Jekyll, an Urban Fantasy (28 page)

“And what about what
I
choose?” she asked, her voice sharp. He didn’t want that. Didn’t want what could possibly be their last moments together to be filled with animosity and arguing. But there was nothing he could do to stop it.

“Huh,” he said. “Well, that’s harder. Because if you make the wrong call, I’m going to lock you in a cage until you agree.”

“That’s the only option?”

“The only one that works for
me
.”

She had to understand the reality of where he was, what he was willing to do. He wouldn’t live if it came at the price of her freedom. And, though he knew she would mourn his death, he also knew that she’d go on. And
that
was the only gift he could give her. Well, maybe he could throw in some chocolate too.

“They want me to do their tests,” she said, “but what else do we know for sure? Nothing.”

“Exactly my point.” He heard the frustration in his voice.
Not helpful.
So he took a deep breath and tried again. “Look, there are only
two
things I know for sure. The Clinic lies. Big, fat, miserable lies. And I won’t, for one second, trust them with you.” He pressed up on his hands and took her mouth with his, claimed it, lived in it. For as long as he could.

When she pulled back enough to speak, she still looked worried. “What’s the other thing?”

“Huh?” he asked, lost in the softness of her lips.

“The other thing you know for sure.”

“Oh. Damn it, I hate it when you listen to what I say. It’s distracting.” He brushed his lips on hers, enjoying the unknown, incredibly-decadent scent that was Eden.

“So you’re telling me you were lying.”

“No lies.” They only had each other. And if the lies started, even a small one, the trust she had in him would be gone. So no lies. Not now. Not until the day he died.
Fuck
. He pulled away, wondering how much more time he had to look at her. “The other thing. Right. For some unknown reason the most beautiful woman in the entire world seems to think I’m worth something.”

A smile brightened her face, erasing the lines of sadness. “I’m only with you because you’re great in the sack.”

“Oh. Well…I’m glad you think that, and I’d be happy to prove it to you again shortly. But until then, I think we need to focus.”

She straightened out her legs, lifting his arm so she could scoot down and press her body up against his. He knew what she was trying to do—distract him enough so that he’d agreed to whatever she wanted. And frankly, it would probably work. But he was determined to keep talking until his mouth became otherwise occupied.

“Stop, Eden.” He took her hand off his cock and pinned it above her head.
Fuck
. That did
not
help. All it did was create more visible surface area to run his tongue— “Seriously, stop!”

Did she know how she affected him? How he could barely think when she was around—naked or not? She brought him comfort, satisfaction. Not
only
in a sexual way, but also in a life-might-not-be-as-absolutely-terrible-as-I-thought way. In a holy-shit-I-want-to-stay-right-here-andlive-this-every-day-of-my-life way.

But he knew how little time he had left with her. If things went the way he wanted them to, a war would start soon. If things went array and all hell broke loose inside of him, the war would still start. But instead of it being
him
against The Clinic, it would be
her
against Hyde. And he couldn’t let that happen. He would die before he let that happen. Take the bastard with him, in the most literal sense.
His
end,
her
beginning. A new life, without him around to screw things up.

He didn’t want to see her if Hyde won.
When
Hyde won, if The Clinic was being truthful for once. He couldn’t bear the thought of seeing her through Hyde’s eyes, his thoughts about her filling Mitch’s head, corrupting his memory of her. She was perfect. She deserved everything. And since
that
was something he’d never be able to give to her, the least he could do is make sure she was free. That she was safe—from The Clinic
and
from him.

So
this
time, when he was inside of her, he prayed.

§ § §

Eden’s
old
-self would have told him what she was planning, thinking that omission was just another form of lying. But her
new
-self knew better. What people called ‘white lies’ were still lies, but the intent wasn’t to hurt or deceive. They were to help those who didn’t, or wouldn’t, help themselves.

She’d come here to convince Mitch that he needed The Clinic’s help. His refusals meant nothing to her. Maybe his loss of hope was Hyde’s doing. Or being without the serum for so long. Or not seeing a way out. She understood his anger, but would never accept its result. Never.

