Possessing Eve (Book Two)

Chapter Three

            I can’t believe that I lost! How is that even possible? One minute I am whopping his ass, then the next, I have lost the damn game. Regardless, it wasn’t a horrible night. I ended up racking up six hundred dollars. It was a shame that it would all have to go to Gavin. 

            After tucking a twenty back inside my bra for my emergency stash, I walked over to Gavin, slamming the six hundred on the table. “There, that should do for now.” Then, I walked outside.

            It was lightly raining when I stepped outside, reminding me of my current mood. At least I didn’t have to run into Joel for the rest of the night. He walked out with a massive grin on his face minutes before I did. I can’t believe that I even agreed to play him for a date. Now I would have to sit through a whole evening with Mr. Nice Guy. Uh, how boring! I couldn’t think of anything more dreadful than sitting across from Joel at dinner, watching him watch me all night. At least he did show some promise. The way his breath sent chills down my spine was the highlight of my night.

            When I got back to our apartment, I did a little bit of cleaning and started a load of clothes. Gavin would freak out if he didn’t have anything to wear for work tomorrow. Then, I sat down at my computer desk, opening my laptop to search through some wanted ads online. Every night, this was practically my routine, other than posting up on my art to sell, which hardly got any views.

            Gavin was getting in late as usual. It was after three in the morning, and I was still roaming around on my laptop, talking back and forth to a potential buyer for a painting I recently did. 

            “You’re up late. Got something that you are working on?” Gavin asked, putting his things down on the coffee table. 

            He seemed too desperate to try and talk to me like it was forced. Our relationship started off really well but has since gone down the drain. It would be nice if one day we could get back to that. I would really hate to lose Gavin as a friend just because of our financial situation right now.

            “Trying to. There is this guy online that seems to be interested in my recent painting. We will see how it works out, though. All the others that were interested ended up flaking out on me.”

            I’m not sure why Gavin felt the need to ask me what I was working on because he never has before. Maybe that six hundred dollars that I gave him made him itch for more, or maybe Mia had a talk with him. Gavin has been a little self-absorbed lately, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Mia told him to fix things with me.

            I got up and went into the kitchen to heat up a piece of pizza before coming back into the living room and taking a seat on the sofa. I flipped on the television long enough for me to eat before I went to bed.

            Gavin came and sat beside me, reaching over on my plate and pulling off a pepperoni, stuffing in his mouth. “Listen, I was thinking that we should probably talk about tonight. I know that I’ve been an asshole lately, but I want you to know that I still support you doing your art just like I did when you first started. It may not seem like that, but it’s true. Work has just been killing me. I thought that acting was what I wanted to do, but the producer is always on my ass over my lines. It’s been stressing me out, and I’ve been taking it out on you. I’m sorry, Eve.”

            Well, at least he was apologizing, but it still didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t working and contributing. I guess, for now, I would need to find at least a part-time job to help out until my art started to take off if it ever did. 

            “Yeah, life hasn’t panned out the way I wanted it to either, but you are doing great. Gavin, you were born to be an actor, and your damn good at it. Don’t let your boss stress you out.”

            We hugged it out before going to bed, leaving things in a decent place for now. I’ll see how long it last before Gavin gives me the cold shoulder again.

            When I woke up the next morning, Gavin had already left for work. He left me a note on the fridge that he would be out late again tonight. Gavin had been talking about this dinner all week with another producer that has been interested in his work after seeing his first few episodes’ air. It could be another potential deal in the works for him if everything goes well.

            My phone started to buzz on the coffee table where I left it last night. I picked it up reading a text from Joel.

            Joel: Just wanted to say what an awesome time I had last night. I was thinking for our date that we can do something like that instead of something formal. What do you say?

            Was it too late for me to go back on this deal now? Maybe if I started some side job to pay him back, then Joel would leave me alone. It was doubtful, though, knowing how consistent he has been so far.

            Me: Can’t wait…

            Joel: Come on, Eve. Don’t be like that. I promise that it won’t be that bad. You honestly can't tell me that you think by hanging out with me once would be a death sentence?

