Page 29 of Fear of Love (Falling #3)

LYDIA

“ W hy do I have a feeling we’re about to be traumatized?” Tasha asked as her, Josie, and I stared at the building in front of us.

“That, or see a whole different side to Evelyn,” I added. The three of us were about to go to Evelyn’s painting class she told us about a few weeks ago.

“It’s just an art class. It can’t be that bad…” Josie trailed off. The only reason we were concerned was because of the way Evelyn was acting about it. The smirk on her face when she invited us. The mysterious text saying to come prepared. Prepared for what?

We shared a look before Tasha opened the door.

The moment I stepped through I was met with chattering.

Glancing around I found each wall of the art studio was a different color, no specific pattern.

The overhead lights had been changed out to have four hanging chandeliers that looked to be made from different kinds of material.

I wasn’t exactly sure what but they gave the place an artistry vibe.

It wasn’t a huge studio and had that close-knit type of feel to it.

Stools and easels were scattered around, most of the seats already occupied.

“Girls!” Evelyn’s voice brought my attention to a group of women off to the side of the room. At quick glance, I took note that they were in their fifties, maybe even sixties, and they each held a big glass of wine.

“Glad you guys made it!” Evelyn beamed as she made her way over to us and pulled us into a group hug. “Excited to paint?” Again, there was that mischievous look on her face. She was up to something.

“Yes?” Josie said hesitantly.

“Let’s get you some wine and find you a spot.” Evelyn led us over to the group of women she was sitting with.

“This is Tasha, Lydia, and my future daughter-in-law, Josie.” Evelyn squeezed Josie to her side as she introduced us.

“We’ve heard so much about you all,” a woman off to my left said. “I’m Mary.” She shot us a cheerful grin before she gestured to the others. “Anne, Wanda, Bea, and Monica.”

Within minutes Wanda, a beautiful red haired woman with bright green glasses pulled me into a conversation.

On the other side of me Josie talked to Monica who wore a long orange dress and had her white hair pulled into an elaborate bun.

Tasha was handed a glass of wine as Anne and Bea, two gorgeous black women with kind smiles, animatedly chatted away.

I wasn’t sure if it was the wine or not, but they were chatterboxes as we waited for the class to start.

I could have sworn I saw a few of them giving us curious but amused looks which was odd.

I was pulled from conversation to conversation for the next ten minutes, learning more about the women.

Each more impressive than the last as they told us girls about their lives.

Bea used to work as an assistant to the Attorney General of Canada until she retired five years ago.

Wanda was a retired English teacher. Monica back in the day was an opera singer and claimed to have slept with John F.

Kennedy once. And Anne was the first black woman to hold a head position at Toronto University.

All of the women were impressive, which was no surprise that they were friends with Evelyn. Twenty minutes passed before Evelyn interrupted all of our conversations.

“Let’s get you three a spot.” Evelyn gently herded us across the room from where her and the other ladies were seated. I thought we were sitting with them?

“Feel free to put them up front!” Wanda, the red haired woman I talked to moments ago called after us. I shared a look with Tasha and Josie when we heard the snickers.

“ What the hell? ” Tasha mouthed.

“Here we go.” Evelyn gestured to the three empty stools directly in front of the circle they had us in. The way it was situated, it seemed like maybe there would be something in front of us.

“There are paints for you girls here.” Evelyn pointed to the tray on a stool next to us, paint brushes beside it. “Have fun.” With a wink, she walked back to her group of friends.

“That’s it? No instructions?” Josie asked.

“Guess not? I bet we have a painting in front of us that we just replicate,” Tasha supplied with a shrug, taking a seat. I glanced across the room at Evelyn and Wanda. They were whispering and smiling about something, sneaking glances at us. Weird.

“So, it’s basically a place to drink wine and gossip,” Josie mused, sipping her wine.

“This better be us when we’re older,” Tasha joked.

“Cheers to that.” I leaned over to tap my glass against hers and then turned to my other side to cheers with Tasha. As we did, Josie took her phone out and held it up for a picture.

“Smile!” I flashed a grin as Josie took our picture, no doubt sending it to Wyatt and the group chat. Poor Mila was going to be sad she missed tonight because of work, but we’d have to bring her back for the next one.

I was in the middle of looking over all the paints and brushes when another older woman with long flowing black hair streaked with white, stepped into the middle of the room, drawing everyone’s attention. I briefly remembered seeing her earlier when we walked in.

