by Tia Siren
“Branca on Walton Street please.” He slid into the back seat, laying down and quickly shutting the door so he could use it to hoist himself up. “Please hurry.”
He knew it would be a long shot, but he didn’t know where else to look for her. When they arrived at the restaurant, his thoughts were correct. The maître d’ confirmed that she had been there and she just left fifteen minutes prior.
“Can I call someone for you, sir?” The man looked down at Edward’s attire and for the first time, so did Edward. His t-shirt was stained with blood and dirty from rolling around on the ground earlier that day. His hands were scuffed and one was bandaged with white gauze. He walked to a wall with a partial mirror and looked at himself.
“Christ.” He reached up and touched the swollen purple above his left eye. His lip was twice its normal size and blistered red. When he turned back toward the maître d’ he was already on the phone.
“Officer, yes. I have a customer in need of assistance.”
“It isn’t necessary,” interrupted Edward. “I have already been to the hospital. Thank you, though.” He quickly left before he drew any more attention to himself.
Walking down the street, he grabbed his phone and attempted to contact her a few more times with no luck. The next cab took him back to her house but when he saw the lights still out he gave up and went back to his flat.
Chapter 23
After a long night of no sleep and no food, Edward did the best he could to look halfway presentable. A long hot shower and a fresh change of clothes didn’t touch the fact that he looked like the loser in a boxing match that lasted all twelve rounds. He grabbed his jacket and took off out the door, thankful he didn’t have any classes to deal with.
He stopped off at a coffee shop and filled his stomach with coffee and chocolate croissants before making his way toward the university. Eva’s scientology class was about to be let out and he needed to see her as soon as he could. He kept out of sight from other students until it was time for Eva to walk out of the building.
The moment she walked out of the building and saw him she stopped and stared. Gasping, she ran toward him, her eyes wide. “Eddie? Oh my… what happened to you?”
Other students were catching on that something was out of the ordinary and they turned to look, some stopping and murmuring amongst themselves.
Eva fussed over him and made a scene, almost crying when she saw him.
“It’s nothing. Really.”
“Nothing? Are you kidding me? Look at you. Who did this to you?”
“I… I don’t know.” He looked around and whispered, “Can we get out of here? I don’t think we should be seen together like this, but I need to talk to you.”
“Oh,” she whispered back, looking around. “Yes. Come on.” She grabbed his hand and tried to quickly pull him along.
“Ah,” he gasped when the pain shot through him again. He rounded his back and bent toward the ground until it was tolerable again.
Eva let his hand go and shook her arms, cringing. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better.”
With much more finesse, and when he looked ready for her assistance, she took his arm and let him lead the way. The students disbursed and continued along their way.
“When is your next class?” he asked, knowing it was in less than ten minutes.
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t need to be there. I think you need me more than I need anthropology right now.” She pointed down a narrow path. “Let’s go to the park. There won’t be many there.”
They walked in silence for a ways, until she couldn’t stand the silence any longer.
“So, what happened to you anyway? You look horrible.”
“Thanks.” He felt her eyes on him and for the first time, he didn’t feel so confident. He didn’t know if it was the appearance he gave or the woman he was next to.
“I was jumped last night, just before I came to see you.”
“That’s why you didn’t show,” she said with a chuckle in her voice.
“It’s not really that humorous,” he replied, feeling awkward at her reaction.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh. It’s just that… do you know who did it?”
Edward shook his head. “I didn’t recognize him.”
“But you did see him? Can you give a description to the police?”
“I only heard his voice. He came at me from behind.”
“I’m so sorry.” She rubbed his arm and it felt good to him. He leaned closer to her as they entered the park and made their way to a remote area, unpopulated and quiet. When they sat down on a bench underneath a large oak tree he noticed Eva smiling.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because you didn’t stand me up last night.”
“I would never do that.”
“I know that now, but.”
“But what?” he pushed.
“I thought you blew me off.”
“I told you, I wouldn’t have done that.”
“Well, I didn’t know what to think. I cried until I finally fell asleep thinking you….”
Caught up in the moment, he leaned toward her, a pain shooting through his side as he twisted his body. He quickly leaned back again, holding his breath until the pain was bearable again.
“Eddie! Are you okay? Did he break your ribs?”
“A few of them.”
“Don’t try to move too much,” she fussed, leaning toward him. “Are you sure you are….”
He grabbed her arms and pulled her into him, kissing her lips. He held her there, deepening his kiss, not caring how much pain surfaced because of it.
“Edward,” she mumbled between kisses.
He let go of her just long enough to listen to her, his eyes penetrating hers.
“Are you going to break my heart?”
She tugged at his heart strings and he wanted to crumble at her feet. He shook his head slowly, his eyes studying every feature of her face.
She swooped in toward him again, kissing him hard and not letting go.
