Breaking Everly Read online

  When we’re not at university, studying or spending time with each other, Everly and I work in the town, saving up to get our own place once we’ve graduated. Whilst Everly works in the Tourist information Centre on a weekend, I work down here at Derwentwater Lake, taking tourists and hill walkers from one side of the lake to the other in the boat. It’s a pleasant job and keeps the wages coming in whilst I study for my degree. I’ve wanted to move in with Everly for a long time now. Her parents have very kindly offered to pay the deposit on a place to help us out, but wanting to support the girl I love, I declined. I’m a proud man, and want to do right by her. I don’t want to have any resemblance to my own biological father. He left Mum, and me as a baby, in a serious amount of debt. I don’t want to be like him, so even the offer of a loan from Everly’s parents is something I can’t bring myself to accept.

  Once I place the mattress from outside in the far corner of the cabin, I fill an empty bucket of water and go back out to throw it on the fire, giving the area one last glance before I head back inside.

  After undressing, she stands in thick bed socks and my thick jumper, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her hair falling in soft, blond waves over her shoulders. Her makeup-free skin glows against the soft lantern light of the cabin and the warmth of the fire.

  She’s so beautiful.

  I walk towards her and circle my arms around her waist, the blanket around her shoulders falling to the floor as she links her arms around my neck. “Have I ever told you that I really love kissing you?” I say against her lips.

  “You tell me every time you kiss me.”

  “Just checking you listen to me.” I peck her lips once more as I feel her shiver under me.

  She lifts her eyes to mine. “I love you.”

  “I love you more.”

  “I love you forever.”

  I kiss her again, this time wanting more of her mouth as I slip my tongue between her lips, a kiss that quickly turns heated. Her body pleads to be touched. Her hands roam up the inside of my shirt, and for a moment I tense from the coldness of her hands. Smiling against her lips, I pull her closer, one arm firmly around her waist as my other hand trails down the flat of her stomach. Her soft moan of pleasure is like sweet music to my ear as I caress her sex through the outside of her underwear before slipping my fingers into her warmth.

  “Adam…”

  “That feel good, baby?”

  She nods, letting her eyes flutter close as I make love to her with my fingers, watching her body come undone in my hold. “I need you inside me.”

  I lift her around my waist and carry her to the makeshift bed that’s covered in pillows and blankets. Once I lay her down, I remove my shirt before lifting my jumper over her head, watching her nipples tighten harder against the cold and her skin break out in chills—chills from both the winter air and the desire that is burning deep in her eyes.

  “You’re so beautiful,” I whisper. Removing my trousers, I cover her with my body and then us both with the blankets. Wet kisses cover every inch of her soft creamy skin as I work my way down to the sensitive part between her thighs. Her little moans guide me on, and I bring her to climax with my tongue before I slip deep inside her. I make love to her in the way I know she craves: slow, passionate, meaningful—letting her feel every part of me as we explore every part of each other. There has only ever been Everly in my life when it comes to women, and I know that she will only ever be the woman I have, the one that I want and the one that keeps me alive. She captivated me from the very second I saw her and that alone is a powerful connection. When we are together, that bond is special and there is no other love like ours.

  She is my everything.

  2

  Everly

  “Good morning, Everly,” Mrs Collins says as I enter the tourist house where I work. She’s a lovely old lady who looks the same, day in, day out: her grey hair always looks like it’s been placed in hair rollers over night and her thin silver frame glasses sit permanently on the tip of her nose, while her blue skirt and jacket suit seem to be the only things her wardrobe exists of.

  “Morning, Mrs Collins. What’s on the agenda today?” I smile, placing my jacket on the back of the staff room door, remove my gloves and winter hat as I shake out my hair, a shiver running through me. Winter has never been my preferred season because I love the heat on my skin and the colours this town brings once the spring and summer flowers are in bloom. With that being said, I love the way the ground looks on the morning of heavy frost.

  “Not much, I’m afraid. But those leaflets could do with a sort out and then the window displays could do with a revamp if you have time?”

  If I have time?

  Being tourist advisors means we provide the right and relevant information to those who need it for their stays, day trips or general walks through the woods. But in order to do that, we need people and since it’s out of season, those people are few and far between. So, in answer to her question, I’ll have double the amount of time given the fact it’s just after Christmas and it’s cold as shit outside. Even Adam is searching for work down at the dock. This time of year is always hard, but we some how get through it before we even realise.

  “There we go,” Mrs Collins says softly, placing a hot cup of coffee on the desk next to me as I turn on the computer.

  The office is still peaceful as it’s not even nine o’clock and all that can be heard outside the building are the small-town stores preparing for a day of business and a few locals taking a morning stroll down by the lake. The same thing happens every morning, the same people are out and the same routines are repeated. You could write everyone’s daily adventure—be it a walk to get a newspaper or an afternoon of coffee and cake—on the back of your hand and you wouldn’t be wrong. It’s predictable, but I wouldn’t change this place for the world. I’ve grown to love this little town and the people that are inside it.

  “Did you have a lovely Christmas?” she asks, sitting on the spare chair across from me.

