Trusting Stone

by Alexa Sinclaire

  Her anger returned suddenly. How dare Joachim challenge her after all he done to her, all his betrayal? “Yes, I’m back with Sebastian, not that it’s any of your business. You don’t own me, Joachim. Despite my father’s blessing, despite all the big plans that you made for our life together, I’m not yours!” Eden realized this was a big mistake. She’d seen him drunk before, of course, but drunk and angry was not the Joachim she knew.

  “Then why tell me to wait? Why not cut me loose instead of jumping into the bed of the first guy besides me who showed any interest?” She could see he regretted it as soon as the words were spoken. The truth was finally out. He didn’t think anyone would want her either.

  All those years she had believed that no man would have her after what had happened, no man except Joachim Benedict. Eden had held on to that false reality for so long, that’s why she hadn’t been able to let Joachim go when he asked her to have him. She stepped back now, forbidding herself to cry, wishing Sebastian was here to hold her, to take away the memories that were crowding in.

  “I never meant to lead you on, you know that. And after you told me about the ring, I made it clear I wanted Sebastian. But you’re just like the rest of them. You may have waited for me and, yes, you helped me, or at least lead me to believe that you were helping me, but you think of me just like my parents, our old friends—who would have me, right? Who would want me after what they did? I don’t owe you anymore, that’s what’s changed. I always felt like I owed you for what you did that night and it’s been hanging over me for years, because the only way I knew to repay you was to give to you what they wanted. I was going to have to give myself to you to be free of you.”

  “That’s not true, Eden. Please, please forget I said it.” Joachim approached her now, his face distorted and constricted in pain. “You don’t know what this does to me. I’ve always wanted you, Eden. I let you go to Edinburgh because I thought when you came back we could start over. You could be happy and we could be together.”

  “You didn’t let me go to Edinburgh! I left. And I know what you did! I know why you didn’t call the cops that night, why my father was so angry at me for the attack. I know you protected them,” she shouted, stepping back from him and bumping into the couch. She sidestepped it and walked into the kitchen, shocked by the force in her voice, but wary of Joachim’s silence. “I’m not yours, Joachim, I never was. And I never will be.” She knew what she was saying was breaking his heart and she looked at him, expecting to see sadness and remorse. After all, she didn’t owe him. The look on Joachim’s face made her freeze. It was a look she had never seen in all the years she had known him.

  He walked toward the kitchen now, closing the distance between them. “Who told you about the contracts? Let me guess—Sebastian. So is he now your new knight in shining armor? Is he going to save you now? From me?” His voice was calm and he seemed sober.

  “Joachim…I don’t need saving from you.” Eden tried to tone down the tension between them, very aware suddenly that no one would be interrupting them. She’d told Sebastian she’d be packing boxes late. He’d have no reason to come look for her. Rick knew Joachim was in her apartment, but would have no reason to check on her.

  Joachim reached out quickly and grabbed her hand, staring at the engagement ring. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he roared.

  Eden yanked her hand away, horrified by his voice. She had never seen Joachim lose his temper. His presence in her kitchen, his broad shoulders, his quarterback physique he had maintained suddenly looked menacing for the first time in her life, and Eden realized she had misjudged the situation horribly.

  “Take off the goddamn ring.” Joachim’s voice was still loud, but now it was filled with something else besides fury.

  “What?” Eden circled the island now, desperate to keep Joachim away from her. He slowly followed. He lunged at her again, wrestling the ring off her finger, twisting her wrist as he did so. Eden stumbled backward again, shocked at his violence, and she held her hands up, trying to formulate a plan. She glanced around the apartment, trying to remember where she had put her phone, whether she could reach her front door before Joachim.

  “You said you would never be mine. But you know, Eden, there was a time when you were almost mine, when you let me do things to you, when you wanted me just as much as I wanted you. I know you wanted me.”

  “We were just kids. I didn’t know what I wanted then, things are different now. Please try and understand.” She wasn’t sure what it would take to stop him.

