Evelyn straightened on Caleb's lap and allowed Caleb to take her shirt off by the head and then kiss her on the neck, chest and also between the breasts, all while doing a masterful trick to remove the bra. She gasped. His mouth found hers, and Evelyn felt a wave of heat wash over her. And then Caleb's kisses turned to fire and Evelyn's skin was diluted by its heat.
A moment later, lying beneath him, hypnotized by his soft strokes and wet burning kisses, Evelyn wondered if Caleb had protection. Apparently, the boy reached to read her mind. Eve saw him as he reached for the bedside table and took a condom. She stared at him.
“Dawit,” he smiled.
Evelyn felt briefly embarrassed; then she forgot everything that was not important at that moment. It took more caresses from Caleb for that to happen. They were already naked under the sheets, she lying carefully on top of her. And the warmth was more than delightful.
“Caleb...” Evelyn muttered.
“Are you sure...?”
She put a finger to his lips and whispered. Caleb stared at her and smiled faintly.
When the moment arrived, Evelyn was ready. Caleb slid over her body, and she drawing a moan, stifled him to the back of his neck. Their lips met again, just a few strokes. Caleb was panting against her mouth. The pain was intense, penetrating. Caleb kissed her and stopped. Everything would’ve ended there if Evelyn had not drawn him closer to her, making him understand that all the pain he caused her was welcome. Caleb resumed the movement, sinking his face into her neck. Evelyn's hands tangled in Caleb's hair when it was loose between them like a curtain. There was no fear, there was no pain or rest. Caleb knew exactly what to do, and Evelyn let herself be carried like a barge on the drift of the ocean.
Caleb's eyes pierced hers: he wanted her. She caresses his face, beaded with sweat. He slides smoothly. Back and forward. Back and forward. And again. Eve takes it firmly by the nape of the neck. Caleb digs his fingers into her waist and follows her. His movements rush. Her legs surround him. Evelyn gasps, moans, writhes. Her heart is accelerated. She explodes. Caleb tenses, and he's as tight as a guitar string. And everything stops.
* * *
Then they stayed in bed, wrapped in the sheets and the dry sweat of their naked bodies. Her thigh rests on Caleb's legs, while he caresses the outline of her face absently with the backs of his fingers. Evelyn felt light as a feather in the wind. It was the first time she’d experienced that feeling.
“So Dawit...?” She commented from below.
“I know,” Caleb laughed. “It was... uncomfortable when he handed me the condoms. Apparently, everyone in the Agency knows that we make nightly visits to each other.”
“They knew we would end up like this sooner or later,” Evelyn thought.
“I also received some advice from Rhys,” she admitted. “I went through your room before coming here, and she told me what to do if you did not have protection.”
Caleb frowned with a funny gesture.
“What?”
Evelyn went to his ear and whispered Rhys’s idea. Having said that, Caleb looked at her with intense consternation and laughed.
“Outside?” He said.
Eve nodded with heated cheeks.
“When she said it, I thought it was the most uncomfortable moment of my life,” she said. “Rhys has more experience than me, and that was quite evident in our previous conversation.”
“I think so.” He paused. “It hurts?”
“A bit.”
“It's the first time that I...”
“I'm sure you were not a virgin.”
Caleb laughed.
“It was not. But it is the first time I'm with someone who is... it was.”
“And has it been so bad?” Evelyn heard herself ask.
Caleb cocked his body to look her in the eyes. His intensity shook her in a good way.
“I was asking the same question,” he said, but when Eve was going to answer Caleb interrupted her. “Remember that you owe me an answer.”
“And you want me to give it to you now?”
He smiled mischievously.
“No.”
