I've been trying to keep my composure for the last few minutes, I couldn't believe that the chauvinist and irresponsible man that we were investigating for making rape cases go away was standing in front of me. But to top it all off he was married to Connery's mom. How is it possible that such a sweet woman was married to such a chauvinist man? I just couldn't understand it, I wondered if he just pulled an act when he was around her because in school he was such a different person.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, young lady," Conrad smiles extending his hand politely and I shake it (as a courtesy of course). If we weren't at a public event we would be having a very different conversation. "I'm surprised to see such a beautiful girl by Connery's side. We've been trying to find him a girlfriend for so long but no one sticks around long enough."
"Conrad, not you too," Connery complains and I let out a small laugh. He hates being teased. "Is Emma here yet? I'm taking Everest somewhere else. If we stick around long enough you might just start pulling out the embarrassing baby pictures."
"I would love to show Everest your baby pictures, you were such a cute baby." Connery's mom gushes squeezing Connery's chubby cheeks and Connery rolls his eyes. "And no, your sister hasn't arrived yet. Last time we talked she was just picking Daniel up."
Connery grabs my hand. "I'll keep an eye out for her, I want to introduce her to Everest before she leaves for Paris. Now, if you both excuse us, we'll get going. You've already embarrassed me enough for one night." Both Conrad and Victoria laugh at Connery's comment. I give both of them one last smile before walking away with Connery.
"Why did we have to leave? I was enjoying myself way too much." I tease.
"Liar isn't a good look on you, admit it, you just wanted to see the baby pictures." Connery gives me a look and I couldn't help but laugh. While we were walking through the crowd, the band started playing If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys. I couldn't help but smile, it's Aunt Claire's favorite song and I have countless memories of me dancing the song with her during family gatherings. Connery must've noticed. "May I have this dance?"
I smile widely and I nod. Connery placed his right hand on my lower back and I wrapped my left arm around his lifted arm and I placed my other hand around his very strong biceps. Soon after we started to move along the music. "I didn't know you could dance so well Matthew Connery." I tease.
"There are many things that you don't know about me." Connery turns me around and pulls me closer to him our faces inches apart. "You'll just have to figure it out."
"I might just take you up on that offer, if I see that it's worth my time, of course." Connery's lips break into a smirk.
"Oh, I promise you, you won't regret it," Connery whispers in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. As the song progresses I rest my head on his shoulder and he rests his head on mine. For those three minutes, we just moved to the sound of the music and we didn't say anything to each other. We both just got lost in the song.
I couldn't help but smile, I was having such a wonderful time and I haven't felt like this in such a long time. I wasn't sure if Connery was feeling the same thing as I was (deep down I hoped he did) I couldn't quite define what the feeling was but all I knew was that for the first time in a long time I felt safe. I felt safe with him and I wasn't afraid to let myself feel anymore.
Once the song ended we both pulled away and with my hand in his Connery led me off the dance floor. He must've spotted his sister because Connery was leading towards a beautiful brunette girl with short hair, she was standing alongside her tall blonde companion. "Connery! I'm so happy to see you, little bro. How you've been?"
She must be Emma. Emma pulls Connery in for a hug. "Emma, you act as if we didn't just talk two hours ago before I got here."
Emma rolls her eyes. "Connery you can be such an ass sometimes, I'm just excited to see you. You're always off doing God knows what and I barely get the chance to see you when I'm in town."
"I wonder whose fault is that," Connery says.
"You're one to talk, you're leaving for Colorado Springs in a few weeks. I'm always traveling because of work so shut up." Emma spits sassily. "Now, be a gentleman and introduce me to the lovely girl that's standing next to you."
"Emma, this is Everest." Connery introduces me and I give Emma a sweet smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Emma, I've heard so many things about you," I say trying to make conversation.
"I bet none of the things you've heard are good, Connery has a habit of highlighting all of my bad qualities," Emma says giving Connery a look and I let out a laugh. "The pleasure is all mine Everest, I'm so glad I finally get to meet the girl my brother hasn't been able to shut up about."
"Emma!" Connery sighs. "I swear on my life that mom, Conrad, and you conspired to embarrass me all night. Did you guys know I was bringing a date?" So I'm his date now?
