Dauntless Desires

10

It felt like a year had passed, but it had really been just a little under an hour. Reality came crashing back down the moment Eric slowly pulled out of her and then pulled her in for a tight embrace, taking her mouth in a deep, possessive kiss. It was the sensation of being claimed that had Tris pushing against him with determination to stop the kiss. He sighed and let her go. She turned away as he went into the bathroom, returning to the bedroom moments later to find her already dressed and tugging on her shoes.

"I need to...go back to my room and freshen up for the meeting," she said quickly, not bothering to look at him. "We only have about fifteen more minutes..."

"Tris."

That one word, her name on his lips in that tone did impossible things to places that still ached and twitched at the top of her thighs. He came up to her, still naked and she didn't know where to look. Her eyes fell on the tossed sheets but she couldn't look at them either so her eyes flew up to meet his.

"I need to go," she said, her tone more firm.

"I get that," Eric said patiently, his fingers combing through her hair. "But we still have to make time to talk. About us. I told you, you're mine now. I won't let you go."

Tris was already shaking her head. "I'm sorry. This shouldn't have happened." Tears pricked her eyes and she wasn't sure why she was crying. Shame, disgust at herself, confusion? It was hard to tell. The abnegation was making a rise.

"Damn, Tris. Don't cry. If I hurt you..."

"There's no 'if' about that," she spit out, finding her voice again. "But that's okay. What just took place...it doesn't matter. Because Four warned me this would happen. That we'd sleep together. I just...I can't understand how he could have known. How he saw right through me..."

"Don't think about him," Eric growled, embracing her gently, "He has nothing to do with us."

Tris pushed him away, "There is no and can never be an 'us'. A single roll in your bed doesn't make me your property, Eric. Nothing has really changed between you and me. If you think I..."

"You're upset, I understand, but don't tell me what we just did wasn't right," Eric said, eyes narrowing, and as he tried reaching for her hand she backed away with cold eyes.

"Upset doesn't even begin to cover it, I have to go," she said again getting out the door and slamming it shut.

Tris rushed into her room like the devil himself was after her. Eric didn't try to follow.

She stripped off her dress again and went to shower, she felt guilt rising in her heart, and all she could think to do was wash Eric off of her.

Minutes later, she exited the bathroom and quickly got dressed. They would be a little late for the meeting but that couldn't be helped. If Eric tried to give her any shit about being just a few minutes behind schedule, she would claw his eyes out then.

Tris let out an exasperated sigh as a sudden feeling of guilt came back with a force. She wasn't guilty about what had happened, she knew he and Four were done...she was guilty for leaving Eric alone afterwards. She shook her head, she'd already given her body to the one man she had hated most in the world. Tris gave him more power over her than she wanted to and she couldn't see any other way to make him pay for the hell he'd put her through. She hated him, right?

She found her phone and saw that there were seven missed calls from Four. Her heart dropped as something more than guilt washed over her. She closed her eyes and sighed, letting all the events of the past hour leave her thoughts. Tris didn't want to talk to Four right now and definitely wasn't ready to come to terms with the mistake she thought she had just made by sleeping with Eric.

And she wasn't sure if she could keep from doing it again...

When she stepped out of her room, she found Eric waiting right outside. His eyes searched her face and she lifted her chin to meet his deep gaze.

"Are you okay?" he asked cool and collected.

She choked out a short laugh. "As I'll ever be. Like you told me once before, I have to be professional at all times. I hope you can do the same."

His eyes sparked for a moment at her tone. "We will talk after our meeting. Get that straight. This is far from concluded," he declared, but without another word they left to meet Jeanine and her council together.

They walked in silence, from the looks he sent her way from time to time, she could see that he wanted to bring up the tension that so obviously existed between them.

But he didn't, and the silence continued until they were at the meeting room, standing by the entrance. He opened the door for her and put a hand on the small of her back. She ignored the surge of heat that rose to her cheeks. It didn't matter if just a while ago, she was writhing beneath him, her sheathe filled with his rigid thickness. Bringing her orgasms she'd only ever read about but never imagined she could ever experience.

That was then, and this was now.

Once they were inside the room, all council members eyes were on them. She stepped away from Eric and followed him to the two empty seats at the table.

"I apologize for our tardiness," Eric said boldly before sitting down.

"Let's talk about Andrew Prior," Jeanine said getting straight to things, "he is the next candidate for leader of Abnegation, yet he protects Marcus Eaton...which makes me wonder, why?"

My heart stopped, was she accusing my dad of beating Caleb and I? I looked to Caleb who sat six seats down at the other side of the long table his eyes were cast down like he was guilty of something.

"Are you implying that Andrew Prior beat on his children," a voice came from down the table. A smart looking man in glasses was the owner of the voice, "and if so, if he did beat his children, making them defective, then he is in no way suitable for a leadership position, so who would be the next in line?"

My fists balled up, I was biting back my words, Eric must have noticed because he put a hand around one of my clenched fists and squeezed gently, obviously in an attempt to calm me.

"If Andrew Prior is in fact out of the question, then Erudite will appoint a new leader for them-"

"Andrew Prior is not abusive." Jeanine was cut off, I looked around the too. To see where the voice came from, then I realized all eyes were on me.