Trusting Stone (3 page)

Eden decided to ignore her discomfort and focus on the conversation at hand—whether Mara would say yes to her boyfriend, Enzo, who had asked her to marry him during their Easter break.

“We’re so
young
, though. I still want to have fun. Sow my wild oats, right?” Mara exaggerated her accent, pretending her impeccable English was worse than it was. She knew when to play the sexy Spanish card, even with her friends. Eden giggled. She was going to miss her so much.

“You’ve had plenty of opportunities to jump some bones here in Edinburgh, Mara, but you’d rather sit at home and chat with Enzo on Skype. Don’t give me that crap, you know you’re going to say yes.”

There was no doubt that Mara was stunning. At five-foot-eight, she was taller than most women and she made no qualms about it. In fact, she insisted on wearing heels whenever the occasion called for it. She had jet-black hair that she wore in a razor sharp bob that hung just under her chin. Mara was naturally slender and that, added with her height, gave her a willowy appearance, making her look like she would do better on a catwalk than a boardroom, which was where she dreamt about being.

Mixed with her Latin style and attitude, Mara was a whirlwind of intimidating sensuality once she got her nose out of a book. Whenever they went out, men were clearly intrigued by her and also slightly daunted. Mara was not a flirt, but she oozed
sex
and seemed to know it. Eden had never met Enzo, but she’d seen pictures and knew that, at least physically, he was a perfect match for Mara. He was easily over six feet tall and his own dark Spanish features seemed to mirror Mara’s.

“I know, I know. I’m not serious. I just need to be sure about Enzo, you know? We’ve been together forever and I don’t want to make the wrong choice. I guess I’m just nervous about going home and facing my old life again.”

“Oh Mara, you don’t have to tell me. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve logged in to try and change my flight date?”

Eden was more than aware that moving all the way to Edinburgh hadn’t been nearly as hard as moving to New York was going to be. At least here she had a clear role as a student—she had classes to keep her busy, an internship at the Edinburgh Gallery, and a wonderful roommate to keep her occupied.

In New York, she would be on her own. Well, not completely. She knew her parents had a list of numbers they would want her to call, mostly grown children of families that lived in Elmbridge, the elite Boston suburb where she grew up. But Eden never would
contact
them. And of course there was Joachim. She pushed the thought out of her head. For now, she was going to enjoy the day. She stretched back, taking in the scent that wafted over them from the aromatherapy candles, and breathed out.

“And what about Joachim, Eden?” Mara obviously wasn’t going to let her off the hook after teasing her about Enzo.

Eden had grown up with Joachim. Their parents were best friends and she had let slip to her roommate that she and Joachim had been dating on and off for years since she was 15. He had been her first and really only boyfriend. When she had left Boston for Edinburgh, not even stepping foot in New York where Joachim now lived, despite the St. Leonard’s connection, it had been clear that things were off with them, but that hadn’t stopped him from emailing her almost every week. They couldn’t really be classified as love letters, but general updates sprinkled with a few terms of endearment. Mara had snorted when Eden had waved off the emails as simply polite correspondence.

“Correspondence! Really? I’m not sure this is the standard signature for ‘polite correspondence,’” Mara had said, pointing to Joachim’s signature that was the same at every email—
miss you, yours always, Jo xx
.

“Is he still sending his weekly emails?” Mara continued.

“Yes, but I haven’t been responding as much. I’m too busy with the move.”

“Isn’t he in New York? You’re not going to be able to ignore him for much longer.”

“I’ll figure it out when I get there. I’ve made it pretty clear where I stand, I think. I’m not going to New York to be with Joachim. It’s total coincidence he lives there. And anyway, we won’t be running in the same social circles. I don’t even know how much we’ll be seeing each other.”