"There's no shame in admitting that you're crazy about the girl and no, we had no idea." My cheeks begin to heat up and Connery shakes his head in embarrassment. "Everest, this is my boyfriend Daniel." Daniel smiles and he extends his hand politely and so do I.
"I need a drink," Connery admits. "Do you want anything Ev?"
"Champagne or wine will do." I smile and he nods walking away with Daniel.
"I love to tease my little brother, but in all seriousness, Connery must really like you. In the twenty-five years of life that I have, I've never seen Connery bring a single girl home to meet his family." Emma admits and I couldn't help but smile.
"I've heard that quite a lot this evening," I let out a small laugh as I see Connery's figure disappear into the large crowd of people. "I found it hard to believe though, Connery is always surrounded by girls."
"I'll admit that my brother doesn't go past the one night stand face with any girl." Emma pauses. "But you must be pretty special to him if he brought you home. Don't let that tough exterior fool you, Everest, it may not look like it, but my brother does have a heart. You just have to stick around long enough to notice that he's capable of caring."
"Has he been hurt before?" I ask out of curiosity. We all react to heartbreak differently, but our defense mechanism most of the time is bringing up our walls so no one can hurt us ever again. In my experience at least, that's what I did with Kingston.
"I would prefer for him to tell you himself," Emma pauses. "But what I will say is that growing up we didn't exactly have the perfect example of what it means to love someone at home."
"Oh," I frown. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"I didn't think you would," Emma pauses. "We don't talk about it, it's a chapter that's closed in our lives and we don't like to revisit it often. Especially Connery."
"It's starting to make sense," I say. "Connery doesn't open up much. None of us do. It doesn't leave that much room for conversation but for some reason, even though we don't know that much about each other's past we never run out of things to talk about. It's always a rollercoaster with your brother, but I enjoy it more than I would like to."
Emma smiles. "I can see it in your eyes," Emma says and I wanted the earth to open up and drag me down. Was I being that obvious? "In both of your eyes."
My cheeks begin to heat up. "Is it that obvious?"
"A little bit," Emma admits. "Don't worry though, you know how to play it down. I just know because I used to look at Daniel the same way."
"If I'm being completely honest, I never expected to end up liking him." I pause looking down. "Before this year, I had never spoken as much of a sentence to Connery. I just assumed that he was like all of the boys on campus."
"You assumed he was a fuck boy just as much as the boy sitting next to you in class," Emma laughs. "I get it, you're not the first girl to think so."
"Pretty much yeah," I admit with a nervous laugh. "It was just a biased opinion, in my experience, I haven't had the best of luck with boys like him. Once I got passed that, everything changed."
"I can't guarantee you that he won't hurt you because if I'm being honest, boys are known for screwing things up." Emma pauses. "You just have to figure out if he's worth it. If in the end it doesn't work out and you feel like you won't regret ever giving him your time of day, go for it. Because sometimes even though you might get hurt in the end, some people are worth the hurting."
Before I could continue my conversation with Emma, Victoria and Conrad took the stage. "Can we please all have your attention?" Victoria spoke. "Before we begin, I just wanted to thank you all for being here tonight. It means a lot to us that you support the project that my husband started a few years ago."
What project was Victoria talking about? "The Conrad Scott Foundation is happy to announce that this year alone we have helped over 500 victims of sexual assault and domestic violence get justice by providing them with legal aid, a safe home, jobs, and constant therapy so they can move forward," Conrad spoke.
The what now? I was shocked. This had to be a cover-up. You can't tell me that Conrad has a foundation that helps victims of sexual assault and domestic violence whilst he helps cover up rape cases on campus behind closed doors. It was going to be hard to proceed with the charges against the school, no jury would ever believe that a man that "helps" victims covers up rape and assault on campus. Every time we took a step forward in the right direction we always ended up two steps behind. This complicates everything even more.
Connery walked up to me and he handed me a glass of champagne, he gave me a smile and he wrapped his right arm on my small waist. I gave him a small smile, I hadn't completely processed what I was witnessing. "And we couldn't have done it with all of your help," Victoria smiles widely. "Let's all raise a glass to the Conrad Scott Foundation, may it keep helping the victims of our community find the closure they deserve."