Landon’s booming voice carried through the closed door. “You guys want to break it up in there long enough to eat?”

“No,” Mitch said, tightening his arm around her and shoving the other behind his head.

“I smell food.” Eden kissed his chest and propped herself up on her elbow. “I’m starving. Let’s get up.”

After he begrudgingly let her pull him off the mattress, she threw his pants to him.

Things were a long way from ‘all right,’ but she enjoyed the tingling in her body, the sense of security she felt just looking in his eyes. It didn’t
have
to be temporary. She’d find a way to deal with The Clinic just enough to get the serum. Once she had it, he couldn’t possibly say no. They were together now. He’d accepted her. He wanted to be with her. His stubbornness would be a tough, inflexible wall to get through, but it wasn’t impossible. She’d gotten through his other walls—she could get through this one too. Now that he realized what he’d be giving up.

He covered himself with his pants, pretending he had a shy bone in his body. “Stop staring at me.”

“Put on your pants and I will.”

When he smirked at her and dropped the pants, she groaned, tearing her eyes away from his amazing physique. “I’m hungry for
food
, Mitch. Not
that
.” It was a lie, but a harmless one.

“I give you five minutes before you’re hungry for something else.”

“Damn, you’re cocky.”

“No, just hopeful.” He came to her and ran the back of his hand along her jaw. Then he flipped it over, cupping her chin in his palm and kissing her with the kind of passion that was probably illegal in Florida. Their lips reached out to each other, even as they pulled back to breathe. “And horny.”

She pushed his chest, sending him back a step. “Food first. Put on your damn pants.” She turned and went through the door before he could argue…or distract her again.

“Yeah,” he grumbled. “I’ll be down in a sec. Save me something.”

As she left him, she knew things would be okay. While he still claimed he didn’t want their serum, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t control her, couldn’t make decisions for her. And she’d decided that the way it was going to be. For a little while, The Clinic would get what they wanted—
her
. And in exchange, she would get what
she
wanted—him.

The pleasurable stench of fast food hit her halfway down the stairs. Delicious. She hurried into the waiting room where Landon was already stuffing his mouth.

“I got you a couple burgers and some fries.” He nodded towards a bag on the floor, grease spots making Rorschach blots on the brown paper. “Figured you might need more than one.”

“Thanks,” she said, pulling a masterpiece of cheap ingredients out, barely able to wait until she’d unwrapped it before biting in.

“Better than the food they gave you at The Clinic?”

“Oh yeah.” She wondered if Justin ate what they’d given her. How long could a teenager live on vending machine food? Probably forever. She realized that she’d barely mentioned Justin. If they knew The Clinic was helping a kid, wouldn’t Mitch and Landon be more likely to believe that their enemy wasn’t as evil as they thought, and be more agreeable to what she had planned? A business arrangement. Nothing more.

“Landon?” She stopped, holding a hand up to let him know she’d speak just as soon as she swallowed. “There’s a teenager at The Clinic. He lives there and seems to like it.”

“
Like
it? What are they doing to him?”

“Nothing. They just strap him up when he’s due to transform. His Hyde is still predictable, but he didn’t say anything about medication.”

“That seems highly unlikely, doesn’t it? We already know they enjoy keeping people in the dark.”

“I guess. But supposedly the serum doesn’t work on all of us. Since he had nowhere else to go, they took him in. Doesn’t that mean they aren’t
all
bad?”

“Evil is a funny thing, Eden. Except in the case of Hyde, it isn’t always clear-cut.
No one
thinks what they’re doing is evil. They always find a way to rationalize even the
worst
behavior.” He squinted at her slightly. “You don’t really believe them, do you?”

She shook her head. “But I know we
need
them, or what they can give us. Mitch needs the serum, and they’re the only ones who have it.”

“Hmm… I thought Mitch was pretty clear on that.”

“You know better than to listen to him,” she joked, wanting to quell the deep look of suspicion on his face.

“Any chow left?” Mitch called from the stairs, a spring in his step as if they were going to plan a party. When he saw her, his smile grew and his eyes softened. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she said back.

