Eden's Pov

I pulled the SUV that I was using up to the house and thanked God that I'd made it there safely without being pulled over or killing someone. Ordinarily I wouldn't attempt to go anywhere when I get a headache, but I feared if I stayed the night with Lester, sleeping wouldn't be what he would have in mind and I wasn't willing or ready to go that far just yet, if ever.

Opening the door of the truck, I swiveled my whole body around and sat both feet on the ground to make sure I steadied myself. When I got out I swayed a little on my heels, but I caught myself before anything major happened. As I stood getting my balance to make my way to the door the wind picked up and blew around me, picking up my hair. I then heard the weirdest creaking sound and looked all over to find out what it was and where it was coming from. Finally I realized the sound I was hearing was coming from the near by trees and the on going sound was really starting to freak me out. I hurried over to the steps of the small porch, stumbling as I went up them; I unlocked the door after I finished fumbling with the keys.

I closed and locked the doors behind me and let out a long breath of relief that I was inside and away from anything that would bother me. I was alone and safe and was going to enjoy my time. I began making my way through the house, not even bothering to turn any lights on as I went. I unbuttoned my jacket as I walked down the hall to the bedroom and tossed it on the bed as I entered. Next to come off were my shoes along with my skirt and then my blouse. As I pulled on my well worn robe, I wanted a glass of wine so bad that I could taste it, but decided against it because of the shot that Bobby had given me and because I still had a slight headache.

Today has been a long rough day, one that I done ever want to repeat again. Not only did I have a major meeting that I had to be in , but I had gotten sick and thrown up in front of two men one that has declared his love for me. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of chips from the cabinet, I carried then over to the couch where I curled up and flipped on the TV to an old black and white movie.

Before I even saw one minute of the movie my mind thought back over the last twenty four hours, waking up with Lester in bed with me, the meetings with Mr. Manoso, my headache, being in Lester's arms, and his mouth on mine in a wonderful kiss. When I came back to myself I was smiling ear to ear, I touched my bottom lip with my finger and swore I could still feel the tingles from his touch.

"Well maybe some of it wouldn't be so bad to repeat"

"Could it really be true, Could someone really want to be with me?" I asked

"Let your walls down and let me love you" I heard Lester's words in my head

"Could I, could I let go of all the torment, the hurt, how I've lived my whole life, and let this man into my life, my heart?" I felt the mild headache that I still had begun to get stronger and knew studying this hard on Lester was the reason. I knew I needed to stop thinking and rest so I remoted off the TV, got up, and headed down the hall to the bedroom.

With my mind on Lester and the agreement that we had made, I walked into the bedroom on autopilot. I untied and dropped my robe onto the floor, took my bra off, grabbed a t-shirt, and pulled it over my head. Settling into the bed, I turned to smell the pillow that I was laying on, it had the faint scent of Lester from when he slept in bed with me this morning. Smiling while thinking of him, I began day dreaming what it would be like going out with him and being a real couple. IN my vision it seemed so easy to be Lester's girl and be so in love with him and he with me, but nothing could be that simple right?

I turned over onto my back and sighed as I looked up at the ceiling. I was telling myself to be careful and not fall too hard for this man. In school I would crush on boys who were way out of my league and they never even knew I existed, but I loved them. I would daydream about being with them and doodle on paper our names, I knew it was pathetic but that's just how it was and I feared it would be the same with Lester. A flash caught my eye as I was traveling down memory lane. I turned my head towards the window and waited to see it would happen again. Sure enough a few minutes later, I saw the flash again and heard the unmistakable rumble that came after.

"You're safe in here" I told myself doing some deep breathing as I heard the rain hit against the window.

I could hear the wind picking up and the lightning was getting to be more frequent. When the thunder grew louder, each time it sounded I could feel my heart pound in my chest as my breathing was coming in short pants.

"You can do this, it's just a small storm, and it will be over soon"

Just as that had left my lips a huge boom sounded along with a big flash of blue light, Several more large booms were heard causing me to scream, dive off the bed, and try to wedge myself between the bed and the night table. A few minutes went by and I could still hear the storm raging outside, I lifted my head and saw that all the outside lights were gone and so was anything that was on in the house, I couldn't even see the hand in front of my face.