We all raised a glass and I took a big sip of champagne. I was definitely in need of one. "Do you want to step outside to talk for a bit and get some fresh air?"
I nod. "Emma, Ev and I are going outside to get some fresh air. Do you want to tag along?" Connery asks and Emma shakes her head.
"You go ahead," Emma pauses. "Mom, wants me to brag about my job in Paris to all of her friends. I'm afraid there's no escaping her tonight."
Connery nods. "It was nice to meet you and to have the chance of talking with you Emma." I smile.
"It was a pleasure getting to know you, Everest," Emma smiles. "And Connery, please don't screw this up."
Connery rolls his eyes at Emma and he grabs my hand. He leads me towards the back of the house, everyone was inside so when we both sat down by the edge of the pool, the only sound you could hear was the sound of both of us breathing. "I'm sorry about Emma, the girl has no filter, and sometimes she doesn't think before she speaks."
"You don't have to apologize about her, I enjoyed talking with her. We had an interesting conversation about you." I pause. "She reminds me of Peyton a little too much."
"Oh, God! What did she say?" Connery asks with a worried expression.
"Nothing bad, I promise." I smile. "But your face says otherwise, is there something you're not telling me?"
"No," Connery begins to get a little nervous and I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm glad you accepted you my invitation, I thought you were going to politely decline."
"It just took me by surprise, that's all." Don't say it. Don't say it. "I figured that if you were going to ask someone, it would be Inez," I said it. Now, I just sound jealous. Good one Ev.
"Inez? Why would you think that?" I swear, boys can be so clueless. Connery, it doesn't take an expert to put two and two together. "Is it because you saw us together after practice?"
Bingo. I nod. "Everest Green, are you jealous?" Connery teases and I shake my head immediately.
"Why would I be jealous of Inez? She's a gorgeous girl, but other than how quickly she spreads her legs open there's nothing to envy there." Connery's jaw drops. I replayed what I had just said in my head. If Aunt Claire could only hear me, that's what a 23,000 tuition a semester teaches her niece. I sound so petty. "I only dug myself deeper huh?"
Connery laughs. "Just a bit, but that's okay, you get points for honesty. It's one of the many qualities I love about you." I smile. "But as you said, there's nothing to be jealous of, she just wanted to know how I was doing. She heard about the little segment that aired on ESPN."
"I couldn't believe it when the boys told me," I say shaking my head. "Everyone that knows you, knows it's all bull. Your stats and work ethic speak for themselves Connery, don't let them get to you."
Connery chuckled. "I know, I was just frustrated, they always like to pull this kind of crap. I'll prove them wrong though. First, I'm going to get tested, I have nothing to hide. Second, I will qualify for the Olympics. And finally, I will come back home with the gold, I will shut them all up."
I smile proudly. "There's no doubt in my mind that you will."
Connery stands up from the floor and I looked at him confused. He extends his hand. "C'mon, I want to show you something."
I give him my hand and he helps me get up from the floor. What he did next took me by surprise. He grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. I wanted to scream, but being the educated lady that Aunt Claire taught me to be, I didn't want to make a scene. "Matthew Connery, what do you think you're doing? Put me down."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Connery says and I glare at him.
"Yes, you can," I state. I swear if he didn't put me down, we were going to have a different kind of conversation pretty soon. "Put me down. I thought you said you liked your nose."
"Okay," I breathed out once he gave in. I thought that would work. He did put me down, but not how I wanted. In a matter of seconds, Connery jumped into the pool with me over his shoulder. He was dead meat.
Once we both got to the surface I punched him in the shoulder and he just laughed. "I told you to put me down on the floor, not the pool you idiot. How are we going to go inside now?"
"You told me to put you down, you didn't specify where," Connery says and I glare at him.
"How convenient for you huh?" Connery laughs.
"Come here," Connery says pulling me closer to him.
His hands were wrapped around my waist and our faces were inches apart. The water was cold and being this close to him wasn't helping. He was sending goosebumps all over my body. If he didn't say anything any minute now, I wasn't going to be able to keep together. We both looked into each other's eyes. He brought up his hands from my waist to my cheeks, he gently caressed them and I couldn't help but smile. Before I even had time to think about it, his lips were already crashing into mine.