Warning, somewhat dark story with sex. Not for everyone. Note the rating.
I don't own Crossing Lines or it's characters.
Eva had once said that the Major had brought them all together, that they had all been alone before joining the team. She had been right, and he'd been right. She wondered if he had seen this coming as well. Wondered if this was going to happen when you put fire and gasoline together, had that been part of his plan as well. She supposed the attraction had been there from the start, but the learning of each others past pulled them closer together along with the fact that they had to trust each other. They all spent all their time together, mostly at work of course but even during their spare time they tended to gravitate towards each other. Choosing to seek each other out when they weren't together for some reason. They had all blended together like a family, a dysfunctional family but a family none the less. All of their broken shards fitting together like pieces of a puzzle. They all handled it differently. Arabella was cool about most things, she accepted everything for what it was and rarely questioned their motives for being the way they were. She was probably the most successful one in having a life outside of work. Sebastian liked it. He didn't need many people, his son being the only outside of the team. Hickman watched over them like a hawk would, a watchful eye much like a parent would an errand child. Tommy the resident loner, the one you would have thought would fight tooth and nail to avoid these kind of attachments thrived with it, didn't need much else. He gave loyalty and expected it in return. No, Eva was the one who was struggling.
From time to time she ventured out on her own, trying to see if she still fit in somewhere else than with the team. Or maybe, see if she could fit somewhere else. He usually let her, sure in the knowledge that the pull between them would draw her right back to his arms, to his bed. Theirs was a complicated relationship, one she wasn't sure was perfectly healthy. She had even talked to Carl about it, something she would never in a million years have considered before. But he was a good listener, and he knew both her and Tommy. Knew them together and apart. And he understood what it was like to have this kind of darkness in you, knew what it felt and what it demanded. He didn't judge. He listened, sometimes gave advice, sometimes talked to Tommy, and sometimes he just pulled out that bottle from his desk drawer.
Sometimes she tried to stay away, and he let her drift for a while. Only those times when he felt threatened did he react. Sometimes she wondered if she did that on purpose, just to get that reaction from him. That was why she couldn't talk to anyone outside the team, couldn't tell anyone else how much she loved it when his blue eyes turned stormy and dark, when he slowly pulled the deadbolt on the door to locked, when he stalked towards her like she was his prey. Couldn't tell them why she fought him when all she wanted was to be beneath him.
She could blame it on their job, that pain was a way to stop yourself from becoming too numb to feel much of anything. Because it was true, some cases were just too hard, too soul crushing for the mind or the heart to handle. Those nights she wanted to be numb, just to stop the hurt echoing inside her. But it never lasted… because the numbness was terrifying, and it was better to feel anything than to not feel anything at all. Those nights she was the one to seek him out. She knew which buttons to push now, knew exactly what would make him explode in fury, and what that would lead to. She'd done it today, offering all too willingly to be the decoy that flirted with their suspect, brushing of his concerns and ignoring the way she could almost hear his teeth grinding together over the com as their suspect pawed at her in the bar, unable to do anything but watch. She supposed she should have waited for backup later on, but she was too numb, too worked up to even consider it. And he was pissed, royally so. She could by his snarl and gaze that burned into her back as she talked with Hickman at the office later. He noticed as well, quietly asking if she wanted him to try and calm him down. She declined, and he'd nodded.
This time she'd gone too far though. She knew that and the intensity she could feel radiating from him thrilled her, but she couldn't stop the shiver of unease. She'd gone too far and he was livid. Suddenly angry with herself and her own shortcomings she turned back to Hickman.
"Maybe it's time to try and find something normal"
He frowned, and Tommy's head snapped up.
"I should be able to right?"
She'd left then, quickly before anyone could protest. She knew he had gotten the message, and she wondered how it would play out now. She couldn't help but feel that she'd changed the rules. She went out dancing, found a nice guy that walked her back. He tried to kiss her, she couldn't let him, he left disappointed and she opened her door to find Tommy on the couch watching her.
