by Tia Siren
As fast as she slapped him the first time, she stopped coughing and choking and reached up, digging her nails into the side of his face and ripped her hand down his cheek. He let go of her and grabbed his face.
Gracie pushed away from the door and flung it open. “You are going to wish you never met me,” she sneered. “I have some serious pull around here and I will be sure you pay for what you have done.”
“I’m not scared of your empty threats. I don’t need this job and I don’t plan on ever coming back. I have more than enough to take care of myself.”
“I know,” she said, cocking her head.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer. “Don’t fucking threaten me. I have the power to have you killed before you even have your threats completed in your fucking head,” he said, squeezing her wrist. “Don’t. Fuck. With. Me.”
He held her there a few moments longer before pushing her back and walking out. When he looked back at her, the vindictive look on her face kept the worry in his mind from leaving. He knew he probably just signed his death papers but he had planned on getting Eva out of there and never looking back, before anything more happened.
Chapter 34
Edward pulled his jeans off and left them in a heap on the floor next to his bed. Another similar pair lay next to them from the day before. Sliding his pajama pants on, he half expected a call or even a visit from Gracie, but pleasingly the night was quiet. He plopped down on the couch with his laptop and his phone and pulled Eva’s number up.
After a few rings, it went to her voice mail where her sweet voice told him to leave her a message.
“Eva, hey baby. It’s Eddie. I just wanted to tell you good night and see how your day went. I have some news about today but I want to talk in person. It’s still fairly early and even though we didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” he said coyly, “I thought that if you got a cat nap in today maybe we could have a late-night cup of coffee and talk. Okay, miss you. Sweet dreams if I don’t hear from you.”
He messed around on his laptop, going through a few emails, looking at some reports Joseph sent him and trying to catch up on some news. Before too long he realized he was fighting to keep his eye lids from closing so he lay back and closed his eyes for a few minutes feeling the swirling effects of sleep take over his body.
Just for a few minutes….
Edward woke up, his body aching from the position he fell asleep in and he cursed himself, blaming it on the fact that he had fallen off his exercise routine. He sat up on the couch and picked up his laptop that was on the verge of falling to the floor and closed it. It took him a few minutes to find his phone that had worked its way into the cushions of the couch but when he got his hand on it he quickly checked it for any missed calls. There was nothing. He sighed and pulled up Eva’s number. Again, it rang a few times before her voice replicated its same message from last night.
“Eva, hi. It’s Eddie again. I missed your call last night, or lack… thereof. I hope everything is okay. Listen, I really need to talk to you. I won’t be transferring to another school. I mean, I don’t need to. I really don’t want to tell you over a voice mail. Just call me when you get in, please. I need to talk to you. I’m pretty much free all day. Maybe we can do lunch.” He hesitated before hanging up, not wanting to disconnect from her. He had a bad feeling something was wrong and it ate at him the entire morning. He left his flat and decided to surprise her with Chinese food. She usually went back to her place between classes so he was confident he would find her there.
He pulled up to her house and waited at her front door after knocking. Peering through the front door glass he knocked again.
“Eva? It’s Eddie.” He knocked again. A figure walked within sight and he knocked a little louder. “Come on, I can see you in there. Let me in. I have egg rolls and aubergines and everybody knows they suck when they are cold.”
The figure disappeared and he knocked louder yet.
“Damn it! Let me in! Whatever you are pissed about I think I have a right to know. I have a right to defend myself, don’t I?”
He took a step back and exhaled everything he had, looking in one last time before turning away from the door. Just before he stepped down off the steps he heard a click from behind the door. He turned around in time to see the door open with Eva standing in the doorway. Her face had no expression and her arms dangled to her side.
“Eva? What’s wrong? Why haven’t you been answering my calls?” He walked back up to her and looked into her red puffy eyes. “You’ve been crying.” He set the food down and took her arms in his hands. “What happened?”
She remained expressionless and motionless.
“Please, talk to me. Did Gracie say or do something? Did she hurt you?” His voice hardened.
Eva took a few steps back into the house and turned to walk away from him. He grabbed the food and stepped inside. As soon as he did, he noticed a slew of pictures and papers strewn across the small oval carpet in the middle of her living room floor. She plopped down on the couch and picked up one of the pictures next to her by the corner. She held it between her two fingers letting it bend down around her hand, dropping it on the floor and looking up at him.
He felt a jolt run through him when he realized something was very wrong. “What the hell is going on? What is this?” He walked in and picked up the first picture he came to. The image stopped him in his tracks and his heart started beating harder. “How did you get these?” He quickly looked up at her and knew it was too late to explain anything. She knew everything. He looked back down at the picture of him in one of his expensive three piece suits, his arm around a woman with a dress that looked like it was painted on to a perfect body. He walked into the room a little further and knelt down into the mess around him. He reached down and picked up another black and white eight by ten photograph. It was a picture of him and Joseph holding a plaque congratulating them on the success of their multi-million-dollar business. And another of him in a different suit, his arm around a different woman, his lips locked with hers.
