Todd and Evangeline spent the rest of the evening adjusting to the new shift in their relationship. Between bites of gourmet cheesecake, they exchanged stories and tender kisses. Whenever Todd spoke about a particularly nasty memory of Peter Manning, Evangeline was there to support him. She cried for him when he wouldn’t allow himself to.
As the evening hours gave way to early morning light, Todd and Evangeline both found themselves fighting sleep.
“I should really leave so you can get some rest,” Todd said as he pulled Evangeline tighter to his chest.
Although neither is sure how it happened, Todd and Evangeline found themselves lying in each other’s arms. At first they were merely facing each other arms length apart, but as the night wore on they quickly closed the gap.
Openly yawning, Evangeline snuggled closer to Todd tightening her grip on his shirt.
“Not yet. Can’t you stay a little long?” Evangeline asked as she entwined her legs with Todd’s.
Todd had noticed earlier in the night that Evangeline did this whenever he would suggest it was time for him to leave. Not that he objected to the intimate contact.
“You know I’m going to have to leave eventually,” Todd said through lidded eyes.
“I know but why the rush?”
“Trust me when I say I’m not rushing, but I’ll make you a deal. If you go to sleep right now, I won’t leave until your nurse comes to get you for your first round of tests.”
“I think I can live with that. Will you bring me some breakfast?” Evangeline said in a hazy voice.
“Well aren’t we getting spoiled?” Todd said in a teasing tone.
“I’m not spoiled. I just really hate hospital food.”
“Okay I’ll bring you breakfast. Now will you please get some rest?”
“You’re really bossy,” Evangeline said barely finishing her sentence.
“And you’re really stubborn.”
Expecting a snappy comeback, Todd was a little surprised to see Evangeline fast asleep. Chuckling slightly at the sight of Evangeline asleep with her mouth open, Todd let her soft snores lull him to sleep.
A few hours later, Todd opened his eyes and realized the previous night wasn’t a dream. For the first time in a long while, he slept peacefully without nightmares. He attributed that to the woman who lay snuggled against him.
Todd’s early morning thoughts were interrupted by a soft, but forceful knock on the door. Believing it be the morning nurse, Todd made no move to extract himself from Evangeline’s arms.
“Evangeline sweetheart I know it’s early but…”
The words died on Cris’ lips as he took in the scene before him. Evangeline, the woman he loved, was in the arms of the town psychopath. How dare he put his hands on my woman, Cris thought to himself.
Cris stormed the bed and snatched Todd up by his collar, violently waking Evangeline in the process.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing Manning?” Cris screamed as he slammed Todd against a wall.
“Get your goddamn hands off of me!” Todd yelled as he pushed Cris away from him.
“Christian what the hell are you doing,” Evangeline said as she tried to shake a growing migraine.
“I came here so we could finish our talk and I found this sick son of a bitch lying in bed with you. He must have snuck in here while you were asleep,” Cris said seething.
“I didn’t sneak in anywhere I was invited,” Todd said taking a challenging step forward.
“Yeah right. Evangeline called you up first thing in the morning and invited you to get into bed with her. You’re delusional Manning,” Cris said following Todd’s lead and taking a challenging step of his own.
“Christian will you please calm down,” Evangeline said coming between the two men hoping to regain some peace in the room.
“How am I suppose to calm down when this bastard was trying to have his way with you!”
“Vega you no clue what’s going on here so why don’t you crawl back to your cave.”
“I know what I saw Manning and I should smash your face in,” Cris yelled taking another step forward.
“That’s enough Christian! You have no right to barge into my room and hurl accusations,” Evangeline said trying to ignore the spinning of the room.
“Evangeline that pervert had his hands all over you. Who knows what would have happened if I didn’t show up,” Cris said trying to reign in his anger.
“Oh give me a break,” Todd said with a roll of his eyes.
“Why are you even here Manning?” Cris said feeling his temper rise again.
“Todd is here because I want him here.”
“Fine but why was he in the bed with you?”
“Because Todd spent the night with me.”
The weight of Evangeline’s words knocked the breath out of Cris’ lungs. He closed his eyes as images of Todd and Evangeline being intimate danced across his mind. He slowly opened his eyes to see Todd standing next Evangeline with his hand on the small of her back.
“So you finally did it. You finally conned your way into her pants. How did you do it? Did you use your poor dead son again?” Cris said with a malice drenched voice.
Taking two swift steps forward, Todd grabbed Cris by his collar.
“You son of bitch! Don’t you ever speak of any of my children you got that!”
“Todd let him go,” Evangeline said as she rested her hands on his forearms.
Todd reluctantly released Cris and backed away, never breaking eye contact. He went and sat in a chair next to the bed.
“How dare you say something like that,” Evangeline said with a mixture of anger, hurt, and disappointment in her voice.
“I dare because that man is the master of manipulation. He conned you before and he’s doing it now. I won’t stand by and let him come between us again.”
