Alive (The Crave) (29 page)

Gage smiled. Those skirts and long sleeve shirts hadn’t hid her beauty. He’d seen something in her on that first day of his senior year that changed him as a person. He could see the purity on her face. The honesty in her soul. It had given him a case of nervousness that was nearly impossible for him to shake. He had rambled something a pencil and she had smiled at him. The corners of her mouth quirking to reveal her straight white teeth and he’d been lost. Utterly lost. She changed everything for him in the space of a few moments.
I have to have her. Make her mine.
The words were still as fresh in his mind now as they had been back then.

Part of him had always known that he loved her, but he’d fought it for years, even over the last few days he’d fought it. He didn’t want to give in to what was there, the reality of his feelings were like a death blow, staggering…and he had been afraid.
Fucking afraid.
Like a kid was of the dark. To admit his feelings made them real, made him vulnerable.

“I heard you talked to Sally. She’s not taking it so hot, huh?”

Gage sighed. His conversation with Sally had gone about as well the one he’d had with Eve. “She just doesn’t get it.”

“You can say that again. I spent an hour Gage,
a fucking hour
, trying to calm her down. She was crying hysterically, you know.”

Gage gave Noah a droll look. “Trust me, I know.” Sally had come to him that same night after he’d had the blowout with Eve. She’d waltzed into his room like she owned the place wearing nothing but a coat.

“Did you have to call her a clingy ass bitch, though? I’m pretty sure she will never get over that.”

Gage snorted. “I probably shouldn’t have…but she just didn’t get it. I’ve been trying since high school to get her out of my life.”

“It’s all good man. I’m just giving you a hard time. She deserved that. After all the shit she’s done.”

Gage’s mind flashed back to the cafeteria when Sally had tricked Eve into falling down in front of the whole school. His fists clenched in anger.
I should have done something. Said something.
He hadn’t though. He’d just let it all go. He’d even dated Sally after that.
What the hell was I thinking?

“So you’re not going to do anything? Just going to let her go?” Noah’s words cut through the hot summer air.

“Are you seriously trying to give me love advice?”

Noah smiled. Noah was the last person to go to for advice like that. He was the kind of guy who had a different woman in his bed as often as he could. “For once…I actually am.” Gage didn’t say anything. Just stared at the buildings in front of him. The wash shop where everyone went to do their laundry was in the old June Marie’s ice cream parlor he’d loved as a kid. The June Marie’s sign was still there, an ice cream cone centered with the name around it only the letters had peeled off over the years until it said Une Mare. Eventually the letters would be completely gone and the sign would be just like any other white eight by ten square of plastic. Blank.

I’m that sign.
The correlation of his feelings made his heart clench in his chest. What would he do now? He couldn’t just move on. He’d tried that before, even when he thought she was dead and he hadn’t been able to do it.

“You need to go get your girl.” Noah clapped him on the shoulder. “I’d love to stay here and give you more of a man to man pep talk, but I’ve got wall duty.”

Gage nodded absently.

“You’re not going to, are you?”

“Huh?” Gage looked up into Noah’s face.

“Look, you didn’t hear this from me…but she’s leaving Eden in the morning.”“Leaving?” Gage jumped up off the bench.

Noah nodded. “Last chance, bro.”

Gage watched his childhood friend head toward the east wall. Gage looked up at the sky, the sun a bright orb over them…and knew what he had to do.

Eve stared at the bag by her feet. It was old, a navy blue color, not black like her previous one, but it would do. It was about to become her only companion in the world once she headed out of Eden and back into reality. She’d made the decision the morning after her and Gage had the confrontation. She couldn’t stay in a place he created.
Cause he created it for me.
Eve shook her head at the thought. That wasn’t why she was leaving, though she couldn’t deny that was part of it. Noah had come to her the next day to check on her and see how she was liking her new apartment.