“I need to get laid,” Landon grumbled.

“Yes. Yes, you do,” Mitch said, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Jeez, enough with the post-coital crap. Can we focus for a minute?”

“Yeah, we can plan while we eat,” Mitch said. “Okay, I’ve been thinking about this for…” He searched the ceiling for just the right word. “A while now. Anyway, I think—”

“No,
you
don’t get to think,” Landon said, crumpling up a wrapper and tossing it into the bag. “
I’m
the one with training.
I’ll
do the thinking. Eden goes in with a microphone.”

She whipped her head toward him. Why would she need a microphone?

He continued speaking, unaware of the confusion that had just slammed into her. “While I’d love to be able to get one from the station, there’s no way. Tech is way too organized for us to sneak that shit out. So we get the best we can from one of the shops around here that sells security equipment.”

Eden stepped back, aware of their conversation but removed from it. Not that it mattered—they were arguing about her as if she wasn’t there. They could plan all they wanted, she already knew what she was going to do. Honestly, the more involved and over-protective they got, the harder it would be for her. All she had to do was turn herself in and get the serum from Alex. Once Mitch understood that The Clinic would follow through on their offer and that she’d be okay, he’d agree to take it. Problem solved.
Without
their interference.

“Then we call Eden’s friend, Fields”—Landon pulled out the cell phone and battery and set them on the table next to him—“and tell him she’s ready to come in and play nice. When they pick her up, we follow her back.”

“No,” Mitch said, echoing her thought. She didn’t need them checking up on her, staking the place out for no reason. They needed to stay out of it.

“She’ll have a mic,” Landon grumbled. “If something happens, we move-in faster. But we need to know where the hell the place is.”

“No.”

“How about instead of just one word, you use two, maybe three,” Landon said disgustedly.

Mitch put down his food. “She. Isn’t. Bait. How many was that?”

Great
. If they kept this up, she’d have to break up a fight. “I’ll be fine. They won’t hurt me.” Unless, of course, two willful men jumped in to rescue someone who didn’t need rescuing.

“You
don’t
go in alone. Landon doesn’t need me shotgun—he’s just going to be driving a car.” He turned to Landon. “You don’t need me to hold your hand, do you?”

“Well,
I
don’t need you to hold my hand either,” she snapped back. “I can take care of myself.”

“You think I haven’t realized that yet? I know you can take care of yourself, but I’m not sure Landon will be happy having a nervous-wreck telling him how to drive. So I go along for security.
Mine
, not yours.”

“I’m not even sure why you think you need to come at all,” she said. “You’ve already made your choice. You won’t give them what they want. That’s fine.” Because she would do it for him. They could test her, make her live in a box, and do as many brain scans as they wanted. As long as they gave her enough serum to keep Mitch safe. The rest she’d sort out later.

The men looked at her oddly.

“Why do you want to go back, Eden?” Landon asked quietly.

She smiled nervously. What was she missing? “To get the serum.”

“I told you that I’m not interested in their serum.”

“You told me that you wouldn’t give them what they wanted.
Not
that you wouldn’t take it if they gave it to you.” Why
did
they want to follow her? She thought they were just being men, but… All this time she’d been so focused on her mission that she hadn’t thought they’d have one of their own. “What happened to the syringe I gave you, Landon?” Then she looked at Mitch. “Didn’t you take it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“For all we know,” Landon said, “it was liquid arsenic.”

She understood their mistrust. It made sense considering how quickly all of this was happening. “But if I made sure it was the real stuff, you’d take it, right? If I get it for you?”

“No,” Mitch said. “I told you no.”

With each small shake of his head, her hopes crumbled a bit more. Like the walls of a condemned building scheduled for tear-down.

“We agreed, remember?” he asked solemnly. She stared at him in silence. Suffocating silence. When she slowly nodded, he mouthed,
“It’ll be okay.”
She didn’t respond, didn’t blink.

“So,” he said after a moment, turning away from her. “If we want to get out of this intact, we need to stop being defensive and waiting for shit to happen to us. We need to batten down the hatches, put on our grubbies, and get our hands dirty.”