I didn’t make a sound to complain. Eloden’s eyes lit upon my bleeding neck like my carotid had been severed. The gangster had his knife pointed at the wrong threat.
Eloden moved faster than the eye could see. No exaggeration. One moment the knife was scratching me and the next, the gangster’s hand and his knife were half a foot above my head. Eloden crushed the gangster face first against the door beside me, crowding him from behind so there was no way to fight loose. With his other hand, Eloden reached around and wrapped his fingers around the wrist of the gangster’s hand still fisting my shirt to hold me. The gangster released me with a cry, and I didn’t even wait for Eloden’s command to duck under them and out of harm’s way.
I only thought the Chinese being spoken earlier was angry. Now, it was furious.
“Go inside, Eve,” Eloden said to me while he collared the gangster around his neck with one arm and dragged him off the door.
I wanted to leave him to deal with the gangster, but Ms. Chang would be faced with the aftermath. It wasn’t like they could move out with their financial problems.
“He wants money,” I told Eloden, quick and to the point.
I knocked on the door, a couple of raps that Ms. Chang would know were mine.
She answered right away.
How frightening had it been for her to stand there and listen to everything? The helplessness made me more upset than the attack. Ms. Chang already sacrificed so much for Ai Lung, she didn’t need this gangster making her afraid to open the door.
“Money?” Eloden repeated back to me. His deep, accented voice got Ms. Chang’s attention, and then she noticed the gangster he still had collared.
Ms. Chang said something to the gangster in Chinese. She ran into the apartment and came quickly back with a pen. She looked over at the gangster and the envelope he had crushed and stuffed into the right pocket of his pants.
I wouldn’t want to try to grab the envelope from him, either. I held my hand out for Ms. Chang to write on.
She wrote a one and then two zeros on my palm. I sighed in relief that it wasn’t any higher. If they gave me a day, I could borrow the money. How to communicate that would be more difficult.
“He wants one-hundred dollars,” I told Eloden, flashing my hand like a translation card.
Eloden let the gangster go.
I wanted to back up immediately but stood my ground. Eloden had suddenly dropped into my life again, yet this time I felt sure he didn’t mean me harm. His real motives were still impossible to determine, but the clearly protective nature of his actions set me at ease. Ms. Chang even seemed less anxious, speaking quietly to the gangster in soft Chinese.
More Chinese at a rapid pace came from the gangster and he held his hand out to me. The knife, he pocketed. I considered it progress.
I showed him my empty hands, palms up, again. The unpaid sum flashed back at him.
Eloden grabbed something from the leather belt with pockets around his hips and handed it to the gangster. As his hand moved away I saw five acorns in the gangster’s palm.
The gangster palmed the acorns and said something to Ms. Chang.
Ms. Chang bowed to the gangster. She bowed to Eloden. She turned and smiled relief at me.
The world tilted on its axis but nobody else noticed.
Chapter 5:
MS. CHANG WENT BACK into her apartment to grab my backpack while the gangster went to his own apartment, parting ways like good neighbours that had stopped in the hallway to chat about the weather and the local sports team. Everything looked normal and nobody could hear me screaming inside. I needed to get to Baby and have my meltdown with fewer witnesses.
Eloden stayed out in the hallway with me, coming a few steps closer. I started to hyperventilate, trying to keep my breathing quiet, if shallow. I could not faint in front of him. It would look like I was freaking out about the knife to my neck when really, it took a lot more life-altering event to send me tipsy-tossed off the deep end.
Seeing things, hearing stuff and knowing it wasn’t real? I would only be so lucky to be going crazy.
“Why acorns?” I whispered to Eloden. It felt like something I shouldn’t say too loudly.
Eloden looked at me strangely. Yep, I was certifiable.
“Acorns? He wanted one-hundred dollars,” Eloden said. “Are you okay?”
