by Marie Harte
Squeezing his teeth together, he left the room without a sound and nodded at Dawn who still waited in the hall. “Now, I’ll lock it.”
“Fine. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Dawn.”
They both turned from the other and headed their separate ways.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alex hadn’t lied to her, he was here when she woke up. But did he have to be glaring at her? After all, he had been the one to give her a shot in the neck and knock her out, not the other way around.
She placed her hand on her head and sat up. “How long was I out?”
“About three hours.”
She was surprised by his answer. “Oh.”
He lifted a glass off the table next to the bed and handed it to her. “It wasn’t my intention to keep you asleep all night, just long enough so I could stitch up your leg and get a few questions answered.”
That wasn’t fair. She had been ready to curse him up one side and down the other for knocking her out. Now she couldn’t because he wanted to help her. Damn.
He placed his hand on her leg, next to the gleaming white dressing. “What do you think I’ll find under this dressing?”
She stared at him over the top of the glass and drank about half before finally coming up with an answer. “Stitches.”
“Mmm.” He took the glass from her and put it down. “Anything else? A wound maybe?”
She opened her mouth but he applied a light pressure to her leg in warning. “The truth please, from your mouth not your grandmother’s.”
She sucked in her gasp. “You saw Gran? How’s…”
He held up his hand. “Noelle is fine and so is Dawn. She was nice enough to answer my questions. But there were others that occurred to me that I didn’t want to bother her with.”
Answers? To what questions? She suddenly felt sick.
He looked her dead in the eye. “Does your tattoo help protect you?”
She bit the side of her lip. She had been told time and time again not to tell anyone about the medallion or her abilities. People wouldn’t understand, her mother had said. She lowered her head, staring at the dark sheet on Alex’s bed, feeling horribly guilty. She was about to break a secret she had lived with for many years. “Yes.”
With a single finger under her chin, he raised her face to meet his. “Does it help you merge?”
“No, it doesn’t.” She noticed the scar over his narrowed eyes. He must really be upset with her.
“How old are you, Eve?”
She didn’t know what to say, so she lied, “Thirty-five.”
He nodded and reached across the bed, bringing her driver’s licence and an old photo into view.
“Your driver’s licence has a date of birth of July, nineteen-seventy-six. But this picture…” He lifted the photo so she could see the back, with her mom’s handwriting on it. He flipped it over and she stared at her mom’s beautiful smile. “‘Me and Eve. Bristol, 1952.’ And by looking at this picture I would say you were at least five or six. So…” He looked her in the eye again. “How old are you Eve?”
She clamped down on her lip again. Yet again, she was going against everything her mother taught her. “Evening,” he rumbled her full name in warning.
“I was taught from a very young age not to tell anyone about anything I could do, or of who I am, or where I came from. Mum said people wouldn’t understand that they might try to take our gifts for their own gain. This is hard for me, I feel like I’m going behind my mum’s back.”
Alex leant forward. “I hate to break it to you but the majority of people won’t believe you. Besides, who am I going to tell? I’m just a soul that has been merged into a body that doesn’t belong to me.” His voice dropped low. “Tell me how old you are. Please.”
She closed her eyes. “I was born in nineteen-forty six.” She peeked up when he didn’t say anything. He was simply staring down at her with no expression. She covered her face and rolled back. “Oh shit. I shouldn’t have told you. Shit. Shit. I knew this would happen.” She swung her legs off the bed and stood. “You’re grossed out now aren’t you?”
She walked past him towards a window. It was dark out now, and from where she stood, the city was outlined perfectly with little white lights. Where were they?
“What’s gross?”
She faced him, crossing her arms. He couldn’t be serious? “Us. Cause we…you know…” She stopped, hoping he understood, and she wouldn’t have to continue. But he just stared at her like he had no idea what she was referring to. She threw her hands up. “Cause we had sex. And I’m old. And that’s gross.”
Minutes passed without him saying a word. He just sat there staring at her. Wasn’t he going to say anything? Wasn’t it bad enough he was making her feel like the freak she was? She snorted. Enough of this, she was out of here. She began searching for her clothes and, when she couldn’t find them, she looked for the bag she had packed. She didn’t have any luck there either, so she marched over to Alex’s tall-boy dresser and pulled open drawers until she found something suitable to wear outside.
Only when she was throwing open his bedroom door did he finally move. She had taken two steps out of his room when he was on her, lifting her by the waist and carrying her back inside the room.
“Let me go, Alex.” She fought against him but she doubted he even noticed. He simply kicked the door shut, carried her over to the bed and threw her in the centre of it.
“Where the hell do you think you are going?” His voice was deathly quiet as he stood glaring down at her.
“Away from you.” She swung her legs to the side of the bed only to be pulled back into the centre. “Stop it.”
“No.” He was on the bed in a flash and straddling her. He gently pushed her back when she sat forward. “Why do you want leave?” He kept his hand on her chest.