His care and concern seemed so foreign compared to the asshole high school kid she knew him to be, though she couldn’t deny that he seemed genuinely concerned about her well-being. He was as handsome as always, perhaps more so now that he looked like a man rather than a boy. He’d let his blond hair grow out to where it touched his broad shoulders. His big eyes were bluer than she remembered and his body heavier with muscle. He looked so nonchalant leaning against the doorframe in her room, like they’d been friends forever. That was when he’d dropped the bomb on her.

“He built this for you, you know.”

“What?” Eve folded the towel she had discarded on the floor the night before.

“Eden. He built it for you.”

Eve shook her head in denial. “That is ridiculous to even say. You and him are both the founders, plus there were tons of other people involved I’m sure.”

“We are and there were. But that doesn’t change all of the work he put in or the name.” Noah’s blue gaze was intense as he stared at her, almost as if he was willing her to see the truth in his eyes.

“The name?”

“Oh come on.” He looked exasperated. “Eden. You’re Eve. He built this place to be your paradise.”

Eve’s heart clenched in her chest. “He didn’t…” That couldn’t be. It was just some sort of coincidence, right?

“He did. He worked harder than anyone on this place.”

“Then why did he leave? Why didn’t he come for me? What about Sally?” A hundred more questions soared through Eve’s mind.

Noah’s face remained impassive. “Those are things you’ll have to ask him.”

Eve wanted to hurl her new set of shoes at his head and demand answers. Instead, she started gathering the few meager things she had been given.

“What are you doing?” The alarm in his tone surprised her.

“I’m getting my things together.”

“Why?”

“I’m leaving.” Eve turned away from him. She hadn’t known she was going to until she said the words out loud, but she knew it was the best decision for her. It didn’t matter what Gage or Noah said. None of it mattered. It was too late for what ifs and maybes. Noah was silent behind her and she willed him to leave with her mind.

“This is pretty.”

Eve whirled around to see him holding the diamond Gage had left. She hadn’t moved it, just left it there, not sure what she was going to do with the thing. Noah was holding in his hand examining it. The sunlight through the two small windows reflected off of inner contours, sending multi-colored reflected dots scattering across the ceiling.

“Don’t touch it!” Before Eve knew what she was doing, she was standing in front of Noah jerking the stone out of his hand.

He smiled and didn’t protest. “Stay a week and see if you like it here.”

She frowned. “Why would I do that? I need to find my sister.” Through her rioting emotions she knew that she had to go out there and find Olive, though she hated to admit that this was hardly the reason she was desperate to get out of there.

“You owe it to yourself to get rested and a few good meals in your belly before heading back out into nomansland.”

She hated to admit that he had a point, but he did. “Four days. I’ll stay four days and leave on the fifth.”

Noah had left with a smile on his face she didn’t understand, and now here she was on her fourth day, though she couldn’t say she was any better rested or that she had eaten full meals. For the first time in a long time she hadn’t been hungry. Strange, when she’d been starving for nearly four years straight. She remembered feeling like that once before, unable to sleep or eat properly and she hated to admit it was because her heart was broken…and apparently starving yourself and getting no sleep was the only way to begin remedying that.
Pathetic.

She rubbed her hand across her shoulder, over her still healing wound. She’d taken the stiches out the day before. She glanced at the window next to the head of her little twin bed. No light peaked through the curtains. This would be her last night in Eden. She had grown to love the little town and the people who lived there. The way everyone had worked to refurbish things. All of it was beautiful, which was even more of a reason she had to leave. He was everywhere. In every bed, in every cleared house, every window pane.
“He built this for you, you know.”
Noah’s words wouldn’t leave her alone, they followed her everywhere. It didn’t matter where she turned, Gage was there, and not physically. If anything, she had seen so little of him physically; she’d begun to wonder if he was even still in Eden.
Until today.
She’d seen him sitting in front of the massive courthouse on a bench, looking as perfect as ever. Her heart sped up at the memory.

Maybe I should just leave now.

