Carter Brothers: Eli (Rated R novel)

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

After a whole day of cleaning, but secretly waiting and hoping for Eli to turn up, Ivy finally realises it’s not going to happen. In her despair she searches for an old unopened bottle of wine lying around and pops off that cork. The crimson liquid spills into the curved glass, with promise of easing the pain. As she sits on the couch and sips the alcohol, she can’t help reflect on her own behaviour in regards to his. It’s not like she’s asking for much. It’s not like she’s asking him to give up his entire club and take up a job as an accountant or anything. She just wants him to stop touching those other women, regardless of them being in his club or not. If she can make sacrifices to accommodate his kind of lifestyle then why can’t he alter that lifestyle slightly for her? Is it that big of an ask? Not really, right?

Whatever, fuck him. She’ll get someone better. Hell, maybe even an accountant! Perhaps not someone as good looking or great with his fingers and mouth as Eli but...she can find someone. And even if she doesn’t, so what? She’s got herself, that’s more than enough. Snorting she tips the wine back and pours another glass.

Checking he has everything, Eli rings knocks on the door and waits for her to open. Sure enough, a few minutes later and his mate standing in the open doorway. She wears her usual pyjama shorts and a tank top with one hand holding a half empty glass of red wine and the other propped on her hips.
“May I come in?” asks Eli gently to which she drops the hand on her hip and softly nods. She steps to the side to allow him to enter into her home before closing the front door. Wordlessly he’s led into the lounge where he takes a seat on the couch beside her.
“Have you eaten, yet?” he asks.
Ivy has to think for a moment what she has had to eat today. Apart from breakfast...nothing. Hunger and food had not even crossed her mind today but with Eli asking about it, she could feel her stomach cramping in remembrance.
“Uh...no,” she replies.
“Good, I made dinner. Maybe we can talk after? I’m kinda hungry,” he sheepishly suggests handing the bag of full Tupperware to her. Ivy blinks in shock. Okay...so that was unexpected, but then again, with him, she really should expect the unexpected.
“Um...Eli...”
“Come on, Ivy, I promise it’s not poisoned,” he grins back in encouragement.
“Fine...I’ll go heat it up,” she sighs.

The atmosphere was tense and awkward as Eli leant against the wooden countertop of the small kitchen and Ivy waited beside the microwave, begging the food to warm faster. Finally, when the last of the dishes has been heated, Ivy spoons it all onto two plates and with Eli’s help they sit down for a tense dinner.
Ivy glances up from her food and thinks maybe she should strike up the conversation but as his eyes meet hers, she lets her head fall back to her plate and takes an extraordinary interest in her food. Eli too bites his lip and holds his tongue as Ivy gazes quickly away from him.

As dinner finishes, Ivy loads the dishwasher and stands there hesitantly while Eli seems to be in deep thought.
“Shall we go into the lounge?” she whispers to which his eyes raise up and head nods.
But as she walks past him, he can’t take it any longer. He grasps her wrist and pulls her back; her body colliding into him. His arms immediately wrap around her petite figure and head burrows down as her familiar scent fills his nose and causes his body to relax.
“Eli...we need to talk,” she mumbles into the embrace.
“I know...Just...give me a sec,” he mutters back, giving her one last squeeze before regretfully peeling off her.
Ivy tries her best not to pull him back into her, instead choosing to take his hand and lead him to the couch once more.
“Eli-”
“Ivy-”
They both start at the same time and realising this, silence immediately falls between them before Eli say, “ladies first. Go ahead.”

“Well...okay...First off, I’m not sorry about asking you to commit to me; I’m not sorry about being uncomfortable with you being with other women, sexually and I’m not sorry about getting emotional. And that is all because I care and I love you. But saying that....I am sorry for a lot of other things. I’m sorry, I walked out like that, it was childish and immature and I should have stayed so we could figure it out together. I promise it won’t happen again. I’m also sorry that I asked you to...put me first all the time. I don’t mean that. It’s unreasonable for me to ask you to do that and I get that now. I only said that because I felt like you weren’t listening to me at all. Eli, I will say it straight out-it pains me to see you with other women like that; it pains me to know you touch them like that; it pains me to know I have to...share you. I don’t want to share you. You’re mine. Only mine. Just like I’m yours, remember?...I don’t care that you run a BDSM Club, I don’t care that you work late, I don’t care you’re so into your job...I like that dedication, but not when it interferes with our relationship like that. I know you’re compromising but can you not compromise a little bit more? Please? I don’t want to lose you. I know you’ve done so much for me and I know I hardly have anything to give back to you but...I want there to still be an us: What do you say?”
Ivy breathes a sigh of relief from having the weight lifted off her chest. But it tightens again knowing that Eli still has part to say.