“Unless you’ve flat out said that you are never going to sleep with him in his wildest dreams, I don’t get the impression that this guy is going to back off. And even then…” Mara gave Eden a look, a look that said “you have no idea what you’re doing when it comes to men,” which made Eden blush. She had never told Mara about her
sex
life, or lack thereof. Mara was happy to divulge all the wild reunion
sex
she had with Enzo whenever she got a chance to see him, but that was a part of Eden’s life that she had kept quiet.

She had once revealed that something had happened to her that made her nervous about trusting people when Mara pushed her about why she didn’t hang out with the other American
students
on campus. Sensing it was a sensitive subject, Mara had backed off. For all her
candor
and
dirty
mouth, Mara was incredibly attached to Eden and respected her need for boundaries.

“Mara! Don’t make it worse for me! I know I’ll have to deal with him. But seriously, it’s not what I want to spend my last days in Edinburgh thinking about!”

“Well, don’t ignore it for too long. I can’t imagine that Joachim’s going to be happy with emails when you’re living in the same
city
. Better to face it head-on.”

Eden stuck her tongue out at Mara. She knew her friend was right, but she just didn’t want to contemplate it.

“Mara, you and Enzo have more sizzle on the phone than Joachim and I do, even when he would plan one of his romantic evenings. I don’t know why he keeps pushing it. I genuinely think it’s out of habit more than anything else.”

Chapter Three

Eden glanced in the mirror one last time. She was preparing for the ASA leaving party and asking herself why the hell she had agreed to go. She knew why—a rather scathing conversation with her mother had shamed her into texting Susan and agreeing to go, as well as meet up with Susan and her friends for a ride. Eden knew she was going to have to eventually figure out how to say no to her mother instead of endlessly still behaving as if her parents had some control over her. She saw every interaction as a negotiation instead of simply a conversation.

Dr. Shepherd told her that she had to keep reassessing how far she had come. Yes, her parents still had the ability to guilt her into doing things they wanted, but she had come so far—changed her degree to
art
history, moved to Edinburgh, and now was going to be living in New York
City
on her own. All of which her parents had protested. So her mom could manipulate her into attending a party she didn’t particularly want to go to—it didn’t mean she was becoming a doormat again.

The black silk shift dress Eden had chosen was cute and sophisticated, or at least she hoped that’s what it came off as. She wasn’t overtly going for sexy, but she was attempting to walk a fine line of attractive and feminine. Dr. Shepherd, who she still had bi-monthly sessions with over the phone from his office in Boston, had been focusing on trying to help Eden
normalize
behavior
that was age appropriate, more specifically her sexuality. Ever since her breakdown, she’d avoided male attention, especially from men her own age.

Joachim was the only man she still was in regular
contact
with and that was through email. She was petrified of sending the wrong message. Dr. Shepherd was pushing her to explore the idea of owning her sexuality not simply as a means of attracting men, but for her own self-confidence as an integral part of the healing process. There was a part of her that still believed that what had happened that summer night almost two years ago was really her fault. If she hadn’t worn that red camisole top, if she hadn’t worn so much makeup, if she hadn’t danced to that Kesha song and ground her hips against that frat boy, none of it would have happened. It’s what had driven her eventually to lock herself in her dorm room and down a bottle of sleeping pills.

Eden had told Dr. Shepherd about the ASA party. He pointed out that this would be a perfect occasion to push her comfort levels and he encouraged her to go. Instead of going for formal black trousers and high-neck blouse, one that hid her figure, she should try for a dress and heels, he suggested. Eden hadn’t enjoyed shopping since her breakdown and had established a standard uniform of skinny jeans,
boat-neck
shirts and roll neck sweaters for winter, and semi-fitted t-shirts for spring and summer. Her outfits suited the Scottish climate most of the year and she felt most comfortable wearing her heavy,
woollen,
dark
grey
sweater she had bought the first week in Edinburgh. She hadn’t even packed a skirt or dress in her luggage.

The Boston Eden would have jumped at the chance to go shopping for a party dress. She probably would have treated herself to a few hours at the salon and some new makeup. Instead, begrudgingly, she had followed Mara around the shops, ignoring all her suggestions—too short, too tight, too sparkly, too fun.