I looked down and tried harder to control my breathing. He had noticed. At least, he didn’t laugh at me. Hallucinations could be a sign of a neurodegenerative disorder, but usually, they were an advanced symptom. The world was continuing to tilt.
“Why is your hair red?” I asked. Now that I was no longer in danger of hyperventilating myself unconscious, I looked up and peered into his deep, green eyes. I was sure those were brown on Friday. With my memory, it was almost an absolute certainty.
“I sometimes wear a disguise,” Eloden said.
Cosplay from Friday. That made more sense. The tight squeezing in my chest eased. Ms. Chang came back out of her apartment with my backpack, interrupting Eloden from examining my scratch too closely. He looked like he was going to touch me. I shuffled closer to her.
He and I had done enough touching on Friday.
“You should cover up before Dain sees you,” Eloden advised as I accepted my stuff from Ms. Chang.
I bit my tongue about Dain’s wishes. Be nice, Eve, or at least, don’t bite.
I wanted to go back inside to check on Ai Lung, but I couldn’t leave Eloden alone after he rescued me, and Ms. Chang looked like she wanted to go back inside and rest. It had been an unexpected ordeal.
I had a knife to my neck! Of course, I’d be panicked. It was normal to freak out. There was nothing wrong with needing a minute and Eloden would understand, even if he mistook the exact reason for my fluster.
I plucked my phone from my pocket and waved it at Ms. Chang.
She nodded. She would text if she needed me.
Eloden followed as I turned and walked down the hall. He put an arm around my shoulders and I almost hit the ceiling jumping so high to escape.
“I n-need a m-minute,” I told him, chattering suddenly. It wasn’t fake. I think it was the shock, or the let down of adrenaline, or whatever medical hogwash described why you shook with fear after the traumatic event instead of during it.
I stopped at the stairwell, tucking into a corner and trying to squeeze myself smaller. I looked down at Eloden’s feet, noting his boots looked hand-stitched as well, very expensive. I hoped they fit him better than his shirt from Friday. I forced myself to heave a big, slow breath in and out as I stared at the imperfect stitching. It was like counting sheep.
“Is Dain here?” I asked when my breathing was calmer. I wanted dark and dangerous here for protection, but the sensible half of me was more afraid of him. He was as scary as the real bad guys. If Eloden hadn’t just saved my ass, I would have lumped Dain and his gang in with Ms. Chang’s neighbour for the scare they had given me.
“He’s not,” Eloden said, squatting down so he could see my face. He didn’t touch me this time. “But I’m sure he’ll be amused you asked for him. Did you dream about him?”
My face was probably blotchy. I didn’t even need to cry to have my upset spelled out with my pale, freckled skin. One sniffle and I looked like I had bawled through a three-hour tragic movie where everybody dies in the end in some glorious, wasteful sacrifice. I tried to look up and away from Eloden’s probing eyes, but he grabbed my chin and pulled it back down.
I shrugged off Eloden’s touch, again. A shock seemed to spark from his skin to mine. “It was a scratch. I’ll live,” I bit out.
Eloden stood up, way up, and reminded me of how much bigger he was than me. Standing in the gangster’s apartment stairwell, I didn’t think that was such a bad thing.
“Let me see your injury, head back,” he ordered me. I obeyed the command in his tone before I could think better of such meek compliance.
“No, I didn’t dream of Dain,” I lied, needling hi
m back for making me obey so easily.
His fingers brushed over the stinging little scratch and he said something in his language, harsh although quiet. My skin prickled like an itch but I knew it was in my head, my need to keep apart from others making the touch of a stranger uncomfortable. I was glad to not be the asshole that did this to me. Eloden sounded like he was going to go back to the gangster’s door, kick it down and give him more than a few acorns in payment.
I didn’t need anyone playing hero for me. Once, had been enough. I wiggled loose of Eloden’s grip on my chin, squeezing past his looming body so I could go down the stairs and make an exit.
Eloden beat me by taking the stairs two and three at a time and held the outside door for me. I didn’t thank him.
