CHAPTER 12
Fiona
The rich aroma of coffee woke me the following morning. I lied in bed, feeling more relaxed and refreshed than I had in a long time. Finally, I had gotten a decent night’s sleep.
I rolled over. The other side of the bed was cold, letting me know that Eli must have gotten up quite some time ago. We had fallen asleep holding each other, so I wondered how he had managed to get out of bed without me noticing. I supposed it didn’t matter though.
I smiled to myself, thinking about the incredible night we had shared.
We had very nearly gotten caught in the library, an unsuspecting visitor coming dangerously close to the room we’d been occupying. Giggling uncontrollably like a couple of teenagers sneaking around behind our parents’ backs, we quickly dressed and left out of the library, heading back to the safehouse to pick up from where we left off. Much like our experience back in Turkey, we had hardly been able to make it through the door before we were ripping each other’s clothes off again.
We spent the rest of the day, blissfully giving in to the urges we’d been holding back for entirely too long.
Then we ordered takeout for dinner, cuddled and watched a movie, and went to bed, resuming another round of love-making before collapsing in each other’s arms.
In those moments, I felt happiness unlike anything I had ever felt in such a long time.
Unlike anything I’d felt since my college years with Joey.
It was obvious that what I felt for Eli ran deeper than what I’d felt for Joey though. I halfway thought I was being ridiculous for falling for a handsome face so quickly, but there simply was no denying how I felt, just like Eli could no longer control what he felt.
“So what are we going to do now?” I had asked before we fell asleep.
“What do you mean?”
“We were supposed to be keeping things professional, but it doesn’t seem like that’s possible anymore.”
“The only thing that’s not possible is me staying away from you,” he had responded, running his fingers through a lock of my hair as we stared into each other’s eyes. “So whatever obstacles come our way, we’re just going to have to figure it out.”
A warm and tingly sensation went through me because finally, we were being honest with one another. It felt good to have that barrier officially broken.
Thinking about our previous night, I rolled out of bed, tossed on a nightgown, and ventured to the kitchen, where I came to an abrupt halt. My heart leapt into my throat, and I tried to jump out of view, thinking fast about what I could do to defend myself. But I hadn’t reacted quickly enough, and the intruder spotted me anyway.
“Good morning.”
“W-Who are you? How did you get in here?” I stammered, my heart pounding a mile a minute. “Where’s Eli? ELI! HELP!”
“Hey, hey, hey now,” the man said, holding his hands up in a non-threatening gesture. “Relax. I’m not going to hurt you. Eli’s not here. I’m filling in for him.”
I stared, speechless and unable to comprehend what I was hearing. The stranger in the kitchen was an older man. He had a head full of white hair, beady gray eyes, and a stocky but muscular frame. “What do you mean you’re filling in for him?” I asked.
“I mean exactly that. I’ve been put on duty as your personal guard.”
I nodded. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this before?”
“Beats me,” the man said. “I guess it was too last-minute. I was contacted first thing this morning and told to come out here immediately. You want some coffee? I picked up some donuts.”
I shook my head. “But where’s Eli?”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
I stared at the man, getting a distinct feeling that he was lying to me. “Yes you do.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, remembering that I was wearing a rather flimsy nightgown. But the man hardly seemed to notice, or perhaps just didn’t care. He looked old enough to be my father.
“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you that.”
“You can’t tell me where Eli is?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“It’s just not my place. Now, what’s on the agenda for the day? I’ve been instructed to take you wherever you need to go. I hear you’re studying for something?”
I nodded. “Yeah…Uhm. Give me a minute to get ready. I need to go to the library.”
I hurriedly retreated to my bedroom, but not without checking the guest bedroom first, just to confirm that Eli truly wasn’t there. I looked around, noticing that his clothes and belongings were absent. A knot formed in my stomach as I left his room and headed for the bathroom. His toothbrush and shaving cream were gone too.
He was gone, and from the looks of it, it didn’t seem temporary.
I quickly showered and dressed, trying not to panic.
There has to be a logical explanation for this, I told myself. Eli didn’t leave me. Whatever this is about, it’s temporary. No need to panic…
Back in my bedroom, I retrieved my cell phone and swore.
How ridiculous was it that I didn’t even have Eli’s number?
Disregarding the fact that my father wanted to keep limited contact with me for the time being, I dialed his number, needing to know if he was aware of this current situation. Yet, when the phone continued to ring and he did not answer, it occurred to me that he was probably busy with meetings. At the sound of the beep, I left him a voice-message, trying my best to disguise the alarm in my voice.