“Good evening, everyone. Glad to see familiar faces and some new ones.” She smiled at us. “Remember, the painting doesn’t have to be exact. Try your best and just have fun,” she instructed. “Enjoy.”

“Did I just imagine that sly smile?” Tasha whisper-asked.

“No, I saw it,” I whispered back.

All around us, conversations buzzed louder. I kept looking around, trying to find what we were supposed to paint. Just as I opened my mouth to ask Tasha and Josie, another person stepped into the middle of the room.

It wasn’t another woman. No, it was a gorgeous man.

A man that couldn’t have been older than thirty.

He had dark brown hair that came down to his shoulders.

His jawline was strong and his cheekbones weren’t any different.

Since the three of us were seated up front, I noticed how bright his blue eyes were when he glanced at us three.

My eyes wandered over his body. A body wearing a dark blue robe. My eyebrows came in confused.

I heard an intake of breath seconds before the guy grabbed the tie on his robe and pulled it free. The garment fell to a pile at his feet, leaving him standing there. Butt. Ass. Naked.

“Holy shit!”

“What the fu?—”

“Penis!”

Those were our exact reactions to the sight in front of us. I knew I should look away, but I couldn’t. Directly in front of me was a full-on naked man. Hard muscles, a narrow waist with a V-line that led straight to his… you know .

My mouth fell open at the sight of his dick. He wasn’t even hard yet, but it was big. I couldn’t seem to look away.

The women around us laughed as the three of us sat there wide-mouthed. Finally, I dragged my eyes upward, no doubt my cheeks bright red. The guy moved to lean against a stool, looking completely unfazed.

“Well, now we know why Evelyn comes every Tuesday,” came Tasha’s response.

“Evelyn,” Josie squeaked. Across from us, Evelyn smirked before she grabbed her paint.

“Where am I supposed to look?” I tried to keep my eyes above his waist, but it was hard when it was in my direct line of sight.

“Stare at the nipples,” Tasha suggested. Nipples, okay, yeah, I could do that.

“Better get to painting girls,” came a voice from behind us, followed by laughter.

“A heads-up would have been nice,” I muttered.

Now I knew why Evelyn looked the way she did when she talked about this class. How the hell did she find this place, anyway? I could guarantee there wasn’t an ad in the paper that said ‘painting class featuring naked man.’

“Are we supposed to paint his dick?” Josie whispered, her eyes wide.

“I guess so?” I replied quietly, my own eyes drifting back down.

The three of us shared a look, unsure where to begin.

With a paint brush in hand, I glanced around, everyone else already starting.

The lady next to me looked at our painting subject with the utmost intensity before dipping her brush in her paint.

None of them seemed fazed. It was clearly not their first time doing this.

With no other option, I dipped my brush into water. Here I thought I’d be painting flowers or a sunset, but instead I was getting ready to paint a dick.

“Well, that was… something,” Josie commented two hours later.

“Pretty sure mine looks like a horse.” Tasha held up her painting. I tilted my head, looking at it.

“A horse with abs above it.” I tried to keep a straight face but failed. She drew a body with pretty good-looking abs and then right below it was supposed to be a dick, but it looked more like a weird horse.

“I was trying to go all van Gogh,” she defended herself.

“At least it doesn’t look like a penis a middle schooler drew in the bathroom.” Josie pointed at mine.

“I’m not a painter!” Anything artistic was not in my wheel house, made evident by the mediocre painting in front of me. It wasn’t that surprising Josie did the best out of the three of us. The details on hers were actually really good, and I had to admit her penis looked like… a penis.

“Gonna give that to Wyatt later?” Tasha asked with a shit-eating grin.

“He would love it,” I added.

“Oh, yeah. Just walk in and be like, ‘Hey, babe, I painted you something at that art place your mom invited me to. Here you go.’”

I snorted. “Not sure he’d appreciate knowing his mom paints a naked man weekly.”

“Who knew Evelyn had a kinky side,” Tasha commented. “A little heads-up would have been nice.”

“Think the model guy gets paid?” I mused. He had left a bit ago after putting his robe back on, much to the disappointment of the ladies around us.

“I hope he does after showing his goods to a bunch of women.” I laughed at Tasha’s comment. The entire hour he just sat there completely comfortable and naked for everyone to see.

“Did you girls have fun?” Evelyn came up beside us with the biggest grin on her face.

