Read Beyond Eden for Free Online

amidst the dirty dishes and then tapping his cigarette against it. “I brought her home to torment you.”
    “You succeeded,” Paul said as he started to gather up the dishes distractedly. “She does look good, real good, better than I remembered.”
    “Mmm,” Danny hummed his agreement as he took a drag off his cigarette. He tilted his head back, blowing smoke toward the ceiling. “Did you say you wanted dinner?”
    “I suppose,” Paul said as he continued to work at stacking the dishes in a methodical, precise manner, making it obvious he was hiding from what was really bothering him. “This was a really bad time for Eve to walk back into my life. I think you know what bad timing it is.”
    “I don’t care if she’s in your life, bad timing or not.” Danny put out his cigarette and then stood. He picked up the neatly stacked dishes and placed them in the sink. “I invited her over because I wanted her back in my life. She was my friend too. I’ve missed her.”
    “You should’ve called and warned me.”
    “You would have panicked,” Danny said as he started work on heating up the leftovers from dinner. “I don’t know why. She’s still Evie. She’s not going to go psycho and start boiling bunnies because you’ve got a girlfriend. She sounded happy for you. Of course, she hasn’t met Trisha—”
    “Don’t start,” Paul snapped defensively. “You’ve never given Trisha a fair chance.” “Paul Guy, the only gift I have in this world is my ability to read people and know
    what they like,” Danny said as he put the picadillo back into a pan and turned on the
    stove. “And I am telling you now, if you marry that bitch, she’ll make you miserable. Money, power, social standing, those are the only things that get Trisha off. You’ll be jacking off to the Sears catalog within a year.”
    “Not all of us thrive off sex,” Paul said with a snort of laughter. “There is more to life than getting laid.”
    Danny turned around from his spot at the stove and gave Paul a long look, his eyebrows raised as he studied him sitting there at the table defiantly with his arms folded over his chest like a petulant child. He could easily start a fight with him over that, but Danny was buzzing nicely off all the beer and wine and was too tired to bother. He just shook his head and went back to making Paul’s dinner.
    “I’m putting Eve on my ‘to do’ list,” Danny said nonchalantly after a few minutes, hoping to God she was asleep and not listening to them.
    “Jesus,” Paul growled. “Why do you have to go after the one girl besides Trisha who means something to me when you have dozens of others who will do whatever you want?”
    “Please tell me you did not just put Eve and that bitch in the same category,” Danny said in a low voice as his body grew tense in defensiveness.
    “I don’t want you messing with her,” Paul said seriously. “I’m asking you as a personal favor to me to leave her alone.”
    Danny turned around and glared at Paul. “The last time I left Eve alone as a personal favor to you—you lost her.”
    “She had a full scholarship waiting for her in New York. What the fuck was I supposed to do? Tell her to stay here?”
    “You were supposed to follow her,” Danny said, then turned back to cooking to avoid Paul’s gaze. “If she had been mine, I would have followed her.”
    “Okay, fine,” Paul said. “I fucked up, but that was ten years ago and there’s nothing I can do about it now. Don’t hurt Eve because you’re mad at me. That’s not fair to her.”
    “This is not about you,” Danny said bitterly as he grabbed a plate and put Paul’s dinner on it with tight, jerky actions that betrayed his anger. “This is about me. I loved Eve too. Just because I was stupid and young and willing to let you have her rather than hurt you doesn’t mean I loved her any less than you did. If I could do it over again, I would have told you to fucking bite me.”
    Paul laughed