He turned to her and began to kiss her again. He started at the neck, the clavicle, the chest; he continued between the breasts, the abdomen, and the belly and below... Caleb ended up submerging under the tame sheets. Evelyn gasped in ecstasy. It occurred to her that someone could hear her, and that made her feel ashamed, and exalted, and also a little naughty. And it was good.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The next day, everyone gathered in the circular room on the upper floor to wish good luck to the agents of the future. The elevator doors were already open, and the agents were dressed in their black suits from head to toe. Tadhg wore the same dress that he had worn that night that broke into Evelyn's house, and, of course, he was very handsome.
Rhys and Juno were dressed in black as well. Evelyn envied how those dark clothes fit beautifully to her curves. Juno’s short hair glowed like a line of black satin before the light. Instead, Rhys’s blond hair was arranged in a very short bow behind the head, which enhanced the contours of her face and startled her fine and impeccable cheeks.
Dawit was talking affectionately with two of the younger shelters of the Agency, Jim and Hailee, trying to quiet them; he wore a black outfit similar to Tadhg's, but instead of the three-quarter-length shirt and jacket he wore, Dawit wore a long-sleeved leather jacket and thin gray-leaded shirt that made his pectorals more pronounced. When she saw him, Evelyn could not help thinking about Tabita and what she would say if she knew what her son looked like. “What a pity my son is,” would be her words for sure.
However, that comical thought did not make her laugh at any time. Evelyn felt a strange emptiness in the pit of her stomach; something like a bad feeling. The air that prevailed in the room was cold and tense. Maybe her discomfort was due to that. Of course, and she had to admit, she was afraid that something would happen to Tadhg and Rhys, Dawit and Juno in the important mission they were about to embark on. But she would not be faithful to the truth if she did not admit to herself that her main concern was the brothers. She had considered that it was a kind of maternal concern, but she repressed the idea thinking that it would be a few more years before she began to experience that extraordinary feeling. Maybe not.
“What's happening to you?” Tadhg asked sullenly; his frown was unwavering. Evelyn noticed a lot of tension in his broad shoulders and in his posture, there before her, and with his arms crossed before his chest, he looked so much like her father that she felt chills. Tadhg raised an eyebrow at Eve's silence.
Rhys stepped forward.
“Obviously, is not it?” she said, looking at Evelyn with bright eyes and curved lips. Maybe Rhys is the same as my mother. Although she certainly has the same blond hair as Caleb's mother. Rhys put a hand on her shoulder. “She is worried.”
“We all share the same feeling, right?” Evelyn blinked.
“I guess so.” The look Rhys gave her made her understand that she had not believed her. Her hand was still on Eve’s shoulder and she gave it a squeeze. “Do not worry, we'll be fine.” Sighed. “Look. Tadhg and I have done this many times.”
“This time is different,” Eve interrupted. “I know.” She put her hand to her chest almost unnoticed.
Tadhg and Rhys looked at her and at the gesture she had made, it was as if that had impacted them. Tadhg again adopted his typical impassive expression, but Rhys was quite moved and threw her arms around her neck. Evelyn did not shy from the urge to hold her. It felt so good to do it. As she hugged Rhys, she opened her eyes watering in tears and saw the surroundings. Beyond was professor Kerr hugging Juno in the same way, and Claire wiped the moisture from her cheeks with the back of her hand. Dawit was leaning on one knee, with his face at the height of the two children before him: Hailee was sobbing a little and Jim seemed about to start doing it.
By the time Rhys and Evelyn separated, Tadhg had
left them and was standing next to Becca talking in a low voice.
“How did it go last night?” Rhys asked her, in a low voice and an accomplice look.
Evelyn did not understand it.
“What are you talking about?”
“Please,” the girl said in a low voice. “I know you did not go through my room asking sexual questions for nothing. In addition, some people claim to have heard disturbing sounds past midnight.”
“I…”
Evelyn flushed.
Rhys laughed with surprising dissimulation. No one turned to see them, except, perhaps, Tadhg.
“Easy,” Rhys muttered as a consolation. “You and I have a very close relationship in the future, more than mother and daughter we are like accomplices sisters.” Her smile faded a little. “Although, now that I think about it, it's not very nice to know that I've advised my mother on that.” She made a meager emphasis on that, raising her eyebrows a lot, and added, “You were supposed to speak to me first.”
