The Red Evening

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I had spent my last minutes awake cuddling under Elijah's arm as tormented thoughts about being a bastard child again filled my mind. My father seemed to have treated his staff better than his own flesh and blood. He had spent most of my life away from me and I was a fool to think he'd be interested in knowing about me. He had me under his wing and the few interactions we had weren't always positive. He just didn't care and I had to live with that realization.

Exhaustion took hold of me and my dried eyes didn't help fight the sleep away. I fell into a deep, dark slumber only to be attacked by crooked thoughts once again. I gasped awake, sitting up and looking around to find my comfort: Elijah. He wasn't beside me or in the room. I glanced at the red numbers on the clock. What could Elijah be doing at 3 AM outside?

I balled the sheets into my fist and pulled the blanket over my chest. I tossed and turned for about ten minutes until I decided to call him. I grabbed the hotel phone and punched in his numbers. It rang a few times before he answered in a particular tone.

"Hello?" He answered hurriedly. "Hello?"

"Elijah, where are you?" I asked, somewhat panicked.

"Baby," he sighed. "I'm by the front of the hotel. I needed some fresh air. I'll be up in a minute."

"Well, hurry please. I need you."

"On my way," he assured before hanging up.

As promised, he was back in the bedroom a minute later. He immediately took his sweater off and tossed it into the closet.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, climbing into the bed. "There's a lot on my mind."

I gently wrapped my arms around him and groaned as my warm skin pressed against his cold body. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'd like to go home," he admitted.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "Had I not ran away then --"

"Had we not been inconsiderate," he interjected. "We wouldn't  be in this position. You can't take the full blame," he said, placing a finger under my chin and lifting it up to have our eyes meet.

"I love you," I breathed.

"I love you too. I'll always be here for you, Morena. I'm going to protect you, not fail you."

My stomach erupted into a frenzy and without thinking about the pratically of it all I said, "I want to have your baby."

His eyebrows creased and he looked at me with certainty. "You will, Morena."

I caressed his cheek with my hand and blushed. "Now," I blurted.

His face morphed to confusion and he shook his head. "What?"

I looked away and turned my back in embarrassment. I had been so overwhelmed by emotions that I couldn't think straight. I wanted to have Elijah's baby but deep down, I knew it wasn't our time right now. It was too early in our relationship and we just mourned the loss of a miscarriage.

"Nothing, forget it," I retracted, closing my eyes.

Elijah laid behind me, his cold hand circling around me and bringing me closer to him. "Do you really want to start a family now?"

"I don't know what I'm saying right now. I'm sleepy and an emotional mess."

"We can start, if that's what you want. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and children would be the best gift. Sure, it's early into our relationship but we can do it. You're not losing me. I'll be by your side, baby."

"I'm too much of a hot mess to be a mother, sadly," I admitted.  We would all like to believe we are perfect or prefer to blame everything besides ourselves about who we are and what part we play this world. I wasn't raised by saints and to expect a perfect girl was already a plan set to fail.

Though, I took responsibility over my impulsive actions. I thought with my heart not my mind and that was my truest downfall. My heart wanted a beautiful, unbroken family but my mind knew it was best for me to figure myself out. All I needed was Elijah and my friends. Everything else could sort itself out.

"We are growing. We are no where near perfect now, nor 5 years down the line. We will always be a mess. Just know, I'll be ready for whatever you want, baby, except letting you go."

I placed my hand over his and gripped it tightly. "I don't want that. Never again."

"Good, then I'm staying," he whispered in my ear. "We should start being safe if we are postponing on creating a family. It should be when we are both ready."

"I agree, I'll get on birth control."

"I'll get you plan B in the morning."

"Good idea," I yawned.

"Get some sleep. We're going to have a long day tomorrow."

I had woken up to sound of Elijah packing up our belongings. I sat up and rubbed my eyes as he tried to quietly clean up the room without disturbing me.

"Goodmorning," I chirped.

He turned around quickly and smiled. "Goodmorning, baby. Hope I didn't wake you."

"You did but its no big deal," I shrugged.

"Well, I was going to pack everything here, pick up your belongings from your hotel and pick up my car while you rested indoors. I ordered room service so it should be coming shortly," he said as he walked over to place a tender kiss on my forehead.

"Sounds good to me," I said, watching him put his jacket on. "Excited to go back home?"

"Yes and very excited to bring you back home."

I offered a small, unsure smile. I still didn't feel like I belonged in DC. I had lost Pia is a friend and although I missed her, she betrayed me with my own mother. Xavier had neglected me for his new girlfriend, but I had done the same so I wasn't going to hold it over him. My mother showed no concern over me and my future step-dad didn't like me. It wasn't the best situation to stroll back into but I was going to recompose for Elijah's sake.

"I'll call you when I'm done with everything," he informed before heading out.

I stepped out of the bed and slipped into one of the fancy robes the hotel provided. I swayed around the room, entertaining myself with how pompous I felt in such simple attire. I was no where near excited to go back home, but I was excited to get away from Princeton.

I looked into my duffle bag to look for an outfit, but it only had our collection of dirty clothes. I noticed a dark stain on one of the light colored shirts that was stuffed on the side. I gingerly pulled it out, inspecting it as the beige long sleeve shirt dangled in front of me with dark red stains at the cuff.

The door knocked loudly and I quickly pushed it back into the bag, zipping it up. I fluffed my hair up to look somewhat presentable as I opened the door. My smile had fallen at the sight of Arturo glaring at me with dark, deadly eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I hollered. "Get out of my life."

I slammed the door but he effortlessly pushed it back, preventing it from shutting all the way. "Not until I talk to your  ass kisser," he snarled, opening the door to get a look inside the room. "I know you're in there!" He yelled, his face turning red from the strain.

"He's not here!" I yelled back, snapping him out of his rage. "What is wrong with you?!"

"What is wrong with you?" He quipped back. "Associating yourself with a murderer!" He yelled loudly enough for other residents to hear.

"What are you talking about? You've officially gone insane," I responded and attempting to close the door again.

"Elliot was found dead today," he agonized. "And I know your boyfriend killed him."

A lump lodged in my throat as an image of Elijah's bloodied cuff shirt came to mind. That had to be the blood from Monsieur's goons, it couldn't be from Elliot. Elijah had promised to leave it alone for my own sake. He wouldn't break my trust again nor would he hurt another person.

"It's not his first time either," Art growled as he shouldered past me and locking the door from the inside. "We need to talk."

What the hell was going on?