Chapter Twenty-Six
“Eli.” She choked on his name, fingers gripping the rock she was perched on to stop herself from barrelling into his arms.
He approached, stone-faced and looking weary. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, and she tried not to think about what had kept him up all night. It could have been his models, or the party at Sinister, or even black witches, considering they were in the forest.
“How did you - Did you -”
Follow me? She wanted to say, and he must have sensed that, for he shook his head and took a seat on another rock several feet away.
“I was out walking, trying to clear my head.” His lips tipped in a wry smile, though he kept his stormy gaze on the creek. “I caught your scent on the trail.”
“My -” She swallowed the rest of her words and stared at him. Of course, he looked like he’d been out for a planned walk, wearing black basketball shorts and a fitted white shirt. He wouldn’t look at her, keeping his eyes studiously on the water below them.
Finally, her own gaze dropped, along with the tiny ball of hope that had formed in her chest, and she pressed her face into her palms.
“I’m sorry,” she finally spoke, words muffled by her hands, but she knew he’d hear them. “I was stupid. So stupid. I lost my way. I stopped listening to my heart and listened to other people tell me what was good for me. That settling was the right thing to do, that marriage and babies would make me happy, not that I don’t necessarily want those things sometime down the track or how that would even look because I know vampires can’t…”
She was rambling. Sneaking a glance in Eli’s direction, she found him still staring off into the forest. Her heart sank even more, and she tipped her gaze down, feeling hot tears prick her eyes again. “Anyway,” she murmured. “I was scared of how intense this thing between us was becoming and I chose Marco because he’s familiar and deep down I knew it would never work with him because that sort of relationship never does and because of that stupid decision I hurt myself and I hurt you. I know I hurt you, Eli, and I’m sorry.”
Silence, save the flow of water, and her heart finally snapped in two. She’d tried to prepare herself for this over the past week, that she’d say her piece and he wouldn’t forgive her. It had been the most likely outcome, after all, but having it play out in real life didn’t lessen the sting of the knife plunged between her ribs.
Chest heaving, she set her feet on the ground, preparing to rise. She was going to cry, and she didn’t want him to watch her break down. It was time to go.
“I forgive you.”
The words stole her breath, and she swung towards him to find he’d finally tilted his head in her direction.
“You do?”
He chafed his palms together and nodded. “And I’m sorry too. I should have… Staked my claim before it was too late.”
Staked his claim. The words curled over her skin, reminding her of the night he’d rescued her from Alec’s cul-de-sac. She’s mine. She thought he’d spoken those words to appease Alec and their vampire rituals, but perhaps he’d meant it even then.
Whether he’d had feelings then or they’d developed later, whether they’d forgiven each other for the hurt they’d both caused didn’t matter because… “You’re leaving.”
He nodded, confirming her fears and sending her mending heart plummeting again.
“When?”
“I have some more trips to take, but for good? Within the next two months.”
Her bottom lip trembled, and she cast her gaze down to her feet. She really had been too late to save this. Even though he’d forgiven her, he was still going to go.
She heard him sigh. “What do we do now, Soph?”
“I guess you could always throw me down and messy fuck me in the mud for old time’s sake.”
She said the words part in jest, but also because she wasn’t ready to let him go. When he remained quiet, her stomach knotted, and she glanced up quickly. “Or not. I mean, we don’t have to do anything like that. What - what do you want to do?”
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “I would rather take you back to my place and messy fuck you there.”
Her heart skipped a full beat at his words and she watched, stunned, as he rose and approached her. When she placed her hand in his offered one, he pulled her up and into his embrace.
She pressed against that warm, firm chest and listened to his heart that she was sure thundered as roughly as her own. Tears - ones of relief this time - spilled down her cheeks and soaked into his shirt.
“Witchling,” he pressed his lips to her hair, to her temple, and all the while his fingers stroked the bare skin of her back between her crop and her tights. “Will you come home with me?”
She realised then that she hadn’t even responded to his previous words.
“Yes,” she breathed, then tilted her head back to look at him. “I just - I have to go home first. My mum is living with me and I have her car. She’ll need it today to take my Nona to -” She stopped speaking, sure she was over sharing, but Eli merely watched her with intense eyes, taking each of her words in.
“I’ll pick you up then,” he said when she didn’t continue. “In an hour?”
She nodded, and he pulled away, instead taking her hand and drawing her back up the creek bank to the trail. “Which carpark?”
“The one at the bottom of this track.”
They set off, with Soph leading the way on the narrower parts. They were quiet the whole walk down but much like the night she’d taken him back to her place, her heart ricocheted in her chest and she was hyperaware of every movement he made behind her.
They finally reached the car park as the sun rose, turning the pink that streaked the sky to gold. There were more cars here now, others who would have climbed to the peak for sunrise, and she spotted Eli’s Audi at the furthest end.
