The Heart System

Chapter 832: Chapter 832

I opened the door and stepped aside, letting Kayla get inside first. Then I followed her in and shut the door behind us, putting the keycard back into my pocket.

Esme was there, along with Eleanor. They were both sitting in the living room and talking quietly. Jasmine and Kim were on the double couch, laptops resting on their laps as they looked through something, probably related to Project Phoenix.

Nala and Minne were in the kitchen, preparing dinner together. Tessa was nowhere to be seen, but I could hear the shower running from the common bathroom, so she was probably taking one.

”Hey, guys,” Jasmine said, looking up from her laptop. ”Welcome back. Dinner’s almost ready.”

”Hey,” Kayla replied, then looked toward Esme. ”H-hey.”

”Um, hi, Kayla?”

Was that a greeting or a question?

”Esme, right?” Kayla asked. ”Hey. I heard what happened from Evan. I hope it gets resolved.”

”Thank you.”

Well, that was awkward. Then again, everything involving Esme seemed to become awkward somehow.

The girl was simply not social. Not even a little. She had spent most of her life relying on her sister, and now that Cora was gone, Esme seemed like a fish out of water. She did not know what to do or where to go, and kept trying to return to the one place where she had always felt safe.

Unfortunately for her, that comfort zone was Cora, and Cora was nowhere to be seen.

The bathroom door opened, and Tessa stepped out with a towel hanging over her shoulder. Her hair was still wet, and she had barely bothered to dry herself properly. She stretched as she walked into the living room, acting as if walking around like that was perfectly normal.

She nodded at Kayla before opening her eyes wide. ”Oh my god, is that a cum stain?”

Kayla glanced down at herself and noticed the large patch on her pants. ”Oh. Shit.”

”I hope you two didn’t get too carried away in the car,” Nala called from the kitchen with a smile. ”Otherwise, I swear I’ll make you both clean it.”

”The car is clean as a...”

Someone knocked on the door.

That was weird. No one should have been coming up here, and the receptionist had not called to tell me anyone was on their way.

I walked toward the door and looked through the peephole. Fuck.

It was Ivy.

”I know you’re in there, Evan,” she said from the other side. ”Open the door.”

”Uh...” I glanced back at everyone. There was no way I could explain this. ”In a minute.”

Time Stop? Should I just get the hell out of there? Shit. What was I going to do? Ivy only knew that I was seeing Nala. She had no idea about the others, so what would happen if she walked inside and saw me here with Jasmine, Kim, Esme, Eleanor, Kayla, and everyone else?

There was no good explanation for this.

I opened the door and hoped for the best.

Ivy stood there with a neutral expression and her arms crossed. She looked at me for a moment before peeking inside. Her eyes immediately landed on the girls, and I could practically feel the questions forming in her head.

”How did you even get up here?” I asked, knowing perfectly well that it was probably the stupidest question I could have asked.

She raised an eyebrow. ”I showed the receptionist a photo of us and told her I wanted to surprise you. She believed me.”

”Right.”

”Hey, girls.”

”Hey,” Jasmine replied, sounding a little nervous. ”Ivy, right? Evan has talked a lot about you.”

”Right.”

Ivy looked around the room again, taking in everyone before turning her attention back toward me.

”Shall we talk for a little while?” she asked. ”All of us, if you don’t mind.”

I glanced back at the girls.

Every single one of them was looking at me.

I took a quiet breath.

”Well,” I muttered to myself, ”this is going to be interesting.”

⟁ ⟁ ⟁

Ivy crossed her legs and remained silent.

Fuck, I wasn’t able to hear what they were talking about. Ivy had wanted me to go outside while she talked to the girls, so now I was sitting on a bench across from the hotel building, watching everything unfold through the security camera on my phone.

There was no sound coming from the camera, though. All I could do was watch their expressions and try to figure out what they were saying. It reminded me of Delilah and how she had found out about my relationship with Jasmine and the others. Fuck, I just hoped Ivy wasn’t as tough as her mother.

I wasn’t lying when I told her I loved having her around. I really did. I liked having her close to me, whether it was romantic or not.

”What the hell are you even talking about?” I muttered. ”Fuck...”

A notification popped up on my phone. Jasmine was calling me.

I immediately answered and turned on the speaker. She didn’t say anything, though. I could hear some shuffling on her end, followed by silence. Did she put the phone back into her pocket? Was she trying to help me hear what Ivy and the others were saying? Fuck, she was the best.

”She...” I heard Esme’s voice. ”She kicked me out. Then Evan took me in.”

”Ugh. You should hear my story,” Kim chuckled. ”I had a cuck boyfriend, and his mother was a bitch. She actually kidnapped me, and Evan rescued me.”

”I’m not asking about any of that,” Ivy cut in. ”Are you all just okay with this? I mean, he is clearly fucking using you! I bet his dick goes into a different pussy every day! You’re just like socks.”

”You’re a sock,” Tessa replied. ”Evan doesn’t use us. If anything, he saved Jasmine and me from a very, very shitty life.”

”And he made you indebted to him!” Ivy snapped. ”Now look at you! You can’t say no to him because you feel like you can’t! It’s disgusting.”

”We can’t say no to him?” Kayla asked. ”You’re crazy.”

Ivy thought that little of me, huh?

Fuck me.

Though, I couldn’t really blame her. My score with her in the Interaction menu had tanked. If I had just come clean with her from the beginning, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.