Changing the game indeed.
Usually after pulling her tricks she went to his, but now he was here and had by all accounts picked her lock. The coldness in his eyes alerted her to the fact that he knew she hadn't been alone on the other side of the door.
"What's wrong? Mr Normal not as fun as you thought?"
She should be angry, shouldn't she. He had broken into her apartment, but all she could feel looking at him was a desire to be completely his in every way. He stood up and stalked towards her, her eyes holding his, some of that defiant spark finding it's way back after a few days of being numb.
He stopped not even an inch from her, their chests brushing together with every breath that passed through their bodies. His hand reached up then, gently stroking against her cheek, a sharp contrast against the storm in his eyes.
"Why do you fight this so hard?" He mumbled.
Silently she screamed. Because you consume my every thought, wake or asleep, all I can see is you. I can't depend on you, can't lean on you, can't bend to you more than I already have.
As if he had heard her he sighed and leaned his forhead against hers. "It's the same for me. The only difference is I've stopped fighting it Eva".
She choked back a sob. "We have to try"
"I have" he insisted gently "You have as well, and yet we always end up here"
She knew he was right. She also knew what was going to happen next. She pulled back to meet his eyes and of course, he already knew. Part of their game, or rather part of them, was deciding who was gonna take charge. Sometimes they fought it out, teeth biting, nails scratching, hands gripping. Fucking more than making love, the sheets tangled around them as they ripped each other to shreds trying to get the other one to submit. Not tonight. She gazed into his eyes before dropping hers and taking a step closer, leaning against him. Without hesitation he lifted her and carried her to the bedroom.
She wasn't surprised when he pulled out the cuffs. Part of their broken souls relished in controlling the other one, enjoyed the immense high it gave them. Part of her had known even before she left work that this would happen tonight. Being naked and completely at his mercy was frightening in so many ways, but she couldn't deny the thrill of letting go, of having him control her and just letting herself fall, trusting him to catch her when she did.
He teased her mercilessly, letting her come so close to falling over the edge several times before pulling her back again, his heated eyes raking all over her exposed body. Tommy loved this she knew. Their high risk jobs meant taking chances without knowing the outcome, and he hated the lack of control he sometimes had. Here, like this, he could control her, make sure that she listened to him and moved with him. She also knew that he loved hearing her beg, because she was Eva Vittoria – and she didn't beg for anyone or anything.
Except for him.
He never stopped teasing her until she begged. When she inevitably did, his eyes flashed with a possessive hunger that made her tremble beneath him. He was never forceful when she was tied up, but he was intense. His hips thrusting forward and sheating him in her in one sure strong move that made her cry out, and him groan into her neck. He always whispered things in her ear then, how she felt and what he wanted. His raspy words turning into demands as he got closer, ending in sharp thrusts and his teeth on her neck when she came moaning his name.
The day after everyone would note the relaxed set of his shoulders, the mark on her neck and the ones around her wrists. But mostly they would notice that she was once again back to normal, the numbness having left her.
Sometimes other cops talked about them she knew. Everything gave them away, his possessive eyes on her whenever someone showed an interest in her. The way he wasn't afraid to go head to toe with anyone who he thought stepped over the line. The way she jumped to his defense, and the way she had punched his brother's wife when she once again dropped by, asking for help that Eva knew was really a thinly veiled excuse to be close to him. Good luck explaining that broken nose to your husband, she had snarled, ready to go at it again when Sebastian had pulled her back and Tommy came around the corner, an eyebrow lifting at the scene before him. She was slightly mollified when he again asked Rose to leave him alone. Even more so when he didn't protest when she pulled out the cuffs that same night.
He understood her, got her on a level that no one ever had before. She knew him as well, knew what he liked and what he loved. Knew what he tasted and smelled like. Even though she at times tried to fight it, she always ended up gravitating back to him.