by Tia Siren
Eva’s stare didn’t falter and it caused Edward concern.
“Eva? Are you okay?” He studied her face wishing he could have read her thoughts. “I honestly don’t know what she is talking about. She quickly befriended me when I started here, almost too quickly but at the time, I thought she was harmless. We went to dinner once and she took it for more than what it was.”
She slowly looked down at her food then out the front window before getting up and walking away from the table.
“Eva? Eva, please. You have to listen to me.”
Without a word, she quickly left the restaurant. By the time Edward had thrown enough cash on the table to pay for the meal and ran out after her, he had lost sight of where she went. He looked both ways and saw Gracie’s Audi just disappearing around the corner. When he looked the other way, he spotted Eva and ran after her.
“Eva! Stop!”
He finally caught up to her and grabbed her arm to stop her. Her face was wet with tears as she tried to control her sobbing.
“You don’t believe that I had anything to do with that woman, do you?”
“I believe you could have. She is beautiful and quite persistent, and I can see a man like you getting involved with someone like her, before finding out what kind of person she really is.”
“But I didn’t. I was only trying to get to know some of my fellow professors and she was the first. She even went out of her way to help me get some information for some research I was working on, information I could not obtain on my own.”
“Can we get out of here?” she asked, looking back toward the restaurant.
“Come on.” They walked to his car and she didn’t take a full breath until he was back on the road.
“When I met her, she seemed completely harmless. It wasn’t until later on, I found out some things about her, some things that were quite disturbing. Rumors mostly, but still disturbing nonetheless. I told her I wasn’t interested in her, tried to get away from her but she just kept showing up. From what I have heard she has a serious obsession problem, to a point that it sometimes ends up tragic. I’m not much on believing rumors, but after the attack….”
“Attack?” Eva quickly looked at him.
“Yeah. Remember the night I was attacked?”
“By the mugger, yes. What about it?”
“I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Eddie, what happened?”
“The guy who attacked me, I knew who he was.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“Until tonight, I figured it was a one and done kind of attack.”
“You are scaring me.”
“It was Gracie’s brother and she put him up to it.”
Eva gasped and covered her mouth. “What?”
“She confessed it in the restaurant. Told me if I didn’t watch it, she would sick him on to me again.”
“Oh my… you have to get out of here then. You can’t stay here. Your life is in danger.” Eva grew almost hysterical and began to cry again. “Eddie, please. You have to go.”
“Go? Why? I can handle him if it happens again. I know what to expect now. He took me by surprise that night.”
“No, Eddie! You don’t get it. The murder. He is a dangerous man. Please.”
“What murder? Eva, what are you talking about?”
“That murder a few years ago? It was Gracie who plotted it, but she had help.”
“She did?”
“Her brother was put on trial for that murder.”
“So why is he free?”
“They didn’t have enough evidence to convict him or Gracie. I’m telling you, she has strong ties here and somehow, she is able to manipulate the system to go her way whenever she wants it to.”
“I know she is quite close to the security guard, but there has to be more to it.”
“No one knows, but it is awfully coincidental that when something bad happens to her, something also happens to a department head.”
“A department head? What do you mean? What do they have to do with all of this?”
“Not too long ago, when they were trying to fire her, we were all happy they finally did it. When some of my friends had her class the next day she was still there to teach it. They all thought she had lost her mind. No one knew what happened and they were all too afraid to ask. The next day, there was a huge rumor going around that Mr. Housel, one of the department heads had been caught with meth. Completely unrelated, I know, but….”
“Let me guess, they let her stay and his drug habit mysteriously disappeared?”
“You got it.”
“Interesting.”
Edward started trying to piece everything together as they drove in silence until he reached her house. When he parked, he turned toward her and waited.
“Eddie,” she said, looking down at her hands clasped together in her lap, “I didn’t run out of the restaurant because I thought there was something between you and Gracie.” She looked up at him. “I was scared for my life. That woman frightens me and when she started becoming violent I froze. As soon as I was able to I ran out.”
“I understand, really. And thank you for telling me. I was worried that you thought….”
“No. Not even for a minute. I trust you and I believe you.”
“Thank you.” He spoke the words as genuinely as he could, but couldn’t help but feel the guilt that gnawed at him from deep within.
“Listen, it isn’t very late and I don’t really want to be alone right now. It’s a beautiful night. What do you think about driving out to the lake for a while?”
“Sounds like a perfect plan to me,” he said with a smile. He pulled away from the curb and drove toward the Oxford city limits. He kept an eye on his rearview mirror to avoid any possible followers and felt confident when there wasn’t another headlight to be seen. He pressed the gas pedal down and didn’t let up until they were well on their way out of town.
When they got to the lake, he took precautionary measures and pulled into the park, off the pavement hiding his car behind a storage building close by. They walked hand in hand toward the lake with the same blanket they used the last time draped over Edward’s arm.
