“What?” I glance down at myself. Crane pulled my dress back into place. I still feel his release, though. It’s slowly trickling out of me and coating my thighs.
“Clark can fuck all the way off.”
“Crane, everyone already knows she’s yours. She doesn’t need to go out there looking thoroughly fucked.”
“What!” I squeak this time. How the heck does she know what we did?
“You’re with me.” Eve grabs my other hand and tries to pull me back toward the room Crane and I exited moments ago.
“Give me a second.” I squeeze Crane’s hand. He’s not letting me go, and I’m about to become the rope in a tug of war battle between the two of them. With Eve’s competitive nature, I know I need to nip this in the bud before I possibly lose a limb.
“I’ll wait.” He doesn’t look happy about it, but he lets my hand go only to fold his arms over his chest and stand there in the middle of the hallway as Eve pulls me back into the room.
“It smells like sex in here,” Eve says the second the door closes behind us. My face starts to warm. “See? Look at you. You’re blushing, and it’s only me. We need to touch up your makeup and fix your hair or everyone is gonna know what Crane and you did.”
“Is that terrible?” I bite the inside of my cheek.
“Not really.” Eve laughs. “But maybe your mom doesn’t need to see all that.” She motions at me again. I walk over to the mirror in the green room to see what she is talking about.
“Oh, crap.” It does look like I was well fucked. I thought she was just guessing, but there’s a difference in my appearance. It’s not only my hair, makeup, and clothes being a little disheveled, either. I actually look a little different. I have a glow to me or something. Who knew sex would make me look this way?
“Did you two really—”
“Have sex against that door while Clark banged on the other side of it.” I fill in for her.
She bursts into laughter. “I thought he just saw you like this. I didn’t know all that.” She laughs harder.
“It was hot,” I told her.
“Crane storming the stage was something else. It was like it was plucked right out of one of our naughty holiday romance books. I think I actually like him.” She smiles at me in the mirror.
“Well, I’m glad because I think I’m in love with him,” I admit out loud for the first time.
“That’s probably good because that trash can is empty so I’m guessing you didn’t use a condom.”
“Eve!” I hiss. It shouldn’t surprise me in the least that she checked.
“Just sayin’.” She shrugs before spinning me back around to start fixing my hair. In no time, she has me put back together.
“Did everything go well with the rest of the auction?”
“Yeah, I think once some of them realized you weren’t up for grabs, they opened up to bidding on others.”
I roll my eyes. Eve thinks everyone is in love with me.
“Wait! Who bid on you?” Her lips purse at my question. “Who?”
“Marco,” she huffs in irritation.
“Marco as in Marco Marone? He was here?” How the heck did I miss that? Marco is almost twice Eve’s age, but you wouldn’t know that from looking at him.
He moved to this giant cabin that sits right outside of the city limits in the country years back. He only comes to town maybe once a month for supplies. I don’t know what he does out there. If I had to guess, he chops logs all day. He’s got that whole lumberjack style going on. Not that I think he’s trying for any particular style. The man is the definition of not giving a fuck. He barely talks to anyone when he comes to town, only grunting his responses. But it hasn’t gone unnoticed by me that he always stares at Eve.
“Are there any other Marcos around here?” Sarcasm drips from her words.
“You think when you go on this date you can ask about that gnarly scar that cuts through his eyebrow?” The scar only makes him fiercer. With a town that loves to gossip, there have been all kinds of made-up stories of how he got it.
“Seriously?”
“I mean, if anyone has the balls to ask, it's you.”
“Probably got it wrestling a bear.”
I snort a laugh. “I bet he won.”
“Whatever. You’re all fixed up. Let's get a drink.” She changes the subject. Someone is a bit touchy. I let it go for now. When we step back out into the hallway, Crane is still standing there waiting for us. “You go pay your tab?” She lifts one of her eyebrows at him. I swear she’s like a dog with a bone.
“She’s not a tab.” He pulls me into his side. I know she’s only teasing him. A lot of times, Eve pokes at people to see how they respond. It’s her way of getting to know them.