“Eva,” he said numbly. He didn’t even know what to say to her. I can explain. Every man who has fucked up in the history of men has started their plea bargain with that very sentence. It seemed too cliché for him to try it too. “This is exactly what I have been trying to tell you.”
“Trying to tell me? I don’t recall one time when you tried to tell me anything.”
“I wanted to, Eva. So many times.”
“Then, why didn’t you?” she asked dryly.
“Honestly?”
“Why start that now?”
“Give me a chance to explain, please.”
“You had every chance since you met me.”
“I didn’t know how to. I was afraid you would act… well, this way.”
“It would have been a hell of a lot better coming from you. Did you expect anything less? Eddie, or is that even your real name?”
He put his head down. “It is. They actually call me Edward.”
“Edward, yes. Of course. Are you really worth that much money?” she asked dryly.
“Yeah.” He didn’t have to ask how much she thought he was worth. It didn’t matter at this point. His money was the root of the evil that surrounded him.
“You lied to me.” Her monotone voice cut through him. “I thought you were different.”
“I am different.”
“You’re a fucking player!” she screamed, holding a picture up at him. “And you sure as hell played me.” Her voice got quiet again.
He felt frustrated looking into her face. It looked so bad for him.
“You played this game and let it go this long, stringing me along in your little charade. Was it fun?”
“Eva, it wasn’t like that.” He sat on the couch next to her.
“Then, how was it?” she asked bitterly, getting up and walking to the other end of the room. “Huh?”
“The man I am with you is the man I have always w
anted to be. This,” he grabbed a handful of the pictures and squeezed them in his hand before throwing them back down. “This is not me. This is some kind of stereotype that was created because of my money and the lifestyle I lived. You wouldn’t have given me the time of day if I were rich and successful in that coffee shop in Paris that day.”
“I fell in love with you. Not your Armani suit and your fucking bank account.”
“Bullshit. I don’t believe that for a second. You wouldn’t have opened your mind and your heart if you saw a suit in front of you. You wouldn’t even have given it a chance. You know it as well as I do.”
“Are you turning this around to make it my fault?”
“No, but you are just as stereotypical and closed minded.” He stopped himself and took a breath before he said something to make the situation worse. “No,” he said quietly, shaking his head. “I just want to have the chance to explain why I did this. It was never a game to me. It was about my happiness. I wasn’t happy in that suit, as Edward. I was living in a reputation that I couldn’t break. It’s the reason I went to Paris in the first place.”
“Stop it. Just stop it!” She waved her hands in the air and turned away from him. “You know what? It doesn’t matter now. The fact is that you lied to me. You’ve been lying to me since the day we met.”
“You make it sound like that is all I did.” He stood up from the couch and walked into the middle of the photographs. “I met you as Eddie, yes. But the man you fell in love with is me. It always has been me. My suits and bank account is just my job. It’s what I do for a living. You can’t hold that against me.”
“I trusted you,” she said calmly. “I let myself become vulnerable to you. You told me I could,” she sobbed.
Edward stepped closer to her until she put her hand out to stop him.
“Don’t,” she said, holding her breath. “I told myself I wasn’t going to do this.”
“Eva, please. Let’s sit and talk. Let me explain.”
“There is no need,” she said, looking around on the floor. “I know why you did it and I understand. I do.” She shook her head. “But… I don’t care why you did it. You have lied to me time and time again. You had more than enough opportunity to tell me.”
“I tried, but there was never a right time.”
“And there never will be.” The look she gave him shot down any hope he had of rectifying the situation. “I don’t know you like I thought I did.” She turned away from him. “I need time to think.”
“What does my financial status have to do with who I am? You know me, Eva.”
She left the room as if she hadn’t heard his last plea of forgiveness.
He looked around the room one more time before walking out the door. His thoughts were scattered and his body felt numb as he descended her stairs to the sidewalk.
“Eddie?”
He heard her sweet voice from behind him. He took a deep breath and spun around. Eva stood in the doorway, leaning against the door.
“Not that it matters now, but I thought you should know that I have made a decision.”
“What decision?” He took a step forward wanting to run to her.
“I’m going to Morocco… with Gerald.”
Edward’s heart dropped out of his chest.
“I’m sorry,” she said, then quietly stepped back inside and closed the door.
Chapter 35
Edward flung the door open and walked into his flat. He had no recollection on how he got back there, nor did he care. His car parked awkwardly outside his flat told him he somehow managed to get there on his own. The vodka and whiskey shots he drank at the bar were supposed to erase the last few hours but all they did was give him a bad drunk and a headache. He had tried calling Eva several times to talk her out of going to Morocco but she ignored his attempts. He flopped down on the couch and let the room swirl around him.
A knock on the front door echoed in his mind. Was it real or part of a dream he was in?
“Eva,” he whispered. His body wouldn’t work the way he wanted it to so he lay his head back and closed his eyes. A second knock sounded.