Lester's Pov

I was booking it down the roads trying to get to Eden as fast as I could. I knew she had to be terrified being alone during a storm, thinking of her that way made my foot press a little harder on the peddle. I couldn't believe the fierceness of this storm, the rain was coming down so hard and so much the wipers that were on the fastest setting couldn't keep up. The lighting was just flashing nonstop blinding me when it did so; I was white knuckling the steering wheel trying to keep the truck on the road when the wind would blow against me.

I finally made it to the entrance of the neighborhood that our safe house was located in and came to a screeching halt. Flashing lights were everywhere along with several road flares dotting the road, my heart sank hoping that it wasn't Eden trying to flee the storm.

A knock came to my window and I powered it down to reveal a cop in a long black rain coat and one of those rain bonnets stretched over his cap "Sorry sir roads closed, no one allowed in or out"

"My girlfriend lives just on the next street and she is terrified of storms, I have to get to her"

"Sorry Sir there is a utility pole down across the street and transformers are blowing, we cant allow you to go any further" he told me "Please turn your vehicle around and vacate" he said. On one hand I was relived it wasn't a car that was wrecked and it wasn't Eden's, on the other hand I was frustrated that I was at a stand still.

"I work for Ranger Manoso at RangeMan" I told him. We had work plenty of times with the police department and I know they know who we are and what we do.

"Sir"

"Lester"

"Lester there is a pole down across the road that could have live wires down with it. Transformers are still blowing due to the storm and the whole thing is unstable, we can't allow anyone to pass. Please turn your vehicle around before I have to run you in"

I nodded and the cop left when I rolled my window back up. I stared out of the window for a minute and watched as the officer walked back to his police car. I had to get to Eden; I couldn't allow her to be alone with no power, a storm raging, and transformers blowing all around her. I put the truck in park and reached under the seat where I knew two things were located. When I found the flashlight, I placed it in my lap, took my phone from my pocket, and made a call.

"Hey just a heads up that I may need bail" I said when Tank picked up

"Better be good Santos" he barked

"Aint it always?"

A chuckle came through the phone "we'll be on the lookout"

"K" I said and hung up

I reversed the truck a little and then pulled it over to the side of the road. As soon as I got out I was immediately soaked by the rain. I kept one eye on the cop and one eye on the pole that was lying in the road. I walked to the front of the car and saw the cop get out of his car. I looked at him and he locked his eyes on me.

"SIR GET BACK INTO YOUR CAR" he yelled placing his had on his waist where I knew his gun would be. I took off into a run and made it to the power lines. I prayed as I jumped over them that there was no power running through them since the neighborhood was black. I heard shouts of stop, halt, and freeze as I vaulted over the pole, but I wasn't about to obey their commands. As I cleared the pole I looked back at where it used to stand and saw the splintered remains of the base where the pole had spilt in two. I saw that the cop and the other workers hadn't came after me, but knew that there were probably other officers in the area and he would tell them over their radios to be on the look out. If I didn't get caught now, it would be when I came back, because I would be coming back for my truck and I would have Eden with me making impossible to run away.

I took off and made my way to the next street over where our house was. So far I wasn't stopped nor had I even seen any more police. I ran to the house that I knew Eden was in and stopped when I got in front of it because something didn't look right. I took my flash light and pointed the powerful beam up on the roof and my heart stopped when I saw the tree limbs and the leaves covering the roof.

"OH SHIT" I yelled realizing that a tree had hit the house

"EDEN" I screamed running up to the door and kicking it in. I looked around the living room and everything was as it should be. I then heard crying and pleads for help coming from down the hall.

"EDEN" I called out as I made my way into the bedroom where I figured she was. When I made it inside I could see that the tree had made a hole in the ceiling.

"EDEN WHERE ARE YOU?"

"In here" I heard and I flashed my light in the direction of her voice. I saw it was the bathroom and when I went in I found her curled in a ball next to the toilet shaking.

"Eden" I said in relief that I had found her and from what I could see of her she seemed to be ok. I dropped down to my knees and as soon as my hand touched her she flung herself at me, I'm not even sure she knew it was me.

"Shhh" I said as I cradled her to me "you're ok now, I'm here, I got you"