Onward!
Chapter 29
Christine gave him a hard look, still hugging his neck. "So it's that easy?" She had really expected a bit more of an argument to convince him to take her into the basement.
He spread his hands. "I do not want to keep secrets from you. Not anymore."
It really was that effortless, was it? She gave him a hard squeeze with her arms around his neck and kissed him firmly. "I love you."
Disentangling her arms, he kissed both wrists. "Go shower, dearest, if you are."
"Quickly, I promise." She grabbed a change of pajamas and underwear, and hurried off to the bathroom.
All she needed was a speedy splash under the hot water, and she soaped up her body quickly. The unfamiliar slickness between her legs did make her pause, and she felt herself blushed when she thought about what Erik had left behind. That at least reminded her of what she needed to bring up.
When she came out of the bathroom, she saw Erik was still sitting on the bed. He had replaced his black silk pajama top, as well as his mask. However, he had left off the wig, which now perched on the nightstand. She hurried over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist once again, needing to show him how much she appreciated the steps he was taking. If he could walk around the house like that, without hiding his true appearance, she considered that a huge step in the right direction.
She pulled back enough to grin up at him. "We've come a long way, haven't we?" And they had from that first moment when her accidental touch upon his wrist made him hiss at her. Back then, any contact had been a huge deal to the two of them.
Here they both stood – she without her bra and he without his wig.
He ran a hand over his bare scalp, seemingly to remember he was exposed. For a moment, his body curled inward and away from her, but then he straightened and took her hand in his.
"Yes, we have. Come."
He led her to the basement door, his hand cool around hers but the touch oh so welcome. She expected the door to still be locked, but it wasn't – he turned the handle and opened the door without hesitation. A narrow staircase fell away from the door into darkness.
She swallowed and scooted a little closer to him. "A light, maybe?"
"Of course."
He flipped a switch nearby, which turned on a single bulb down in the room below. The stairs were still quite dark, but Erik's hand was strong, his grip keeping her stable as she followed him down the stairs. In hindsight, she probably should have slipped on some shoes to come down here, but Erik also padded down the wooden stairs in bare feet.
For a moment, she focused on the odd domestic pair they made, both in their pajamas and less than half an hour post an intimate interlude…
She had put on fresh underwear, but she could feel a sudden dampness as she walked. Her cheeks lit up as she quickly figured out what it was. And then she wondered at Erik's lack of concern about safety. She wasn't worried about catching something from him or vice versa – she knew he would never endanger her health, and they were both too inexperienced to have contracted anything from someone else. However, how was he not concerned with the possibility of getting her pregnant? He had to have thought about it.
She squeezed his hand as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Hey, Erik?"
"Mm?" He paused to look at her. They were closer to the same height since she was standing one step above him. She loved the way his eyes glowed, especially when their focus was completely on her.
She knew he could see her blushing even in this low light. "We… um, we didn't use protection." There, she'd said it, for better or for worse.
"Protection?"
She could have hit him. Now was not the time for him to be naïve. Luckily, she didn't have to spell it out for him. His eyes widened.
"You are speaking of earlier."
"Yes." Of course she was.
He gazed at her for a long moment, and then tugged her further into the room. Immediately, she noticed a wide assortment of computers and laptops lining the far wall of the small basement. There had to be at least a half dozen computers here, all connected to what looked like a complicated network of cables and black boxes of technology she didn't recognize.
Gently, he turned her away from the computers. "I swear to you, you are in no danger from me as I carry no diseases. As far as any risk of producing… offspring, you currently have an intrauterine implant, yes?"
How the crap did he know about that? Her mind raced, journeying back to the fact that Erik had read her medical files. So of course he knew she had gotten a copper IUD implanted before she began chemo, as an added protection against getting pregnant just in case she ever decided to become sexual active.
He must have read the unhappiness on her face because his other hand came up to palm her flushed cheek. "Please forgive me. We should have discussed this beforehand."
"You think?" She was more upset with herself than him. Her mama had taught her better. "It's okay."
"Is it?"
She turned her head to kiss the inside of his broad palm. "I'm not mad. We should have talked about this beforehand, but what's done is done." She took a deep breath and released it, steadying her emotions. "We've talked about it now, so let's move on." She swept an arm to indicate the spread of equipment before them.
His stare lingered on her for a moment longer before he allowed her to come to stand before the long row of computers. "This morning, one of Nadir's informants told him that several of our mutual enemy had suddenly shifted locations."
"Shifted locations? To where?" she wondered, but dread made her belly ache.
"Boston."
Boston. Where she had lived for years, where her mother often visited and worked. Her thoughts spun. Had they discovered her connection to Erik and gone to Boston to find her? Was she now to be on the run for the rest of her life?
"Erik, my mother-"
"She is safe." He pushed at a computer mouse, snapping the monitor on. Entering a long passcode, he clicked through files and opened programs she didn't recognize. "She was our first thought, of course, but their movements seem to be directly following me to Boston. There is so much activity in and out of that city that we are both confident they have lost my trail. Nothing indicates they have noticed you or anyone connected to you. They have, effectively, lost the scent."