“How can a dress be too fun, Eden? Seriously?” Mara harped at her.

“Okay, fine, too skanky.”

Mara feigned being insulted. “Are you calling my sense of style skanky?”

“You’re such a twit, Mara. You know perfectly well that dress has skank written all over it. I wouldn’t even be able to bend over without showing my ass and everything else.”

“That’s the point!” Mara teased her, wiggling the dress in front of her.

“No! Find me something that doesn’t actually invite someone to grab my ass and then I’ll be happy.”

Mara didn’t push her, and instead complimented her when Eden did
finally
settle on one.

The dress she had eventually found was perfect. The black silk, although not fitted, with the 60s retro cut, moved smoothly across her body, only giving hints at the shapes underneath. It ended above her knee, but with heels on, any shorter would have made her uncomfortable. Too nervous to wear a v-neck or anything backless, she had chosen the dress for what was essentially an extended
boat neck
reaching across from shoulder to shoulder, revealing her collarbone and slender neck.

She opted for a strapless bra, easily manageable with her B-cups, so as not to break up the contrasting white stretch of her skin against the black silk. After almost a year in Scottish weather, her skin had lost any hint of tan and she had rediscovered how much she liked her naturally pale skin tone. It suited her dark hair and she made a note to actually buy some sun cream for when she flew home, especially since she would be arriving in a notoriously hot New England summer.

Eden decided to wear her shoulder-length dark brown hair down. She had developed a habit of hiding behind it when necessary, a tool to avoid eye
contact
or keep her hands busy in uncomfortable situations. If Dr. Shepherd really expected her to go out in a dress, he had to allow her some sort of mental relief from the anxiety she could already feel building inside her. Her avoidance tactics in social situations was another issue he had been pushing her to work on.

Stepping back from the mirror, she smiled at herself. A dash of dark pink lip-gloss and a few swipes of mascara to frame her green eyes and she was ready. Eden knew she looked good even if she didn’t know what to do with it anymore. It was far cry from her former self. Boston Eden would have spent an hour at least doing her hair and makeup, layering up the false lashes, primer, foundation, lipstick—the works. Her mother had taught her how to use makeup well and she had perfected the demure-with-a-hint-of-
glamour
look. But like her extensive wardrobe, she had left her large makeup collection in Boston.

Ignoring the feeling of impending doom that she now
recognized
to be neurotic nerves, she put her phone and keys in her leather clutch and straightened her dress one last time. Susan had texted that she was waiting downstairs and Eden gave herself a brave smile in the mirror before walking out.

When she opened the door to her
apartment
building, she wasn’t that surprised to see a black limo waiting for her with the sound of dance music pumping out from the door seams. Already she was regretting her decision to go. Susan opened the door and gestured for Eden to join the other girls inside.

“It’s going to be epic!” she said as she gave Eden a squeeze and started introducing her to the other
students
. Apparently, despite being a communications graduate, Susan hadn’t picked up any other descriptive adjectives for how the party was going to be.

Eden could smell the tequila coming off them before she spotted the bottle, now practically empty between Susan’s knees. This was a boundary she was not willing to cross, despite wanting to fit in. The last time Eden had allowed herself to get drunk at a party, it had not ended well for her. Susan passed her the bottle after taking another swig.

“No thanks, none for me.” Eden again gave Susan one of her polite smiles.

“What? Come on! It’s Patron. You’ll love it.”

“Really, I’m good. I’ve got so much packing to do tomorrow. I can’t be hung over.” Eden tried again to pass the bottle on to the girl next to her, who by now had paused to listen to the conversation.

“Oh, Eden, always so uptight. By the end of the night, I’ll get a drink in you,” she giggled.

Eden kept her smile plastered to her face and smoothly diverted Susan on to another topic. It wasn’t that she never drank, but she never got drunk anymore and she never drank with people she didn’t trust 100%. Considering she didn’t really trust anyone anymore, besides Mara, it meant her alcohol tolerance had plummeted.

