Page 123 of Try Hard

But there was Eve, not trying to control or weaken me in any way. So proud to tell the world that we were together. So strong and ready to discuss her boundaries with all of them. She’d have managed it without me, I was sure, but she didn’t have to. We were doing this together because we wanted to. Maybe it wasn’t that I’d gotten mixed up in her life and wrecked it. Maybe I’d done a tiny bit for her what she’d been doing for me—telling her she deserved respect. To be heard and seen. To be understood and loved. That it was okay to have boundaries and to call out those who crossed them.

She’d stood beside me in that science lab, and now we were standing by each other against the world. That made everything okay and worth it. Because, what did it matter what anyone else thought of me when Eve Archer thought I was beautiful? Sure, she’d respected my wishes and avoided physical compliments,but she didn’t have to voice her thoughts for me to know. Previously, all I’d thought I’d known without words was how disgusted partners were by me, because that was all they’d ever said. All those poking, prodding comments designed to break me down. But, there she was, building me up, even without saying it. And the rest of the world couldn’t touch that.

I nodded and smiled at her as I took a step back. “Yeah. Send it to Andra and Row.”

She looked so cautiously proud and hopeful. “Are you sure?”

“Definitely.”

“Okay.” She turned back to the computer to type a quick email to the pair of them.

Andra was getting it for obvious reasons, and Eve would be open to her feedback, even if she didn’t currently believe Andra would request changes. Row was getting it both as Eve’s best friend and, more professionally, as a ‘just in case’ thing for their business. Eve thought her only suggestion would be to literally declare her love for me in massive, sparkly letters. Neither of us wanted that, though.

Not in public, at least.

She sighed once the email was sent, an obvious weight off her shoulders. Of course, she still had to post it for the public, but Eve was the type to make a decision and be completely at peace with it once the wheels were set in motion.

I reached out to allow her to take my hand, noticing the way she melted when we connected, and I led her out of the room.

The rest of the apartment was still mostly in darkness. One lamp in the living room was lit up, but that wasn’t where I was heading.

Sex had been such a complicated concept for so long now. And I hadn’t suddenly changed my opinion that sex and safety were inextricably linked, but I was safe. Finally.

I stopped at the bedroom door, feeling myself blushing as I looked up at Eve. “Remember that conversation we had… about a chair?”

It took her all of one bewildered second to catch up with what I was asking. She nodded emphatically. “I absolutely do.”

“Eve,” I breathed, “I’m ready.”

She stepped back, looking me over. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“For you? Not for me, or ridiculous internet chatter, or anything or anyone else?”

I smiled softly, tears prickling my eyes again, and nodded. “I’m sure.”

“Okay. Great. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely.” She paused, her expression looking like her head was spinning and she was delighted about it. “I, um. I have a better chair for this than the one that’s in there. So I’m just… gonna grab that.”

I laughed as she shot off towards the living area and the dining chairs, reappearing a moment later.

She nodded at the closed door. “After you.”

Her room was—just like the rest of the apartment—beautifully, perfectly decorated. Deep, muted colours that felt simultaneously sultry and like they beckoned you into the best sleep you’d ever had.

We were sleeping here tonight. We’d both known that without really discussing it. I couldn’t wait to sleep in that sumptuous bed with her, and I was pretty sure, one day soon, I’d be ready to have sex in it with her too.

For the first time, though, I needed those parameters we’d set. And that was okay.

Well, most of them. I wanted a slight adjustment to one of them.

Eve shut the door behind us and set the chair behind it.

I smiled, more grateful to her than I could convey, as I moved my fingers to the buttons of my shirt. “How do you feel about negotiating?”

She breathed a laugh, her eyes flicking between mine and my fingers undoing buttons. “I’ll give you anything you want, so I don’t know if it really counts as a negotiation.”

“That’s a dangerous statement, Archer.”