“Us? Christian there is no us and there hasn’t been for a long time.”
Confusion begins to creep across Cris’ features as replayed the conversation between Layla and Evangeline.
“I thought you said you would love to nothing more than to move on with your life.”
“How did you know I said that?”
Realizing he was busted, Cris decided to just come clean.
“Yesterday I came to visit you and I overheard you and Layla talking. You were talking about moving on with you life and I thought that life included me.”
“Christian you had no right to eavesdrop on my private conversation.”
“I know and I’m sorry for that,” Cris said as he reached over and grabbed Evangeline’s hand.
Uncomfortable with where this could lead, Todd stood up and made his presence known.
“Yeah well Evangeline already knew you were sorry.”
“Shut it Manning.”
“Wow that was almost a full sentence. I guess Hooked on Phonics really does work.”
“Todd please,” Evangeline said as she turned to look at him.
Pulling her hand from Cris’ grip, Evangeline walked toward Todd.
“Could you give us a few minutes please. Christian and I have some things we need to talk about.”
I don’t know if I want to leave you alone with Speed Gonzales,” Todd said with a nod toward Cris.
“I’ll be fine,” Evangeline said trying to suppress a smile.
“Besides you promised me breakfast. And I’m sure you have a ton of calls from the Sun to return. So go home, get cleaned up and when you are finished come back and we can have some breakfast.”
Although still uncomfortable with leaving Cris alone with Evangeline, Todd found solace in the fact that she wanted him to return.
“That’s a very good argument counselor. I will see you later for breakfast,” Todd said as he leaned forward and placed a delicate kiss on Evangeline’s lips.
The contact of their lips was so brief that Cris, who was staring intently, wasn’t sure if the kiss actually took place. That didn’t stop his jealously from rearing up.
Todd gathered his things from the chair and nightstand and began to make his way out of the room. Before he fully crossed the threshold, Todd turned around and headed for Evangeline. Deciding his earlier kiss was not fulfilling, Todd embraced Evangeline’s lips.
Slightly startled by Todd’s boldness, Evangeline hesitated in returning the kiss. The hesitation lasted only a second before Evangeline was lost in the warm caress of Todd’s lips. They were startled out of the kiss by the low mumbles of a forgotten Cris.
“Just wanted to give you a proper good bye,” Todd said as he walked back towards the door.
“Vega, you’ve been a jackass like always.”
“Drop dead Manning.”
“After that kiss it would be a happy death,” Todd laughed as he made his way to the elevators.
Once Todd had left the room, Cris turned a cold hard glare to Evangeline.
“I think you owe me an explanation,” Cris said as he folded his arms across his chest.
“Cris I don’t owe you anything.”
“Oh I think you do. I come here to give us another chance and I find you in bed with Todd.”
“I didn’t ask you for another chance. You just assumed that’s what I wanted.”
“Evangeline we love each other. What we had you could never have with Manning.”
“That’s not such a bad thing.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Cris said his jaw clenching with anger.
“It means what we had was good but it wasn’t great. Our relationship didn’t fulfill me the way I wanted.”
“I thought I made you happy. I gave you everything I had to offer and you’re telling me it wasn’t enough?”
“I’m telling you that we both deserve a shot a real happiness.”
“I had real happiness with you. Evangeline I love you and you love me. I know this thing you have with Manning is just to punish me for sleeping with Blair. I understand and I know we can get past it.”
Outraged that Cris would think she would use someone for vengeance, Evangeline began to prepare for the day ahead so she could give herself time to get a handle on her anger.
After a few deep breaths, Evangeline turned and faced Cris.
“Cris what we had is over. There is no going back for us. I hope in time you can understand that and we can be friends.”
Fighting the lump in his throat, Cris simply shook his head.
“No Evangeline. I won’t accept that this is the end. I won’t lose to Manning.”
“This isn’t about winning or losing Christian.”
“Then what is it about? Do you want me to prove how much I love you?”
“I want you to accept that this is the end.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t. I’m going to do everything I can to show you that we are meant to be together.”
Cris quickly crossed the room and grabbed Evangeline by the shoulders. He slammed his lips upon hers in a rough kiss. He forced his tongue so far into her mouth she nearly gagged. Cris’ stench of paint thinner and sweat made Evangeline sick to her stomach.
Finally releasing the grip he had on Evangeline, Cris grinned like the village idiot.
“See, I told you we weren’t over. I’ll be back later with a surprise.”
Before Evangeline could finally regain her composure, Cris happily walked out of the room.
Exhausted from the gauntlet of emotions she had run, Evangeline flopped on to the bed.
‘It’s going to take a miracle to keep those two from killing each other,’ Evangeline thought out loud. Deciding to worry about that later, Evangeline headed to the bathroom to shower and prepare for physical therapy.
At least the day couldn’t throw her any more curve balls. Could it?