“Get off.” She tried to move but couldn’t. “Please,” she whimpered. She felt like crying. She wanted to leave, hide her face so he couldn’t stare at her like she was a freak. He kept saying that he didn’t want to want her, he’d given her reasons, then listed her faults and now he knew her true age and he kept looking at her with either disgust or fascination, she couldn’t tell, but she didn’t like either one. Tears slowly flooded her eyes and they slipped down the sides of her face when she closed her eyes.
The next thing she knew Alex was off her and she was being pulled to the side of the bed and lifted. When she opened her eyes and faced him, she was on his lap, his arm curled around her back.
“Better?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Why were you leaving?” he asked again, lightly rubbing his thumb against her side.
She sniffed, “Because I feel like a freak.”
“You are not a freak,” he said each word with more force than she was expecting.
“But you make me feel that way.”
“How did I make you feel like a freak?”
“By the way you were looking at me. I know how unusual I am, I don’t need to be reminded of it.”
“Is that what made you cry?” He made a confused face. “Me looking at you?”
“Yes and everything that you’ve said to me.”
“Which was?”
“How you don’t want me, and how I’m not as good as the other women you have been with. That hurt my feelings, more than once.”
Alex sighed, “Evening, I never said you weren’t as good as the other women I have been with.”
She sniffed again, “Yes—”
“No.” He cut her off. “I said I like my women tall and blonde. You do remember that you were pointing a rolling pin and knife at me. I wanted to make you angry enough to throw those at me, so I wouldn’t have to take them by force. I also said that I was very attracted to you, but didn’t want to be, and I told you why.”
She shook her head. “All I hear are all the things you don’t like about me. None of this is my fault, you came to me, remember? But it’s me who
you keep insulting. I can handle a lot but with the way you were just looking at me, it became too much.”
Alex sighed again and nuzzled the side of her head. “I wasn’t expecting you to say nineteen-forty-six. Eve you’re sixty-five. But you look like you’re thirty. It caught me off guard.”
She looked down at her hands. “How old were you expecting?”
“Jesus, I don’t know. Maybe mid-forties. It doesn’t matter now.”
She raised her head. “Why not?”
He stroked the crease between her eyes with the back of his finger. “Because, you told me the truth and we can now focus on helping Jillian.”
She blinked. “That’s it. You’re just going to accept what I just told you? Not get all weird on me?”
“I’m pretty good at accepting the stranger things in life. I hunt very evil people. But with what I’ve gone through in the past couple of weeks… Yes. I can accept anything at this point. And, no, I don’t plan on going all weird on you.”
She pulled at his shirt nervously. “So, you aren’t grossed out about us…”
“Not at all. In fact I’m thinking I’d like to have a little bit of…us.” He gave her a wicked grin. “But I want you to have something to eat and then rest. I don’t care what that tattoo can do, it’s me who’s protecting you. Besides, I need to calm down first.”
Her arm had curled around his shoulders and she dragged her fingernails along the base of his neck. “You do, why?”
“‘Cause I’m feeling pretty horny and you’re a senior citizen. I could break your hip.”
After Alex fed them both, he covered her wound in some plastic wrap and ordered her to have a shower. He didn’t leave when she asked and stood outside the door until she was done. He knew the wound on her leg would heal, but she had been caught in the middle of a violent clash, he didn’t want her alone when the reality of being shot and almost blown up finally hit her.
He had been expecting some type of reaction sooner, maybe some crying or endless nervous chatter but she hadn’t even batted an eyelash. The strange thing was, it seemed to bother him more than it bothered her and he asked her why, once she was back lying in his bed. He propped himself up onto his elbow as he waited for her to answer.
“I don’t know,” she began, looking up at him. “Is that bad do you think?”
“No, I don’t think so. It just means you’re better at coping than most people.” He rolled back onto his pillow. “If it does suddenly hit you, I’m here to help you deal with it.”
“You are?” she asked, hesitantly.
Because he had just said he was here for her, he didn’t feel it was necessary to answer her question. Instead, he tugged on her hand until she curled into his side. He wrapped his arm around her and she lifted her leg onto his so they fitted together comfortably. He kissed her forehead and let his lips linger on her soft skin, breathing in her clean scent. She was asleep by the time he wished her good night.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alex shot up in bed when he realised Eve wasn’t next to him. He jumped out of bed and checked the bathroom first, then turned and stopped, coming face to face with Justine.
Her hands were held up. “Don’t panic, she’s downstairs drinking coffee and checking out your house. Which for the record is pretty nice for a single guy. Very homey,” she sang, dropping her hands. “I hope you don’t plan on blowing up this place too.”
Alex felt his heart rate return to normal, then the irritation set in. He placed his hands on his hips. “What’s up?”
“Jillian’s up. She running out of food but is too scared to go into town.”
Alex stared through Justine while he thought. She should have enough food to last at least a month. By his count it had only been about three weeks. Regardless, she was pregnant. She needed to keep her body healthy. If she needed to run the risk and go into town, so be it. By the time the Project traced the car, he and Eve would be up there and his plan would already be in the works.
“Tell her not to worry about it. She needs the food. But she doesn’t talk to anybody. In and out, no socialising.”