“This is nice,” she said, lying on the blanket next to him. The sky was covered in a blanket of stars and the night air was cool, but comfortable. “I wish I could lay like this with you forever. Capture this moment and stay like this. No cares, no worries.”
“I feel the same way.” He pulled his cell phone out and lay down next to her, his head close to hers. He held the phone up in the air and snapped a picture of the two of them together. “There. Now this moment is captured forever.” He rolled toward her and watched her face as she talked, her side profile lit up slightly by the moon and the stars.
“Life can be tough sometimes.”
“Yes.” He became mesmerized with the way her lips moved.
“They should give everyone a time out at least once a week. A guarantee that nothing is going to stress them out or cause them grief.”
“Absolutely.”
“But I guess nothing is guaranteed, is it?” She turned her face toward him, seriousness and concern clouding her beautiful eyes.
“I am hoping that one day I can take you away from all of the doubt and frustration surrounding you, surrounding us. I want to make you happy, Eva.”
She sat up quickly and rolled over on top of him, kissing his nose repeatedly. “You already do that.”
He traced her face with the tip of his finger and wanted nothing more than to have this for the rest of his life.
“I love you, Eva.”
“Hmmm,” she smiled and laid her head on his chest. “I can hear your heart,” she said, pressing deeper into him.
“Let’s see if we can make it beat faster.”
“What?” she leaned up to look at him and he rolled her over, pinning her to the ground and devouring her lips with his. When he pressed his
body into hers he heard that little gasp that he loved to hear from her lips. He slid his hands up underneath her shirt feeling her body respond to his touch and inched his way up until his hands cupped her breasts.
“Damn, I love what you do to me,” she breathed.
“We have so much in common,” he said before kissing her deeply again, pressing himself into her. They intertwined their bodies together, kissing body parts, shedding clothing piece by piece, massaging each other and making love until the dew from the night covered everything around them.
Chapter 33
The sun was barely peeking out from beyond the horizon when Edward pulled up to Eva’s house. He shut the car off and turned toward her but didn’t say anything. He liked watching her reaction to him.
She smiled and looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. “This is usually what they like to call the walk of shame. But, only if the girl was walking home alone after a casual and unplanned sexual encounter… and this was just a one night stand with a guy who the girl wasn’t really interested in. Okay, this is nothing like that.” Her smile grew.
“You are rambling again.”
She nodded, “I know. I’m sorry. I tend to do that from time to….”
He grabbed her and pulled her to him, kissing her and not letting go. “I’m going to make it right,” he said, his forehead to hers. “I promise. Trust me?”
She nodded again. “I trust you.”
“Are you going to be able to make it to your classes today?”
“Yes. I am so wide awake and high on life right now, nothing can bring me down.”
“Good.” He gave her one last quick kiss then waved his hand toward the door. “Get going. I will talk to you later today.”
She smiled back at him when she got out of the car and waited for him to drive away before she went inside.
Edward had a plan and it wasn’t going to be a pleasant one. He drove back to his flat, cleaned up and got some good food into his stomach before implementing what he had planned in his head.
Walking out the door with his pistol concealed in the back pocket of his bag, he pulled his phone and pulled up Gracie’s name.
Where are you?
Less than a minute later she responded.
I’m just finishing up my geography class
Where is that?
Dysons Perrins Building
He got into his car and peeled out toward the university campus. A few minutes later his phone sounded again. He looked at the text from Gracie.
I guess our little talk last night did some good. Can’t wait to see you. I am in the Beckit room
He wanted to respond. He wanted to tell her this wasn’t going to be a social call but he didn’t want her to expect what he was about to throw at her.
He pulled into a nearby parking area and grabbed his bag. Locking the car and slinging his bag over his shoulder after checking the security of his pistol in the back pocket, he b-lined it for the Dysons Perrins building.
Peering into the Beckit room, it appeared empty from the hallway, but when he walked inside he spun around when he heard the door close behind him. Gracie stood there with her hand on the door and a smile on her face.
“I knew you would come to your senses,” she said walking toward him.
“Hang on,” he said holding his hand up at her. “I just need to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to talk. It has been too long since I have felt your arms around me.”
“You’ve never felt my arms….” He stopped himself in midsentence. Arguing with her was pointless, plus he wanted to keep things light until he was ready. “Can we sit? Please?”
“Of course!” She waited for him to sit and eagerly sat at the desk closest to him.
He got up and moved to another desk a few rows away before saying anything more. He leaned against and put his bag at his feet. “Can I ask you something?” he cocked his head and smiled trying to keep his tone light.
“Anything.” She looked at him wide eyed, as though he was about to hand her the world and it was at that moment when he saw the same psychotic look he saw in the woman who put his best friend, Joseph, in the hospital.
