Alive (The Crave) (30 page)

“The first ice cube tray patent was issued in 1932 to Guy L. Tinkham.”

Eve blinked. Gage was staring at her, his hands digging into the table on either side of his plate.
He’s nervous.
It was this fact that calmed her, as opposed to the one he just issued.

“Sounds like a smart…guy.” The bad joke shocked Eve as much as it did Gage.
Did I just say that?
Gage started laughing and not just chuckling, but full on laughing, a hearty one that came from deep in his belly and before she knew what she was doing, she was laughing too. The absurdity of it all was what hit her the hardest. The laughter swept through her, tickling her soul.

They laughed all through dinner. The pizza went down with splendor, tasting better than anything she’d eaten in years and coupled with her ice water, became her most favorite meal she’d ever eaten, though she wasn’t sure if it was because she had missed eating pizza that much, or if it was the company that made it so memorable.

“Do you want to dance?” The question took her off guard. He had just returned from taking their plates to the back. He held his hand out for her to take.

“Dance?” She glanced around. “But there’s no music.” She placed her hand in his reveling in the warmth that radiated from his fingers. He led her away from the table, saying nothing. She glanced around, wondering where there would be room for them to dance. He made his way back to the front door, but instead of leading her outside he turned left and she noticed for the first time that there were stairs there, leading down. “Basement?”

“Yes.” He stepped down first still holding his hand in hers. The heat from his touch sent a shiver down her spine. “I used to come here all the time in high school. Bands would play every Saturday night down here in the basement.” He flicked a switch at the bottom of the stairs and the room flooded with light. Eve stared in awe at the basement; its walls covered much like the upstairs with posters and pictures of bands. Strands of white Christmas lights were strung around the room. A lot of them were burned out, but enough still worked to make the room twinkle. A small plastic table, similar to the ones upstairs, sat just to Eve’s left. A pool table separated the table and stairs from a wide-open space that ended in a slightly elevated stage. The room wasn’t big, in fact, it was rather small, but Eve was in complete awe of it.

“Beautiful.”

“Yes, you are.”

Eve snickered feeling like a girl on her first date and nearly choked on her own spit when she realized that this was indeed her first date.

“I’m being ridiculously corny…I know. But it’s the truth. You are.” His eyes burned with passion that made her want to wrap her legs around him and never let go. “Come on.” He pulled her around the pool table to the dance floor in front of the small stage.

“Is this where you’re going to blow my mind out of the water and have music play?”

He placed a hand on her waist and grabbed her hand with the other. “I wish…but no.” He gave her that lazy smile again. “One day, I’ll dance with you to music, Eve. I promise.” He leaned into her when he spoke, pressing his chest against hers and brushing his lips against her ear. Eve gasped at the white-hot heat that pooled between her thighs and her heart thrummed at the promise in his words. They started rocking back and forth slowly. He stepped on her foot and smiled down at her sheepishly.

“I’m not much of a dancer to be honest,” he said.

As if on cue, Eve stumbled over her own foot. Gage steadied her. “If you can’t tell…I’m not either.”

He didn’t respond, didn’t even smile like she thought he would. Instead, he pulled her closer. His hand sat low on her back and the other held her hand loosely, his thumb rubbed back and forth against the back of her hand. She thrummed with anticipation, desperately wanting to kiss him even though it was wrong. He was all wrong for her.

But then he started to sing. The words were soft at first, muffled against her ear. They rocked back and forth to his soft humming, the intimacy of the moment clogging her throat, making it hard to swallow.

“I try to

Just forget you

But I don’t know how

If only I knew”

Realization of what song he was singing hit her hard, like a punch to the gut.

“It’s written all over your face

Such a painful thing to waste

Tell me now where do we go?”

She tried to pull back, to look at Gage, but he pulled her closer. The deep tenor of his voice climbing louder, filling the space around them.

“Now the future’s not so clear

I can’t believe we’ve ended here

Where’s the world that doesn’t care

Maybe I could meet you there.”

The beauty of his voice didn’t stop the panic that seized her, the pain that ripped through her heart was no stranger. She jerked back and he let her this time, dropping his arms. His gray eyes probed hers, turmoil swirling in their depths.

