Chapter Eight

What was she not telling him? Then the words from the little blonde in the hospital began circling around his head. Evening is part of a dying lineage, and one that must be cherished.

Dying lineage. Eve’s family was that lineage? How far did her family go back? He wanted these new questions answered, but decided to address her last comment first.

“How is it a curse?”

“Really?” she asked surprised. “You can’t see how my merging souls, is a curse? Look what’s happening with you. You barge into my home, threaten me, and threaten my daughter. Yes this is a curse.”

Alex levelled his stare. “But you already said I’m not like most medians, so I’m predicting this is a one-time thing. Regardless of my presence, it’s obvious that you are a good therapist, you heal people. Isn’t merging a soul back with its body like a type of therapy?”

She turned away shrugging. The gesture was meant to be casual, except it was anything but. Her hands clenching into fists gave a different meaning.

“It’s hard for you to say no to me isn’t it?” he guessed out loud. “It goes against your natural instinct.”

“Is there anything else you want to ask me?” Her change of topic wouldn’t deter him. In fact it made him all the more curious.

“Answer me Eve.” He demanded quietly, though he was sure he already knew the answer.

Remaining silent Eve rolled onto her side facing away from him.

He stood and walked around to the other side of the bed and squatted down, his forearms resting on his bent knees. She opened her eyes and focused on him. There was a hint of sadness in those hazel beauties.

An unusual urge to reach out and comfort her made the muscles in his arms flex. “Make it easier on yourself,” he encouraged gently. “Merge me back and all of this will be over.”

Her eyes began to shimmer as she shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered. “It’s better this way, trust me.”

He wanted to know why it was better he remained a median. And why should he trust her? He had put his trust in Miles and what had it got him? Three holes in the chest and a coma. Trusting wasn’t his strong suit right now. He looked into her eyes full of unshed tears and sighed loudly, “Go to sleep, Eve.”

* * * *

Standing next to the bed, Miles listened to the rhythmic pace of the heart monitor. Medical proof that Ace was still alive. He should have known Ace wouldn’t be easy to kill. He was a tough bastard and too fucking stubborn to die.

Miles was still surprised that Ace had gone against him. They had always thought alike and covered each other’s backs. He still wasn’t sure what had come over Ace, siding with Jillian had put both of them in a difficult position. As Ace had pointed out, bringing her to the shop and having her relocated would have been the right thing to do, but there were other factors involved, besides her witnessing Rhodes’ premature death. She would be able to identify him. She could lead the cops to him and his family. He would never allow that to happen. Nicole and the girls meant everything to him and he would protect them at all cost. And as distasteful as it was, if he had to kill Jillian and his best friend to keep his family safe, then so be it.

But it wouldn’t happen tonight. This floor was under surveillance with a mandatory sign-in at the only entrance. They knew he was in here and it would draw unwanted attention, not only from the hospital security, which he knew were military, but unwanted attention from his unit. He had led the bosses to believe a perpetrator had caught Ace off guard and shot him. He had to play the role of concerned partner, which wasn’t really a lie. He was concerned…he was concerned that Ace would wake up.

Miles inhaled, the air in the room was suddenly cool. Actually, the entire room was cold. Exhaling, he saw his breath. “What the hell?” He looked around. Why hadn’t he noticed it before? Had one of the nurses left a window open? He crossed over to the row of windows and pulled back the blinds. The windows, solid pieces of glass, were sealed from top to bottom. Frowning, he walked back to stand next to the bed and wondered if he should mention to the nurses how cold it was in here. He reached out and touched Alex’s arm. It was cool too.

Miles murmured, “Maybe I should let you freeze to death, and then I wouldn’t have to kill you.”

Miles turned and went to the door, the cold air filtered through the door with him and followed him down the hall.

* * * *

The next couple of days were much calmer, now that there was a quiet understanding between Alex and Eve. Although he didn’t leave her when she was working, he did keep his comments to himself while her patients were around and Eve spoke to him whenever they were alone. He had also realised, during the past couple of days, why he had reacted so harshly when she’d ignored him. He needed her company. She was his only link to the world and when she shut him out, he had nothing and, when she ignored him, he felt very much alone.

The day grew dark and, after the usual night routine of watching some TV and having a snack, Eve put Noelle into bed. Alex stood behind Eve this time. He wanted to see what Noelle’s reaction would be to him standing in her room after the episode a few nights past. He was pleasantly surprised when the kid looked up at him without any fear. He winked at her then and left Eve to say good night.

Eve wasn’t long coming into her room. He leaned against the far wall and watched as she gathered her clothes and went into her adjacent bathroom. She looked at him with her hazel eyes and he could have sworn he saw a flash of green before she closed the door. Wishful thinking…maybe.