“This one is mine,” Soph pulled the keys for the old 60s BMW from her pocket. Eli’s eyebrows rose.
“Vintage, nice.”
Soph snorted. “I’ll let my mum know it’s got some value. She treats it like a rally car.” She turned to face him, keys turning nervously between her fingers. “I’ll see you soon?”
“I’ll see you soon.”
He waited until she was in the car before vanishing in a blur towards his own. Soph backed out of the carpark and started out towards the city. Within moments, Eli’s car was visible in her rearview mirror.
Though she wanted to hurry home so she could get back to Eli quicker, she gripped the wheel and stuck to the speed limit. No matter how many years since the accident, no matter that she wasn’t driving at the time, she still always saw images flash behind her eyelids of her friend Casey flying through the front window.
She expected Eli would tire of her snail pace and overtake her, but he remained behind like a protective sentry, not leaving until they reached the city and he peeled away to take an on-ramp to the freeway that skirted the city to Hamilton Bay. As he did, she heard her phone ping with a message.
It wasn’t until she was back in her underground carpark, the car turned off, that she read it.
- Please stay
And then below that, the first message Eli had ever returned:
- I will
Founders, her heart. It was going to burst with the thousand and one emotions that had pumped through it this morning.
She raced upstairs, startling her mother awake on the couch as she burst through the front door.
“Founders, Baby, what happened?”
“Nothing, nothing.” She raced to the bathroom first, showering to wash away the sweat from her run, then she shaved everything and everywhere.
Out of the shower, she considered makeup. It was barely breakfast time, but Eli’s voice whispered in her mind, sultry and serpentine. Messy looks good on you, Soph.
She settled on a small amount of eyeliner and mascara to frame her green eyes before racing to the bedroom and rifling through her clothes. She considered something lacey and provocative, but she was so strung with restless energy that she ended up choosing a fresh set of activewear, this time with a big shirt over the top. Her hour was almost up.
She returned to the lounge room to hunt around for her handbag. “I don’t know when I’ll be back,” she called to Zita, who had moved to the balcony for her morning cigarette.
Zita merely waved a hand above her head. “Have fun, Baby.”
Eli was already downstairs, Audi idling out the front of the building. Soph beelined to the passenger side, sliding into the bucket seat as people on the street started to turn and look.
“Coffee?” Eli passed her a take away cup from the two nestled in the centre console. She clicked her seatbelt in and took it.
“Thank you,” she eyed him as he pulled out into the traffic. He’d showered too, and had changed out of his shorts and into loose, grey sweatpants and a fresh white t-shirt, not unlike the one he’d left in her wardrobe. She braced herself for him to take off down the road, but he didn’t, instead remaining at the speed limit. Her knee bounced as she took a sip of her hot drink. “I probably don’t need caffeine. I’ve already got too much energy.”
“Don’t worry,” his hand slid over her leg, stilling her knee. “I’ll get that out of you.”
She choked on her coffee, and he smirked.
The rest of their trip was in relative silence. A million words played on the tip of Soph’s tongue, but she couldn’t find the courage to voice them as they slipped through suburbs with progressively bigger houses until they reached the water and were winding around the edge of Hamilton Bay.
They were going to his place to fuck, but everything still felt so brittle, as though it could shatter again in an instant. Beyond fucking to release this pent up need they’d both accumulated, where did they stand with each other? She was afraid the wrong words would have her facing his impenetrable wall of silence again.
A handful of yachts bobbed on the shimmering water and, before long, they were pulling onto the street of a gated community and driving past mansions the size of which Soph had never seen before.
When he finally pulled into his own driveway, bracketed by arched, wrought-iron gates, she couldn’t help leaning forward to stare at the white, stone house looming over sprawling lawns.
“Are you sure you don’t have a basement full of models?” She found herself saying against her better judgement. “This place is huge.”
“No models.” Gravel crunched as he pulled up at the front door and turned the car off. “No basement either, to be fair.”
They both got out, and Eli laced his fingers through hers as he opened the door and led her inside.
She wasn’t sure what she’d expected. The inside of the house was a stark contrast to the majestic exterior facade. It was still bloody huge, but inside were all white walls and simple furniture with a houseplant placed here and there for greenery. There was no personalisation or artworks. It was more like a holiday let than someone’s home.
Soph craned her head back to look up at the vaulted ceiling and ivory chandelier. “Do you live here alone?”
He nodded, hand sliding across her waist to rest low on her back as he guided her forward. “I have some staff that come on weekdays. Cleaners and gardeners, and sometimes a chef. Cole will stay here if he’s in the area, and Chase comes around for a beer every now and then.”
Chase Rickon. The vampire in whose picture she’d glimpsed Eli with that woman. Her stomach soured a little.