  “I think never is a very bold statement, Eden. And I can guarantee you that if I can’t have my ring on that finger, Sebastian fucking Stone can’t either.” With that, Eden lunged for the front door, scrambling to turn the bolt, and managed to get it open before Joachim got to her, but she was too slow. He pushed it shut, slamming both his hands on the door, trapping her between his arms. Instinct kicked and she brought her knee up into Joachim’s stomach as he leaned down to kiss her. He gasped, stepping back, and she knew she hadn’t hurt him but simply stunned him with her response. In those few seconds when he stepped back, she bolted, running for her bedroom, hoping to get there in time to lock the door behind her.

  But again, she was too late and Joachim pushed the door open despite her leaning against it with all her weight. He stared at her, filling the doorframe as she stumbled backward.

  “Stop running, Eden. come on. I’m not going to hurt you.” He approached her slowly, knowing she was trapped. For every step he took forward, Eden stepped back, trying not to panic. She was no match against Joachim, but fighting back was her only option.

  Guessing what she was thinking, Joachim moved quickly and pushed her onto the bed. He was on her then, trying to kiss her as she turned away, pinning her arms to her sides as he wrapped his own around her.

  “Eden, don’t,” he whispered as she continued to push and writhe in his grasp. “It’s me, it’s me. You know me, you know I can make you feel good,” he continued as if his voice could calm her. Eden felt his erection against her thigh, growing harder by the second. She could feel the panic rising in her chest. Her breathing became more and more shallow and she knew she wouldn’t be able to fight back if she had a full panic attack. Where was Sebastian? Why hadn’t she texted him back, told him to come to her? If only she had listened to him, she wouldn’t be in this situation.

  Eden screamed now as she felt Joachim’s hand lifting her shirt while he pinned her wrists together with one hand above her head. Joachim didn’t even flinch and she realized she needed to change tactics. She stopped pushing against him, made her voice calm and soft, trying to connect to him.

  “Please, Joachim, please don’t do this. It’s me. Please let me get up. We can talk about it.”

  “I tried talking to you, Eden. I’ve tried for weeks to get you to talk to me. You wouldn’t have dinner with me. You wouldn’t respond to my texts. I’m done with talking. I’m taking what I want. What I’m due.” He kissed her neck as his hand moved further up her waist, grabbing a breast. She felt nauseous. He exhaled sharply as he slipped his fingers into her bra, brushing at her nipple with a coarse thumb. “God, I’ve missed you, Eden. I know you feel the same way.”

  Eden tried to focus on the end goal—she had to get Joachim off her somehow.

  “Okay, Joachim, okay.”

  He stopped moving, lifting himself off her slowly to look at her. “Okay what?”

  “I’ll be with you.” She took a deep breath, keeping his gaze. “In the way that we never were.”

  He understood what she meant and the anger seemed to slowly dissipate from his eyes. “Really, Eden?”

  “Yes, but you have to let me go to the bathroom and just get myself sorted out. I want us to do this right.”

  Joachim was clearly weighing up whether she was telling the truth. She leaned forward now and pressed her lips against his, using all the courage she could find not to shudder. It seemed to work and she felt his hand loosen on her wrist
s.

  “I just need to go to the bathroom and then I’ll be right back.” She motioned with her head to the en-suite bathroom that led off her bedroom. “I’ll be two minutes. I promise. I won’t even lock the door.”

  Joachim lifted himself off her, holding out his hand to help her up. She smiled up at him, slowly standing and resisting the urge to pull her shirt down. Eden walked toward the bathroom and gently shut the door.

  Once inside, she frantically started opening drawers, trying to not make any noise, thinking she was unbelievably lucky to have not packed the bathroom yet. There’d have to be something—a razor, hairspray, scissors. Finally, in the back of a drawer, her fingers wrapped around a pair of nail scissors, small but they would do the trick.