  “It was the best. Adam spent the day at mine this year, and he loved his new tripod. And oh my, those shoes I’ve wanted for months? He got them for me, the sparkly ones with the killer heels. And look…” I take hold of the tiny star that hangs from a chain around my neck and she peers at it.

  “So pretty. Stars mean a lot to you both, don’t they?”

  I nod. Our nights are most times spent under the stars. “Isn’t it beautiful!”

  “That’s wonderful, dear. He’s such a handsome young man. You two remind me of my late husband George and me. We were childhood sweethearts like yourselves.”

  I smile, thinking of how lucky I am to have Adam. For many years of my childhood, growing up was lonely, and once we moved to Keswick, for a short time it was no different. I’d hardly had any friends, and even then they’d never stuck around long enough for me to call them anything trustworthy or loyal. Being a funeral director, my father was often the reason I never made relationships with my school peers. I mean, let’s face it: nobody really wants to be friends with a girl whose daddy sees dead people every day. I’d only ever been made fun of, asked if I spoke to the deceased or had dinner with the ghosts of Christmas past.

  When we first moved to Keswick, I fell in love with the place instantly and knew, no matter how much crap was thrown my way, I would make sure it kept me sane from all the bullies. And the moment I walked into my art class at the beginning of the new spring term, latching onto the eyes of Adam Knight, I’d known I’d be forever safe.

  His huge, chocolate pools had studied me like I was his next project, and in many ways, that’s what I ended up being.

  The way he’d consumed me in that moment had made my body react in a way that my fourteen-year-old self had never experienced before, and when his thin, pink lips had curved into the cutest smile, showing off his dimples and white teeth, I’d known there and then that the boy I didn’t even know the name of had captured me forever.

  From that day
on, Adam has been my link to life. Our art class was the only lesson we’d had together in school and the only one I couldn’t wait to take—not because I knew he’d be there but because art was my favourite subject. However, the two combined made the lesson more enjoyable. I’d always known I wanted to do something creative with my life but I never knew what discipline in art I wanted to follow. In many ways, I still don’t but I’m now at uni studying in fine arts. I still try out new things, explore ideas and venture into different medias, but as yet, nothing has captured my heart in the way I’m waiting for and wanting it to.

  Adam, however, knew from the get-go he wanted to take photography and develop his skills down that path, and I’m glad he did because he’s amazing at it. Once we graduate, he will be a fully qualified wildlife photographer and I will have a BA Honours degree under my belt.

  As the morning drags on, the buzz of the town slowly starts to awaken and people consume the streets. There’ve been the odd few visitors enter the information centre, asking for directions or for details of what events are on at the weekend, but other than that, I’ve kept myself busy by sorting out the leaflets and jotting ideas down for our end of month newsletter. Most people are out getting organised for New Years, which is something I am doing this afternoon. I have taken, a few hours off to spend with my mum, and as I head out to grab some lunch before she arrives, I hear the voice I love the most in the world.

  “Everly.”

  I turn, surprised to see him and wracking my brain to work out whether I’ve missed a memo and was meant to meet him for lunch. “Hey. Were we meant to be meeting?”

  “You forgot, didn’t you?”

  “I…um. No.”

  He grins, coming in for a quick kiss. “I thought I’d surprise you. Work is slow so John gave me the afternoon off.”

  “Damnit. I am meeting Mum for a few hours otherwise we could have spent time together.”

  “It’s okay. I have things to do anyway.”

  “Oh? Like what?”

  He grins and taps the side of his nose. Somehow his other hand has managed to work its way inside my coat and the moment he touches my waist I scream.

  “Adam, you arsehole!”

  Laughing, he pulls me closer. “You still fall for that after all this time.”

  Only because I get lost in his eyes and everything around me stops. “And as payback you can buy me lunch. I’m starving.”

  “Kings Arms?”

  * * *

  As we sit by the fire, our hands linked across the table as we wait for our food. In the six years I’ve known him, he’s been no different: always tactile, always showing his affection in a physical way. I received my first love note from him three weeks after I started school. A little white folded piece of paper that was crumpled in the corner was placed in the top of my school bag. I’d known right away it was from him because I’d recognised his handwriting, but when I read the words, my heart had pounded so hard I thought I would lose breath.

  You are the most precious thing that has entered my life.

  Our first date had been an afternoon at the local Market fair followed by the evening spent under the stars down by the lake with a bag of chips and a can of lemonade. Even though I had known him for a month by that time, I’d been so nervous because of the feeling he had created inside me, even at that young age: just seeing him had made my body heat.

  School prom had been the turning point for us in many ways. He’d picked me up from my house with a single pink rose, all dressed in his white tux and his floppy hair swept back in a neat style. My dad had driven us in a flash car he’d hired for that night, and I’d danced in Adam’s arms all evening as he whispered in my ear how beautiful I was before he kissed me under the night sky. It had been our first proper kiss, and I’d embraced the tingles that had chased my skin and flooded my heart with warmth as he’d held me close. I’ll remember it for as long as I am on this earth.

