The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (35 page)

             
“So Maura is cut off from here on out.”

             
“Good luck.” I propped my head up to look at him and rolled my eyes. “Elijah and Viol
et have been requesting that she stop her frequent binge-drinking for many years now. They even offered to accompany her to Alcoholic's Anonymous.”

             
“You could have just called it 'AA.' I wouldn't have thought less of you, just so we're clear...”

             
I frowne
d at him and slapped my knee in a sarcastic show of enthusiastic amusement.

             
“I knew you'd appreciate that one. On a much less lighthearted note, does Maura say that she wished she had committed infanticide with Violet and Elijah, too?”

             
“Of course not. Th
at would be terrible.” My gaze diverted from his. “I was not aware you were listening to mine and Maura's slight disagreement.”

             
“I was. Well, I overheard the tail-end of it. I doubt she meant the things she said. But even if she was just pissed off, she w
as wrong to say all of that.”

             
“Wrong in the context of what she said or wrong in saying such a potentially hurtful thing at all?”

             
“Both.”

             
“Not many people would agree with you on the former though surely, many would agree with you on the latter.” I paus
ed and mauled over my statement. “Actually, both the former and the latter would be agreed upon by most people. I was wrong in suggesting that they would not be.”

             
“Who cares what they think?” He reached out and gently moved my hair away from her face.

             
“Y
ou felt that way a few times.” I laid my hands on his firm chest and rested my chin on them so I could look at him still. “When I was aggravating you, I’m sure you thought the same, even if it was not clear to you.”

             
He turned so that I was now lying on th
e cot and he was above me. He came down and kissed my lips gently; that scintillating wave of warmth streamed through my body once again.

             
“I could never think that about you.” He whispered before grinning wryly. “Even when you're  abusing me for not payin
g attention to my faulty tires, I don’t think that.”

             
I reached up to put both of my hands on his face. I found myself smiling, as well.

             
“If I didn't abuse you for those things, you would scarcely know what to do with yourself.
Besides, I hardly abused yo
u. I merely assailed you with a stick of mozzarella cheese. I knew that any injuries you could sustain would be minor.”

             
“Yeah, it didn't hurt, per se, but it startled me. That was the worst part, I think.”
             
As usual, I was laughing at a loud volume and wi
th an intensity that seemed to shake my bones. He always seemed to entertain me even when he tried just barely.

             
I pulled his face closer to mine and planted a soft kiss on his lips.

             
“You need to shave.” I rubbed the stubble on his face that was getting l
onger every day he chose to ignore it.

             
“I know.”

             
“Did you win the bet?”

             
“I remember that game. All of us old guys did, so we all won.”

             
“What was the prize?”

             
“Bragging rights.”

             
“Well, that should be enough, I suppose.” I grasped his upper-arms and fur
rowed my brows slightly in surprise; his biceps seemed to have grown. I remembered him as being slightly thinner than most men when we had met. Now, as I observed his body shrouded only in a tight black T-shirt and jeans, I found that his muscles had harde
ned slightly and toned themselves.

             
“Have you been working out?” I asked him suddenly.

             
“No. Well, some of the other guys and I lifted some weights the other day. Then, we realized quite suddenly that we're not twenty anymore so we went to the Rec Room and
watched
Rocky.
”

             
“That did not inspire all of you to work out some more?”

             
“It did, but we would have looked ridiculous running up both sides of the steps in the Atrium.”

             
“Yes.” I replied as laughed at the mental picture. “I would have found that most
entertaining. It would have opened you up to much public ridicule.”

             
“Well, no one could ridicule me better than you, my dear.”

             
“That is very true.” We both laughed and kissed again, this time for even longer and with even more passion erupting between us
. After we pulled away, I rubbed his arms to feel his tight muscles again. I had to admit, his newly enhanced physique was erotically stimulating.

             
To distract myself from
those
thoughts, I changed the subject.

             
“Did you talk to the pilot today?”

             
“I did.
Two more days and we’re there.”

             
“Can I ask you something serious?”

             
“Please do.”

             
“What are we going to do once we’re there?” I looked at him, having put off this question for the three days that had passed since we had kissed in the hallway. “Am I jumpin
g the gun asking you that? Am I getting ahead of myself? Not that I care, but you’re disturbed, aren’t you? You think that I am taking this too seriously?”

             
“No. I don’t.” He replied as he grasped my hand. “We’ve come this far. Of course you’d ask that que
stion. But I think I should be asking you that, Brynna. If we’re being honest, you and I both know that you’re the one that’s going to pull away.”