“Did we… make plans? Did I really stand you up the other night?”
“Oh, gosh no.” She snickered and waved her hand. “I made that up.”
“Why? Why would you do that? You make a complete spectacle out of us both in that restaurant.”
“I had to get your attention somehow. Seems like every time I tried to see you or make plans with you, something always came up or you had to go or something. I was tired of waiting. I was tired of being put on hold so I took matters into my own hands. It worked because here you are,” she beamed. “We are never going to get to know each other better if you keep avoiding me and traipsing around with tramps like that little Eva whore.”
Edward clenched his jaw but took a breath to keep control.
She leaned toward him without getting up and whispered “We both know you can do better than her.”
“How do you know Eva?” he asked, concentrating on her every word.
“I had to get to know who she was when I found out she was in your life. I can’t be having someone like that threatening our relationship.”
When she stood up, Edward reached down and grabbed his bag without thinking. Gracie looked at the bag and then at him.
“Whatcha got there?”
“Gum,” he blurted out. He clumsily opened one of the pockets and pretended to look for it. “My mouth is dry. Do you want some?”
“Not of gum,” she said with a sly tone as she sashayed closer to him.
“Listen, Gracie I think we need to talk.” He got up and turned away, putting a few more desks between them.
“I thought that was what we were doing. Know what I think?”
“What, Gracie? What do you think?”
“I think you talk too much.”
“And you only hear what you want to hear.”
She stopped walking toward him and furrowed her eyebrows.
“I need you to listen to me. When I came here, I was not looking for a relationship. I only needed a friend and I found that in you. I wasn’t looking for anything more.”
“Yeah, that’s what you said before. But when I saw you with that bitch at the park I knew you were over your last girlfriend and ready to move on.”
“You aren’t listening.” He felt an anger fester deep within him. “I don’t want a relationship with you.” He pronounced each word as if it were its own entity.
“I understand,” she said putting her head down.
“You do?”
“Yes. You just need some coaxing. I’m good at that.”
“No! Damn it!”
Gracie jumped and looked at him, scared and unsure. “Did I do something to anger you?”
“You won’t listen to what I am telling you!”
“I just want to be close to you. Is that a crime? I can’t stop thinking about you, Edward.”
“There is no place for you in my… wait. What did you just call me?”
“What?”
“Did you just call me Edward?”
“Yes.”
“No one calls me that.”
“No? Sorry,” she said with a grin.
He shook his head, angry that his plan was backfiring on him. “Okay, fine. Do you want the truth?”
“It’s all I have ever wanted.”
“I don’t want you in my life. Do you understand? Not as a friend, not as someone I know and certainly not as my girlfriend or anything intimate. I have no feelings for you. I never did and I never will.”
Her facial expression disappeared and he thought she might cry, but he didn’t back down.
“I came here, to this university, for Eva. She is the sole reason I am here. Nothing is going to change that.”
He watched her carefully, his hand gripping his bag and his mind mentally ready to grab his gun if he needed to.
; Gracie kept her head down as if contemplating and absorbing the harsh reality Edward had dealt her. When she picked her head up and looked at him, she smiled and sat down in the closest seat to where she stood.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Gracie. I didn’t want to be so harsh but I felt I had to. It doesn’t seem like you are listening to me when I tell you I just want to be friends.”
Gracie nodded. “I know. I have a difficult time keeping reality and my own thoughts separate.”
“Okay. So, you are good?”
She nodded.
“Again, I’m sorry for the harshness. I have to get going. I’m glad we had this talk.” He quickly walked a wide circle around her and walked for the door when she stopped him just before he got to it.
“Eddie?”
He stopped and turned around. “Yes?”
“Why?
“Why what?”
She was walking toward him and didn’t finish her thought until she was by the door.
“Why are you just like every man in my life?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You used me, just like everyone else does! And it hurts. It hurts bad.”
He inched toward the door, keeping his hand on the door knob and his other hand tightly on his bag.
“I never used you, Gracie.”
“No? You think I like giving blow jobs to fat fucking security guards to help keep you out of jail?” Her tone grew harsh and her anger was apparent on her face.
He tried opening the door but she threw herself against it, slamming it closed.
“I kept you out of jail so we could be together. But you knew that, didn’t you? You used me to stay out of jail then threw me aside so you could be with that slut!”
She slapped his face so fast he never saw it coming but his anger had been festering and he stopped holding back. He grabbed her by her throat and slammed her into the door, pushing his body against hers to keep her pinned securely.
“This what you want?” he sneered. He didn’t squeeze her throat hard enough to choke her, but she acted as though he was trying to kill her.
She grabbed at his hand, coughing and whispering for help until he put his face an inch from hers.
“Leave. Me. Alone. You got that?” he growled. “I will hurt you.”