A loud knock on her door startled her. In her time here, she’d only had two visitors, Gage and Noah, and neither of them had come for days. She walked to the door and rested her hand on the old brown knob. Trying to fight down the hope that Gage stood on the other side. She let out a deep breath and jerked open the door to reveal…Noah.

“What do you want?” She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice and knew she failed.

“I’m here to escort you milady.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“But first you have to put this on.” He held out a simple floral print dress and a pair of worn flats.

“What for?” she sputtered in disbelief.

“Don’t be dense, Eve. Put it on and don’t ask questions.”

“What if I don’t want to?” she challenged.

“You will. You said you would stay until tomorrow. Putting on this dress doesn’t have to change that.”

Eve let his words roll around in her mind and less than five minutes later she was following him out of the little apartment she was staying in just off the square center of town with her arm in Noah’s.
What am I doing?
She didn’t have an answer for herself. Most of the places they passed on the way were dark, though she knew it couldn’t be too late, no later than nine, she suspected. Only one place was lit with the glow of electric lights. The old RJ’s Pizza that faced the courthouse in a strip shopping center.

“The sign still works?” she asked with wonder, staring up at the glowing yellow and red sign illuminated before her.

“It does. We never use it, cause it sucks unneeded power, but tonight is a special occasion.”

“Is it?” She stared at him, hoping he would reveal something more. He didn’t. Just walked her to the front door.

“And this is where I leave you. Don’t be too hard on him.” He smiled and walked away.

“Wait—” But he was already gone. She’d known when Noah showed up with the dress that he was going to take her to see Gage. She wasn’t stupid, but now she was scared. Scared of making the same mistake for the third time.

She reached out and opened the door, the thick smell of Italian food sizzled her senses and she took a tentative step inside. At the same moment, Gage appeared from the back carrying a tray in his hands. He jumped back at the sight of her, nearly dropping the tray on the floor. She barely noticed. Her eyes focused on him seeing him as she’d never seen him before. He was wearing a long sleeve black button up shirt and black pants that fit his toned physique perfectly. His jaw was clean-shaved like the last time she’d seen him and his hair was cut close to his head. He looked like living, breathing sex on two legs. Her knees weakened.

He set the tray down on one of the plastic tables that filled the restaurant. She let her eyes wander over the room, desperate took look anywhere but at him. There were at least ten plastic tables with chairs, no doubt the original ones from the before. An ordering window was behind the last table, with a soda fountain to the left of that. The walls were covered in band memorabilia. Posters and autographed pictures covered the walls along with “Go Mean Green!” signs. She’d nearly forgotten that Fenton was a booming college town in the before.

“You came.” And like that her eyes were drawn back to him standing across the room with his hands in his pockets.

“I did.” She wanted to run into his arms.
He hurt you, remember? Over and over.
The reminder stiffened her shoulders.

“Don’t leave. Please.”
How did he know?
“You look beautiful.”

Her heart caught in her throat and her cheeks warmed. She glanced down at the floral print dress. She supposed it did look nice, stopping just above her knee and dipping at her chest.

“Come. Sit.” She crossed the room, her feet moving easily in spite of her scattered thoughts.

He slid a plate in front of her. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “This is pizza.” She stared down at the flaky crust covered with cheese, her mouth watering.

“It is.” He slid into the seat across from her. “It’s just crust and cheese for now. We have cows and flour. That’s just about all we need, aside from tomatoes. Richard and his sons are working on it though.”

Eve nodded, completely in awe. Never expecting to eat pizza again.

“Oh, I forgot the drinks!” He stood and bustled out of the room and into the back. He returned seconds later with two cups.

“What is it?” She stared at the red plastic cup.

“Just water…with ice.”

“No way!” Eve grabbed the cup and felt the slick perspiring surface under her hand. She’d been there almost a week, but she had yet to have water with ice. She took a drink, reveling in the chill that spread through her limbs.

“Good?”

She nodded vigorously, taking another drink. He smiled his crooked half smile—his lazy smile. The one he always gave her when he drove her home from school. The memory sucked the happiness out of her and she set her drink back on the table.