Promises

Chapter 1

AN: I'm posting this here because I've started to become paranoid of people stealing my stories, especially this one. I'll be posting everything here over the next few days. 🤗

Ada was used to Erik coming and going the way he did. He'd be in town for a few weeks before disappearing for months on end, leaving her worried and anxious. She understood that his job in the CIA took him away from her but a damn head's up when he was leaving or coming back would be nice.

And always back with more of the...markings. She asked him once what they stood for but he just shook his head, refusing to answer. She had an idea but was too afraid for him to confirm or deny what she already knew deep down.

Because despite his in and out act, she knew Erik better than anyone else. Even himself sometimes.

He was home today, back in Boston, and they were wrapped around each other in her bed. Always her bed, never his. Ada wasn't even sure where he stayed whenever he wasn't with her or if he had his own place in Oakland. She loved him like this, snuggly and pressed against her, his head resting on her chest and her scratching at the hairs on the back of his neck. There was that underlying current of sexual energy that always seemed to be present whenever Erik was within her vicinity but Ada just wanted to hold him to her a little longer.

It was hard having him leave and Erik knew this; he usually snuck out early in the morning, leaving nothing behind. When he came back, he brought gifts from his travels. Candle holders from Iraq, a rug from Afghanistan, Russian dolls integrated their way into the eclectic décor that made up her—no their—place. But it still never made up for Ada missing him like crazy.

"How long are you staying this time?" she asked tracing a pattern in the dots along his shoulder. These were fresh; she could always tell the difference in the new ones.

He made a noncommittal sound in his throat, snuggling deeper into her breast and Ada let him, wrapping both arms around him. She wanted to keep him. She knew he was damaged but just like the silly girls in movies, she just felt that if he would just give her a chance, she could fix him. But Erik was troubled, far more so than her one psychology class could handle.

When she met him, Ada thought Erik was the typical bad boy, but was instantly drawn to him the minute she heard him in a lecture on African Diaspora Studies. He spoke with such intelligence, such confidence and magnetism that every eye was instantly on him, including Ada. Interacting with him one on one was another level. Ada was no dummy by any means but Erik took intellect to another level and she found herself falling for the bad boy who was more misunderstood than anything.

Her friends told her that they had heard things about him, he was messed up, had anger issues, got into fights but Ada just knew that if she could keep him, she could fill that hole that he let fester and scab over with anger. She started to pray more, hoping that whatever was causing him to be the way he was inside would be healed and he could be the man that he was with her all the time. But she didn't mind being Erik's person; he was one person who Ada could depend on.

Erik sat up pulling Ada from her thoughts and took her hands into his. Tugging her into a seated position on the bed, she knew it would be bad because of the serious look on his face.

"What is it?" she asked afraid of the answer.

"I...I'm leaving tomorrow morning." His words hit like a punch to the stomach.

"Wait what? You just got here." Tears welled in her eyes and Ada did her best not to let them fall. It made no sense to be so attached to someone who pulled disappearing acts on the regular. She should be used to in by now but it still hurt and it was the first time she had known ahead of time when he was leaving. "Can't the CIA send someone else for once? You can't be the only person saving the world."

"This isn't for the CIA." The words brought her up short. If not for the CIA then what could possibly take him away so soon?

"You have to give me more than that Erik. You come in and out of my life and I'm supposed to just be ok with that?" The tears were flowing freely and Ada swiped them away angrily. Erik was the only person to make her feel this way, both so angry and in love and out of control. She began to pace. "What about me Erik? What about what I want? I can't keep living this life of never knowing when you're coming or going and not being able to live my own life because I'm waiting for you to figure out what it is you need. Why aren't I just enough?"

Erik grabbed her by the arms and sat her back on the bed. "Hey, hey, hey. Calm all that down. You're enough. You're more than enough." He rubbed the back of his neck. "This is something that I have to do. Something to honor my pops. Something he would've wanted me to do." Ada nodded. Erik didn't talk about Oakland a lot but she knew that his father was killed when he was young and he had meant the world to Erik.

"I need something more permanent Erik. I love you more than anything and it scares me whenever you leave and I never know if you're gonna come home to me." Erik wrapped his arms around her and Ada leaned her head against his chest. Their relationship was unhealthy one but not one she would give up for anything.

"I swear. This time is the last time. When I come back, things are gonna be different. I'm gonna take you to where my pops grew up, show you where I come from, treat you like a queen. My queen." He kissed her then, a firm pressing of his mouth to hers, and Ada wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. If her words couldn't keep him, maybe her actions would.

He pressed her deep into the mattress and she allowed him to take control as he usually did. Tongues tangled and clothes were removed and there wasn't a need for any spoken words.

Come home to me, she silently begged when she wrapped her legs around his waist. I love you, I love you, I love you. Love me too.

When it was finished, Ada wrapped her arms around him tightly, keeping him pressed to her, inside her, for as long as possible. There was a sense of fear in her, like this would be her last time to see him and it made her scared for him to leave her.

Erik pulled away and wrapped her in his arms, his fingertips tracing the smooth skin of her shoulder, her head on his chest. Ada pressed a kiss to his chest right over his heart where the thudding was singing her a lullaby. Before she drifted off, she felt him press lips to her hair and mutter something under his breath.

When she woke, Erik was gone and it was dark outside her window. Ada shivered from the cold that seeped into her bones. She would see him again, she vowed. He would come home to her and things would get better when he did. He promised and Erik had never broken a promise yet.

Except a month went by and she didn't hear from him. And another. And another. Until it had been six months and Erik had never been gone that long and Ada was sure that he wasn't coming back home.