Her heart pounded, and even though she believed him when he said her mother and friends were safe, she still worried about this new activity. "This is what you and Nadir were doing all day?"
He nodded. "That, and placing tracers on the most prominent members of the group. We have watched some of them for years, but we have now widened our survey of them." He stepped back so she could see the computer monitor.
It was a map of the world with every country's borders brightly outlined. Several dozen points were marked on the map in an intense, glowing red. As she watched, a couple of those red dots shifted a tiny margin across the map.
"Those are the men who hunt you?" she asked, strained.
"The remaining ones, yes. They are mostly men, mostly from Daroga's home country, and all of them carry a blood debt to track me down. Over time, they might have forgotten that I murdered their shah – he wasn't much loved, anyway. However, they never will forget that I took their wealth from them."
She looked at him, wide-eyed. "Why don't you just give it back?"
"I doubt it would now be that uncomplicated."
She wasn't so sure, but she held her tongue. She doubted Erik welcomed her criticism on this, and when she had come along on this journey with him, she had vowed to accept his decisions on these matters.
"You should have just told me, Erik. Shutting me out like that, locking the door – I didn't know what to think."
He at least seemed a bit uncomfortable about his and Nadir's behavior that day. He shifted on his bare feet and ran a long-fingered hand over the sparse springs of his hair. "I cannot apologize for that. We did what we thought was best, and this meant seeking to control the situation as quickly as possible. We needed information, and we had to seek out every angle to ensure that your companions are safe. We couldn't do that with you in our midst."
She frowned, rubbing her arms against the chill of the basement. "I didn't know you thought so little of me."
"Christine," he said, his pale neck flushing a little in the low light. "That is not at all what I meant."
"Isn't it?" she asked bitterly. "You thought I would get hysterical, and therefore get in your way."
When he came over to her and wrapped her arms around her, she thought about jerking out of his grasp. However, she wanted that embrace from him. She was still shaken up from the very idea that these men had gone to Boston while trying to find Erik. Boston was a large city, of course, but the thought scared her. She could never forgive herself if Meg or her mother were hurt – or worse – because of her.
He took a step back and cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. She didn't see any anger from him, but rather a calm surety that he had done what he should have for the greater good. His reaction extinguished any argument she felt welling up inside her.
"Do you not trust me, dearest?"
Her first response was yes, of course, but she checked herself. Did she trust him? She argued with him over every little thing, often thought her own judgment was better than his. She knew with all her heart that Erik's greatest priority was her safety, so why couldn't she let go of control when he needed her to?
"I want to," she said. "I've had to take care of myself for so long, maybe I struggle with trusting anyone."
His head tilted a bit to the side, considering. "In this, we are both alike."
The realization comforted her, however. It explained a lot about both of them.
Erik drew her close to him, his arms sure and strong, enfolding her against his chest. She sighed against the silky touch of his shirt. "In this, at least, trust me. All is well."
"Nadir still had to leave?"
"Indeed. He can better access his contacts while in Paris, and he will also check in with both your mother and Megan Giry. Discreetly, of course."
She returned his embrace, hugging him back. "Okay, I'll trust you. But you need to trust me to handle this stuff, too, okay?"
She felt him nod against the top of her head. The weight of the long day, and the fact that it was now the middle of the night, began to catch up with her. A yawn brought tears to her eyes, and Erik immediately began to lead her to the stairs.
Despite the agony of waiting around all day, and the news of these dangerous men growing closer to those she loved, Christine felt more at peace than she had since leaving Boston. Everything seemed to be clicking into place – at least, almost everything. Her relationship with Erik only grew stronger, and they were able to have conversations about these heavy topics without either of them blowing up and stalking out of the room.
Better yet, as they walked back to their shared bedroom hand in hand, Christine remembered what had happened just before they had headed down to the basement. The sheets of the bed were rumpled, and Erik's wig still lay on the nightstand. She paused inside the doorway, then tugged him forward, unable to hide her grin.
He joined her in the bed without wavering, and she didn't let go of him the entire time as they settled under the blankets. She faced him and tapped her fingers against the cheek of his mask. Silently, he slid it off and placed it next to his wig, and she didn't comment on how quickly he pressed that side of his face against the pillow as he turned toward her again.
They kissed, slow and without the pressure of the outside world, without the worry of the future. That could all come later. For now, she would focus on his mouth on hers, on the thinness of his cool lips that spread into his deformity, on how much she loved how he kissed her with the utmost care and attention to every detail.
She would focus on his hands that crept under her nightshirt and fanned across her back, stroking her skin aflame once again. Those talented hands touched and pressed, stirring a new ache between her legs. She arched against his touch, silently urging him to continue, struggling to stop her own moans and failing, but those noises from her seemed to encourage him to slip his fingers into other dark places, and she panted and licked at his lips until his tongue met hers.
Only when she clutched at his shirt in desperation did he finally ease himself on top of her, his heavy welcoming weight pressing her into the mattress. Their clothing parted enough for them to be joined, and she welcomed him into her once again.