“I’m leaving now,” I told him. It sounded ungrateful. I wasn’t, but I needed to be alone. This was the easiest way I knew to get people to back off.
Don’t make connections when you never know which day will be your last.
Ms. Chang was safe in her apartment. Ai Lung had her medicine. The gangster had been paid off in acorns. Everyone was safe and happy in my dysfunctional world.
Was I hallucinating? Had it been the panic that fooled my senses or was something more sinister happening? I was too young, but I’m sure that is what Ai Lung had thought as well. Did she sometimes wonder why she had been born only to suffer?
“Where are you parked?” Eloden asked, unaware of my existential crisis as he followed me outside.
“I’m leaving alone,” I clarified. I had to get a damn grip on myself if I wanted to stop Eloden from following me.
“No, you’re not,” Eloden declared.
He wasn’t Dain. I doubt he was going to force his way into my car. Besides, parking next to the dumpster and the truck made it a tight squeeze to get in and Eloden wasn’t built small.
I ignored Eloden and kept walking. I pulled my keys out when I got close, letting my newly purchased rape alarm dangle from the keyring in plain view. The little, leather charm that one of them had put on my keyring Friday night was right next to it.
It didn’t mean anything other than I had found it cute. I never thought I was going to see these guys again, so I had left it.
“I’ll take those,” Eloden said.
He tried to take my keys. I moved faster, but then, I did something stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking because I dropped the keys down my shirt, out of reach. As soon as I did it, I cursed myself. This was not my brothers I was tormenting, hiding my keys where they would never dare go.
I had to ballsy this out.
“I would rather walk home than get in the car with a stranger,” I said, turning around to face Eloden.
He was looking at my chest.
“It’s a long walk,” he commented.
“How do you know?” I asked.
He looked up at my face. It was a smidgen more comfortable now, although those green eyes of his were far more piercing than the soulful, brown eyes from Friday night. I looked back down, feeling the panic itching under my skin again.
“I know where you live,” he answered, simply. He tried to snag my chin again, but I twisted away with a little growl. Geez, he was persistent.
“That is called stalking,” I informed him, although I wasn’t as shocked as I should have been. Eloden running into me at the Chang’s couldn’t be a coincidence.
I crossed my arms over my chest sending out my ‘touch me and I will bite’ signal because he wasn’t getting the subtler messages. The bulge of the keyring was visible where it was caught on the front clasp of my bra. I tried to peer down my own shirt to determine how much privacy I was going to need to get my keys back.
“It’s stalking only if you’re caught,” Eloden retorted, and then he was right in front of me.
I didn’t even have time to scream.
He grabbed me by my shoulders and I couldn’t stop him because I had my hands crossed over my chest. He pulled me forward, trapping my arms tightly against my sides with his bear hug, but did nothing else, just surrounding me with comforting warmth.
The difference in height brought my face level with his chest, where I buried my face and pondered my options. He smelled smoky, but not like the stale cigarettes from the hallway.
“Dain is waiting for you at your apartment. Do you want to face him alone with the wound on your neck?” Eloden whispered, words and hot breath tickling the top of my head.
No way. I felt trapped and by more than the arms around me. I reminded myself again that Eloden wasn’t here by coincidence. They really were after something from me. I had no clue what anyone would want but Eloden had done something difficult to repay by saving me and I never liked to incur debts.
I mumbled against Eloden’s chest.
“Is that a yes or a no, Sweetheart?” Eloden asked.
He picked me up. He did that a lot. His arms had to be bulging with strength as he held me up to his face, so I would have no choice but to meet his eyes.
“It’s Eve,” I reminded him. “You can come in the car,” I said, done fighting the inevitable. I let my body go loose.
He carried me to Baby’s trunk and sat me on top.
“You will sit in the back and answer my questions while I’m driving,” I insisted, not willing to accept defeat without some concessions.
