Chapter 10
Eva
“Well, why won’t you tell me about this ‘dream’ you had?” Laura’s tone insisted. “Because it looked really hot!”
I swallowed hard. “Laura, quit it. I already told you. It was some kind of erotic dream. I don’t know where it came from.” But she was right…it was smoking hot.
Laura smiled as she scrambled the eggs in a battered aluminum bowl. “There’s nothing wrong with—” She shot a glance at Jaylynn and spelled out, “m-a-s-t-u-r-b-a-t-i-n-g. In fact, should be every woman’s best friend.” She turned around and slid the eggs into the hot skillet, which hissed and popped.
I rolled my eyes. “I know that.” I continued trying to braid Jaylynn’s hair into some semblance of order. “Hold still, little miss! What did you do? Take scissors to your hair as soon as I left?” Laura and I had already managed to get Amber’s hair into a set of matching ponytails for school today, but Jaylynn, as usual, was being stubborn, even if unintentionally. She crossed her deep brown arms and gave us a rebellious look.
“I don’t want to go! I want to stay here with you, Eva. You’re going to leave again, aren’t you? I need you.” Big crocodile tears brimmed in her deep mahogany eyes. They were almost my undoing.
Laura, as usual, rescued me. “Wouldn’t today be a great ‘Apple for the Teacher Day’? And lookie there! I happen to have one green apple and one red apple. Who gets which apple?”
She made the choice between green or red sound so…vital and exciting. I could predict which girl would take which apple. Red was Amber’s favorite color, and green was Jaylynn’s. No argument and no fuss later, they each had an apple to take to their teacher. The interlude had also given Jaylynn a chance to sit still long enough for me to whisk her coarse hair into a simple braid. I was glad Ivy had brought her over the night before when they brought my clothes, but a five-year-old could be difficult to negotiate with.
I loved that Amber and Jaylynn were best friends. It truly had made life much easier to deal with for me and for Laura. The girls ate their scrambled eggs and toast and chattered happily until it was time to leave the apartment to catch the transit for school. Right as she hit the door, Jaylynn stopped, turned around, and ran back to me. She threw her arms around me and said, “Don’t go, Eva. Don’t leave us forever. I love you.” Then she just as abruptly turned and ran away.
When Laura came back from escorting them to the transit station, I hadn’t moved and had tears in my eyes.
“Oh, honey.” She put her pale, slender arms about my shoulders. “It’ll be okay. We all knew this was life-changing when you wanted to sign up for it. We talked about it for a while, but we agreed you wouldn’t be happy unless you tried.”
I wiped my eyes and went back to inspecting my split lip. “What?”
“Gino, me, Val, and Ivy. We talked about it when you brought it up. But we discussed it and figured you needed to do this for you.”
“You all sat down and talked about me?” I had a hard time wrapping my mind around that little tidbit. I didn’t like the idea of them sitting around worrying about me.
“Well, of course. Just like you and I did when Trevor ran away, and we didn’t want to tell Ivy.”
“I’m not a child,” I said indignantly.
“Of course not. But that doesn’t mean we don’t love you just the same, and want what’s best for you.” Laura hugged me hard. All I could smell was the lavender shampoo she used. “Eva, I love you. You’re my best friend. But I think this decision is what’ll make you the happiest.” She pushed away and looked me directly in the eye. “Now, we need to figure out how to get you back to the Program without those wackos getting the chance to grab you again, especially if this Raevu alien makes you very…erotic-dream-having happy.” With another laugh, she kissed my heated cheek and went to refresh her coffee.
What were the odds she’d walk in on the first erotic dream I had in my life? And it had been a strong one. My whole body tingled at the feeling of his mouth on my nipple and his hand stroking me. My whole center still ached with the need he’d created.
I closed my eyes and pictured him moving toward me again—his blue skin glistening in the moonlight as he stormed across the room. The warmth of his body pressed against mine in that too-small bed of Laura’s. Raevu’s gold eyes seeming to pierce into me just before he plunged into a kiss that made my lips quiver as I relived the experience.
I reached my hand up and traced my bottom lip with my finger. Was it my imagination, or did my lip feel swollen from his kisses? Damn. It had felt so real.
“How do I get back safely, Laura? I don’t know if I can trust the authorities.”
Laura tidied up her kitchen and wiped down her counters. The whole time she had on her thinking face. She always did her best thinking while she was cleaning. “I’m not sure, Eva. If this Cold guy is a cop or something like that, going to the local precinct is suicide. But the Juhlians are here for you. You can’t just stay here. You promised yourself to them.” She continued to clean her kitchen even after it was spotless. “What would I do? What would I do?” With her eyes closed, she wiped the same spot on her counter three times. I smiled at her distraction as she went on. “I would do the unexpected. Shout from the rooftops, holler in the streets. Draw as much attention as possible so the bad guys couldn’t sweep me under the rug.”
Laura dropped her towel and grabbed my hands. “That’s it. After last night’s press conference with President Maeda talking about how much we need this treaty, you need to show up in a public place like the broadcast station. Somewhere on camera so no one can hide you or sweep you away.” Her eyes were aflame and excited with her idea. “We need to sneak you to the broadcast station and get you on camera!”