“What about Miles, what if he finds out?”
“It won’t matter, by the time he finds her I’ll be there.”
She eyed him. “You better be.”
“How is she otherwise?”
“Bored. But now that she knows you’re coming she’s calmed down a bit. The time away is probably doing her good, I just wish it hadn’t happened like this.” She waved her hands down her body.
A thought suddenly occurred to him. “Does she know I’m in Cade’s body?”
“No. I didn’t know how to tell her.” She shook her head. “She was sad enough with losing me.”
“You need to tell her.”
“Geez, you sound like Cade.” She tugged a strand of hair behind her ear.
“What, logical? She needs to know. What happens when she finds out I’m not Cade on the inside. Can’t shock trigger early labour?”
Justine threw her hand on her chest. “You’re asking me?”
“Yes.”
“Well I don’t know. Let’s go ask your girlfriend.”
“No,” Alex said quickly. “You’ll scare her.”
She pulled a face. “Oh yah! Forgot about that.”
“You need to tell her.”
“I know.”
“I’m serious. Tell her.” Alex ordered, pointing at her as he left the room and went downstairs to find Eve.
* * * *
Eve wasn’t happy when he left her at his apartment for the better part of the day. Ordering her to stay inside and not venture around the area didn’t make her pleasant to deal with, but at least she understood the reason why. Did he push her over the edge by locking her inside…definitely. Or at least that was the impression he got when he heard a thump against the back of the door. Oh well. She would just have to deal with it, because there was no way he could handle another moment like yesterday when he’d thought she was dead. Special tattoo or not, nothing would happen to her today.
Besides, she couldn’t be with him. He needed to talk to the cop. After yesterday’s events at his apartment not only would the cops be looking for him but so would Miles. And if he knew Miles, and he did, he would already be searching for Cade.
Jesus, what was Miles doing? He’d never acted this irrationally before. He’d never wanted to kill a witness, never killed an innocent person or a cop. A cop. Christ. The only thing that made any type of sense was that Miles had panicked and thought Justine was Jillian, and had inadvertently killed Cade. Or maybe not. Could he have killed Justine, because she was Jillian’s twin? Was Miles desperate enough to kill Justine in the hopes it would draw Jillian out? He didn’t know, but there was something more going on here.
He pushed the dark glasses up his nose and adjusted his position against the tree in Ryder’s Park. The Project was located in a busy residential neighbourhood. The cover of a computer graphics company fit in well with the surrounding area. The teams were normally free to move in and out with large briefcases or bags without causing suspicion. Normally. However today wasn’t normal. By the looks of the people coming and going, it appeared Cade had caused quite the shit storm yesterday by blowing up a member’s apartment.
He grinned, sipping his coffee. He had watched Miles enter into the massive three story mansion about forty minutes before. Since then the influx of people had increased. It was nice to know he had made Miles’ life a little bit more complicated. That should force him to pick up his pace in order to cover his ass and with a little luck, he’d screw up along the way.
Finishing the remainder of his coffee, he wondered what lies Miles had told the others about him. A better question was, would they believe him? Of course they would, they had no reason not to. Miles was his partner and you always trusted in your partner.
“Jesus, Cade do you have any idea what kind of shit you’ve caused?”
Alex pushed away from the tree and stood
to Cade’s full height as the cop approached him. Behind the dark glasses, he quickly scanned Trevor for weapons. He was wearing his jacket open, which displayed his pistol and his badge and he guessed he’d have another gun strapped to his ankle but couldn’t be sure because of his baggy jeans.
“Close your jacket. I don’t want anyone knowing who we are.” He turned and leant back against the tree.
Trevor complied with his order but asked, “Who? What the hell are you doing here? People are looking for you.” He raised his red brows and stressed, “Very important people.”
“I bet.” He glanced over at Cade’s partner. There was genuine concern on the guy’s face. This cop wasn’t only Cade’s partner, he was also a friend.
Yah well, he had considered Miles a friend too and look where it had got him. He hoped Cade was right in saying this guy was trustworthy, because he really didn’t have the time to kill this guy should he have damaged morals.
Trevor shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed, “What’s going on Cade?”
Alex stood up and shook his empty coffee cup. “Let’s go grab a coffee and I’ll catch you up on what I have so far.”
“Coffee?” Trevor scoffed. “You hate coffee.”
Alex pulled a tight smile. “My tastes have changed.”
It took less than an hour to tell Trevor about Jillian witnessing the murder and re-telling him the rest of the events from a second perspective.
Trevor waited until he was finished before asking any questions.
“Okay.” Trevor sat back and crossed his arms high over his chest. “Let me get this straight. Jillian’s boss, Brad Rhodes, was murdered and Jillian was witness to it, but was caught by the two guys who committed the murder. One wanted to kill her and the other helped her escape.”
Alex nodded as Cade’s partner recapped the story.
“You do know the autopsy confirmed Rhodes died of a heart attack?” Trevor supplied. “But that would explain why his office was a mess and why no trace evidence could be found except for Rhodes.”