  Eden couldn’t hear anything outside the door and she held her breath as she slowly walked back out. Joachim was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing the bathroom. Eden glanced over and saw that he had shut the bedroom door. He’d probably locked it, too, she guessed. She didn’t have a plan besides getting through the bedroom door. She’d already tried outrunning him and that hadn’t worked. If she could just make it to the intercom, she would be able to call down to Rick. She could feel the scissors up the cuff of her sleeve as she slowly walked toward him. His eyes were glazed and his lids heavy and she knew he was still drunk. She needed to use that to her advantage.

  Joachim reached out to her now, spreading his knees and pulling her in to stand between them. He rested his hands on her waist and Eden forced herself not to pull back.

  “Eden, I’m so glad you want this too. I’m so glad you’ve come around, baby. It’s always been you.” He leaned his head against her chest and wrapped his arms further around her. She didn’t dare move her arms, but she knew he was waiting for her to make a move, to show him some sort of sign that she had meant what she’d said.

  “You too, Joachim. It’s always been you. I just was scared to come back to you.” Somehow, she managed to keep her voice from shaking. This had to work. If it didn’t work, it was about to make everything much, much worse.

  “What about Sebastian? You had his ring on your finger. I don’t know if I can forgive that, Eden.” His eyes were getting dark again and she tried to think of an explanation that might be plausible.

  “It was the deal between our parents. I was angry that I had been kept in the dark. I just wanted to get back at everyone for lying. I never would have gone through with it, you know that. It was nothing more than a distraction. I want to be with you. Always you, Joachim. I was just being a silly girl.”

  “You are a silly girl, Eden. But you’re my girl now.” She nodded in response. It’s what he needed to hear and he lowered his hands to the back of her skirt and slowly pulled down the zipper, letting the skirt drop to the floor. Joachim hissed through his teeth at the sight of her pink lace boy shorts.

  He leaned his head down and slowly started kissing her bare waist, gently moving along until his tongue licked her navel. Eden bit her lip to stop from screaming. She had to keep calm to go through with this.

  She ran her left hand through his hair, and for a moment, she was overwhelmed with sadness at what Joachim had become. Maybe he had always been like this and had simply hidden his true self from her. The anger and fear came rushing back as she felt his fingers hook into the waist of her panties, starting to pull them down. That was the trigger she needed—Eden slipped the scissors into her right hand, making sure she had a firm grasp before stabbing them as hard as she could into Joachim’s bicep. He roared and leapt up, releasing his hands from her hips.

  Eden turned and ran to the door, quickly unlocking it and flinging it open. She was halfway there, she told herself. Just a few more feet and she could reach the intercom. She tried to block out the noise of him screaming for her and she was halfway across the living room before he had her pinned to the couch.

  Flipping her onto her back, Joachim raged at her. “You fucking bitch. You stabbed me!”

  “Get off me, Joachim. I hate you,” Eden screamed back at him, and tried to push him off. He was pinning her shoulders down, but she still had some mobility in her arms and she lunged at him as much as she could from her restricted position. She clawed at his face, desperate to get away from him. Eden felt her nails bite through the flesh of his cheek, but it simply spurred him on. Joachim reached up and hit her with the back of his hand, hard across her cheek. It stunned her and, for a moment, she lay still, trying to refocus her eyes.

  “Stop fighting me, Eden, or I’ll hit you again.” He knew she was scared and he obviously didn’t care.

  Eden took a deep breath, turning to face him. She was not going to stop fighting him, not while she still could move “Fuck you, Joachim. You’ll never have me without a fight because I’ll never want you.”

  He raised his hand again and she closed her eyes as he hit her. This time, she couldn’t seem to refocus before he hit her again and again. She could hear him shouting and grabbing at her shirt, holding her neck tightly. She couldn’t move anymore and she felt a darkness slipping over her.

  “Sebastian,” she murmured.

  Eden sensed a commotion behind her and suddenly, Joachim was gone. His roaming hands were off her and she was free.

