The Highest Bidder

❊ Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Fɪғᴛʏ﹣Fɪᴠᴇ ❊

Laying on the cloud that was Enzo's bed, I stared up at the ceiling, listening to him speak on the phone. Right when we got into his room, Tami called. He spoke in hushed tones, trying not to let me hear. But I could either way. They were talking about Maverick. Then there was something about a hearing in the next few days regarding him and Vince.

I closed my eyes and let my body relax into the bed when he said goodbye. The bed dipped with his weight and he immediately pulled me to him. He seemed to like touching me more since he figured out my feelings, and while that would have used to make me extremely happy, it didn't anymore. All I could think about were the scars.

"What are you thinking," Enzo whispered in my ear.

The gloom from outside made the room darker than what it normally would be at seven o'clock at night. Which, in turn, made my body believe that it was about time to fall asleep.

"Nothing." I curled into him, resting my head against his shoulder.

He ran his fingers over my back, tracing random patterns in the cloth of my white shirt. I shivered and pressed myself closer to him.

"Don't lie," he said.

"My scars," I mumbled into his shirt. "They're ugly. I'm afraid that you'll-"

He pulled away from me so abruptly that I flinched. His hand linked in mine and he pulled my left arm to his lips, kissing a small scar. His eyes were locked on mine as he moved his lips over every scar on that arm before he moved to the other, pushing me to my back so that he could reach it better. I watched in shock and awe as he moved to the end of the bed and pushed my sweatpants up to my knees so that he could kiss the scars on my legs.

"Enzo." I tried to move my legs away from him, only for him to grab onto my ankles and force them gently back to their spots.

He climbed over me and pulled my shirt up to just below my breasts to kiss the ugly scars there. What he was doing, I wasn't sure. But it was just making me more aware of the scars covering my body. There were more than I thought there were. And while some weren't too bad, there were some that were a dark pink, too visible to the eye. Ugly.

He pushed himself up so that his face was above mine. "What have I told you?"

I looked back and forth between his eyes, my heart beating triple the normal rate. I felt it hammering in my chest, my arms, my legs, and everywhere else he kissed.

"They aren't disgusting." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "They're a part of you now."

Before I could think better of it, I lifted my head up off the pillow and slanted my lips over his. He didn't hesitate to kiss me back, making sure he was gentle with me as his mouth moved over mine. I felt his hands curl into fists on either side of my head, a sure sign that he was holding back.

"You can't love me," I whispered, my voice too hoarse to speak normally. "I'm not the same person."

He smiled slightly. "I don't know about that. You look like the same person to me."

Tears welled up in my eyes. "I'm too afraid to hope, Enzo."

He wiped away a tear that escaped with his thumb. "I know. But you'll get better, Eva. It'll take time to get over what happened to you. But what you said today to Alec...that was you. That was that sarcastic and bull-headed side of you that I like so much. Even if you don't get back to the way you were completely, you are still Eva Rose Whelan."

He leaned down and kissed the next tear that slid down my face. "Eva. I do love you."

I clenched my eyes shut and turned my head away from him. I could still feel his eyes on me as he remained above me. His lips met with my jaw, then my neck. When I didn't move to stop him, he kissed my collarbone.

"You're beautiful," he whispered into my neck. "I wish I didn't find you so beautiful."

I wrapped my arms around his body and pulled him down to me. He struggled against my hold at first, but he gradually allowed himself to lower and fix himself at my side with his hand draped over my bare stomach. I watched him trace two of the scars there with his pointer and middle fingers.

"I don't normally speak my emotions," he murmured. "But I don't want you to leave, Eva. But as I've also said...I'd understand if you want to."

His brown eyes were locked on his fingers, but mine were locked on his face after his admission. He felt responsible for all of the scars littering my body, I knew that. And I doubted that he would ever get it through his head that I didn't blame him for what happened. It was all on Maverick. What Enzo did was the only thing that made sense to keep me alive.

I stopped the motion of his fingers by placing my hand over his. "And what have I told you? Quit blaming yourself for everything that happens. What happened to me wasn't on you. I won't leave if you don't want me to."

His fingers entwined with mine and his eyes lifted. "I never want you to leave."

Before I could stop them, my eyes widened and my heart seemed to stop. The sincerity in his voice and expression was enough to make me stop breathing. What happened to him in the months that I had been gone? Enzo was never one to openly show affection, if he showed any at all. I knew he cared about me, just like he cared about Sophia and Thomas. But to find out that he risked his own life to save me because he loved me was almost too much.

I breathed in a ragged breath. The man lying next to me was not the executioner he wanted people to believe. I knew that long ago. But he wasn't exactly what I thought either. He wasn't just Enzo anymore. He was my savior.

"Well, " I forced the words out through the lump in my throat, "I am not waking up at five o'clock every morning for the rest of my life."

He laughed, pulling away from me to lay on his back. Tears built up in his eyes until they overflowed from how hard he was laughing. I had never seen him lose control over something so trivial. But It was nice to see. He had been so uptight and tense the past few days that I didn't know if he would ever become the man who used to get exasperated at every small thing I did to irritate him.

But it seemed the old me showing up again relieved him.

If me becoming like that again would make Enzo smile more often, then I would have to continue reminding myself that Maverick would never get to me again. I wouldn't have to worry about what I said to Enzo because he would never hurt me. I knew he wouldn't. Because my executioner would never do anything to cause me harm.