On this chapter we get an insight on particular moments of Annie's and Eliot's past, those are in Italic
Eliot shakes his head as Annie follows him closely to the van, her dress and jeans are soaked in blood, her hair is messy and her eyes are twinkling like little starts.
"Can we please stay and enjoy the explosion? Please!" She asks is if it were firework they are talking about, there's a begging tone on her voice that once again reminds him of Eleanor more than Sophie ever did. He growls because she's crazy insane and he's no less than her because he gives in to her; always did!
Eliot wakes up with rustling sounds around him; he opens one of his yes to find Annie kneeling on the ground grabbing her shirt from under his bed. She extends the destroyed piece of cloth in front of her, her mouth twisting in disapproval. "I can't wear that now, can I?" Her lips are swollen and there are several bruises on her arms and torso as well as some bite marks. "I will take one of your shirts" and she moves to his closet, kicking a broken lamp on her way.
Eliot himself as a huge headache, several scratches on his face, back and chest; also he's pretty sure he has a sprain ankle. He hates himself, none of that was supposed to end like that, but she always gets under his nerves and he always shouts at her. Eventually she hits him and he gets so mad he forgets who he is and hits her back. They fight and fighting always leads to rough, angry sex; really hot sex that he regrets in the morning.
She's already at the door, long hair cascading through her shoulder, moving away from her face as she suddenly turns around slightly pouting. She knows exactly what he feels like.
"Sophie's not coming back, Sparky and, I am not her so; might as well enjoy the ride!" He frowns because he still doesn't believe Sophie's dead and she laughs leaving, her hips swinging more than necessary just because she knows he can't look away.
They are both leaning against the van and as she watches the explosion; fire balls coming out of the windows, glass shattering everywhere, he can't stop looking at her, thinking maybe Ms. Kroy is more than what first meets the eye.
"I loove a good death scene!" She praises before entering the van, he takes the wheel; they need to leave the place before the fire-fighters arrive. They park a few miles away so Annie can change her clothes, she knows Sophie will be coming soon and Sophie doesn't enjoy having sticky, bloody, clothes brushing against her skin.
"Can you unzip me?" He reaches for the zip.
"Sure thing, darlin'!" and as the zip goes down, revealing more of her silky skin he spots something he didn't know it would last all these years; a scar he inflicted her.
Annie is on the floor rubbing her shoulder, a cocky smile on her lips. She did it again, she made him lose control.
"I thought you didn't hit women!" She says on a mocking tone as he cleans the blood coming from his nose with his forearm, they've too many times before for her not to know that. She kicked him the face first there for, she had it coming.
He wants to turn around and walk away, he wants to be the gentleman he was before she showed up, bringing up the worst of him, but he's so mad and so deep in their game of push and pull he just wants to outsmart her, win the game, the battle and the war once and for all.
"Not unless they hit me first!" He states and curls his hands into fists ignoring the pain burning trough his jaw and nose. Her eyes study the ceiling for a moment, then she lowers her head again, strands of dark hair straddling her face, and bits her lip, a nasty cut on her cheek.
"Does that mean if I hit you again you will hit me back?" and she winks at him on way that's so very unSophie.
"Don't you dare!" It's too late, she's on her feet, launching herself onto him with a knife on her hand. He defends, she attacks, he defends again but fails and she punches him in the solar plexus making him stumble backwards against the fridge. When she approaches him again he grabs her arms and immobilizes her, as she fights his body a porcelain bowl falls to the ground breaking into pieces. Someway, somehow he ends up pushing her against the counter and she reacts by curling her legs around his waist, her hands going for his hair. Her lips crash on his and once again he stops fighting, starting to want her instead.
They do it on the kitchen floor, as always,s she takes control from him, diminishing him as she very well pleases, she makes him beg, makes him say her name and he hates it as much as he enjoys it. In the end, she's lying on top of him, her head against his chest and they almost seem normal, she almost behaves like a normal woman. Five minutes later she ruins everything by opening her mouth and saying something terribly mean that makes him furious. He grabs her by the hips pushing her harshly along with the words "You bitch, get of off me!" She hisses in pain the second she hits the floor and he realizes he probably threw her against the broken bowl.
"You wanker!" She hisses as she gets up, very, very carefully, letting him see a big piece of porcelain, deeply buried on her skin.
Eliot looks away as she dresses one of Nathan's shirts (because she can't find her own clothes) and tries to brush away those memories, they were from so many years ago and everything was buried and forgotten after Sophie got back.
Eliot dressed his boxers as fast as he could and followed her to the kitchen, waking up with her screaming by his side was not what he meant.
"Sophie, I am sorry! I never meant... I thought..."
"I wasn't coming back! I know, Eliot!" She's has his bed sheet wrapped around her body, there's blood on it and he doesn't know if it's his or Annie's.
"You're not... hu... you don't seem mad..." He's in shock, she sighs.
"I and Annie share memories so I know what happened besides, she has done worse..." He frowns and panic flashes through his eyes the second he remembers they never wore condoms.
"She... She sleeps around?!" Sophie chokes on her glass of water.
"Jesus, Eliot. No!" She can't stop her own smile as relief spreads across his face. "But this one time when I was nineteen I woke up and find out I'd been married with an 87 year old man for six months." He frowns in disgust this time.
"She made ya have sex with some wrinkled old guy?" She shakes her head.
"She hypnotized him so he'd think we were having sex..."
"Ya know how ta hypnotize people?" He doesn't know what surprises him more; that or the fact he's actually surprised about it.
"She does, not me! Anyway, turns out she had a fetish for the Black Widow con and cyanide..."
This time he laughs.
"That sounds like her all right..." Sophie places her glass of water on the counter; once again his kitchen seems like a battlefield, why did they always fight in the kitchen?
"Eliot, let's not talk about this, ever again!"
And they didn't, but now Eliot can't stop thinking this woman is a lot different from the one he met at the time, he could actually like this woman... Then, she turns to him, all joy and smiles, despite all the darkness around them and he reminds himself he never could, she's a psycho, a manipulative liar that takes joy on others pain.
Her brow furrows as she points at his own brow.
"That" she says "right there; every time you start to like me something changes your mind. What is it?"
"Maybe the fact you are psychopath that enjoys torturing people and cannot possibly love!" He says coldly through clenched teeth, the idea of him liking her fading away as his anger grows more and more, he wants to push her away, desperately.
She lowers her head and bites her lip on a nervous way. "Ever wondered why is it that I cannot love? I wasn't born like this you know? Why would my real self need a persona that doesn't bond with other and has no mercy?" He eyes her, it seems she is about to cry, but he shakes his head discreetly, pushing the need to hug her away, he knows what she is capable of... "Ever wondered why is Sophie the only alias that can control me when she's also the only one that dared to love?" Her tone is getting higher as she speakes. "But you never bothered to ask yourself those questions did you? Not you, not Sophie, not anybody! I am just the person you can call whenever you want to avenge your screwed up wife only to ditch me and hate me after!"
"Don't you talk about Parker!" That is a border that not even her can cross!
"Well then, don't talk about me Mr. Spencer because you know nothing about me!" And with that last shout she is gone, Eliot watches as her posture changes, and Sophie emerges, tears falling down her face as Annie's memories blend with her and she realizes something she had long forgotten.
They spend the rest of the trip in silence as Eliot drives and Sophie reminisces.
To all the shippers that are mad at me remember Annie and Eliot never loved each other, with them it was always about control, not about caring feelings, besides it was many years ago before Parker was on the picture and Eliot loves her deeply.
Now, what do you think it's happening to Sophie and what did Annie mean with that last speech?