“Who is it?” he called out.
He heard his door open but he was too drunk to scold himself for forgetting to lock it. He attempted to open his eyes and focus on who walked in, but the room was too dark and his head was too foggy.
“If you are a burglar, please, take everything. Put me out of my misery while you are at it.” He smiled when he saw Eva’s silhouette walking toward him.
“You forgive me?” he mumbled.
“Shhhhhhh.”
She pushed him back and sat next to him, her hand stroking his knee.
“Everything is such a mess,” he slurred, shaking his head.
“I’ll make it all better,” she whispered.
He lay his head back and closed his eyes, feeling her soft hands cascade across his chest.
“I miss this,” he said. “I didn’t think I would ever feel you again after what happened.” He loved the feel of her hands underneath his shirt, and her unexpected aggression set him on fire.
She pulled his shirt up over his head and discarded it onto the floor. As she concentrated on his pants, he tried focusing on her gorgeous locks of dark hair but gave up the attempt and closed his eyes again.
“I’m sorry, I’m a little intoxicated. I didn’t expect to….”
She slid up his body and covered his mouth with hers, shoving her tongue inside and shutting him up quickly. He moaned at the force she used and even though his thoughts were fuzzy, he couldn’t help but wonder where it all came from. He liked it, but it was a side of her he had never experienced before.
She worked at pulling his jeans down over his ass as she hungrily devoured his lips and pushed her pelvis into him.
“I want you,” she whispered. “I have never wanted anyone so badly.”
She yanked his pants down off his legs and quickly pulled her dress up over her head. She straddled him and pushed into him, grinding on him until he was about to take over.
“Eva,” he whispered. “Stop teasing me.”
She stopped as if his words froze her body.
“I don’t know where this is coming from but you are driving me crazy,” he said, grabbing her arms. He tried to pull her closer to him but she pushed back and started grinding on him again.
She pulled her panties to the side and lined herself up until she felt him easily slide inside of her. She pushed down on him forcefully and held him deep inside. Her head went back and with each push back down on him, she grunted.
His hands cascaded across her body wanting to feel more, but being denied access. “Come here,” he whispered trying to pull her to him.
She pushed away from him again and rode him like an animal until their bodies began to sweat. She shook her head from side to side growing more and more aroused until her orgasm seized her. She dug her nails into his chest and yelled until all the air in her lungs had been expelled. Collapsing on his chest, he felt her rapid breathing and tried pushing into her. She didn’t seem to want to participate any longer.
“Baby,” he whispered. “Fuck me.”
But she continued to breathe hard and fast while lying on his chest until she sat up and looked at him.
He tried to focus on her, but was still unable to do so.
“Eva?” he pleaded when she got up and picked up her dress. He watched her pull it back onto her body and walk toward the door. “Is this some sort of payback for what happened?”
She didn’t say a word when she opened his front door and walked out leaving it open.
“Eva!” He sat up, confused as ever. “This has got to be the most fucked up night I have ever experienced.” He looked down at his hard-on and then looked back up at the door.
The sunlight the next morning was not something Edward wanted in his face, but it did its job and got him up out of his bed. He looked around trying to recall what had happened. He didn’t remember goin
g to bed. He did, however, remember Eva’s quick romp on the couch before she left so rudely. He shook his head.
It isn’t like her to want to get revenge like that. What is going on with you, Eva?
He got up and threw on some boxers from his dresser drawer. Looking for his phone, he walked into the living room and looked at the front door. It was closed and with a quick check of the door knob, he found it was locked.
“Well, at least I did that last night… I think.” He rubbed his head and tried to remember what happened. He spotted his phone on the coffee table and grabbed it on his way to the kitchen for some much-needed coffee.
A missed call and a voice mail displayed so he clicked it on and saw it was Eva. When he listened to her voice mail his heart sank. She was crying.
“Eddie, um. I sat down and thought really hard about everything that has happened. I understand why you did what you did and I know that you love me. I found myself falling for you too.” She cried harder and he heard her cover the phone until she was able to continue. “Eddie, I can’t do this. I wanted to talk to you before I went to Morocco, but I don’t think I can. I’m sorry I had to do this over your voice mail but I wanted to let you know that I don’t want to see you anymore. I’m sorry.” She hesitated before disconnecting the call, leaving Edward holding the phone, a numb feeling creeping up into his body. He tried to call her back but she didn’t answer.
“Eva, please. Let’s just meet somewhere and talk. Did you leave this message before or after you came to see me? Please, call me back.”
He hung up his phone and threw it on the counter. He needed to see her. He needed some answers and most importantly he needed to show her she was making a big mistake. He needed to convince her to give him another chance. He ran into the bathroom and quickly showered, dressed and booked out toward her place.
When he got there, he knocked several times but didn’t see or hear anyone from inside. He sat on the steps and contemplated what to do next. His stomach was sick and his head was spinning. He didn’t know if it was from the alcohol or from the idea that he may never see Eva again.