cost of everything.
The saleswoman lifted the red corset to ring it up and looked at Evelyn and me with an amused smile.
Evelyn immediately whirled around and buried her face in my chest. "You bought me a fucking corset?" she grumbled.
I grinned, patting her back. "I thought it'd look good on you. You don't like it?"
She whined and pinched my side. I caught her hand, still smiling in front of the saleswoman.
"All done. Thank you for shopping. Hope you have a great day." As soon as the saleswoman said so, Evelyn dashed out as if the store was on fire.
Grabbing the bags off the counter with a quick thank you, I ran after her. I found her standing near the store's entrance and as soon as I came into view, she immediately launched her rant about how embarrassing that was. By the end of it, Evelyn's cheeks were flushed and she was breathing hard.
"You still didn't answer my question. Did you like the corset?" I asked, trying hard not to laugh.
Evelyn groaned, stomping her foot, and then grabbed my hand. "Forget it. We are going home. I have had enough embarrassment for one day."
I laughed as she tried to drag me away from the store but couldn't move me even an inch. It was cute that she wanted to try. "Wait," I said, making her stop. "We haven't gotten anything for me yet. Won't you help me get clothes for myself?"
She squinted her eyes at me. "What are you playing at?"
"Nothing. I have a few formal events coming up and I need to get some new shirts and ties. I promise I'll behave. Just help me out."
She stared at me for a beat before sighing. "Fine."
Grinning, I led her to a few more stores where Evelyn helped me select clothes. She was surprisingly good at it and saved me a lot of time. And it was ten times better to listen to her rather than to a salesperson. By the time we were done, our bags had doubled and Evelyn was smiling, the events of the lingerie store all but forgotten.
It was one of the first genuine smiles I had seen on her face in days. Ever since she'd received that call last Wednesday about her dad's debt, she had been stressed. She wouldn't allow me to help and refused to tell me what she had decided to do about it either.
And although she was adamant about denying that the news had bothered her, she wasn't convincing anyone. Least of all me. Any time she wasn't spending in the studio or attending classes was going to one of her four jobs. Yeah, she had four jobs now.
It was draining her. I could see that but she refused to acknowledge it. Even today, I had to drag her out of the house with whatever excuse I could come up with just so she would stop stressing. Even if it was just for a few hours.
Now, seeing her smiling and stress-free, all of it felt worth it. She deserved to be happy and I hated the fact that I couldn't get rid of everything that made her sad.
With a sigh, Evelyn leaned on my shoulder. "I'm hungry."
Instinctively, I pressed a kiss to her head. "Let's go to the food court. It's a little past lunchtime so hopefully, there will be less crowd."
She agreed and we were making our way to the food court talking and laughing when someone called her name. Loudly.
"Evelyn! Evelyn, wait up!" A scrawny guy with a mop of curly dark hair came running towards us. Panting, he pushed his glasses up that had slid down his nose. "What a surprise to see you here! I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. You even stopped coming to the coffee shop. I thought it was your favorite."
"Oh, hey Josh," Evelyn replied, her tone a bit hesitant. "It's good to see you too. I have been a bit busy lately."
I scrutinized the guy as he kept interrogating Evelyn about her whereabouts. He was yet to notice me which was a shocker since I was literally beside her. But what irked me more was the way he stared at her. His gaze kept jumping from her eyes to her chest in the most creepy way.
The more I looked at his ugly face the more I wanted to punch it. And then suddenly it struck me. He was that creepy guy from the coffee shop. No wonder I wanted to punch him.
Having enough of his bullshit, I threw an arm around Evelyn and inserted myself into the conversation. "Babe, won't you introduce me?"
The twig's eyes snapped to me and then narrowed. I gave him my best condescending smile, the one I usually gave to my opponents on ice, and rejoiced when his jaw ticked.
Evelyn too looked up at me a little bewildered but then snapped out of it when I squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Yes, of course. Atlas this is Josh, my once classmate and Josh, this is Atlas," she said.
"Hi, Atlas Griffin," I said, sticking my hand out.
"Who doesn't know Atlas Griffin, captain of the Eagles? I'm Joshua Phillips. Evelyn's friend," he said as he shook my hand.
It wasn't lost on me how he added 'Evelyn's friend' in his introduction even when Evelyn had clearly omitted it. I squeezed his hand a little harder just for that fact alone. "It's good to see you," I said.
Josh pulled his hand out of my grip with a wince and immediately tucked it in his pant pocket. Then he turned to Evelyn again, dismissing me. Not that I was going to let him do that.
"What are you doing here? Are you here for the limited edition Space Wars figurines?" he asked, his beady eyes practically sparkling. "I'm heading there right now."
Before Evelyn could respond, Josh stepped uncomfortably close to her, making her shrink back into me. "I have a friend who works at the store and he has kept a box aside for me. I can ask him to keep one for you as well," he whispered, leaning in as if he were talking about drug deals instead of some geeky toys.