Eli gave her a tour of the bottom floor, showing her the kitchen, and the second kitchen where the chef worked. The main living room opened to a spacious entertainment area that curled around an arctic blue pool. Bougainvillea runners hugged trellises and poles, sprays of blood red blooms a stark contrast to the white.
Applying pressure to her back, Eli moved her on to the next room. They flitted through the massive house like ghosts, visiting his study and library, a second, indoor entertainment space and a plethora of bedrooms and bathrooms. In a few rooms she caught sight of moving boxes stacked against walls. No wonder the house seemed so sparse.
Though his text had promised he’d stay, Soph’s stomach clenched as she wondered how that would be possible. He had a business to run. He couldn’t hang around this city just for her sake.
Finally, they were standing in his bedroom. Her eyes swept over the enormous bed adorned with a soft grey doona, to the huge windows that offered a vista view of the bay. It must be amazing waking up here every morning.
She turned to face Eli, who was already watching her with a contemplative gaze. Slowly, he closed the space between them and pressed his hands to either side of her face, fingers spearing into her hair.
“Speak, Soph,” he murmured. “What’s eating at you?”
She blinked and swallowed. The way he had her head pinned between his hands meant she couldn’t turn away, couldn’t even look away.
“I saw you in that picture with Chase Rickon. The one with the women in Paris.”
His eyebrows rose briefly in surprise, but he didn’t release his hold on her. “Yes?”
She swallowed again. “Did you - What happened?”
He searched her gaze for an impossibly long moment, and her breaths expelled unevenly. “Do you really want to know?”
Stomach tight, she nodded as much as his hands would allow.
“I paid for hookers and fucked them.”
It was a blow, that was for sure.
“How many?”
His fingers flexed against her skull. “Soph…”
“How many?”
“Five.”
Her brow knit as she pictured it. “All five at once?”
“No, it was over a weekend. Sometimes one, sometimes two. Sometimes Chase and I shared.”
Sometimes Chase and I shared.
She must have mouthed the words, because something sparked in Eli’s eyes and his grip tightened.
“Did you like it? The whole weekend?”
This time he swallowed, and his gaze briefly flicked over her head, eyes unfocused. “Not really,” he admitted eventually. “There were a lot of women and a lot of drugs, but in the end I was still hurting. I still didn’t have what I wanted.”
The tightness around her stomach loosened. She was what he wanted, and living a baller life didn’t make him want her less.
“And your escapades?”
She came back from her thoughts to find his eyes back on her, fervently searching her expression. What was she giving away in it?
“My… escapades?”
“With Marco Bianche.”
Soph blinked. “How do you know his last name?” She was rewarded with a savage smile and darkening eyes.
“I looked into him, of course.”
Of course. His fingers tightened in her hair. “I shared mine. Now you need to share yours.”
Soph’s cheeks flooded with heat. The need to look away, to wrap her arms over her own body before she answered was real, but he kept her face caged, silently commanding her to spill her soul.
“It was fine,” she said eventually, and his eyebrow rose.
“Fine?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if you’ve ever had normal sex with someone, but on that scale, it was fine.” She sucked in a breath, but when he didn’t speak, she blurted out. “He didn’t like kissing after oral sex, and he wouldn’t go down on me, but otherwise it was fine.”
Now Eli’s eyes widened and once more his fingers flexed against her face. “Soph, that’s not fine. That sounds terrible.”
A heartbeat of silence passed between them, then a small bubble of laughter slipped from Soph’s lips. A smile curled at the corner of Eli’s mouth and his gaze melted like honey. How absurd to be having an entire conversation like this, so fixed on one another, so intense. The proximity gave no room for assumptions or jealousy. Just the facts of what had happened to each of them in the absence of one another.
His hands rolled in a gentle caress. “What else?”
She swallowed. Now the hard conversations were out of the way, delicious warmth was curling in the base of her stomach. Her hands found his waist, slipping beneath his shirt to rest against the skin of his hips. “I’m still a little stuck on the sharing with Chase part.”
Eli’s nostrils flared and his gaze darkened with something quite feral. The grin that spread across his face was one designed to show fangs. “Have I unlocked a new kink to explore?”
Founders, yes.
As quickly as it came on, that preternatural expression faded. “One day we might explore sharing with Chase, but not for a very long time. You’ve turned me into a jealous man and I don’t want others touching what belongs to me. From now on, there can be no one else. Not for you, not for me. Understand?”
She nodded, the movement near imperceptible within his grasp. His head tipped closer. “I need to hear you say it. Promise me, Witchling.”
“I promise.” The words were a bare whisper, and everything within her was still, coiled tight, waiting with bated breath to see what would happen next. Unlike the cage that had settled around her when Marco had requested exclusivity, this binding herself to Eli felt like anything but. Such an intense relief washed over her that she trembled. His lips closed those last few inches, pressing to hers, sealing their pact.
He belonged to her.
And she belonged to him.
All she could think was finally.