Landon smirked. “Ah, it’s not so funny when the curse is on the other foot, is it?”
“It’s not funny at all.” I looked Eden up and down with overt disgust. “Those can’t possibly be real, by the way.”
“Oh, they’re real.” Eden’s expression was dismissive. “I’ve been waiting for you for more than an hour, Jericho. You were supposed to be here to give an update on the Michael Ferrigno case right after sunset. What took you so long?”
If Landon was bothered by her tone he didn’t show it. “I had to go to an underground city and watch a bunch of freaks fake dying.”
“You were there?” Eden was grave. “The loss of life at Zeton was enormous.”
“Really? I’m sure if you wander over there you can just drag them outside and they’ll make miraculous recoveries.”
“That’s not part of the mission.” Eden was firm. “What do you have? Do you have the information we need to bring down Ferrigno?”
“Um … no.” Landon shook his head. “I’m working on it, though. I hope to have the information shortly.”
“You have to work faster.”
“I’m working as fast as I can.”
“It’s not fast enough.” Eden adopted a pouty expression as she sidled closer. “I miss you, lover. I cry myself to sleep every night that you’re not next to me.”
“Oh, my … Goddess.” I thought my head might implode. “She’s your girlfriend!”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Landon protested.
“That’s right,” Eden confirmed. “We live together. We’re supposed to be getting married in a few months. We’re going to live happily ever after. I’m his fiancée.”
My stomach twisted. “Yeah, because that makes it better.”
“Hey, you’re married,” Landon reminded me. “Why wouldn’t I have a girlfriend in this … cesspool?”
“Because you’re supposed to be in love with me.”
“This is a fake world!” Landon exploded, his temper getting the better of him. “I can’t control how Aunt Tillie wrote it. It’s not as if I’ve really been cheating on you.”
“What is going on here?” Eden planted her hands on her hips as her eyes bounced between us. “Is there something you want to tell me, Jericho?”
Landon nodded without hesitation. “Yes. Jericho is a stupid name.”
“And?”
“And … um … I think we should stop seeing each other.” Landon was clearly trying to appease me, but Eden didn’t take it well. Instead she slapped him hard across the face, causing him to reel back. He wasn’t even minimally recovered when she attacked a second time and threw a drink at him, the liquid splashing across his handsome features. “Hey!”
“Where did she get the drink?” Clove asked. “Did anyone see her carrying a drink?”
Thistle shook her head. “No, but throwing drinks is a soap staple. It doesn’t really surprise me.”
Eden moved to slap Landon again, but he caught her wrist before she could.
“Don’t do that,” Landon warned.
“Hey, my phone is ringing.” Sam lost interest in the scene playing out in front of us and dug for his phone. “Should I answer it?”
Marcus nodded. “It’s probably part of the story.”
“Okay.” Sam pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
“You can’t leave me,” Eden screeched. “We’re destined to be together. I will kill anyone who tries to get between us.”
“Yeah, that sounds healthy,” Landon deadpanned. “I really don’t care. I think we need to take a break.”
“Oh, of course you do,” Eden sneered. “I know you’ve been running around behind my back. I assumed you were doing it because you had no choice, you had to or risk being found out and ultimately killed for your betrayal of Ferrigno. I guess I know better now, don’t I?”
“I guess you do.” Landon was blasé … right up to the point when Eden wrenched her wrist free and grabbed the front of his shirt. With an ease that shouldn’t have been possible given my knowledge of fabric and seams, she ripped Landon’s shirt from his chest, leaving behind only two sleeves and a baffled look on his face. “What the … ?”
“This is your doing,” Eden hissed, rubbing the remnants of the shirt over her face as her eyes turned crazy and dangerous. “You’ll rue the day you broke my heart!”
Landon was over the drama. “Give me back my shirt.”
“No!” Eden continued rubbing it against her cheek. “It’s all I have to remember you by. I won’t forget any of this. You’ve broken me, wrecked me. You set off a bomb in my heart and now that it has exploded there are too many pieces to pick up.”
“But … .”
Landon didn’t get a chance to finish his statement, because Sam had finished his phone call and he looked altogether sick to his stomach.
“What is it?” Clove asked, worried.
“I’m needed at the hospital,” Sam replied woodenly. “I’m supposed to perform emergency brain surgery.”
“Oh, well, that explains the phone.” Thistle was clearly amused. “This world is starting to look up. I can’t wait to see the hospital.”
I want to be a fashion model, astronaut, writer, makeup company CEO and doctor on the weekends. That woman did it all in less than a year. At least she’s never bored.
– Aunt Tillie picking a soap career
Seven
Eden was beyond conversation and her need to rub Landon’s shirt over her face and chest was downright disturbing. Landon finally gave up trying to reclaim his clothing – it was beyond repair anyway – and focused on our next issue.
“I’m not doing it,” Sam announced. “I don’t care what you think, what you expect or how much you beg … it’s simply not going to happen.”
“We still have to go to the hospital,” Landon said, folding his arms over his chest as he attempted to cover his bare skin. He was clearly uncomfortable. “You wouldn’t have gotten the call unless we were supposed to go there next.”
“Yes, but I’m a brain surgeon on weekends,” Sam said. “That’s what that clip show thing said. They called me for brain surgery. There’s no way I’m doing that.”
“I doubt very much you’re going to have to do it,” I supplied. “It’s a soap opera, not a medical show. They never show the nitty-gritty on a soap opera. At most they’ll show a couple close-ups of your face. There’s no way anyone is going to put a scalpel in your hand.”
Sam wasn’t convinced. “I’m not doing it.”
Landon held up his hands to stave off an argument. “You’re not going to have to perform surgery. I can virtually guarantee that. We still need to head to the hospital.”
Sam wasn’t about to be placated. “I’m not doing surgery.”
“And I’m sick of hearing you say that.” Landon put a hand to my elbow to direct me toward the opposite end of the dock. “Let’s get going.”
“How do you know that’s the right direction?”
“Because the only thing in that direction is Zeton and I have no intention of going back there.”
“Fair enough.” I fell into step with him, refusing to look over my shoulder to make sure everyone else followed. I figured they were on their own if they chose to separate. The only one I was determined to stay close to was Landon. I’d never been lost in one of Aunt Tillie’s worlds without him – at least not for an extended period – and I wasn’t about to start now.
“Do you want to tell me what you’re thinking?” Landon’s voice was soft.
“I’m not sure what I’m thinking. It’s a lot to process.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to work on me.”
“Well, for starters, I think it’s funny that you’re covering your chest that way. It’s not as if anyone is staring at your nipples or anything.”
Landon made a derisive snort in the back of his throat. “I feel exposed.”
“We’re not really on television. You’re okay.”