“I could make a thousand excuses but somehow none of them would excuse me. I had thought with it being my job, it was alright. But I didn’t consider how you’d feel about it, and for that I’m sorry. I’ve never been in such a...committed relationship and I know I’ve let you down on my part of that, which I really do regret, baby. From here on out, you’re the only woman I’m going to be with sexually,” he promises, eyes filled with as sincerity as his words.
“Can I really trust you on that? What about your job?” questions Ivy. She doesn’t want to be one of those girls; the ones who happily take back their cheating boyfriends after one sorry. She wants to make sure he means it and will honour his word on it.
“My job? Well, I think I can make a few more adjustments. It’ll be fine. I mean, if Mason can do it, so can I. It just means I’ll be training rather than...showcasing, which I will make sure is hands off stuff, at least for me....” reassures Eli shuffling closer and slipping his hand into hers whilst intertwining their fingers.
“But can I trust you, Eli?” she whispers back, to gain a gentle squeeze from him from their joined palms.
“I want you to...That’s why I brought these along,” he exhales digging into his pocket and opening out the folded up piece of paper.
Handing it over to Ivy he breathes into her ear, “she asked me to keep it quiet.”

Ivy’s eyebrows burrow in confusion as her eyes rush to scan the words on the page. As the letters come to life behind her glazed moss green eyes; her fingers shake around the edges of the page and she has to fist them along with the paper to cease their movement.
“Ivy...” whispers Eli, his arm pulling her frozen body into his warmth.
“...When?” she replies back shakily. Her mind and heart are a mess of emotion-betrayal, hurt, love, confusion are all mixed in there. But she has no idea which one to trust, which one is the most prominent; they all fight for attention, all these questions circling around them.
“2 years ago...I bought it from your mother. There were others, that’s how I knew about it, but those people were...they were exploiting her. I couldn’t let them do it. I should have told you earlier but I promised her I would remain silent,” he explains.
Of course he has ownership! Cries Ivy mentally. That would make sense. That’s how he could get into the diner; that’s why she couldn’t find any of the files and that’s why he was so familiar with her mother. They’d met. They know each other. The sharp pain from her mother’s secret spreads through her heart. How could her mother do that? Surely, she knows how much that diner means to her father. It was his dream. One of his most treasured items. And why on earth would Eli want the place. Oh God...was he going to convert it into a sex shop?
“What-what are you going to do with it?” she asked scared out of her wits. If he does convert it into some kind of kinky porn shop, then her father’s dream is in ruins.

“Woah, relax. I’m not going to do anything with it. I didn’t actually want the diner when I bought it from your mother, I just...I don’t know, I wanted to help her out.-”
“Why? Why would you care about her?”
“Because she was doing her best and it...it wasn’t going very far. Her best option was to sell the place, either that or it was this house. But as desperate as she got she wouldn’t sell it to just anybody. With my offer, Dawn scrutinised my reasons and my objectives with the diner...just like you are doing, now,” he offers with a small smile. It eases her anxiety a little, knowing that her mother interrogated Eli before just accepting his very generous amount; nonetheless the fact her mother resorted to that without even telling Ivy is still a hard pill to swallow.
“So you bought it...to help a woman you don’t even know. And instead of making a reasonable offer, you...offer triple what she would have asked for, so she can’t refuse. See, that doesn’t make sense to me, Eli. Don’t lie. Why would you do that?” Ivy grills shaking her head.
“She needed the money more than I did and I wanted to help. She was a struggling mother, I couldn’t-I just...I kept imagining my own mother in that position and I...I had to help,” mumbles Eli his heart tugging in remembrance. His mom is the dearest person to him and that’s probably why he has such a soft spot for mothers and Ivy’s mother seemed just like his own mother he couldn’t help but to help.
“...Oh...I’m sorry, I should thank-you but...it was my father’s...it was his life. I can’t believe my mom would do that, without even telling me!” breathes Ivy; hot, angry tears burning behind her eyes.
“Baby...Look, I’m sure she had a good reason for it,” he reassures her, hugging her close to him.
She breathes the fresh scent of the fabric softener from his v-neck t-shirt. His warm, solid body pressed against her, the gentle beating of his heart and that familiar scent causes her body to instinctively relax.