Eve let out a shaky breath and ran a hand through her short hair. “What are we doing, Gage? What is this?” She motioned to the room around her.

“This is the date I never took you on.”

Eve looked stunned for a moment, standing there across from him in the dress he’d found earlier in the afternoon. He’d discovered it in one of the old mini-malls on the square. They were antique malls in the before and were still filled with old vintage clothing. The peach color of the flowers made her seem like she was glowing there in the dim light of the basement. Her light blond tresses framed her face.
More beautiful than any angel.

Her stunned look quickly turned to anger. “So, this is your way of doing what? Sending me off back into the fucked up world out there?”

Gage stared at Eve in disbelief that she would come to that conclusion. “Fucked up world? Eve, that’s not what this is.”

“Then what is it? Why would you do this? Why would you bring me here…and sing that song?” Her voice fell half-way through the sentence. “Why are you doing this to me?”

His chest tightened at the look of anguish on her face. “It’s our song.” The fact that she remembered gave him hope. “And because I love you, Eve.” It felt good to say it again.

“Love? Love?! You don’t
love
me!” she sneered.

And just like that the corded fragment of control that Gage had on his emotions snapped like an old guitar string. He took one long stride eating up the space that separated them.

“I do fucking love you, Eve. Even if you don’t want to believe it.” He surprised himself when the words came out below a yell. “I thought about you every day, Eve. Every damn day.”

“Oh, did you? You thought about me? Well, if that’s so, why didn’t you come look for me? I was home for a good six months after the Crave hit. Hm? What’s your explanation for that?”

“I wanted to.”

She smirked and rolled her eyes.

“I did. I wanted to so badly, but I was weak.” He sucked in a breath. He’d never told anyone. “I didn’t want to see you as one of them. A gurgh. I couldn’t see you that way…it would have broken me.”

“Whatever, Gage, whatever! That is the biggest lie I’ve ever heard.” Her voice faltered mid-sentence, cracking with emotion. “If you loved me so much then why did you stand in that hallway and act like you didn’t know me?”

Gage remembered how she looked that day in her usual blue jean skirt and long-sleeve white shirt. The hope on her face when she looked at him expectantly, ready for him to show them all she was his girl. “I was a coward, Eve. A damned coward. I wanted to tell them the truth. I wanted the world to know you were my girl, but I was a kid and I was scared. I don’t know why, but I was wrong.”

Eve pulled back her fist and punched him in the jaw. He winced in pain, his head thrown to the side.
I deserved that.
“Did that make you feel better?” She was breathing hard, her breath coming out in sharp spurts. “Did it?”

“No!” This time she slapped him. Her open palm slammed against the side of his face like a thousand needles. His cock kicked in his pants. His reaction shocked him. He fought the urge to pick her up and throw her hot body on the pool table.

She tried to slap him again, but he captured her hands in his. “I have regretted the way I treated you every day since it happened. That’s why I couldn’t go to your house. I was too afraid of what I would find.” She tried to twist of his grasp, but he held her harder. “I knew if I went in there and you had turned…that I wouldn’t have been able to finish you. I would have stood there and let you have me.” Her struggle to free herself slowed, her green gaze probing his. “Don’t you see, Eve? You’re all I wanted and if you had become one of those things I would have joined you. I would have let you fucking have me if that was the only way I could be with you.” Her struggles stopped altogether, but Gage didn’t free her hands. “I fought with all of it for a very long time, but people needed me. Before I knew it, me and Noah took in more and more people and began building this town. So, I changed my intentions. I worked myself ragged every waking hour I had. I put my heart and soul into this place for you. Your memory was enough to keep me going.”

“But what about Sally?” Eve’s teeth were clamped down on her bottom lip, like she was nervous to hear what he was going to say.

“Sally? Fuck her. She’s been nothing but a pain in the ass since the moment I met her.”

“Not too much of a pain. Obviously. Didn’t keep you out of her bed.”

