Hyde, an Urban Fantasy (20 page)

“Very much.” He swallowed. “Too much.”

Her face turned into panic. “Mitch? She’s—”

“She’s what?” He approached the bed, sensing her panic but not knowing its cause.

“Mitch! She’s coming back! She’s coming back!” Her shout turned into a whimper. “I don’t want her to come back yet.”

He glanced at the window. The light of dawn peeked through the window shades, slowly bringing Eden back with it. From behind him, he heard Carter come back into the room.

Mitch sat down next to her and reached out to stroke her head, wondering if Hyde was like this. Did the bastard feel fear before he went back into the pit he came from?

“It’ll be okay, Chastity. We can play next time. Okay? We’ll play next time. Next time you come out.”

“Promise?”

He nodded. “Promise.”

“I don’t want her to come back, Mitch.” Chastity’s abs jerked as she tried to fight something she had no control over. No control whatsoever.

“You bastard,” Carter growled from the doorway. “What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything to her, man. Nothing at all.” Mitch kept a hand on her hair, stroking it as Chastity went back into whichever hell she came from.

§          §          §

Eden jerked her eyes open and saw Carter taking a handcuff off her wrist, his hands shaking. She ripped her arm away from him. “Carter?” When he didn’t look at her, she glanced around the room and at herself. She was on top of her bedspread, the throw blanket from the living room laid across her naked body. Her lower lip trembled, but she didn’t cry.

Rubbing her aching wrists, she saw that both of them were red and raw. “Did I— Did she . . .”

Carter didn’t say anything, just looked at her with a face filled with sorrow.

She sat up, her heart pounding against the cage that held it. “Carter? What happened?”

He stood, still silent.

“Tell me what the hell happened!”

He flinched at her words, stumbling back a step.

Mitch came into the room and leaned against the doorframe. “He thinks you have multiple personalities.”

“Do I?”

“Nope.”

“What happened?” She looked back and forth between them, then stopped at Carter. “Did I do something to you?”

He dropped his eyes toward the floor and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

She held the blanket tight to her chest and looked to Mitch for an answer.
Yeah, because he was such a reliable source of information.

Mitch adjusted his pants. “Nothing a long, cold shower or some lotion won’t fix.”

“Shut up, asshole.” Carter’s voice held none of the conviction of his words.

“Carter?” she pleaded.

Mitch yawned and righted himself. “Well, my work here is done. Get some sleep. You need to be at my house Saturday by ten. Eden, pack an overnight bag. And, Carter, you aren’t invited.”

“There is no way in hell I’m ever leaving her alone with you.”

“She won’t change until Sunday, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about? Seriously?” she asked.

“I meant about Saturday night.” He studied her and asked, “You’d never let me get in your pants while you’re
you
, would you, Eden?”

“While I’m
me
? So…she’s real?”

“Sure as shit. Nothing will happen to her, Carter. Promise.”

“Excuse me for not being impressed by your promises, Mitchell. You just promised her that you’d fuck her.”

“Not Eden. Chastity. And I lied.” He smirked. “I do that.”

“Yeah,
that
inspires trust.”

Eden couldn’t care less about their testosterone-induced squabbles.
Why aren’t they talking to me?
“Chastity’s real?” It didn’t make sense. First, Mitch says she doesn’t have D.I.D., and then he tells her he saw someone else wearing her body.

“Carter will tell you all about her,” Mitch said. “Won’t you, Carter?”

Carter nodded slowly, painfully.

“Jolie will be with us all night. She’d never let me get within touching distance of your girl. Just ask her.”

Carter flinched. “Jolie? Who’s Jolie?”

“My assistant. Knock-out girl—you’ll love her. Ten o’clock then.”

Mitch walked out, leaving her silently begging for answers. Why was he being so cruel? He taunted her, confused her, but never gave her anything.

§          §          §

Finally outside, Mitch let out the sigh he’d been holding the entire night. God, he couldn’t count how many times he’d wanted to just walk away since he’d figured out what she was. Knowing he couldn’t. Not now. Hell, not before either.

She wasn’t someone a shrink could handle. And, maybe, just maybe, through her, he could understand more about Hyde. The beast that was a part of him, but who Mitch could never truly know. He ran his hands over his face, straightened his shoulders and made his way back to the car.

In his worst nightmare, in his waking nightmare of a life, he never thought he’d meet another. And for that other to be someone like Eden? It was simply too much to stomach. He knew why he was being punished, but her? No, that wasn’t right.

Only peripherally did he wonder how the conversation he’d just walked out on would go. How she would react to the truth. Because whatever Carter told her wouldn’t be the whole truth. The boy scout was still in shock. Mitch knew she’d have to come to him for all the answers Carter didn’t have.

And Mitch knew he’d have to tell her, come clean, share the knowledge of who and what
they
were. Relive all of the pain he’d spent years trying to forget. His father, Shelly, Hyde. All his dirty laundry would be brought out in a big pile for her to gawk at . . . and fear.