“So, Trey’s hooked the group up with the Acer
Club
? How’d he manage that?” She’d seen Trey flirting with Susan on campus and Susan clearly reciprocated his sentiments. It was an easy way to distract Susan from the subject of drinking.

“Not sure really. Trey—well, his parents, I mean—know the manager or owner, I can’t remember. But I think we’ve got most of the
club
to ourselves.”

Eden had heard of the Acer
Club
. It was a
city
club
in the traditional sense of a gentleman’s
club
, the sort of place her father took her to lunch in Boston and watched her eat
club
sandwiches and drink Perrier while he slowly got drunk on expensive scotch. In the evenings, the Acer
Club
hosted parties, usually for more sophisticated crowds than a bunch of drunken American
students
, but Eden knew these kids had more pull than most.

Finally, they arrived and Eden sighed in relief. There were only so many times she could rebuff Susan’s offer of alcohol without the other girls making a thing of it. She slid away from the open door, letting the other girls stumble out of the limousine first, wanting to give herself a moment to compose her thoughts and prepare for whatever she found inside. The limo, with the music and the overexcited girls, already tipsy before the night had begun, made Eden feel out of her depth, and she had to breathe deeply to remind herself that she was in control.

Even though she was only 22, the one-year difference she had between herself and most of the girls in the car made her feel middle-aged. She reminded herself that she could choose how tonight went, no one else.

“Come on, Eden!” she heard one of the girls shout, and she
realized
they had all but gone into the
club
.

Eden
finally
stretched her legs out, glancing down at her heeled feet, careful to avoid the cobbles on the road. Her shoes were the one concession to sexy she had made, while
keeping
the rest of her outfit somewhat chaste. The four-inch heels made her feel powerful. At five-foot-two, any extra height added to her confidence, and she smiled as she looked down at them. The black suede crisscross pattern that
traveled
down the front of her foot to a peep-toe point reminded her that she was still in control, despite Susan’s idle threats of getting her to drink before the end of the night.

A cool summer breeze
suddenly
swept across the pavement and Eden’s smile started to fade as she looked up. The wind caught her hair and swirled it across her mouth, hiding her small gasp as she made eye
contact
with the man standing in front of the
club
.

For a moment, Eden forgot the fear and dread she had been carrying around her all evening. Pale blue eyes held her gaze, and for the first time in a long time, she felt a tightening inside her that she almost didn’t
recognize
. She didn’t notice the cool wind anymore, even though it swirled around her, pulling her dress in a twist around her body, revealing far more than she intended. She instinctively tightened her grip on the limo door, not wanting to lose her balance as the man she couldn’t take her eyes off of continued to return her gaze. All she could see was the blue, a calm lagoon that she could get lost in and float away. Those eyes were like nothing she had ever seen before and she never wanted to stop looking.

“Eden! Come on! God, it’s freezing out here.” Susan was
suddenly
there, grabbing her wrist, breaking the bond with the mystery man and practically pulling her over. Eden stumbled for a moment before regaining her balance and looking up. But in those few moments, he had disappeared into the Gothic building, home to the exclusive Acer
Club
.

Susan looked at her again. “I thought you didn’t drink on the way over? You look totally out of it. You okay?” Her voice sounded sober all of sudden.

“I’m fine, sorry. Ready for an
epic
night?” Eden said, now pulling Susan into the
club
, slightly shaken by what she had seen. There was something so familiar about those eyes, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

****

Eden was secretly pleased to see Trey had oversold his parents’ sway with the
club
. The management had only allocated two of the
club
’s larger entertainment rooms to the group, not the entire
club
as Trey had promised. The main foyer was calm and quiet, exuding the feeling of controlled opulence that Eden had expected of such an establishment. It was only when Susan
led
the way down one of the hallways leading off the main foyer and opened a set of double doors that Eden
realized
the rooms were soundproofed.