Escaping Eden (7 page)

I brought Finley’s hands up to my lips and kissed them softly. He had finally apologized and poured his heart out to me.

But I was very suspicious and I had one major question of my own.

“Would you be here apologizing if you hadn’t seen me with Simon at TAO?”

“Wow, Eden,” he replied looking at me in disbelief.

“Answer the question, Fin. Honestly. Was it seeing me with another man that made you decide you wanted me again? If you really wanted this to work you would’ve come to the Game Cave and talked to me. You would’ve come up to me any other night you saw me at TAO. Why did you do it the night I was there with my friend?” I asked seriously.

“I’ve never seen you at TAO before that! Or the Game Cave!”

“Let’s not start this off by lying,” I snapped, dropping his hands. “The reason I stopped going to TAO was because we had seen each other there more than once. And the Game Cave is in the
mall
. I’ve seen you walk past it plenty of times and look inside.”

Fin hung his head and didn’t say anything. I glanced at the cracked bedroom door and saw Simon peeking out at us.

“So you want to give this another try then?” I asked, drumming my fingers along the top of the couch.

“Yes,” he said.

I looked at him for a moment. I knew how to test how real this was. I was going to find out once and for all if he really wanted to be with me or just wanted me to be alone.

I turned toward the bedroom door and smiled, “Come out here, nosy.”

Simon laughed and opened the door. He walked over to the couch and stood behind me.

“How’d you know?” he asked.

“Because the wind has never been strong enough to creak the doors,” I replied, sticking my tongue out at him.

The front door slammed.

I ran to the window and glanced out. Fin was getting into his car and backing out of the driveway with fury written all over his face. He saw me looking out the window and shook his head in anger, as he sped out of the parking lot and down the street.

“That’s what I thought,” I said to myself, shaking my head.

“I’m sorry, Eden,” Simon said quietly.

I shrugged, “I’m not. Fin has had plenty of chances over the past three years to really atone for what he did. We’ve seen each other plenty of times, but he waits for the one night that he sees me with another guy to want to ‘make up’. I never bought it to be honest with you.”

I walked over to the entertainment center and turned up the song that came on. I smiled at Simon and pushed the coffee table out of the way.

“Let’s see what you’ve got, Aussie! Come dance with me!”

A wide smile spread across his face and he came over and put an arm around my waist as we danced around to one of my favorite pop rock songs. We had our silly moments where we would do The Swim and we had our silly moments, where he would unnecessarily spin me in a circle and dip me. The best part of our dancing along was when he pulled me close and started to sing the song to me. I looked up at him and laughed as he belted out the words to
The Great Escape
with feeling. When the song started to wind down and we had stopped bouncing back and forth, we were overcome with laughter. Simon still had his arm around my waist and I had my arms around his neck.

Suddenly I felt hot.

Simon looked at my lips and then back up into my eyes.

He lowered his face slowly.

When he was an inch away from my lips, I pushed him away and started to dance to the next song that came on.

I hopped up onto the couch and started to do a one woman show. I grabbed a pillow and began to do a little seductive dance while I sang
Brokenhearted
to him.

He recovered from my stopping our kiss and laughed as I moved across the couch cushions, dancing and singing as I went.

The music got louder as Simon raised the volume and sat down in the recliner to watch me. That motivated me to sing louder and dance a little more enthusiastically than before.

When the song ended, I fell over onto the couch trying to catch my breath. Simon laughed and got up from the recliner and came over to sit next to me.

“Some talent you’ve got there, lady,” he teased.

I laughed and sat up, rearranging myself so that I could lean my head on his shoulder while I caught my breath.

“Tell me something, Eden,” he said, smiling.

I nodded and smiled back.

“Why didn’t you let me kiss you just then?”

I had to think fast.

“Oh you know. Had Finley’s dick in my mouth last night. I didn’t think you’d want any part of that,” I replied with a grin.

“You can be so crass when you want to be,” he said putting a hand to his face and groaning.