  From that moment, everything I’ve experienced—the development into a woman, getting my first job, or simply eating crab sticks down at the dock—I’ve experienced with Adam.

  “What were you thinking about just then?” he asks once the waitress brings us our food.

  I laugh, picking up my wine glass. “That I love you.”

  “Good to know. So, what are you wearing for New Years?”

  “Nothing yet. I’m hopefully getting it today with Mum. You?”

  He’s not into designer suits because a local clothes store can provide one just as good. He hasn’t got a flash car like his step-brother because he’s happy with his little rust bucket that threatens to fall apart whenever he turns on the ignition. The most expensive things he owns are his camera—that he saved forever and a day in order to pay for—and now his new tripod that I got him for Christmas.

  He shrugs. “I’ll find something.”

  “Well look what we have here.” A familiar voice comes from the side of me—one that makes me grimace inwardly.

  Jamie.

  “If it isn’t Keswick’s Cupid couple.”

  I sense Adam sigh with annoyance as Jamie pulls up a chair and sits between us, leaning back and spreading his legs out so that his knee touches mine. I shift in my seat, pissed off that he’s here and invading our space while we try to eat. I’ve never really liked him. There is something about this man that has me on edge and wanting to escape his presence whenever I’m in it. The way he treats women is disrespectful, and the way he pins his stare on me is unnerving. The man is nothing but trouble, and I’m so glad Adam chose to separate himself from him.

  “I said we were done. Why are you here?” Adam sounds more annoyed than usual.

  “Just thought I’d see how my kid brother is doing. Haven’t had a chance to spend time with you much recently, and haven’t seen you since our little chat the other day.”

  That’s because you’ve been arrested twice in the last month. And he’s not your brother.

  It irritates me how he refers to Adam as if he’s his own when they are not blood related. “He’s been working hard,” I reply.

  “Oh, I bet he has.” Jamie winks before his eyes land on mine. He leans into me a little too close, his voice lower but loud enough for Adam to hear. “Do you like him going hard on you, Everly?”

  “Jamie, that’s enough,” Adam orders.

  I ignore his comment and carry on eating, trying not to flip my shit when he nabs a chip from my plate with his grubby hands. I’m instantly put off my food, but when he comes in for another, I have to hold back from sticking my fork into the back of his hand.

  “Jesus, do you mind?”

  “Not at all sweet cakes,” he says with no remorse whatsoever. Seriously, he annoys the fuck out of me, and I hate the fact I let him get to me so easily.

  “I just like to have a little fun with you that’s all.”

  “Well go have fun some place else because I’m not interested.”

  “And what fun do you suppose I have?”

  “Anything that gets you arrested and out of our way for a few days.”

  Adam laughs out aloud, but Jamie just looks at me with a smirk on his face, sending an unpleasant chill throughout me. “So, what are our plans for New Years, Ad’s?” He’s asking Adam but is still looking at me. “Are we up for getting shitfaced?”

  “New Year isn’t all about alcohol, Jamie, and I told you the other day.” He replies angrily. “Besides, I’m not much of a drinker; you know this.”

  “And it still baffles me that you’re not little brother.” He folds his arms and leans back in his chair once again, irritating me with his presence.

  Why can’t you just leave?

  “So, what are we doing?”

  “We are not spending it with you. I told you this already.” Adam is getting more and more irate at Jamie’s presence.

  “Charming. What do you think I should do Everly?” Jamie says, looking at me as if he is waiting for an invitation to join our New Year celebrations.

&
nbsp; “I’ve heard prison food has improved these days.”

  Adam bursts out laughing again, continuing to eat his lunch while Jamie replies, amused, although I can hear the irritation in his tone.

  “Ad’s you’ve got yourself a fire cracker here.”

  “I know—that’s why she’s mine.”

  I smile at my love and he winks, trying to ease the frustration he knows I’m feeling right now with Jamie’s proximity. It’s not that I’ve never liked him. At first, I had no reason to dislike him: he’s Adam’s family. But as time went on, we just never seemed to hit it off as friends—and I tried, I really did.

  Whenever I was around Adam, I could sense the frustration in Jamie: he didn’t want me there. As the years went on, our friendship became more strained and his behaviour towards me changed. I don’t like the thought of staying at Adam’s place anymore. Not because of his parents and the fact that they constantly argue—because when they don’t they are two of the nicest people—but because I don’t like the thought of sleeping there, knowing that Jamie is up to stuff. One time, I caught him snorting cocaine in the bathroom in the middle of the night when only in my nightshirt. The way his eyes roamed my body in slow motion had made me uncomfortable, and still now, at times, I will catch him looking at me in the same way.

  “That’s why she’s yours,” Jamie says under his breath, repeating Adam’s words. With that, he stands from his seat and I’m relieved he’s taken the hint. “Well you pair are boring as shit. I’m done. See you bro.”

  Adam’s jaw clenches and he doesn’t reply.

  “See you again, Everly,” he says with a grin I want to slap from his face as he pinches another chip off my plate. “Next time try to be a little nicer. I have feelings.”

  “That’s debatable.”

  Once he’s gone, I push my plate away and take a large mouthful of wine.