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Two days had passed since Eve’s multi-orgasmic night in Liam’s arms. Just the thought of it sent shivers down her spine, and she was starting to feel that her body demanded more sessions like that one.
That morning they were scheduled to attend a vocational center in Brooklyn in order to do a special activity with the kids assigned by the school administration. They would be in charge of the special project. Eve had never had the chance to participate in an event of that sort, and when she found out what the project was about, she found it charming.
“What are we going to do in this place?” Liam asked without taking his eyes off his sketchbook. He kept working on the drawing that Cameron would tattoo on a blank spot he had on his back.
“We’ll be in charge of a special project with 10-year-old children. Of course, I will take care of the girls, and you’ll take care of the boys.”
“What’s the project?”
“It will be a freestyle composition in which we have to use Legos to make a 3D representation.”
Liam took his eyes off the paper and looked at her with excitement.
“Really?”
Eve smiled and winked at him.
“You know that wink is very tempting, don’t you?” Liam whispered so that the driver could not hear.
Eve wanted to kiss him madly right then, but it was impossible. They had promised that the furtive encounters would be at their own apartments and with a lot of caution to avoid alerting the press. The same rule applied when they were on the street. Nothing that would arouse suspicion and could involve them in a scandal they wouldn’t overcome easily and would lead Eve to receive a lecture from her mother. Although Eve suspected that her mother already knew because Eve couldn’t hide the silly smile she had on her lips twenty-four hours a day.
“Do you want to come over tonight?” Eve asked. “We could have dinner and then watch a movie.”
Liam smiled.
“How about going to my place? We’ll have dinner and,” he looked directly into her eyes, “if you want, you can watch a movie while I take care of you.”
Eve felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment.
Oh God! If he kept talking like that, Eve could affirm that she would end up completely in love with Liam. And she doubted whether it was convenient.
“I’ll take your word for it.” She winked at him again, and this time Liam couldn’t resist the temptation and approached her, he placed his hand behind her neck and drew her towards him, brushing her lips playfully with his.
He slid the tip of his tongue out and caressed Eve’s lips very softly. “You drive me crazy.”
Eve gulped. She also was crazy for him; in fact, she wasn’t sure about her ability to walk when the car stopped because she felt a pleasant trembling in her legs.
Eve looked outside through the tinted windows of the car. “We have company.”
She pointed to the group of paparazzi that were standing on the corner, in front of the building.
Liam nodded and exited through one of the car doors, letting her use the other.
They walked in silence toward the entrance of the building. Liam opened the door and let it go just after he had entered, which almost caused Eve to hit her face against it, exactly as he had done during another time during a visit.
“You could have held the door for me, couldn’t you?”
Liam smiled, looking at her in the eyes. It was then that Eve realized what she had just said.
She was worse than she had thought.
Much worse.
She was head over heels in love with the man, so much that she didn’t even recognize herself.
***
The children were not as funny as the ones in the school in Chelsea. Liam smiled at the thought of Katie and her funny way of explaining to him that her mother would die for him.
Liam understood that there was a huge age difference among them and that their behavior was not the same; innocence, spontaneity, and fun were lost at some point in the process of growth, something that Liam disliked.
He was convinced that if people kept those traits intact, everyone would be very happy.
But reality had to be accepted.
And there he was. Thinking, or trying to think, about what to do for the project with the children. It was teamwork, but apparently, those kids would do anything they were told as long as it meant the minimum possible involvement in the issue.
Liam shook his head. Sometimes, during his adolescence, he would have enjoyed having that kind of opportunities. The only group that life had put in his way was X69, and he liked to work in a team.
Liam looked at Eve, who had been staring at him for a while.
What was she thinking? She had spent the whole morning staring into space, looking at a point in space that Liam couldn’t recognize.
He snorted.
You’re becoming deeply interested in Miss-goody-Two-Shoes, he thought.
And his gaze met Eve’s again.
Liam felt like electricity was running through his body.
What did that mean? He didn’t know, but it wasn’t something unpleasant to feel either. Especially when she blushed in that charming way.
Liam smiled at her.
Eve winked and looked back to the paper on which she was writing down ideas about the project she would do with the girls in the class, who showed the same indifference than the boys in his group.
“Can anybody give me an idea?” Liam asked, facing them.
Liam would bet that the long-haired boy was sleeping with his eyes open. He wasn’t even blinking.
It wasn’t very encouraging, actually.
Nobody said anything.
