Hitwoman

Chapter 8: Drunken Friendship

(Eden)

Eden walked down the stairs carefully, trying to see who would be down here before it was too late. After an hour of talking to the very drunk father of June, she had realized they could clear their name. There were new suspects now.

There was only one person down stairs and they had missed the couch. Instead they were sprawled out across the table. Eden looked down at Aramis, "Do you always drink on the job?"

"No, drinks are gross," he sighed. "I've been sober for a whole year."

Eden leaned down beside him, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but you broke your streak." His bottom lip pouted and he turned slightly from Eden like he didn't want to hear what she was saying. She sighed.

"I just learned this boat doesn't go back to docks until morning." She said.

Aramis frowned, "Are you going to leave me and let me be beat up?"

Eden wrapped her arms around his arms and pulled him to a sitting position. She was very conscious of his muscles. "No, that was a one time thing. And I'm scared it seems you've forgiven me." She took a deep breath and then pulled him up. He barely moved, but she was able to drag him off the table and into the couch. "Are you cold?"

He looked at her hand, "You are cold."

She pulled her hand away from him, "Aramis, why are you drunk?"

He ignored her. "It's too hot in here." Before Eden could stop him, Aramis ripped his shirt off, breaking multiple buttons.

Eden stopped when he layed back down. The dim lighting in the cabin still clearly illuminated the scaring on his chest. His stomach still had a bandage across it. There were too many scars that had been healed and aged. Aramis followed her gaze to his injuries, "It's a small price to pay for murdering people. That's what my father always said."

Eden grabbed her arm subconsciously. She knew what he meant. "You need to drink some water." She poured water out of a pitcher and handed him the cup.

He took a sip and then pulled it back, "This tastes gross."

Eden sniffed the pitcher. It was simply water. "Drink it."

He swung his arm like he was about to throw it on the ground. Eden grabbed his arm before he could do that. He tried to yank his arm away from her and he pulled her down. Eden fell into him. Aramis looked down at her and smiled. Heat rose in her cheek.

"I was looking to apologize, but I see you are busy." Theo said as he stepped down the stairs.

Eden put her palms on Aramis to push herself off of him. He was all tense muscle. "I don't want your apology."

"Well had I known you were someone else's, I wouldn't have been so aggressive," he said as he leaned against another chair. He was staring at her bandaged palm.

Eden was enraged, "I belong to no one. Certainly none of you entitled so-called-princes." She stepped closer to him, pulling the knife off of the table. "Do you know what I do to make a living?"

"With a pretty face like that-" he started.

She cut him off, "I kill you. I assassinate your families. I murder your friends." He froze. Good, he should be the scared one. "I'm not even scared to tell you that, because if you are close enough to see me, you are already dead." A quick step and she had the knife to his throat.

Theo took a step backwards, "If you kill me, they will kill Aramis and then they will find you."

Eden threw her head back and laughed, "You see those ugly red marks across his chest? That was me. I did my job." A loose truth. Eden didn't torture. She was an efficient and quick killer.

"Leave him to rot," a man spoke. Eden didn't turn her attention from Theo. The man continued, "Let him go. He always be able to die another day." Eden removed her knife from his throat and watched him run off. Pathetic.

She turned in the stranger. He was one of June's brother. The one who befriended Aramis. Deitri. "What do you want?" Eden asked without putting her knife down.

"I came to check up on my friend," he nodded to Aramis who was looking up at the ceiling in silence. "Do you know where his shirt happens to be?"

Eden put her knife down and sighed, "He ripped it off."

To her surprise, Deitri let out a laugh. It was just as warm as June's but much more hearty. "Just like old days. When we were teenagers, he always found a way to rip off his shirt." Deitri pulled a blanket off of another couch and made Aramis put it on.

"Is it true you tortured him?" Deitri looked back at Eden.

She sat down, considering what she should say, "Close enough. I'm one of the reasons he looks that way."

"We all are," Deitri whispered criptedly. Eden didn't ask what he meant.

Eden collapsed down on the couch besides Aramis. She was exhausted. These people were exhausting. They were all so confusing. Eden had a strict code to live by but each on of these people were tangled up in their webs.

Deitri left.

Aramis yawned and tilted his head to look down at Eden, "I always wanted to learn the piano."

"I could teach you one time," she smiled. Learning piano had been less than nice circumstances. She had to to be undercover at a bar where she had to kill a high political figure.

If they had lived very different lives, maybe they would have been friends. She had long ago known a moody person just like Aramis. They had clicked and survived so well together. Too bad Aramis was sinking and Eden's ticket out was his brother.