Gage wanted to look away and deny the words, but knew that he couldn’t. “I was weak and lost, Eve. At first, it was a way of escape an easy out where I could pretend like my whole life hadn’t turned into this fucked up mess.” She narrowed her eyes to little slits. “Before long she was just a bitter reminder of the way things had fallen apart.” Eve took a step back, shaking her head. Gage grabbed her arm. “Don’t walk away from me. Not this time. Listen, please Eve. Listen to me. Every time I was with her, I wished it was you.”

“Don’t.” She jerked against his arm, her sea-green eyes jeweled with tears.

“It’s the truth, Eve. You don’t have to believe it. I don’t expect you to. But it’s real. I left Eden to find my brother, but I also left to get away from her. Every day I spent with her around me was a day that I hated her more.” He took a deep breath. “I should have protected you. I should have come for you. I should have stood in that hallway and professed my love, but I didn’t. I was a stupid kid, but not anymore Eve. I’m not going to run scared like I have my whole life. I love you, Eve. I love you more than anything.”

Eve’s heart thundered so rapidly she was sure that it was going to rip out of her chest. The sincerity in Gage’s face, the truth in his words. She couldn’t doubt him anymore. She gripped his face in her hands, stood on her tiptoes and mashed her lips against his. Mind-blowing electricity sparked the moment their lips met, sending a jolt through her body that had her pussy throbbing.

Gage moaned into her mouth and grasped her hips roughly. The strong flesh of his hands bit into her hips through the thin material of her dress. She snaked her tongue between his parted lips. He welcomed her, dueling her tongue with his own. She dug her nails into his scalp, desperate to keep his body against hers. Part of her feared that if she let go, he would float away and she would lose him forever.
Never again!
Her mind screeched the words and she clung harder to his thick body. She wrapped her leg around his hip and he looped an arm underneath it. She repeated the process with her other leg and soon she was no longer touching the ground, but clasped firmly in Gage’s strong arms.

Her weeping core poised over the hardness of his erection still concealed in his black pants. Eve gyrated her hips against his long hard length, suddenly desperate to have him inside of her. Gage grunted and thrust his hips against her. His cock speared her clitoris sending an upsurge of revelry splintering through her body.

“I want you. So. Fucking. Bad,” he growled against her lips and spun them around, still shoving his cock hard against her.

“Then have me. I’m yours,” she said in a breathless gasp.

He tilted his head back, severing the connection of their lips. She felt bereft at their loss and tried to pull him back against her. He wouldn’t budge. He held her against him still, but now his thighs were pressed against the side of the pool table, holding her over the green mauve surface. His eyes were the darkest she’d ever seen them, like a storm was raging in their depths. His other features looked like stone they were so hard and unmoving. For a moment she feared he would pull away from her and leave her there alone, broken, and desperate for him.

“This is it, Eve.” His words were stiff. “After this there’s no going back.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” she sputtered.

“I won’t do this with you again. I won’t lose you again. I won’t be able to bare it. Once this is done…you’re mine. Do you understand?”

A thrum of excitement and anticipation tore through her. She stared at his handsome face, his hard features, crooked nose, and dark eyes that studied her. She ran her hand down his cheek, where the skin had grown darker already from where she punched only minutes before. “Only if you’ll be mine.” She licked her suddenly dry lips. Afraid of his response.

“I’ve been yours since the first day of AP Physics.” Gage pressed his lips against hers swallowing her gasp with his mouth in a heated frenzy. He set her down on the pool table, his hands roamed across her body seeming to be everywhere at once. The sound of a zipper cut through the air and Eve was rewarded with cool air against her back. She slipped her arms out and the dressed pooled at her waist, revealing her braless state. He snarled at the sight of them, covering them both with his large hands. She moaned and tilted her head back. He took advantage of the moment and pressed his lips against her exposed throat.

Eve grasped the thick blades of his shoulders trying her best not to collapse back on the pool table in a boneless heap. He used his teeth to nip at her neck. The sizzling pain doubled the pleasure already coursing through her body.
I’m going to come.
The realization nailed her in the back of the head. She was dangerously close and he hadn’t done anything besides kiss her and nip at her neck.
How does he do this to me?