All's Fair in Love and War

Chapter 12 Lines Drawn

Evie did not sleep well after she and Erik parted ways from the kitchen.

Her head was reeling as it tried to stay on the strange foggy high that kissing Erik had induced, while at the same time focusing on the many thoughts that clamoured for attention in her mind, the loudest of which was also the one she was most terrified to acknowledge.

She was in love... with Erik.

After all that time convincing herself, and Raven, and Lisa that they were just good friends – though, she'd never been fully convinced even with herself that that was all she felt for the man; and she didn't even want to think about what Raven and Lisa would say – she knew now she was only denying what was glaringly obvious. It was just that she'd never imagined falling in love with Erik Lehnsherr of all people. Her earliest impressions of him hadn't been very flattering: her first impression had been that he as dangerous; her second that all he really saw in her was her power hindered by her lack of experience and not her as a person with a life and feelings. Finally, she'd been convinced that while he could be nice to Charles, the guy was a general jerk.

But then she'd gotten to know him. And somewhere along that line, she'd fallen in love.

'It's all because he had to be easy on the eyes.' Evie thought sourly, trying to convince herself her feelings were superficial and easy to get over. After all, she could still remember the night she'd been drawn abruptly out of her nightmare-induced vision to find Erik leaning over her. Not that she'd really focused on it at the time, given she was near hysterical, but even in her dazed state she'd noticed how bright and fierce Erik's blue eyes were. How strong his jawline was, a sharp contrast to how soft his lips had appeared to be.

But, Evie knew she was lying to herself. She'd known from day one that Erik was handsome. And she hadn't been the slightest bit interested in him then. Not to mention most of her teammates were actually quite good-looking, yet none had been able to pull her in the way Erik had.

No, Evie knew that her attraction to the magnetism-user went below the surface. Yes, his looks helped, but they were not everything nor were they even close to important about who Erik was. A warm, loving man who had become hardened and made bitter towards a world that had tried and tested him; but who could also come back to the light, so to speak.

He wasn't perfect, but she loved him anyway. She loved the man he was inside, even when the sadistic exterior he wore sometimes tried her patience.

'And here I always called those girls who fell for bad boys idiots.' Evie thought morosely. 'The whole 'there's good in him' cliché is so real right now, it's not even funny.'

And yet, it was just so true.

Erik was by no means clean in the way Charles was – Evie had witnessed with her own eyes (albeit in her mind) how Erik had killed two Nazi soldiers in a rage at the age of twelve. And she suspected those soldiers hadn't been the last of his kills. Yet, here he was, staying with them, helping Charles train them and learn to fight so that there would be no more Darwins – no more innocent and needless deaths.

What's more... something about the way he'd looked at her last night, something in his eyes before (and more importantly, after) their kiss told Evie she wasn't alone. That he might...

Stop.

Her mind slammed on the brakes instantly.

That was definitely not something to be thinking deeply about. It could easily have been that she'd only looked for what she wanted to see. Until Erik himself said something, it would definitely not be a good idea to read too much into things. Her advice to Lisa came back to her, and Evie wrinkled her nose.