"Uh... no. I'm not much of a fan. Thanks for the offer though," Evelyn said, forcing a smile.
"Really? I thought you liked collecting figurines," he said in an accusatory tone that grated on my nerves. "What are you doing here then?"
Deciding it was time to put an end to this, I stepped in between them, discreetly maneuvering Evelyn so she was standing a step behind me.
"We were here for some shopping. I told her I'll replace everything I tear," I said, grinning, and then held the lingerie bags up, making sure he got a clear view of the pink bags with the brand's name on them.
Josh's eyes widened comically and pink tinted his cheeks as he looked down at his feet. Beside me, Evelyn gasped and smacked my arm hard. "Atlas Griffin!" she scolded before turning to Josh. "I'm so sorry. It seems he has lost his filter completely. We'll leave you to do your space battle stuff now."
"Space Wars," Josh mumbled, still not looking up.
"Yeah. Space Wars," Evelyn corrected herself. "We'll see you around."
She started pulling me away and this time I let her but not before calling back to Josh. "I hope you have fun with your space battle toys."
For that, I got another smack from Evelyn but it was so worth it. She also lectured me for my crassness and lack of discernment but if given the choice to go back, I would still do it again. That jerk deserved to be put in his place.
Evelyn heaved a sigh when we sat at a table at the food court and rubbed her temples. "That was unnecessary," she said.
"The hell it was!" I scowled. "Did you not see how he was staring at your chest? The creep deserved more than that. I didn't even do anything."
Her nostrils flared. "You stare at my chest more often than not!"
"I stare at your chest respectfully," I said, leaning back against the chair and crossing my arms. "And only when you want me to stare."
She sighed and held her head in her hands. "I'm worried he'll act up and cause problems for us. What if he tells everyone? Or starts some nasty rumor?"
I felt a twinge of guilt. But only for adding to Evelyn's stress. I firmly believed that douchebag deserved more than just a few snide remarks.
Reaching out, I grabbed her hands in mine, rubbing circles on them. "If he ever approaches you or makes you uncomfortable, you tell me and I'll deal with him, okay? Don't give shitty people like him the right to behave however they want with you."
She gave me a small smile. "What about the warning to behave hanging on your head?"
I shrugged. "Then I'll tell Holden and the others to deal with him. I'm sure they would be more than happy to do it."
She laughed then, which in turn made me smile. "You are starting to sound like a gang leader."
"Well technically, I'm a leader. Just not of a bunch of crooks."
Evelyn shook her head, standing up. "I'm going to use the washroom real quick. You can order for both of us till then."
I watched her walk away and took out my phone to kill time instead of ordering food. It would cause some delay but it would be better for her to choose whatever she wanted. Plus it would give me more time to spend with her.
It was concerning how much I wanted to stay with her all the time. So much so that Evelyn's apartment had become my second home. If I wasn't at the rink or the sharehouse then I was with her at her apartment. We only made a few trips to the penthouse when we were meeting outside of campus and we're closer to the town. Usually when I picked her up from her part-time job at the mart.
When the group occupying the table beside us stood up to leave, I glanced at the time. It had already been more than thirty minutes since Evelyn had left. A bathroom break wouldn't take that much time.
My anxiety started soaring when another ten minutes passed but Evelyn still didn't show up. Pulling up her contact on my phone, I pressed the call button. The ring kept going but she didn't pick up. I tried two more times before giving up and decided to look for her myself.
I gathered our bags and walked over to the washrooms. A woman was coming out of the lady's room at the same time and gave me a skeptical look once she saw me. "I'm not a pervert," I said before she could accuse me. "I'm looking for my girlfriend. Her phone's battery is probably dead and I can't find her. Could you please check if she's inside?"
"There's no one inside," the woman informed. "Maybe you should contact the security and ask them to make an announcement. She must be here somewhere."
With a quick thank you, I walked away from there. I scanned the food court again to see if Evelyn had returned but she hadn't. Doing a full circle of the floor, I took the escalator to go to the third floor hoping to find her.
The longer I looked for her and didn't find her, the more my heart sank. What if she was in some kind of trouble? What if that douche had cornered her? Snatched her phone and hurt her?
My hands balled into fists as images of that creep harassing Evelyn flashed before my eyes. Warnings be damned. If he so much as touched her hair, I would break his damn hand.
I frantically scoured the floors, peeking inside stores to check if she was inside even though I knew Evelyn would never leave to shop like that without informing me. When I was coming down the escalator to the second floor, I caught a glimpse of red hair. With my heart pounding, I approached the woman and was relieved when I saw it was, in fact, Evelyn.
"Evelyn, where the fuck have you been? Do you have any idea how worried I was? At least pick up your damn phone and—"
My words caught in my throat when she finally met my gaze. Her pretty hazel eyes were filled with tears and her nose and cheeks were a rosy red. The anguish on her face made my blood run cold.
"I..." she hiccuped. "I think I saw my mom."