Eloden smiled. It was truly beautiful. I caught sight of two adorable dimples as he widened his grin. Pretty Orin might have some serious competition.
“Move,” I told Eloden, frowning at him so he didn’t get the idea I liked him. I jumped down as he stepped back.
Fishing the keys out of my bra required a two-handed approach once I realize they were snagged. I unlocked the back door first and even held it open for him. See, I’m not a completely without manners.
I shut the door after he squeezed in, the fit as tight as I had anticipated. If he was expecting a round of thanks and welcomes, then he was going to be disappointed. I have some manners, not patience.
He was hunched over in the back as I slid into the driver’s seat. The sun shining through the window made his hair so red it was like the last rays of light spilling over the horizon that only lasted a few precious moments of incredible glory. The curtain framed most of his face, enclosing his expression from view. There was enough fiery hair that he could pull it back in a tiny ponytail with a little tuft at the end, but not much else. When he was standing earlier, it hit just above his jawline and leaning forward brought it over his face in a short veil. Like Dain, I wanted to shove back the hair blocking his eyes from sight.
The impulse was overridden by our positions in the car. I buckled up, giving him a sideways glance.
I didn’t think he had buckled up.
Oh well, he was a big boy. I wasn’t going to nag.
I backed up carefully, as my usual habit with my Baby still under payments.
We were driving and now was my time to ask him questions. I had plenty, starting with how he found me and what was Dain doing outside my apartment? It was clear they had planned on running me down today, not that I wasn’t grateful. Their stalking had saved me, but I still wanted to know what the hell was going on. My first question ought to be ‘who the fuck are you,’ and I would leave off tacking on ‘asshole’ as gratitude for the rescue.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
That was the wrong question. He just looked too quiet, sitting stiffly on the seat, hunched over. He groaned as I drove over a speed bump.
“It’s the car,” he explained.
I checked him out in the rear-view mirror. Was he going to be sick in my back seat?
“Do you want to sit up front?” I asked, caving in view of his car sickness. Matthew could get a little car sick and preferred to open the window and ride up front. I might be able to keep a closer eye on him beside me, anyway.
“No,” Eloden declined. “I’ll endure it, but please, drive to your domicile expediently.”
Baby wasn’t speeding anywhere, b
ut I could take the highway and avoid the lights.
“How did you find me today?” I asked, taking him at his word. He had promised answers. “Nobody knows that I come here.”
“Your new charm,” Eloden answered.
That also explained how they knew about my apartment. A little old-fashioned compared to a track my phone app, but given my keys went with me everywhere, still an effective way to track me. I wanted to rip it off the keyring and dissect the clever little device. I hadn’t noticed anything firm like a tracking chip when I worried it with my fingers earlier.
I merged onto the highway and the ride smoothed out. Eloden still didn’t look up.
“Why is Dain at my apartment?”
“That’s the second time you asked about him. Made an impression, didn’t he?” Eloden said. “If we had known you would like him so much, Dain could have been the one sent to meet you at the rink.”
He sounded a touch petulant. Really? How could he be jealous when I had been upset equally at all of them for accosting me outside the rink?
“Dain didn’t take on a knife-wielding gangster for me,” I said. My hands shook on the steering wheel thinking about what could have happened to me if Eloden hadn’t been there.
“Any of us would have done the same,” he dismissed. “I was sent to guard you. It should never have happened.”
“Why is that?”
“If I hadn’t been distracted...”
“No, I meant, why were you guarding me? Who are you?” I said, finally getting to the more important question. I pulled over towards the off-ramp, slowing down. “I don’t need that kind of protection, normally.”
“You are reckless,” he declared.
He barely knew me. I did not deserve that judgemental tone.
“I was delivering some antibiotics to a sick friend, which is hardly a dangerous endeavour,” I insisted.
Like I hadn’t known about the gangster previously or the protection money.
No Faerie Tale Love (Faerie Series Book 1) Page 6