  It took her a moment to understand what she was seeing. Sebastian was on top of Joachim on the floor, straddling him, and was punching him repeatedly in the face. Joachim was trying to fight back, but drunk and taken by surprise, he had little chance against Sebastian’s anger.

  “She’s mine. I’ll kill you,” he growled down at him.

  “Stop, Sebastian!” she managed to get out. “Sebastian!” She could barely move. Something was wrong with her head. But she knew that Sebastian was here and everything would be alright if he would just turn to look at her. She needed to see his eyes, to see the blue that she so often got lost in.

  Sebastian didn’t seem to hear her and it was only when she tried to sit up off the couch and slid down to the floor that he noticed her and stopped.

  “Stop,” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. “I’m alright. Stop, before you do something you’ll regret.”

  Seeing her move was the key to snapping him out of his daze. He jumped off Joachim and ran to her, gathering her up in his arms. Joachim managed to struggle to his feet and moved closer to her.

  “Eden, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry...please let me explain.” He stopped when he saw Sebastian’s fist tighten again.

  “If you ever touch her again, I’ll kill you, Benedict,” Sebastian said. “You better run, fast.” Eden could feel Sebastian kissing her hair. He was trying to say something to her, but all she could focus on was his eyes. She could see he was upset and his lips were moving, but all she could hear was a rushing noise and then nothing.

  Chapter Thirty

  Eden could feel warmth on her skin and she tried to turn her head to move toward it, but for some reason, she couldn’t. She slowly opened her eyes and she raised her hands to shield the sunlight that covered her. She had no idea where she was. All she could remember was the look on Joachim’s face as he raised his hand to hit her. She struggled to sit up, to get away from him.

  The act of sitting forward made her head throb and she yelped with the pain, grabbing the sides of her head. She felt hands pulling on her shoulders, trying to push her down, and she struggled to fight back, pushing as hard she could in return, twisting her arms, hitting out but not making contact. Suddenly, a shooting pain shot up her forearm and she screamed in agony. Unable to fight back, she fell back on the bed, closing her eyes, and again she was gone.

  ****

  Eden could hear voices. They were close but not close enough for her to make out what they were saying. Through the din in her head, she made out Sebastian’s accent. He was with her! She opened her eyes. The sun was gone and the room was mostly dark, except for the light coming off the machines next to her bed. She moved her head slightly to look at them and saw an IV stand. She realized she was in a hospital.
But where were the voices coming from? She turned her head the other way, happy that the throbbing feeling seemed to have subsided. Why couldn’t she see him?

  “Sebastian?” she tried to say. Her voice was dry and she tried to swallow. She tried again, this time with more force. She needed to see him. “Sebastian?” And suddenly, he was there, her Sebastian. His face filled her field of vision and she frowned at him. He looked so sad and tired. Eden tried to imagine what was wrong with him. Why did he look so upset? She tried to move her right arm and realized she couldn’t.

  “Don’t try and move too much, Eden. Just go slowly,” he gently said, resting his hand on her right arm. “You kept damaging your IV line so they strapped your arm down.” He moved to the other side of the bed now. She could hear Velcro being torn and finally her arm was free. Sebastian knelt beside her bed, gently holding her right hand, stroking each finger.

  “My ring, Sebastian. He took my ring.” Eden choked up, remembering Joachim ripping it off her finger.

  “I know, sweetness, it doesn’t matter.”

  “I want my ring back,” she persevered.

  “Shh, Eden, let’s not worry about that right now.”

  She looked down at Sebastian and suddenly noticed his knuckles, still raw and red. “What happened to your hands, Seb? Are you okay?”

  Sebastian laughed now, looking up at her, his eyes filled with tears. “You were beaten unconscious and you’re asking me if my hands are okay?”

  Eden nodded, still concerned about the bruises on his hands.

  “I’m better, now that you’re awake. You’ve been in and out a long time.”