He felt something break within her, almost a freedom. He wrapped his arms around her and let the feel of her body next to his melt the pain away.
“I’m almost afraid to ask, but do you want to go to dinner tonight?”
She leaned back and put her head down, smiling at his humor over the situation. “I do, but should I pick you up this time?”
“I promise I’ll be more careful and I’ll watch out for bullies.”
“Okay then. I’ll be ready by six. Same place?”
“No,” he said, remembering the maître d’s face at the sight of him.
“Oh wait,” she said, putting the palm of her hand on her forehead. “I completely forgot. I have to be in Milton Keynes this afternoon. I probably won’t be back until after seven. I would cancel, but I’ve been signed up for this for weeks.”
“No, no, no. It’s okay. I can meet you out there. The distance will probably be better for us.”
“Are you sure? Milton Keynes is over an hour away. My seminar won’t be over until six.”
“It’s okay. It will do me good to do some driving. Get away from here for a little while.”
Eva smiled wide at the thought he wanted to go out of his way for her. “Okay then. There is a nice Italian place on George Street called Martini Restaurant.” She pulled out a piece of paper and ripped off a corner. She pulled a pen and wrote it down and handed the small piece of paper to him. “I’ve been there a few times. It’s really nice. Great food.”
“If you keep leaving me notes like this I’m going to have to get a special folder just for you.”
“Maybe someday I’ll get a phone. Who knows?” She stood up and waited for him to look at her. “I have to get to my class. Will I see you tonight?”
“Six thirty?”
“Make it seven,” she said, smiling.
“I will make every attempt to be there.” He took h
er hand and turned it over, kissing her palm. “You can count on that.”
Chapter 24
Edward left in plenty of time to make it to the restaurant without any troubles. He checked everything from the alley by his flat to the gas tank in his car. He wasn’t going to miss seeing Eva again.
When he pulled up to the restaurant, he was able to breathe normally again. “I’m here,” he said, looking at his reflection in the rearview mirror. He glanced at his watch. “Just after six-thirty.” He looked around the area and decided to go inside.
After he found a quiet table to the side, he let the waitress who brought him his scotch know to look for Eva. “You can’t miss her,” he said. “She is perfect.”
The waitress smiled at him with a sincerity he only saw in women who knew what real love was.
“Would you like another scotch?” The waitress stood next to him, waiting for his okay to take his glass. He looked down at it, not realizing he had drank it all. His mind was anywhere but there.
“Yes, please.” He looked at his watch again and just when his eyes registered that it was seven on the dot, he looked up and saw a woman walking toward him. He took a double take, knowing her face, but not recognizing the rest of her. He slowly stood up as she walked toward him, gracefully and reassuringly.
“Eva?” His eyes grew wide and his hand covered his heart.
Her long auburn hair was pulled up in a loose bun on the top of her head. The dress she wore hugged her body and flowed off her hips so naturally it looked like it was part of her. The champagne color swayed as she walked and swirled around her legs when she stopped at the table.
“Am I late?” Her lips were colored with a deep crimson he wasn’t used to seeing on her.
“You can be anything you want to be looking like that.” He was mesmerized.
“Do I look okay? Is it too much?”
“You….” He shook his head. “You are stunning.”
She sat across from him and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her skin glowed, her smile radiated, her hair shone, her eyes had that sparkle he remembered the first time they met.
“Would you like a drink, miss?” The waitress appeared seemingly out of nowhere again.
“Yes, thank you. I’ll just have a white wine.”
“So, what sort of seminar did you attend this evening? How to turn the heads of everyone you walk by?”
She giggled and lowered her gaze. “No. It was just a science seminar. This,” she said, holding her dress out “is for you.”
“I don’t know what to say. I didn’t think you could get any more beautiful.”
“Thank you.” She blushed a light shade of pink as she adjusted her chair. “You look quite handsome yourself.”
“Minus the large lump above my eye and protrusion on my lip.”
“Even with that, you look sexy.”
“Sexy? Did you just say I looked sexy?”
“I did.”
That made him smile. She seemed so much more relaxed, more in tune with him. He liked this side of her. As they ate, conversation seemed to flow easily. They had several things in common and they never tired of hearing stories from each other. She talked about her family and how much she missed having them in her life.
“It has been tough being away from them for this long,” she said. “Are you close with your parents?”
“Well, I used to be. I remember growing up, it was always me and my dad.” He swirled his drink around the ice cubes still floating along the top. “We did everything together. Well, until he got a promotion at work. Then he was always out of town on business. I barely saw him after that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I believe that everything happens for a reason. When I stopped hanging with my dad, I met Joseph. We became inseparable. Still are.”
“Really?”
“We went to college together and then,” he stopped himself from telling her about their successful business they started together. “then we just ended up in the same town. Even when I’m not working I find the time to catch up with him.” He tried to word it so he wasn’t technically lying to her. He hated lying. He wanted to come clean on everything. He looked deep into her eyes and wondered how she’d take it if he did.
