Chapter 2
Eva looked up, still frozen where she sat. Edward could not read the expression in her eyes.
“What just happened?” he asked, forcing a failed chuckle. He knew what it must have looked like to her. “She is clearly delusional.”
Eva’s stare didn’t falter and it caused Edward concern.
“Eva? Are you okay?” He studied her face wishing he could have read her thoughts. “I honestly don’t know what she is talking about. She quickly befriended me when I started here, almost too quickly but at the time, I thought she was harmless. We went to dinner once and she took it for more than what it was.”
She slowly looked down at her food then out the front window before getting up and walking away from the table.
“Eva? Eva, please. You have to listen to me.”
Without a word, she quickly left the restaurant. By the time Edward had thrown enough cash on the table to pay for the meal and ran out after her, he had lost sight of where she went. He looked both ways and saw Gracie’s Audi just disappearing around the corner. When he looked the other way, he spotted Eva and ran after her.
“Eva! Stop!”
He finally caught up to her and grabbed her arm to stop her. Her face was wet with tears as she tried to control her sobbing.
“You don’t believe that I had anything to do with that woman, do you?”
“I believe you could have. She is beautiful and quite persistent, and I can see a man like you getting involved with someone like her, before finding out what kind of person she really is.”
“But I didn’t. I was only trying to get to know some of my fellow professors and she was the first. She even went out of her way to help me get some information for some research I was working on, information I could not obtain on my own.”
“Can we get out of here?” she asked, looking back toward the restaurant.
“Come on.” They walked to his car and she didn’t take a full breath until he was back on the road.
“When I met her, she seemed completely harmless. It wasn’t until later on, I found out some things about her, some things that were quite disturbing. Rumors mostly, but still disturbing nonetheless. I told her I wasn’t interested in her, tried to get away from her but she just kept showing up. From what I have heard she has a serious obsession problem, to a point that it sometimes ends up tragic. I’m not much on believing rumors, but after the attack….”
“Attack?” Eva quickly looked at him.
“Yeah. Remember the night I was attacked?”
“By the mugger, yes. What about it?”
“I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Eddie, what happened?”
“The guy who attacked me, I knew who he was.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“Until tonight, I figured it was a one and done kind of attack.”
“You are scaring me.”
“It was Gracie’s brother and she put him up to it.”
Eva gasped and covered her mouth. “What?”
“She confessed it in the restaurant. Told me if I didn’t watch it, she would sick him on to me again.”
“Oh my… you have to get out of here then. You can’t stay here. Your life is in danger.” Eva grew almost hysterical and began to cry again. “Eddie, please. You have to go.”
“Go? Why? I can handle him if it happens again. I know what to expect now. He took me by surprise that night.”
“No, Eddie! You don’t get it. The murder. He is a dangerous man. Please.”
“What murder? Eva, what are you talking about?”
“That murder a few years ago? It was Gracie who plotted it, but she had help.”
“She did?”
“Her brother was put on trial for that murder.”
“So why is he free?”
“They didn’t have enough evidence to convict him or Gracie. I’m telling you, she has strong ties here and somehow, she is able to manipulate the system to go her way whenever she wants it to.”
“I know she is quite close to the security guard, but there has to be more to it.”
“No one knows, but it is awfully coincidental that when something bad happens to her, something also happens to a department head.”
“A department head? What do you mean? What do they have to do with all of this?”
“Not too long ago, when they were trying to fire her, we were all happy they finally did it. When some of my friends had her class the next day she was still there to teach it. They all thought she had lost her mind. No one knew what happened and they were all too afraid to ask. The next day, there was a huge rumor going around that Mr. Housel, one of the department heads had been caught with meth. Completely unrelated, I know, but….”
“Let me guess, they let her stay and his drug habit mysteriously disappeared?”
“You got it.”
“Interesting.”
Edward started trying to piece everything together as they drove in silence until he reached her house. When he parked, he turned toward her and waited.
“Eddie,” she said, looking down at her hands clasped together in her lap, “I didn’t run out of the restaurant because I thought there was something between you and Gracie.” She looked up at him. “I was scared for my life. That woman frightens me and when she started becoming violent I froze. As soon as I was able to I ran out.”
“I understand, really. And thank you for telling me. I was worried that you thought….”
“No. Not even for a minute. I trust you and I believe you.”
“Thank you.” He spoke the words as genuinely as he could, but couldn’t help but feel the guilt that gnawed at him from deep within.
“Listen, it isn’t very late and I don’t really want to be alone right now. It’s a beautiful night. What do you think about driving out to the lake for a while?”
“Sounds like a perfect plan to me,” he said with a smile. He pulled away from the curb and drove toward the Oxford city limits. He kept an eye on his rearview mirror to avoid any possible followers and felt confident when there wasn’t another headlight to be seen. He pressed the gas pedal down and didn’t let up until they were well on their way out of town.
When they got to the lake, he took precautionary measures and pulled into the park, off the pavement hiding his car behind a storage building close by. They walked hand in hand toward the lake with the same blanket they used the last time draped over Edward’s arm.
“This is nice,” she said, lying on the blanket next to him. The sky was covered in a blanket of stars and the night air was cool, but comfortable. “I wish I could lay like this with you forever. Capture this moment and stay like this. No cares, no worries.”
“I feel the same way.” He pulled his cell phone out and lay down next to her, his head close to hers. He held the phone up in the air and snapped a picture of the two of them together. “There. Now this moment is captured forever.” He rolled toward her and watched her face as she talked, her side profile lit up slightly by the moon and the stars.
“Life can be tough sometimes.”
“Yes.” He became mesmerized with the way her lips moved.
“They should give everyone a time out at least once a week. A guarantee that nothing is going to stress them out or cause them grief.”
“Absolutely.”
“But I guess nothing is guaranteed, is it?” She turned her face toward him, seriousness and concern clouding her beautiful eyes.
“I am hoping that one day I can take you away from all of the doubt and frustration surrounding you, surrounding us. I want to make you happy, Eva.”
She sat up quickly and rolled over on top of him, kissing his nose repeatedly. “You already do that.”
He traced her face with the tip of his finger and wanted nothing more than to have this for the rest of his life.
“I love you, Eva.”
“Hmmm,” she smiled and laid her head on his chest. “I can hear your heart,” she said, pressing deeper into him.
“Let’s see if we can make it beat faster.”
“What?” she leaned up to look at him and he rolled her over, pinning her to the ground and devouring her lips with his. When he pressed his body into hers he heard that little gasp that he loved to hear from her lips. He slid his hands up underneath her shirt feeling her body respond to his touch and inched his way up until his hands cupped her breasts.
“Damn, I love what you do to me,” she breathed.
“We have so much in common,” he said before kissing her deeply again, pressing himself into her. They intertwined their bodies together, kissing body parts, shedding clothing piece by piece, massaging each other and making love until the dew from the night covered everything around them.