Finding Eden(56)

"Of course," she said. "There's no rush. We'll talk about it with my mom, and then with each other and with Xander. We'll come to a decision together, all right?"

I nodded, feeling better. "Yeah."

Eden smiled a small smile at me. "All right." She tilted her head and smiled. "We're going to be okay, you know that, right?"

I couldn't help the small smile that came to my lips. Because she was in front of me, real and whole and here, and she was so damn beautiful she made my gut clench. "Yeah, I know," I said, mostly believing it. I took her in my arms and kissed her deeply, losing myself in the sweet taste of her.

"My woman," I growled, coming up for air and putting my lips against her neck as I smiled and pretended to growl a little more. She laughed and writhed against me, trying to pull back.

"Careful or we're going to end up back in The Bed of Healing." She laughed.

"That was kind of my point," I said.

We kissed and laughed for a few more minutes bringing calm to my system.

"We better go." Eden sighed.

"I know," I said, trailing kisses down her neck and then nuzzling against her. We'd had so much sex over the past four days, but I would have happily returned to that bed and sunk back into her for a few more.

We finally managed to pull away from each other. Eden went and freshened up while I quickly put the other set of sheets I'd bought on our bed. Our bed. Those two words made happiness spike through me so intensely I almost felt dizzy from it.

I grabbed two small canvases of Eden as a pre-teen out of my studio room and wrapped them in brown construction paper and taped them closed. Eden met me in the hallway as I was closing the door. I smiled at her and took her hand.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yup," she said, grabbing her purse off the counter.

I locked the door behind us and we took the elevator down to the lobby. I'd never like elevators; I'd never like small spaces in general. Not after Acadia. But I was also eager to get Eden back home and pack up her stuff so we could start our life together.

We opened the door to the street, a small smile on Eden's face as she looked up at me.

Suddenly all hell broke loose.

I swiveled my head as a large crowd surged forward and I grabbed Eden and pulled her to me, stumbling backward and dropping the paintings I held in my hand.

"There they are!" I heard yelled. "Eden Everson!" someone called. "Why haven't you told police you're back? Were you really at Acadia during the mass suicide?"

"Get back!" I yelled, my voice bursting out of me before I could even form a coherent thought. Two men pushed forward, smashing the canvases under their feet. I swung my fists, the world turning red around me, pulsing with blood and panic.

"Calder Raynes! Storm!" someone else called. "Is it true that you're from Acadia, too? How'd you both make it out? Is it Eden in all your paintings?"

I pushed my way through the throngs of people, hardly able to make sense of their shouted words, holding Eden tightly around her shoulders, both of our heads bent. I swung one arm in front of me, pushing anyone out of the way who didn't move on their own. The voices kept shouting all around us. My heart was pounding what felt like a million miles a minute and adrenaline was pumping through my blood.

"Get the fuck away from her!" I yelled when a man tried to yank on Eden's arm. When he refused to unhand her, I let go of Eden briefly and moved toward him, swinging at him and connecting with his face, blood flying into the air around us. I let out a loud yell, kicking at him as he hit the ground. I heard Eden scream and the world around me seemed to grow blurry, the sounds coming from underwater.

I felt something inside me snap, and suddenly, my fists were flying and I distantly felt pain exploding across my knuckles, but I didn't care. Eden screaming. Blood on her clothes. Men pulling her away from me. Eden screaming. I can't get to her. I can't protect her. Eden screaming. Blood on her clothes. Men pulling her away from me. Eden screaming. I can't get to her. I can't protect her.

When I came back to myself, the crowd had moved back and I was hunched over Eden on the sidewalk, heavy breaths of exertion rasping from my chest. I looked around wildly to assess any more threat and saw several men with blood on their faces and two still sprawled on the ground. I sprang to my feet, bringing her with me and pulling her in tightly to my chest as my head whipped around in every direction. There were words coming from my mouth and as I tried to calm my raging blood. I realized they were, "Never again, never again, never again."

"Calder? Calder?" Eden's voice. Her soft, angelic voice. I gasped out and looked down, my vision completely clearing. Eden was crying softly against me. I pulled her back against a car parked on the street and ran my hands up and down her body, tilting her head up so I could rake my eyes over all her features, assessing whether she was hurt.