Page 22

Jason

My chest expands so far that my ribs crack as I inhale deeply, planting my elbows on the desk and viciously rubbing my temples: I’m buried in Everlast paperwork and administrative shit, ever since Maya took a week hiatus to go help Ace entrap a few traffickers who have been ducking the authorities. For the most part we’re pretty efficient at luring our prey to the club, but after the run in with the men who attacked Eve, it’s been increasingly difficult to catch these men out in the open. It’s like they have some fucking bad guys hotline where they tell each other about where their crew gets caught, who goes missing, and the possible connection between it all.

And apparently Clover is on the list.

For now.

My cell phone buzzes on my desk, notifying me of a text, and I gratefully break my concentration on my computer monitor as I glance down to see who it is.

I’M GOING TO CALL YOU IN A MINUTE.

Eve. It’s been a few months since her first kill at Clover, and since then she’s been increasingly diligent towards her new responsibilities: she’s gone so far as to convince Jack to teach her how to fight. I’m proud of her. Now that she’s free to move around Everlast and Clover as she wishes, she’s become emboldened with her newfound confidence.

There’s only one problem. She’s still…thirsty. Thirsty for blood, for death, for that feeling of watching the light go out of someone’s eyes.

Some people kill because they want to. Some because they need to. And some because it’s the right thing to do, and they know there’s no other option. With Eve, it’s all three, and that makes her dangerous. She’s been well-received by the viewers, and the chat is always filled with comments you’d expect.

WHO IS THE NEW GIRL

OMG THE KING HAS A QUEEN

SHE’S FINE AS FUCK

You know. The usual.

Yet despite the attention she gets, she is never distracted. She is always at the edge of the frame, waiting, ready at a moment’s notice to step in when I want–or need–a hand. And I love it. The small smiles we exchange to each other, the way we sneak a touch or kiss when we step off-cam, the sense of completion I feel now that I have Eve to balance everything in my life: it’s like everything makes sense now.

She’s definitely been taking her role as my apprentice seriously: talking to the Jokers and brainstorming more efficient disposal methods, helping Maya with the books and cremation schedules here at Everlast, even going so far as to hang out with Ace in his office downstairs in an effort to learn as much as she can about how our screening programs for our viewers works.

RING RING RING.

RING RING RING.

I grab my phone and push away from my desk, leaning back in my chair and pushing the green ANSWER button as I kick my feet up.

“Hello, Princess. What do you need?”

She chuckles dryly on the other line, and I hear shuffling in the background.

“Yeah, I had a question,” she huffs, pausing to catch her breath.

“Eve, what are you doing? Are you ok?”

The shuffling continues for a second before settling, and I hear the volume of her voice going in and out as she speaks.

“Yeah….I’m ok…just…doing some push-ups….uugh, I had to set the phone…on the table…you’re on speaker…”

I bark out a laugh.

“I remember you saying you’ve been working out lately, but is there any reason as to WHY?”

“Yeah…” she pauses and I hear her take a couple deep breaths. “To get…stronger…want to be able…lift more weight…makes it easier…to help you…”

My heart warms at the sentiment: I shuffle my legs off of the table and lean forward, my neck cracking as I let my chin hang to my chest.

“That means a lot, Eve. But we have…staff…for any heavy lifting, you know that.” She knows I mean the Jokers, who are always there to assist with placement and removal of our clients.

So why would she mention wanting to lift more weight?

I toss the thoughts from my head with a quick shake.

“How did your lunch with the school board go yesterday?”

In an effort to take my advice on having a normal life, Eve has recently been having lunches with members of the board of directors for the local university–her father’s old friends–and discussing the possibility of continuing to hold seminars in his place.

“It was ok,” she says with a groan. “We talked about Dad, formulated a plan for future presentations, talked with the archaeology professor and the liaison for a museum in the other town. It was good.”

“I’m glad. Because I wanted to ask you something, and now is as good of a time as any.”

I pause, my shaky breath doing precious little to quell the swell of nervousness I feel rising in my chest.

“Mmhmm?” She muses from the other end of the phone, the faint sound of a cork popping followed by the clinking of glass-on-glass bringing a smile to my face.

“I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I think we should move in together. More specifically, I think you should move into my place.”

Silence.

“...Eve?”

“I heard you, Jace,” she says, the sound of her sipping followed by a short clearing of her throat. “Can I ask what made you want to ask this now? I thought we were in a good place.”

“We are,” I ask, doing nothing to hide the confusion in my voice. “Which is why I’m asking. I mean, think about it. We’re both at a point in our relationship where this seems like the obvious next step. Not to mention my place is bigger, and closer to Clover, so our driving time would be much shorter. Traveling together makes sense…plus it would be safer for both of us: you KNOW Ace has cameras at our residences for safety, and this way we can all keep an eye on each other.”

I’m flooded with instant regret as that last sentence leaves my mouth.

She clears her throat again, and this time I can feel her irritation through the phone.

“Why would we need to keep an eye on each other? Do YOU not trust me? After all I’ve done to prove to you that I can handle myself?”

“Eve, it’s not that I feel you can’t handle yourself. I KNOW you can. I just…” I pause. I need to choose my words carefully. “I love you. You know that. And I never thought that a real relationship, a shred of a normal life, was something that was possible in my line of work. Until I met you. I want to embrace that normalcy, just as you’ve embraced my lifestyle. Moving in together seems like the next logical step.”

I’m not sure if she meant to sigh as loudly as she did, but the noise had me leaning forward in my seat, filled with concern.

“Jason, I fell in love with you BECAUSE of your lifestyle. Because you saw me and accepted me completely. You’ve never tried to change me, and I never had to hide my true nature from you. What you’re asking…it makes me feel…”

Her voice trails off, the silence a growing chasm between us.

Makes you feel what?

Seconds pass and neither of us say a word. Yet my brain is running a mile a minute.

The love I have for Eve is overwhelming. Consuming. It’s unlike any drug I’ve ever had: the very thought of her is enough to spark a craving so fierce it eclipses all reason. When I’m with her, the dark horrors of my reality fade away and I feel complete.

But when we’re together at Clover, it’s a different kind of animal. WE are different kinds of animals. Killing together, working with Maya, Jack and Ace, knowing I don’t have to hide her from anyone anymore: it’s become so much more than just a relationship based on love and intimacy.

I know Eve craves her independence, and although our shared experiences have brought us closer, lately something in her feels distant. Withdrawn. I can’t explain it. Ever since that night she took her revenge, she’s been changed. It’s as if she’s becoming me. Or at least, the me that I was before I met her.

How ironic: the King of Hearts, who didn’t have a heart himself until she came into my life. She was my fire, igniting passion inside me that I swore would never take root; I was her ice, cooling and tempering her wild, uncontrollable nature. And now the heat that once lit up her feral desires and instincts has been chilled, replaced with that of a cold, calculating killer.

Oh how the tables have turned.

“You don’t have to decide now, but I want to talk to you more about it tomorrow.” I say curtly. “Come over in the morning, and I’ll see you then.”

My thumb smashes the END CALL button and I toss my phone onto the desk, irritated. I don’t want to push her if she’s not ready, but I’ll be damned if she doesn’t know what she wants–how she feels about me–after everything we’ve been through together.