“Evelyn.” I shook my head at her. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Didn’t want to ruin your reactions,” she explained.

“Do I even wanna know how you found this place?” Josie questioned.

“Wanda introduced me a few weeks ago.”

“What do you do with your paintings afterward?” Tasha asked.

“Bring them home.” Evelyn shrugged. So there were a bunch of naked paintings sitting at Evelyn’s house. I wonder if Landon knew about that. I had to stop myself from laughing at the thought of Landon’s face if he found out.

“They’re thinking of doing a pottery class, too. If you guys want to join.” My eyes widened, as did Josie and Tasha’s, at the thought of modeling a dick with clay.

“Uh.” Josie looked lost for words.

“We’ll definitely think about it,” I responded. Satisfied with the answer, Evelyn stepped back.

“The ladies want to say bye before you guys leave.”

The next twenty minutes was filled with the other ladies teasing us for our reactions.

They were all on board with not telling us beforehand, getting a kick out of our shocked faces.

After long, goodbyes were said and veiled promises to come back were given as we grabbed our paintings and headed out of the art studio.

Standing on the curb next to my car, I stared down at my artwork.

“I bet I could sell this on OnlyFans,” I joked.

“People do sell weird stuff on there. Bet you could get fifty bucks.” Tasha nodded along. “Wait, isn’t Mateo’s birthday in a few months?”

“Or we give him these when he wins the championship game in a few weeks.” Josie smirked. Tasha and I mirrored her expression. I could just imagine Mateo seeing our dick paintings.

“Let’s do it. I’ll save it in my closet to give to him.” Tasha grinned.

“Now to hide it from Wyatt.”

“I bet he’s still out with the guys. You can probably put it somewhere before he gets home. At least that’s what I’m doing with Trevor,” Tasha said.

“Ah, the joy of not having to hide my dick painting,” I teased. Although, if Landon were to come over, I’d probably hide it.

“Hang it over your bed,” Tasha suggested with a laugh.

“Someone’s got to admire my work.” I held up my painting and posed.

“Grade A artwork.” Josie grinned.

“Thank you, thank you.”

“I better get home and find a spot to hide this bad boy.” Josie held hers up. “That was an interesting class.”

“I’ll never look at Evelyn the same.” I’d forever think about her going to this class and painting a naked man half her age.

“Think we should keep this a surprise from Mila and make her go to the class without a heads-up?” Tasha asked.

“That’s so mean. Let’s do it,” I answered.

“She’s gonna be in for a shock.” Tasha’s grin was sinister.

“You know, we’re gonna have to come back with her and do it again, right?” Josie pointed out.

“Guess I’ll take one for the team and see another dick.” Tasha sighed dramatically.

“For the good of mankind,” I added.

“Of course.”

With that, we all said bye, promising to text when we got home, before we each headed for our cars. Placing my painting in my front passenger seat, I shook my head.

As I slid behind the wheel, my phone rang. Seeing the name on the screen, my lips curved into a smile. I ignored the way my heart fluttered in my chest as I answered.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Landon’s voice greeted me through the phone. “What are you doing?”

“Just got out of a painting class with your mom.” I debated telling him about the class. Part of me wanted to tell him in person and see his face.

“Oh, right. That was tonight. Have fun?”

“Yeah it was… something.”

“That didn’t sound very convincing.” I couldn’t see him, but I could picture the way his eyebrows rose.

“I’ll tell you about it later.” I paused at what I said.

I hadn’t even realized the promise in my words.

Here I was, voluntarily seeing Landon and making plans to meet up almost every other day.

It was crazy how much things changed in the last month.

Hell, this call wouldn’t have happened a month ago.

“I’m just about to leave. Want me to grab dinner and come over?”

My stomach warmed at his offer. “I was actually going to cook tonight.”

“Oh.”

“But, um,” I hesitated for a split second, “if you want to come over…” I trailed off. Landon was quiet for a moment. My heart sank, thinking he was going to say no, and I crossed a line.

“I’d like that,” came his response a moment later.

“Okay, um, I’ll see you at my place in a bit?” I asked, a giddy feeling worming its way through my chest.

“I’ll let you know when I’m close.”

After I hung up, I clenched my steering wheel, my heart pounding in my chest. I was about to cook dinner for Landon. A guy, who up until a month ago, I couldn’t stand to be around.

As I drove home, I tried my hardest not to think about the lines becoming blurred between us.