“I suppose I'll do it someday, right?” Evelyn replied, less nervous.
“Yes.”
They laughed together.
Then Caleb appeared in the room, smiling. Evelyn's immediate reaction was to look at Tadhg. She noticed that he was tense when he saw him enter, and he also hardened his eyes. Evelyn, Rhys and the rest held their breath as Tadhg approached Caleb and offered his hand. Caleb shook it after a brief moment of deliberation. Evelyn and Rhys shared a nervous giggle.
Then, all the agents of the future gathered inside the elevator. The apprehension in Eve’s chest became more unbearable, choking her. Evelyn strode toward the elevator, just as Tadhg made a move to press the button to close the floodgates. He looked at her with his eyes open from milestone to landmark.
“What's going on?” He asked, frowning.
“I…”
“You know you can’t come with us.” His face was inflexible, but his voice was docile.
“I know,” she confirmed.
“So?”
“Don't forget what your job is, and ... and do not let your guard down either...” —that was the advice that Tadhg had given her in training; she did not know why she was saying him, but she felt a little agitated. “And no... this...”
Eve hesitated a moment, looked down and raised it again. Her eyes were waterlogged with tears in Tadhg. She took three steps toward him, as quick as a hummingbird flutter, and threw her arms over him. Tadhg, after a moment, also enveloped her as if he had expected it, longed for it. The faint scent of detergent on his shirt and leather jacket reminded her inevitably of her father. She got drunk with them in every sigh. It was painful to turn away from him, to look at his face and find himself reflected in those extraordinary blue eyes, which, incredibly, were moist and tender.
Someone cleared his throat. Eve gave a deep breath and stepped back out of the closing line of the lift gates. She sniffed through her nose. God, she was a mess... She went to Caleb, who soon wrapped his arm around her shoulders. When she looked up again, the floodgates had already closed. The atmosphere froze for a minute.
“What was all that?” She heard Caleb say in a low voice.
Evelyn looked at him with a frown.
“What?”
“Why have you hugged him?” He wanted to know. “And why did he hug you?”
“Because he’s my son,” she would have said. “And I am his mother, and you, his father.”
“He saved my life, Caleb,” she said instead. “And yours. In addition, they shook hands.”
Caleb looked at her for a long moment. They heard a slight noise around them. The professor, his wife and the rest started walking towards the dining room.
“Calm down, lovers,” Becca commented in passing as she went after the pair of children.
Evelyn looked back at Caleb.
“Look. Tadhg is important”... —“What am I saying?”
“… for you?” Caleb said, frowning. “Why?”
“Don’t look at me like that, Caleb,” Eve grumbled; she turned and started walking down the white hallway. “It is not what you think. Tadhg saved my life, and Rhys is... my friend. Yes they are important to me.” She wish he did not notice the nervousness in her face, she pleaded.
“Don’t think it’s jealousy,” Caleb said. His voice had become a little contrite. “It's just that...” —He paused— “I feel there's something I still don’t know.”
Evelyn stopped and turned to Caleb. His eyes were bright, almost tearful, and the look he gave her shuddered. Eve knew exactly what Caleb was talking about, except that she did know a few truths. She approached him and kissed him on the lips. Caleb reacted with a smile that eased the obfuscation on his face.
Eve looked at him smiling.
“Look. I know very well what you feel, and even though my relationship with the agents is closer, I have also meditated on the fact that there are things that I have not yet been told. And it's better, at least for now, not to know what the future holds.”
* * *
The dining room was modified as a family living room. The rectangular tables were pushed to the side to make room for a pair of white sofas, a pompous carpet of faux fur polar bear and a small metal table where they put a huge flat screen TV.
