Genius (CENTURIES series: Book #2)

16

"Eli!" Mia burst through the door to his apartment, shocked that it wasn't locked. Loud electronic music was playing, so loud it was disturbing the neighbors from the sound of it, but Eli didn't seem to care. He was sitting by a scrappy plastic camping table with a case of equipment and several bottles of ink. He was penning his ink up while Elana was sitting in the middle of the floor playing with a Barbie with no head. Mia reminded herself to buy her a new one, just as a little harmless present.

When Mia walked in, Eli glanced over his shoulder, looking bored. "Come in, why don't you?"

She almost missed his words because the music was so loud. Shutting the door behind her, she stalked up to Eli who just continued inking up his right arm. She saw blood mixed with ink. "I talked to Caleb tonight."

That got his attention. His head whipped up and his eyes drilled into hers. His nostrils flared, making his silver piercing glint in the dim light. "What?"

"He came up to me out of the blue," Mia said, omitting the part where he kinda jumped her. She then told him the whole story about how her and Zoe had been looking at the video footage from the school and how Zoe had been trying to track him down, of course without knowing the truth. When she was done telling, Eli gritted his teeth and clenched his fist on the table. He seemed to be handling whatever anger he was feeling for a moment, but the next, he let out a furious roar and flipped the camping table over. Ink bottles and needles flew to the floor and shattered in the process.

"Why can't they just fucking leave me alone?!" Eli shouted and kicked the table in a fit of anger. Mia took several steps backwards when he just kept on hitting and smashing things around him.

"Eli! For God's sake, ELI!" Mia shouted, too, trying to overpower the music and his smashing. It was nearly an impossible task. "Eli, stop! Calm down!"

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down! You have no goddamn idea what's going on!" He yelled at her, running his bloodied fists through his hair. "They fucking just won't quit, won't they? They'll be chasing me until the day I fucking die!"

Roaring again, he picked up a plate that sat on the kitchen counter and hurled it across the room. It smashed against the wall and the pieces slid down behind the couch.

Scared, Mia backed away until she in the corner of her eye noticed Elana. She had seen everything, and even though she couldn't hear all the yelling, the sight alone had to be pretty terrifying for a five-year-old.

Mia quickly walked up to her and picked her up off the floor, comforting her when she begun signing shakily. Mia didn't know sign language, but she remembered this one.

Beastie.

"It's okay, beautiful," Mia cooed, even though she couldn't hear her. She stroked her hair and held her tightly. "It's all going to be okay. You don't have to be scared."

Elana, to Mia's surprise, hugged her back, burying her face into the crook of her neck, hiding under her hair. She nestled closer and let Mia stroke her back soothingly and didn't even protest or squirm away when she kissed the top of her head. Maybe this was the first time a woman had held her since her mother died.

Eli had calmed down a little and now looked towards them. His eyes softened by the sight of Mia soothing the little girl he seemingly had forgotten was in the room. "Shit... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Tell her," Mia harshly replied, still stroking Elana's hair. She carefully peaked out from her neck.

Eli slowly walked up to them, signing something. His eyes were pleading, hurting, looking at Elana. After a moment or two of repeating the same circular motion in front of his chest with his hand, Elana slowly reached out for him with her own tiny hand. He then immediately walked up to the two of them, and instead of taking Elana from her arms, he wrapped his arms around the two of them. "I'm sorry."

Mia sighed and leaned her forehead against his chest, accepting the comfort she didn't realize she needed before now. She was actually shaking.

She felt his lips press a soft kiss to her temple before he pulled back and looked at her. "I'm sorry. I got carried away."

She nodded a little. "It happens."

"It can't happen around Elana. It's just..." He sighed and took a few steps back, creating an unwelcome distance between them. "This is so fucked up. I can't get away from it, I can't fucking escape it. I've tried for four years, but they just don't fucking quit."

"I won't ask if you don't want me to, but I'm dying to know who 'they' are, Eli," Mia said. "If they're coming for you and they already found Caleb, how come they haven't found this place yet?"

"Because it isn't ours. We're squatters," He told, sighing. "We can't afford a place, okay, so we occupy apartments that the owners are away from. We usually relocate after two weeks, but since this was the only place me and Caleb came, except for Low Point, I was scared that if I moved, he wouldn't be able to find us in case he decided to show up again."

Mia nodded. By now she had gotten so used to all his crimes, it hardly affected her anymore. That wasn't good, but at the moment she couldn't care. "How long before you have to move from here?"

"Counting today, four days ago. The owners could show up at any moment and call the police. If I actually manage to get me and Elana out before they show up, we'll be out on the street, homeless. Honestly, I'm praying every second it won't come to that."

That pinched in her chest. She knew he didn't accept charity, but she couldn't let that happen. She couldn't let him and poor Elana sleep on the street. "Come stay at my place."

"That's a definite no."

"Eli—"

"I said no," He snapped. He glared at her for a long moment. "I'm not yours to take care of, I didn't say all that to get your fucking sympathy. You asked, I replied. I gave you the cruel truth, that doesn't fucking mean you need to invite me to stay at your place."

"Why the fuck not?" Mia snapped back. "I understand you have an ego and all that, but you're in a too fucking bad place to be concerned about that. Think about Elana here. You want her staying on the street? I'm guessing no. So unless you think she'll be fine staying at my place alone, I'm inviting both of you to stay at my apartment until you find something else. If it'll make you feel better, you can tip in for rent."

Glaring at her for a long moment, he finally caved and turned away. "Fine. For Elana. Christ, I can't believe it's coming to this."

"You getting offered to stay at a nice place with or without rent included? Yeah, that must be horrible."

"I'm talking about having to hide from the fucking shit-eaters who's trying to ruin my fucking life!" He roared again. He quickly took a deep breath to calm himself. "Fuck, let's just get going, okay? We're moving tonight. Quicker the better."

Mia hadn't considered it going so fast, but she could reason with it being the safest. "Okay then. Begin packing what you need. I think I'll hold on to Elana here," She looked down at Elana who in all their arguing had fallen asleep. The little angel was sleeping soundly.

Eli looked at her for a moment before walking up to them again. He placed a soft kiss on top of her head and watched as she stirred a little. He then looked at Mia. "Thank you."

Mia couldn't be certain, but as Eli begun packing, she began thinking about if he had ever said those two words to her before, and if so, if he had ever meant them like this.

• • •

... I'm tired.