“Hi Dad. I’m sorry to bother you, but…I just wanted to know if you knew that Eli was gone and someone else is here, claiming that they are filling in for him? Can you…Can you give me a call back? Thanks. I love you.”
I ended the call. Sitting at the edge of my bed, I closed my eyes for a moment and took several deep breaths, letting oxygen fill my lungs, and then exhaling slowly, trying to get my heart-rate back down to normal. Yet, the way my stomach continued to squirm when I returned to the living room to the man who was not Eli, I knew it was going to take more than a couple deep breaths to keep my panic at bay.
In the living room, the man was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, whistling to himself, and flipping through the pages of what looked like some sort of scientific magazine.
I cleared my throat to announce my presence. “And what is your name again, sir?” I asked once he looked up from his magazine toward me.
“Call me Jones,” he said with a smile.
“Jones—my father is aware that you are here, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. He’s been alerted.”
“And he’s okay with it?”
“I would presume so. Have you spoken with him?”
“I just tried calling him, but I think he must have meetings all morning.”
“I see. Yes, the Speaker is a busy man. I wish him all the best though. I think he’d make a fine Vice President. You should be very proud of your dad.”
I forced a smile. “Thank you.”
“So, are you ready to go?”
“Yes. To the local library, please.”
“You want a donut or anything before you go?”
“Uhh…sure.”
* * *
In the car, I tried to eat the donut, but it was hard to swallow over the tightness in my throat. The dough tasted too sweet, and I hated the way it left my hands so sticky. But I forced myself to finish it before we made it to the library. All the while, Jones tried to engage me in polite conversation. He was a friendly man, and I had a feeling he and my father could have gotten along well. He was the type of guy that I could imagine myself referring to as ‘uncle’ had I known him longer.
However, he wasn’t Eli. And I desperately wanted Eli back.
When we got to the library, I went to the front desk to request several study guides. The woman behind the desk stared at me for a moment, and I instantly felt myself growing paranoid.
Did she know something about yesterday? Had she seen me and Eli? Had the person who’d almost come toward the room we’d occupied mentioned something to a library worker—telling them to be on alert for the Speaker’s daughter and a tall and hot security guard because they had done filthy things on a library table in a back room?
After she retrieved the study guides, she didn’t hand them over right away. She continued staring at me, her eyes scrutinizing me in a way that made me want to run away and never come back.
Jones stood off to the side, watching. He took several steps toward me, apparently catching on to the fact that something was wrong. “Everything all right?” he said from the sidelines.
“I’m sorry,” the woman behind the desk said. “But are you Speaker Jackson’s daughter?”
Jones was at my side in an instant.
I swallowed, my mouth having gone dry.
“I’m going to need you to keep your voice down,” Jones said to the woman.
Her eyes widened and she nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I just wanted to say how much I love your father. As a shifter sometimes it’s hard to find work, or an apartment. He’s made our lives so much easier. I just wanted to say that I wish him the best of luck. I hope he’s chosen as Vice President. If he is, he has my vote!”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh…Uhm…Thank you.”
As if that close run-in wasn’t enough, to torture myself further, my feet seemed to move as if they had minds of their own. It even took me a moment to realize that I was taking myself right back to the room Eli and I had carried out our sordid deeds the previous day. I wasn’t even sure why. I suppose there was a part of me hoping that he would be right inside that room, waiting for me. That he would relieve Jones of his duty, and then take me to re-enact the previous day.
But once I got there, the room was empty.
“You like to be away from everyone, eh?” Jones said, following behind me.
“Uhm, yeah,” I lied. “It’s less distracting back here.”
“I understand,” he said. “Especially if you’re being recognized now.”
I sighed and settled into the room, suddenly feeling awkward. I didn’t want Jones in our special room, but I had so purposely walked here that I knew it would look weird if I abruptly changed my mind and headed to another area. So resigned, I took a seat at the table, trying to force from my mind the things Eli and I had done on that table. If I breathed in deeply enough, I thought I could still smell Eli’s scent.
“Well, this looks like a cozy spot,” Jones said, settling into a chair on the opposite side. “Don’t mind me. You won’t even know I’m here.”
I gave what I hoped was a polite smile, and cracked open the first study guide. I already knew that staying focused enough to actually study would be a hard task though. Slowly I was coming to understand the reason for Eli’s abrupt departure.
Eli Hudson was a man who had always taken his job seriously, and due to what had been happening between the two of us, he obviously felt his professional reputation was on the line. And if it came between me and his job, he was going to pick his job, no matter how many pretty words he had whispered in my ear while we’d been in the throes of ecstasy.
There was just no way that Eli and I could have, or should have, been together.