I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

“Oh God,” he said, laughing.

We sat there for a moment and just looked at each other smiling. I could hear the breeze blowing outside and the birds chirping as they flew by and landed on nearby branches.

“I’d imagine you’ve brushed your teeth between now and then,” he finally said.

“I have.”

Simon looked down for a second and removed his glasses, setting them on the coffee table. When he looked at me again, I could tell he was going to try to kiss me again.

“So what did you do last night?” I asked casually, pulling my legs up underneath me. It was nervous habit that I had. I always figured if I could cave in on myself like that then I would be okay.

“I went to Eliza’s house,” he said softly.

I closed my eyes when he ran a hand down the side of my face.

“And how did that go?” I stammered.

“She wanted to have sex,” he replied, putting the other hand on my thigh, rubbing it slowly.

If he doesn’t stop, I’m going to jump on him.

“And?” I asked in a shuddery breath.

“It didn’t work,” he said, moving forward and grazing his lips against my neck.

“What didn’t work?” I asked, my eyelids fluttering.

“
It.
Eliza doesn’t do it for me,” he whispered.

Oh God...

“Simon ...”

“Yes, Eden?”

I brought my hands up and put them around his thick neck before I let my fingers find their way into his messy hair and grip it tightly.

“If we ... do this ... we can’t be friends anymore,” I warned as his lips grazed my neck again.

He reached up and took one of my hands and placed it on his pants. He was ready to burst out of them and from what I could feel,
it
was slightly larger than anyone I’ve had before.

“Look at me,” he said.

I opened my eyes and saw his were brimming with uncontrollable desire. I’m sure they were reflecting what mine were revealing to him.

“If you don’t want to be with me, I won’t ever be angry or resentful toward you. I genuinely like you, even though it’s only been a few days. You’re a lot of fun and you make me feel comfortable with being myself. I don’t have to change who I am around you to make an impression. I personally think you’re an amazing girl and I haven’t come across anyone who has been able to sexually stimulate me these past two years. And here we are,” he said glancing down at my hand.

TAKE.HIM.NOW.

“If that’s true,” I said, pushing away my thoughts, “then you wouldn’t mind waiting.”

Simon smiled softly, “Take as long as you need, Eden.”

I nodded and moved my hands away from his pants. Visions of “riding Simon off into the sunset” as Liora had put it where dancing in my head and my lady parts were
screaming
bloody murder at me for not going for it.

Simon stood up and adjusted his pants as he went into the bedroom and came back out with the sheets from the night before. I watched him disappear into the bathroom and I heard the hamper lid close. Then he went back into the bedroom. Curiously, I walked over to the door and watched him putting new sheets on the bed.

“So, are these a fashion accessory or do you really need them?” I asked, holding up his glasses.

“I can do minimal things like change sheets without my glasses,” he replied laughing. “With as much as I wish that they
were
a fashion accessory, I really do need them.”

I held them out to him and he put them back in place and blinked a few times.

I looked down and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re ... still hard?” I stammered.

“Feels like it,” he replied walking past me and back into the living room.

“How the hell is that possible?”

“I don’t know. It’s how I’ve always been, I guess. Once I get aroused,
if
I get aroused, it hangs out for a while. Even after,” he replied as he grabbed the TV remote and turned it on.

I looked down at myself.

Maybe ... just maybe.

“So what’s the longest you’ve ever had sex for then?” I asked joining him on the couch.

“Four hours, I think,” he shrugged.

Four...hours? Is that human?

“And then it finally died?” I asked curiously.

“No, she couldn’t take any more and asked me to stop,” he replied, smiling at me.

I looked down at the tent he was pitching in his jeans. What the hell did he have in there that could possibly go for
four
hours?

“What uh ... what’s it gonna take for that to go away?” I asked.

“Hm?”

He was distracted by a horror movie that had just started.

“Your hard dick. What’s it take for that to go down?”

“This is a great movie, have you ever seen it? It’s super gory,” he replied raising the volume.

