should have just ended it along time ago. But the sick part was that everyone thought they were still a couple. They didn’t know the truth. They didn’t know the sex wasn’t that great, or that Jessica was stingy with her body. In the past, she had made Eric beg for every morsel of affection she doled out.
This wouldn’t be bothering him nearly as bad if it hadn’t happened in his own house. He had given her a key about three months prior, back when he had high hopes about their relationship. Frankly, he had forgotten she had it. She didn’t use it to come see him that often, and now he finds out she had been using his place as a love nest to meet a twenty year old! That very afternoon, he had walked into his own house and caught her grunting and groaning in his bed with another man!
The crappiest part of it all was that he hadn’t been alone when he had walked in on her. Two of his buddies had been with him and he had never been so humiliated in his life. By now, everyone probably knew Jessica had made a fool of him. The question was, what was he going to do about it? She had said she was sorry. She had said it would never happen again. She had even insisted on attending tonight’s event, draped on his arm, as if nothing was wrong. If he was anything other than the gentleman his Mom had raised, he would have told her exactly what she was and exactly what she could do with herself. Shit!
All of this mess, just reemphasized in his mind how much he wanted someone entirely different. Someone who wanted him, and wasn’t afraid to let him know. He was hungry for his dark haired siren - the one who called to him in his dreams. He wished he had ended it with Jessica a long time ago. Her explanation, of sorts, kept ringing in his ears. “It‘s just that you are so intense in bed, scary sort of, and Chip - he was sweet and not at all intimidating.” Eric didn’t really know what to make of that explanation. He intimidated her in bed? All he had done was try to please her, but she didn’t seem to want to be pleased. Irregardless, her words hadn’t pacified him; they had merely made him feel colder toward her. He let out a harsh breath. Time to just get it over with!
* * * *
“What do you make of Evangeline hearing Aimee’s voice?” Angelique asked Nanette.
“I presume she is trying to contact her daughter, maybe to warn her of something.” It broke Nanette’s heart to think of her sweet Aimee. She so hoped her daughter could rest in peace.
“When I get there, I will make this my first priority.” Angelique assured her friend.
“But we have to get through this art benefit first.”
“Did I understand you right?” Nanette Beaureguarde asked from the backseat of her black Jag. “Did you tell me these sculptures of Evangeline’s are nudes?” Evangeline’s grandmother, a fourth generation native of New Orleans, wasn’t really shocked. She just thought that, as a grandmother, she ought to put up a token protest. Actually, she was pleased.
“Yes, Nanette. Nudes. Erotic nudes,” Angelique, a beautiful woman of Creole descent explained.
“Huh! What does Evangeline know about nude men? I don’t think she has been on more than a half dozen dates in the past four years. And if she had slept with any of them - believe me - I think I would have known!”
“How would you know?” Angelique wasn’t being disrespectful or condescending. She knew Nanette was very powerful - and she didn’t doubt her - but she wanted to understand.
“I can feel when they’re happy. Like now, Elizabeth and Arabella are content and their feelings of joy and fulfillment call out to me over the miles. But Evangeline is searching. She hasn’t connected to anyone, intimately. Not in real life, anyway.”
“What are you saying, are we having another dream romance like we had between Arabella and Jade?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think it’s exactly the same. Evangeline has cast out the net, so to speak. She told