“I love touching you. I love that you can feel me,” I told her.
I still couldn’t believe she wanted me to take her life so we could be together. The shakes had stopped. I was calm, content, in heaven. I felt as though I was on drugs too as I kissed her smooth skin. Then my mouth was on her, between her legs, sucking and teasing. Her body was perfect, and the sounds she made were beautiful. I couldn’t stop.
Her hands were in my hair, and she was pressing her body to my mouth. I had never tasted anything so sweet. I would quit the bottle to have that every day. She pulled me up to kiss her mouth.
“You taste so good,” I said.
She shivered. I was holding myself over her, looking into her eyes.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too.”
She spread her legs wide. “I need you now, Lucian.”
A moment later, I was inside her. We were one, moving with ease and grace, kissing and touching and gripping. I had never felt anything so good in my long, long life. Her heat was so arousing, I thought I was going to lose it. I moved up on my knees, still connected. I touched and teased her while I stayed moving inside of her. She arched her back. The sounds stopped; I felt her tightening around me. I let my body fall forward so that our mouths could connect again. She wasn’t breathing—she was coming, and so was I.
It was surreal. She was just reduced to nothing. She whimpered and then held my head to her chest.
“Jesus,” she breathed.
“Lucian,” I corrected.
She laughed then, and I laughed too. All of the weight of the universe, the unknown, the rules, God, and what would become of the two of us just dissipated. It vanished and we became two people giving and taking from each other all in the same.
We spent the entire day in bed, goofing off, making love, and getting to know Lucian and Evey in a completely new way. That was the moment when I started to change my mind and believe that we could actually be together.
“WELL, WE HAVEN’T turned into pumpkins yet,” I said, curling my naked self into Lucian’s strong body. It was the afternoon… we were still in bed.
His chest rumbled as he said, “‘We haven’t yet,’ is right. You can’t tell anyone, Evey. Who knows what will happen?”
“I figured that. Anyway, who would believe me? But are you going to stay here, with me?” He knew I wanted him to. I didn’t have to say it.
He seemed more resolute than before. “Yes. I’ll have to meet with Mona later. You’ll be sleeping. I need to talk to her. I’ll find out if there’s anything we can do.”
“How are you doing, having not had a drink?”
“I’m fine. I haven’t even thought about it. I really only developed that habit in the last couple of years.” He squinted, searching my eyes as if he was trying to read my mind. “Is it strange for you, knowing that I’ve watched you grow up?”
“No.” I had thought about it earlier but decided it wasn’t strange at all. “It’s not. It’s oddly comforting.” I had a lot of questions for him, but I was content to stay in bed with him forever and pretend like everything was completely normal.
“Evelyn, do you have questions for me? Do you want to know things about us? About you and me? I had to…”
“It’s a little fuzzy, like when we met in the bar and when you told me who you were.”
“Yeah. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to…” He swallowed. He was hesitating and nervous. I felt his heart speed up.
“Did you do something to me?”
“I had to make you forget me,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“Just tell me what you did.”
“We use our thumbs and press them to your—”
“I remember.”
“You do? You remember a lot, don’t you?”
“You told me you loved me.” I sat up. “I remember, you said, ‘I’ll always be here for you.’”
“I don’t know how it’s possible, but it didn’t work on you. It was temporary.”
“How many times have you done that to me?”
“That was the only time, I swear to you, Evey.”
“Swear to God?” I demanded.
He smirked. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“I swear to God. It was the one and only time I have ever tried to erase your memory. I’m good at what I do. I normally wouldn’t have to do that. But swearing to God…”
“What? It’s frowned upon?”
“No, it’s just meaningless. People shouldn’t lie to each other to begin with. People shouldn’t have to fear hell in order to tell the truth. They should fear that their lies will ruin relationships or get them in trouble, here now, on Earth, with the people they love.”
“You sound human when you say that, Lucian.”
“It’s what I’ve always wanted for you… real truth. I can’t tell you what will happen once you’re gone from this Earth. How is that for faith? I can tell you for sure though that there are consequences to your actions here, while you’re living.”
“You were Keith the other night, weren’t you?”
He nodded, and then rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. I thought he was avoiding making eye contact with me. I wondered if he had felt guilty for the stunt he pulled in Keith’s body.