             
“Have I pulled away thus far?”

             
“Several times.”

             
“I mean since the other night.”

             
“No. You’ve gotten close,
but you’ve stuck it out. Obviously, I'm happy about that. What do
you
want to do once we’re there?”

             
I sat up and looked at him, studying his handsome features as I contemplated how to phrase what I needed to say. The topic was on a high emotional level t
hat I was not comfortable with but for his sake, I would tread the dangerous waters of a discussion on feelings.

             
“It is going to take a long time for me to reach the point that you need me to reach.”

             
“Which point is that?” He prodded me gently.

             
“In rela
tionships, one is supposed to let their guard down. They are supposed to give themselves over to the other person completely. That is what occurs in those ridiculous movies Violet is watching. Isn’t that how it works?”

             
“In best case scenarios, yes.”
             

             
“I
do not know if I will ever be at that point. You going to get frustrated. You going to want to run for the hills eventually, James. I know you will. I will change, even if you do leave. You know that, don’t you?”

             
He nodded.

             
“Of course I do.”

             
“We just ha
ve to see how it goes in that regard.” I linked my fingers with his as I spoke. “But when we get to Pangea, I do want you to stay with me.”

             
“And I
want
to stay with you. That’s all we need right now. That’s all either of us has to hear at this point. Ever
ything else we’re going to play by ear, okay?”

             
I nodded, assured by that and comforted by what I sensed to be absolute certainty in him that one day, I would come around. His faith in me was, in my opinion, unwarranted and sure to lead directly to a disap
pointment and a resentment so venomous that it would wreck him after it destroyed whatever semblance of a love we had built.

             
Plus, we weren’t engaging in less-than-moral behaviors, if one catches my drift. I had always been told by Maura that all men want
ed was a physical relationship and nothing else. I knew from personal experience that they would take what they wanted without warning, not caring to look back and view the damage. I was horrified, if I am being entirely frank, at the idea of participating
in such activities, even with James. Though I found myself smiling at the thought of him (quite ridiculously) and feeling a vivid joy in every minute spent in his company (quite immaturely), I couldn’t bring myself to do
that
.

             
It was only a matter of tim
e until that reluctance drove him away.

             
“I’m in no rush.” He told me, as though he had read my mind. I had looked away from him, falling into a reverie on the very subject he was discreetly commenting on.

             
“That is strange.” I looked up at him in genuine
confusion.

             
“No. Don’t believe the stereotype. We’re not all like that, believe it or not. Once you get to be my age, you realize that there are more important things.”

             
“But you’re a man…”

             
“Gender profiling.” He shook his head at me. “That’s blatant disc
rimination and I don't appreciate it in the slightest.”

             
“Oh, I do apologize.” I told him with another grin after leaning forward to wrap my arms around his middle.

             
“I have been calmer since you and I began this tryst that defies all definition.” I inform
ed him softly. “Things do not seem as dire. Up until my conversation with Maura, I did not feel the need to be overly nasty to anyone.”

             
“Well, Maura deserved it.”

             
“Maura does not approve of us. She suspects something. Once she suspects something, she thi
nks she can force a confession out of anyone.”

             
“But she just doesn’t know who she’s dealing with, right?”

             
“After all of these years, one would think she would realize that if I do not want to share something, it will not be shared.” I sighed slightly and
shook my head to clear my mind of those irritating thoughts. “If things are still going well, we’ll tell them when we get there.”

             
James nodded and we laid down, both exhausted from the long day of doing absolutely nothing. Boredom was quite taxing on one
’s level of energy, if that can be believed.

             
“Just stay here with me for a few more minutes.” I rested my head on his chest and held his arm
over me. “They shouldn’t be back for a little while longer.”

             
He kissed my head and held me tighter, his eyes clos
ed.

             
“I will kick you off the bed if I see them coming.” I warned him after closing my own eyes. “Seriously. Right onto the floor, James.”

             
He laughed softly and I smiled, too.

             
“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

             
“Goodnight, James.”

XXX

             
Maura and I didn’t speak a
word to one another for the remaining days on the ship. One morning, as we all lounged around on the couches in the Atrium, others began to run to the window, exclaiming about being able to see “it.”

             
Just as we all stood to see the spectacularly colored
orb that was Pangea outside of the window, the intercom beeped twice, signifying an announcement from the pilot.

             
“Ladies and gentlemen, please return to your housing compartments. We will be arriving on Pangea in fifteen minutes.”

             
There was a mad rush fo
r the door. Maura went to grab Penny but I lifted her myself.