Alex stared at the door a long time, imagining Eve removing her clothes. First her snug fitting T-shirt that she layered on top of another T-shirt with long sleeves. Both hugged her waist and breasts. Next, her grey pants that clung to her thighs but didn’t hide the nice flare to her hips. Her bra would be next, then panties. He imagined they would be a matching set, something that went with her shoulder length hair, like an earthy-green tone, in silk. He could see her, in his head, taking off the ensemble. Her eyes heavy and focused solely on him. Her hands running over her tight pink nipples, down the sides of her waist to her hips, as she hooked her thumbs inside the silk panties and slowly pulled them down her legs.

Before he could stop himself, the door opened and he was standing in her bathroom. The steam rose from the shower but he could see Eve’s figure clearly. Her auburn hair was wet and hung down her back as soapy bubbles slowly made their way over the pink nipples of her full breasts. She raised her arms and scrubbed at her head which made her breasts swing, then arching her back, she rinsed the shampoo from her hair.

He moved slowly towards her. Images of Eve’s naked body stretched out before him. Of his hands kneading her breasts, pinching her nipples. Of him sliding his hand between her thighs, sliding a finger deep, searching for her wet need of him. Then he was in her, the slick heat gripping him like a fist. He could see himself driving into her over and over, but not on the floor, it was in a bed and he wouldn’t tease or torment her, he wouldn’t have the patience. He would fuck her fast and hard, but she would enjoy it, he would make sure of that.

He watched mesmerised as she scrubbed her body a light, flowery scent filling the room. Lifting her arms she ran the soapy body-puff down their length in turn and back up, then bent to do the same with her legs. He took another step closer when he caught sight of her smooth behind. It was pink from the warm water and nicely rounded. Another step. Shit! She wasn’t saying a damn thing to him and yet he was still drawn to her. What the fuck? He never allowed himself to crave for anything, least of all women he had no business craving in the first place.

As she began to cleanse her breasts she stopped in mid-motion and looked in his direction. She knew he was here, she had said she could feel him.

“Alex?” she called nervously covering her chest.

He knew she could see him, what was the point of hiding. “Yes.”

“Why are you in here?”

He smiled when he heard the shyness of her words. “There’s a sexy, naked woman in here. Where else would I be?” he said lightly, even though his throbbing body wasn’t taking anything he said lightly.

“Alex,” she breathed.

“Relax,” he soothed. “I’m leaving.” He turned for the door but stopped, looking back over his shoulder and mumbled, “Damn sexy.” Then left the room.

* * * *

To keep his mind off Eve, her lush body and his now hard cock, he walked around the house, checking the perimeter. It was an old habit and he had done it every night since he arrived, and continued to do it despite the fact that Eve had a top of the line security system, which she set faithfully every night.

When he reached the second floor, he checked the spare rooms, then quietly entered Noelle’s room. He expected to find her asleep but was amused to see the bright beam of a flashlight under her covers and the rustle of pages.

“Good book?” he whispered so as not to startle her.

The light turned off and Noelle popped out from under her flowered sheets. Her eyes widened when she saw him.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he whispered again.

She blinked up at him and opened her mouth but nothing came out.

Alex thought that she had got over the other night, maybe he was wrong. “Do I scare you?”

She shrugged. “A little at first, when you were in the kitchen and when you came into my room a couple nights ago, but not so much now.”

“Good.” He gave her a sideways glance. “Am I the first median you have seen?”

She pressed her lips together. He studied her, tilting his head. He guessed, “Are you worried I’ll tell Eve?”

She nodded silently.

“Well you don’t have to worry about that. I’m good at keeping secrets.”

“You’re the first one I’ve seen.” She looked thoughtfully at him. “At least I think you are. Gran said it will be hard to tell at first.”

“Your Gran, she knows you can see medians?”

“Yah.” She nodded eagerly. “But mum doesn’t want me to. Gran says it scares her.”

“It scares her that you might be able to see medians?”

She nodded her answer again, then added, “But also because Gran says that medians have hurt mum before, because she said no to them. I think she’s scared of them.”

Alex kept his reaction to himself. That was a huge piece to the puzzle and he was one step closer to understanding why Eve was fighting him. He would, of course, keep at her until she merged him. He just had a better understanding now as to her behaviour towards him.

The topic was a bit heavy for a kid so he changed it. “So, what are you reading?” She turned the book so he could see the front cover. “Not Another Flying Turtle.” He couldn’t help but smile at the title.

“It’s about a little girl who has magical powers and how she gets into trouble every time she uses them. It’s really funny.”

“Sounds like a page turner.” He stood smiling and turned to leave.

“Are you going to tell mum I was reading?”

“No. Are you going to tell Eve that I was in here asking you questions?”

She shook her head. “No. Then I would get into trouble too.”

“All right then. We keep this to ourselves, deal?”

“Deal.” She gave him a wide smile, showing him that she was missing a bottom tooth.

He smiled back. Damn this kid was cute. “Pull up your other blanket. It will help hide the light while you read,” he said, before leaving the room.