“He sounds pretty important to you.”
“He is. We’ve been through a lot together.” He watched her, working up the nerve to come completely clean with her. “I have a confession to make.”
“Oh yeah?” The tone of her voice changed. It became softer, more seductive, more sexual.
Edward was very familiar with that sort of change in tone in a woman’s voice.
“I think I have a confession of my own,” she said, leaning into the table. She reached her hand across the table toward his arm and played with the cuff on his shirt. “You are looking quite sexy in that dress shirt and quite frankly, thanks to this wine,” she said, picking up her glass and looking inside it “it’s doing something to me.”
Edward felt a surge of adrenaline pick up speed and everything he had to say dissipated from his thoughts. He leaned toward her and absorbed her every move. “Continue, please.”
“I just sat through two hours of a seminar on the delusions and spiritual experiences of the human mind and all I could think about was what sort of experiences I could create with you.”
“Hmm, sounds like quite the interesting seminar.”
“Given the topic, you would think so, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, it wasn’t at all what it sounded like it would be about.”
“Let me guess. It was about what was to be as opposed to what someone perceives that to be.”
“Close. Let’s add some mental disorders in there and how they are so differently realized than that of the normal person.”
“I can see why you’d be misconstrued on that topic. I hope it wasn’t too much of a disappointment.”
“My own thoughts kept it interesting,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m sorry. I completely interrupted you. What were you going to say?”
He sat up straight, trying to remember what he was even talking about.
“You were about to make a confession?” she added.
“Ah. Yes. I was just going to say,” he drew out each word as he tried to think up something different to admit to. “I wanted to confess on how drawn I am to you.” He leaned forward and took her hand. “I cannot wait to get you closer to me.”
“You, you can’t?” she stammered.
“Want to go dancing?”
Her face crimsoned at what she thought he was talking about and she giggled nervously as she finished the last of her wine. “I’d love that.”
“Let’s do it.”
Edward stood up, managing the pain in his side and paid the bill. With his hand on the small of her back, he led her out the door.
“I’m parked down the street here,” he said, directing her down the sidewalk, his hand still on her back. Her dress scooped down to the middle of her back so he slowly crept his hand up until his fingers touched her skin, feeling her breathing change as he did. After a few more steps he caught himself looking for a secluded spot he could stop at. A break in the buildings, a small alleyway, anything. Each building was part of the previous so he did the next best thing and crossed the street. When she hesitated, he grabbed her hand and smiled at her.
“Come on.” He led her up a flight of stone stairs to an upper level of buildings. The building in front of them curved around to the back, leaving a deep corner that held shadows when the sun went down.
“What are you doing?” she asked playfully.
He pulled her into that corner and without explanation, collided into her. He used the pain and turned it into an aphrodisiac, feeding his fingers up around her neck and covering her mouth with his. They slammed into the wall of the building as his tongue thrust into her mouth. He heard her gasp and felt her hands on his back. He buried the pain of his broken ribs to the back of his mind not wanting to give
up the moment for anything.
They explored each other with the inner depths of their being, hands groping along body parts craving to be touched, lips kissing exposed parts of the body adding goosebumps along the way, bodies pressing into one another screaming for more, screaming to get closer and begging for it to continue.
“Do you know how long I have waited,” she asked breathlessly. “to get this close to you?”
“No,” he said abruptly, continuing to explore her and take what he could.
“The moment I saw you in that coffee shop.”
“When we met.”
“Before that.”
“Before?” He briefly disconnected from her lips to lean back and look at her, astonished that she wanted him as badly as he wanted her at first sight.
“Hmmm.” She hesitated her confession to allow him to kiss her deeply once again, letting her body submit to his every touch. When his mouth moved down her neck, she put her head back and closed her eyes to catch her breath before continuing.
“When I saw you trying to flirt with that woman, I was instantly turned on by you.”
He stopped again and leaned back to look at her. His breathing was irregular as he cocked his head and smiled.
“I got your panties wet as soon as you saw me?” he asked as if it was the biggest compliment he had ever gotten.
Eva chuckled. “Yes. I suppose when you put it that way, you did.”
“I still got it,” he said, raising and lowering his eyebrows several times before moving toward the soft supple spots of her neck again.
She raised her head, giving him exposure and allowing him access to more than just her neck. She felt like she was falling in love with him.
“God, you are so soft,” he whispered. “You smell so fucking good.” He kissed her skin leaning into her. “Tell me, Eva.” He moved his kisses up to her jaw bone. “Have you ever,” his lips kissed her chin “touched yourself” he kissed her lips then looked into her eyes “while thinking of me?”
She merely nodded, mesmerized at the way her body felt with him.