She never lied? Well, looked like it was now Mitch’s turn to try it.
I love to try new things,
he lied to himself.

§          §          §

Jolie pressed “send” and then looked up to see Carter walking into the office. Damn it, how did he know where she worked?

“Surprise, surprise.” He sounded angry and desperate. Looked even more so, slamming the waiting room door behind him. That was not good. “Can you imagine my surprise when I find out that this guy that Eden keeps going to for help turns out to have an assistant named Jolie? ‘Jolie’ is hardly a common name. But there’s no
way
that the Jolie
I
know wouldn’t tell me she knows him, works for him, right? No way. And, look, here you are, sitting in his office like you belong here! What the hell, Jolie?”

“You can’t be here. I’ll call you later.”

“I saw him leave. I know he’s not here. So spill.”

Jolie shushed him even though he was right—Mitchell wasn’t in the office. He’d made a “house-call” and brought his show on the road to a CEO who couldn’t bother to come to the office. Normally Mitchell would have told the guy to buzz off using highly-colorful language, but Mitchell was different now.
Without
Jolie altering the serum dosage in his coffee every morning. She had a feeling she knew why. And that scared her. He was starting to care about Eden, which meant Hyde might get stronger. So her theory went anyway—The Clinic not being one for explanations, or any information at all.

But Hyde’s power wasn’t what bothered her most. No, watching Mitchell change because of a woman other than Jolie-herself stung.

“We can talk about this later, Carter.”

“No, we can talk about this now!”

“That’s a shame. I thought we might be able to meet somewhere more . . . comfortable.”

“Talk. Now.”

“Okay.” She sighed and considered how much she could tell him. “Yes, I work with Mitchell. Yes, he suffers from the same
illness
that Eden does. And, no, he doesn’t know about the medicine either.”

His glare lessened as she came clean. Clean-ish. “So why does she keep going to him?”

“I don’t know. It was probably some weird sort of coincidence. It’s nothing to worry about.”

As his eyes narrowed, she realized why he was so angry. “Are you jealous, Carter?”

He didn’t respond.

“You don’t need to be jealous, Carter. Mitchell doesn’t
do
relationships. If she hasn’t put out by now, he’s moved on. Frankly, even if she
has
put out, he’s moved on. Trust me.” She wondered if he’d buy that. It was something she’d believed for years. And then Eden had come along.

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” he said. “I want to quit.”

Jolie looked at the poor, naïve little hottie in front of her, his eyebrows all squished up in confusion. She stood, went to the door, and flipped the dead-bolt. Pulling the curtain panels across the glass walls, she put on her mask of seduction. It would work on him, it always did.

“Carter,” she purred. “You can’t quit. I need you.
We
need you.”

His eyes roamed over her, filling with a different kind of need, but his head kept up its shake. “No, I can’t. I saw her change last night. I saw her change, Jolie! I know I said I would help, but seeing her like that . . . She’s a good person, Jolie. That was someone totally different.”

Hips swaying, Jolie approached him. “She’s a good person because we
make
her that way, babe.” She pulled up his t-shirt. He didn’t resist, lifting his arms from his sides to help her. “That’s the only reason, you know.” She undid his belt and slid her hands onto his hips, pushing his jeans and boxers down his thighs. “And I think you’re amazing. I don’t want you to go away. What would I do without you?” She ignored the “no” that was apparent on his face, instead focusing on the “hell-yes” his cock was showing her. And that was all before she’d removed a stitch of her own clothing.

“I’m not an idiot, Jolie. I think you’ll be just fine without me.” While the look in his eyes surprised her, his words
stunned
her.

Damn it to hell, am I losing all my charm?
“If you want me, Carter, you need to act now. In about another twenty minutes, Mitchell will be back.” She took his hands and guided them under her skirt to her ass. “And I’ll have to put all of this away.”

“You think you can just screw me and I’ll do whatever you tell me to do?” His grip tightened, pulling her closer. But she wasn’t winning. He looked angry, nothing like the puppy dog he usually was.

Sighing, she pulled back slightly and reassessed the game-plan that had always worked with him. “Of course not. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. And making love with you has nothing to do with that.” She looked up and blinked, hoping to locate a few convincing tears. “I can’t believe you would even think I would do that to you.”

He pushed her away and yanked up his pants. “No, I’m out. I gave her the medicine, called you so you could take over, did everything you asked me to. But I’m done. That stuff isn’t even working anymore! She’s changing. She’s different now. And last night was frigging horrible, Jolie. Seeing her like that. She needs to get checked into that clinic.”

Not ‘that clinic’, Carter. ‘The Clinic’—capital ‘T’, capital ‘C’.

“They can give her more medicine or try something else,” he said. “I don’t know what to do for her anymore. She doesn’t even want my help. She wants
his
.”