“SIMON!” I shouted.

“What?” he asked, not tearing his eyes from the screen.

“Didn’t you hear my question?” I asked in frustration.

“Yes. I did. Not thinking about it or climaxing is the only way to get it to go down,” he answered, raising the volume again.

I was staring at his pants like someone had laid out a gourmet meal in front of me and I was holding myself back from tasting any of it. I knew I wouldn’t do it unless he invited me to, but I ... couldn’t stop staring.

Simon glanced over at me and chuckled.

“What’s the matter,
mate
?” he asked, emphasizing the last word.

“Huh?” I asked looking up at him.

“Watch this with me,” he said, putting an arm around me and pulling me close to him.

I leaned my head on his arm and I tried to concentrate on the movie, but after a few sentences of dialogue, my eyes wandered back down.

I reached down and poked it.

Still that hard? Wow.

“Eden, what’s your full name?” Simon asked suddenly.

“Um, Eden Nicole Hale.”

“Well, Eden Nicole Hale, if you don’t stop paying it so much attention, I’m going to either leave or ask you to do something we just agreed we’d give you time on,” he replied, glancing at me.

I looked at the clock.

It had only been seven minutes since I asked him to wait.

“Maybe I should see if I can pick up an extra shift at work,” I said, pulling away from him and going to sit in the window.

“So you’d be working pretty much all day then?” he asked from the couch.

“Actually, it’s my day off. But ... I should see if I can make some extra money. Because to be honest Simon, being in the same building with you right now is getting dangerous. She’s acting up something fierce and you’re pitching a tent and with as much as I would
love
for them to be friends, I don’t think it’s such a good idea right now,” I rambled.

“Who’s ‘she’?” he asked looking confused.

I looked down and he blushed and laughed.

“I see. Then maybe I should be the one that leaves. After all it
is
your apartment,” he said getting to his feet.

“No. Stay! Enjoy the movie, I just need a distraction. Immediately,” I said, laughing uneasily as I dialed my job.

I put the phone shakily to my ear and after the first ring, Simon took it from my hand and ended the call.

“You’re a quiet stepper for being such a big guy,” I remarked without turning around.

“Big?” he asked.

“You’re tall and I can tell you’re hiding the body of a god under those clothes,” I said.

“Hm. Possibly,” he said as he put my phone down on the window sill, and sliding an arm around me from behind. “Would you like to find out?”

YES!

“No. Simon, we can’t,” I replied pulling away from him.

“Tell me why,” he breathed, pulling me back to him.

“Because I just had almost sex with Finley and if I have actual sex with you right now, I’ll feel ... wrong. No offense,” I said, pulling away again.

“Eden...” he said, reaching for me again.

I pulled further away and he turned me around and held me against the kitchen wall, looking into my eyes. I could tell that Simon was ready to go, in every sense of the word possible.

“I have something I want to give you,” he said quietly.

I know. That’s the problem.

He reached into his back pocket and handed me a folded piece of paper.

“Read this,” he said.

I took the paper, my hands shaking, and unfolded it. It was a confirmation of sorts. As I scanned it I gasped, and put a hand to my mouth.

“Simon!” I exclaimed.

He smiled at me, “Happy?”

I felt the tears well up in my eyes. I was holding my escape. My getaway from myself; my mundane, simple, monotonous life.

“Why?” I asked, looking up at him.

“Because I thought what better place for us to stop being mates,” he replied with a grin.

I looked down at the sheet again and saw a confirmation for two first class tickets to Maui.

He finally backed up and crossed his arms over his chest. I looked up at him and leaned up on my tip toes and kissed him softly on his lips.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

His face was red and he looked shy. I watched Simon look down at his feet and shuffle them.

“You’re welcome,” he said to the floor.

I handed him the papers back and went to sit in the window. I grabbed my phone and sent Liora a text message.

Remember how I said to keep your fucking friend away from me?

Yeah. Sorry, is he bothering you again?

No. He’s taking me to Hawaii!