When Caleb and Evelyn entered the room, the others were already gathered in front of the television. Becca was nonchalant, occupying one of the sofas by herself. The professor was on another sofa, his eyes bright and cheerful, set on the huge screen. Jim was by his side. Hailee had preferred to sit on the rug with her legs crossed and her back straight as she stroked the head of the polar bear as if it were a puppy. Claire was not in the room, and Evelyn thought maybe she was in the clinic preparing for an emergency.
Becca looked up when Evelyn and Caleb stepped in front of her. Her belligerent attitude boiled Evelyn’s blood. She had thought she would change a little, at least her behavior toward her, when she knew the truth about her and Tadhg. Now that she knew it, Evelyn understood that state was part of the nature of the girl, and that irritated her even more.
Becca narrowed her eyes; she removed her legs from the long sofa and assumed a rigid and carefree posture.
Caleb and Evelyn sat in the space left by the girl.
Fox News was broadcast on television. The news at that time was about the moment of high tension that was going through the American nation with North Korea and Russia. Evelyn shuddered as she remembered Juno's words the other day. “... will end the lives of millions of innocents; whole nations of South America, Europe and Asia will be devastated,” she had said.
“What's going on?” Caleb asked softly; he was sitting between Evelyn and Becca.
Eve swallowed and sighed. Her attempt to be relaxed was unsuccessful.
“Nothing,” she said when it was the opposite; she felt that at some point she was going to vomit, or faint, or burst into tears. Deep breathed. “I'm afraid something will happen to them, you know.”
Caleb put his arm around her and smiled tenderly.
“They'll be fine,” he assured her. “But, I have a question, what is supposed to happen today?” He asked as he turned his gaze to the screen.
“Today, Caleb,” the professor said willingly, “we will witness the first day of fury.”
Caleb frowned.
“What is a day of fury?”
“The events leading up to the Great Catastrophe that will wipe out most of humanity in the future, of course,” Kerr went on naturally. “I should have given that lesson to you.” He shrugged and gave Jim an amused look. “The mission of our agents is to stop the pyxis. They will attack the Russian chancellor and blame the North Korean delegate for initiating a Third World War.”
“Third...” Caleb was speechless and staring for a moment.
Eve could well imagine what was going on in his mind at that moment: “What was he doing in that place when he should be with his convalescent mother and his little sister?
” She would be thinking. The same question had gone through Evelyn’s mind, but she knew that her father was that day with Governor Robert Schmidt doing his duty. Maybe she would see her father on the screen, if everything went well, along with Governor Schmidt to give his few words in front of the city hall building.
Caleb looked at the professor again.
“And when will the Great Catastrophe happen?” He asked.
“It will happen,” said Kerr, less smiling than before, “during the nuclear war between the leading nations.”
“When, exactly?” they heard Becca say, that she had a troubled look and her lips twitching. It was probably the first time she had heard about the days of fury and all that.
“In ten months I could start the war.” Kerr's voice was resigned, rueful. “In two years, when the war is already in full swing, the pyxis will manage to open the Apex, the largest of the portals, to let in the most numerous horde of beings that has ever been seen. And then the real catastrophe will begin. The deaths will be massive and the destruction almost absolute. The Great Catastrophe.” The professor looked at the screen.
His words had caused a strong shudder to Eve.
The silence reigned afterwards, and during the next hour they only heard the voices of the news and the informative notes that were issued. The whole world had its eyes set on the meeting between the North Korean delegate, the Russian and the American. This meeting would never take place, of course, because the pyxis had arranged to finish it.
The hope of the world —although the world did not know it— fell on the shoulders of the agents of the future. Evelyn and the rest waited expectantly for the departure of the Governor of New York with the Russian chancellor and the North Korean delegate of the city hall. The news reporter chattered like a parrot while the camera made gradual approaches from the City Hall Park and the building of the same name, from a considerable distance. On the steps of the City Hall they had arranged an atrium that the media surrounded like ants with a cake, waiting for the big moment. The wait became eternal.
Days of Fury Page 21