“...Well...she could have at least talked to me about it,” grumbles Ivy not quite satisfied with his answer but knowing that it’s true.
“...Hey, are we okay, though?” he sighs. Ivy pulls back from his chest and smiles broadly.
“Yeah, we’re okay,” she nods bringing his head down for a long passionate kiss.

He enthusiastically returns it, his arm coiling around her waist twisting her towards him. Ivy leans back, her senses humming delightfully as they always do with Eli’s kisses. It’s strange how before him, kisses were just...kisses. They were nothing special, just two joining of lips and maybe a little tongue play. But Eli’s kisses...they’re more than just that physical connection of anatomy. When Eli and her skin touches; it’s like a stream of warmth and sparks and energy flow from him to her. And all that is addicting.
As Eli’s lips part from hers she’s faintly aware of her back relaxing against the cushion of the couch, as the feel of his kisses snaking down her neck cease her thoughts. Soft moans flow from her lips as her fingers go exploring underneath his wool t-shirt to his smooth, muscled back. As he readjusts his arms so they support more of his weight, Ivy can feel the shoulder muscles beneath her fingertips bunch up and strain.
“Eli...clothes,” she breathes through a moan. He sits up momentarily and straddling her, he pulls the t-shirt from his torso onto the floor. With the side task accomplished, his thoughts return back to their original path which is indulging in the beautiful woman underneath him.

Ivy’s eyes keep trained on his well formed chest as she pulls off her own top. As soon as the material hits the carpet, Eli lips are once again on hers, his hands cupping her bare breasts and hips grinding into hers. The lust wraps around Ivy, blinding all her senses except touch, but that one sense is overwhelming enough as her lover’s fingers toy with her hardening n*pples.
As they perk up, she feels Eli lowering him and instantly her hands wrap around his bicep as she calls out, “stop.”
Eli rises back up to hover over her and a confused, pained expression crosses his features. He can’t believe she wants him to stop now, after all that build up. His nearly fully erect anatomy throbs in protest but he tries his best to ignore it. If this is Ivy’s idea of punishment, well, he can honestly say that’s exactly right.
“Something wrong?” he asks hesitantly.
“Yes...” huffs Ivy with mock annoyance before a devious grin takes over and she says, “you are not inside me.”
“What?” he questions shocked.
“I want you to...strip us bare and slide yourself into me and-”
“Ivy! Are you...are you sure about this Ivy? You know, I’d wait until marriage for you. I mean this is hardly romantic-”
“Eli, Eli, stop. I don’t want all that heavy romantic shit. Do you really think I’m that kind of girl? As long as I have you and we love each other, that’s more than enough for me. With you I feel happier than I’ve ever felt. I don’t feel so lonely. I don’t feel like I have to...do everything. And I have...someone to talk to...I love you and I right now, I want more than just kisses,” explains Ivy, her palms cupping his cheeks and thumbs stroking the clean shaven cheeks.
“If this is what you want...” he trails.
“Isn’t it what you want?” she shoots back.
His boyish grin is answer enough for her and her hands trail down his soft haired chest to the top of his jeans. Her slender fingers hook off the stiff button and she slowly pulls down the zipper. The sound fights to be heard against Ivy’s deep moans, curtsey of Eli’s onslaught of her lips.

He stands up for a few moments as he rushes to rid himself of his jeans and boxers. Then standing at the base of Ivy’s feet, he can’t help but wiggle his fingers against the bottom of her feet. Rewarded with giggles and a twist of his mate’s hips, he moves forwards and grasps the pyjama shorts and panties in each fist. With a quick sweep they’re whipped off and join the rest of the couples clothing on the floor. He crawls back onto the couch and takes each of her silky, slim thighs in either hand. His fingertips relish in their softness, just like the rest of her skin. Glancing up into her moss-green pools filled with love and lust, he can’t imagine a place he’d rather be than right there with Ivy.