The tutor made a sign to Liam and Eve.
Both of them approached her.
“You’ll see, I’m sorry about the children’s lack of enthusiasm. They are like this with almost everything,” she sighed, seemingly exhausted. “I’ve thought that, maybe, you could do something thematic as regards to the problems they face daily at home. Most of them are problematic kids, some are staying in foster homes, others don’t want to return to their house due to the constant fighting between their parents...”
“Are any of them mistreated?” Eve jumped in immediately.
The woman didn’t know what to answer.
“The children have never shown signs of physical abuse. At least, not that I’m aware of. But I suspect that underneath their clothes, some of them may have traces of abuse. I can infer this from their behavior. They themselves keep quiet and are extremely careful of what they show for fear of being separated from their parents.”
“But they mistreat them!” Eve was furious. “How is it possible that they want to stay there?”
Liam felt sorry for the bad time Eve was having. It was not that he didn’t care, he did. But he was not that much affected because he understood each of those kids.
He really understood them.
“It is a pattern, Eve.” Liam took her by the hand trying to soothe her. “And they are accustomed to that pattern. They live terrified because they feel guilty. Their parents make them believe that they are guilty of all their family disgrace, and besides, they don’t dare to change their lives because fear doesn’t let them.”
Eve had a murderous look. “This is too much for me, I’m sorry.”
“I understand,” the tutor was discouraged, “if you don’t want to continue...”
“No, no.” Liam was going to continue until the end. He couldn’t abandon children that were suffering the same as he had suffered as a kid. And he wanted to show them that not knowing the meaning of home and family from an early age didn’t mean that they wouldn’t be able to find it during their lives and realize that they were capable of finding or starting a good family and a peaceful home.
And to those who were now living at a foster home, like the one he had lived in with Helen, Liam wanted to teach them that they could get to feel part of a family and that it was okay to feel loved.
Liam felt a knot in his throat.
Damn it.
Suddenly, he let go of Eve’s hand.
Something was crossing his mind.
“I want to continue,” he said to the tutor, who smiled at him, relieved.
“You can count on me too.” Eve supported Liam’s action, causing the tutor to smile wider.
“Thanks. I’m sure that the children will appreciate it.”
***
Eve spent the rest of the day suffering from an upset stomach.
“Eve! What’s wrong with you today?”
Eve panted.
“Oh, mother! This community service thing can sometimes be a torment. Today we went to a center in Brooklyn because we are going to help with a Lego construction project. We thought it was going to be great fun, but,” she fizzled out on her seat, “things are not always what they seem.”
Eve told her mother everything that the tutor had said.
Agnes looked worried. “Poor children.”
“It makes me sad to know that those little children are physically abused, and I find it hard to understand that they don’t want to leave that life behind.”
“Maybe they don’t know how to fight their fears. Consider that those children don’t know any other life and although the unknown and the uncertainty of ‘where I’m going to live?’ terrifies them, the fear of not seeing their parents anymore makes them stay where they are and put up with all that.”
Eve gulped because she couldn’t bear that injustice.
“That’s the same thing that Liam told me.”
Eve sighed.
Agnes smiled. “I see that you and Mr. Woods are getting along.”
“We’ve learned to be polite to each other, mother,” Eve remembered the night of sex they had had and smiled inside. “I wanted to talk to you about...”
“The foundation.”
“Oh! Have the lawyers already told you?”
Agnes nodded her head with a sincere smile.
“I’m glad to know that you are engaged in this with Mr. Woods. I approve of that, and I’m even thinking of involving the magazine in any way. We could do a couple of annual festivals of fashion and music in order to raise money and help more people who need it.”
Eve couldn’t stifle her emotions, she sat next to her mother and hugged her.
“Thanks, mom. I never thought I would like so much to be part of a project like this.”
“We could do a brainstorming session with your father tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes, Eve, we agreed to have dinner at home with Brandon and Brooke.”
“Oh, mother! Sorry, I forgot some friends invited me to dinner and I...”
Agnes snorted and raised her eyes to heaven. “Never mind. Brooke hasn’t confirmed, and most probably she cannot come. This thing of you turning into women and finding your own beloved does not appeal to me.”
“I haven’t found any beloved, mother,” Eve replied while she rushed to the office door before her nervousness gave her away.
“If that’s what you believe, then you are a fool. Say hello to Mr. Woods for me.”
Eve felt her heart leap and she walked faster in order to leave as soon as possible. Her mother was a lie detector.