            Me: Yes

            Joel didn’t text me back after that. I didn’t blame him either. I was a serious b***h when it came to him. He wasn’t a bad guy at all, but he was way too clingy for my taste. Sometimes I think that Joel is only interested in me because he believes he can score with me again. Fat chance of that happening twice! However, I would be lying if I said that having s*x right now didn’t sound appealing. Joel was the first guy that I had s*x with within months. I may not remember a whole lot about that night, but I do remember that the s*x was good, at least I think it was.

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            “Goddamnit!” I said, throwing an empty beer bottle against the wall. 

            The text that Eve sent back had my blood boiling at an all-time high. She has no idea who she is messing with! I swear that I was one smartass comment away from giving up and showing her who I really was.

            Soren rushed inside my room. He was completely naked, letting his d**k hang loosely with no care in the world. “What the f**k is going on in here, dude?”

            “Would you put that thing away, please?” Soren grabbed a nearby towel on the floor, wrapping it around his waist. “How many was it this time? Two? Three?”

            He smiled, running his thumb along his lower jaw. “Nope, just one. That was about all I could take with this one. Seriously, dude, you are missing out. You have all this anger built up because this Eve chick is pushing every button you have, which isn’t a lot, by the way. Sleep with another chick and forget all about her. Seriously, all this trouble over one chick can’t be worth it.”

            I slammed him against my wall but pulled back from him instead of beating his head into the wall like I really wanted to. “Stop talking and get the f**k out of my sight before I do something worse to you than slamming you into the wall.”

            Before I knew it, Cole was calling me. “Hey, Soren told me what you did. What’s wrong with you, Joel? You can’t go around beating on your friends because they suggest that you stop pursuing Eve. Seriously Joel! I know that you really like her, but it’s causing you to be angry all the time.”

            “Yeah, well, if Soren didn’t open that big ass mouth of his, then we would be just fine. Listen, I’m fine, Cole. I told you that I like Eve, and I don’t plan to stop seeing her just because you guys think that she gets me in a pissy mood.”

            Cole laughed, making me clench my fist beside me. “We don’t think she gets you in a pissy mood. We know she does. Listen, I’ve been here to listen to you if you needed me to, but I’m sort of with Soren on this one. I’m not saying that I agree with how he says things, but maybe continuing to go after someone that isn’t interested in you is just wasting your time.”

            “Did you ever give up on Mia? Yeah, I didn’t think so. There was something about her the second you laid eyes on her. Well, guess what? It’s the same way with me for Eve. One way or another, I will have her. Just watch.”

            I hung up the phone, done with this pointless conversation. This is what it has been like since we slept together. I wanted to see if it could go anywhere with her, and everyone else was trying to get me to stop seeing her. Was it that obvious that Eve didn’t like me? One way or another, I would change her mind, staring with this damn date.

            Me: Date is tonight. Be ready by seven, and I will pick you up at your place.

            Eve: I don’t know. Tonight doesn’t really work for me.

            Me: I wasn’t asking. Be ready.

            It was the first time that I had been controlling in any way with her. Maybe by her not texting back was a good thing. 

            Seven sharp, I was ringing the doorbell to her apartment. Eve answered the door wearing a short black and grey plaid skirt with a black corset and a long-sleeved, see-through cover-up. She had her hair pinned up, and her make-up was done to perfection. 

            “Wow,” I commented, feeling my throat suddenly dry up. 

            “Where to, Joel?” She asked as her eyes skimmed over my body.

            In my head, I was pushing her back into her apartment, undressing her slowly until I had her completely naked and at my mercy. Geez, why couldn’t I just be who I was with her? Why did I have to fake this person just to get her to like me?

            I cleared my throat, also clearing my mind of any s****l visions I was having of her. “Um, we are going to this bar and grill right down the road. It just opened up, which will give you some fresh meat on the pool table.”

            Eve’s smile pulled at both sides of her lips. “Don’t sell yourself short there, Joel. After all, you owe me a rematch. You only won because I took my mind off the game for a second. It won’t happen again.”

            “Are you sure? Do you want to tell me what the hell you were staring at?”

            “Wouldn’t you like to know,” she said, stepping past me and out into the hall.