Unraveling Eli Read online

  “You,” the voice says again, and I’m sure I’ve been seen. But no, he shouldn’t be able to see me. “You did all of this.”

  What the fuck is going on? The person speaking, he’s older, and he has voice that sounds almost compressed. Like he’s talking from the inside of a box. Who is he? Who is he talking to?

  “Nothing to say for yourself?” the man asks.

  “Fuck you,” Eli says, and my heart beats again.

  “Look at this,” the talking man says. “This destruction.” His voice quivers with emotion. “The death. You did this.”

  “I don’t know, Mikey, I think maybe you played a role in how things went down.”

  He’s talking to Michal! Of course he is. And everyone else is dead? I need to peek up, but I’m too afraid.

  “My niece—”

  “Don’t talk to me about her.”

  “I don’t believe you are in any position to tell me what I can or can’t talk about.”

  I’m trying to get a lock on their voices. I think they’re close to where Eli was crouching before. And Michal’s voice sounds like he’s speaking away from me. So maybe his back is turned?

  I hope so, because I’ve got to do something. Eli is obviously hurt, or his gun is jammed or something. Michal’s going to kill him unless I do something.

  Deep breath. I can do this. I’m a badass.

  I rise slowly. So slowly I’m surprised I have this much muscle control. I’m ready to drop the second I need to, but when I am able to see Michal, his back is turned to me. He’s standing over Eli, pointing a gun at him, and Eli is on the floor in front of him. There’s blood on his leg. A wound.

  “You led her to betray me,” Michal says. I stare at him. He seems super average for a crime boss. At least from the back. I don’t know what I expected, but Michal seemed like such a bogeyman from how Eli talked about him. In person, he looks like an aging volleyball coach. “You killed my men!” Michal’s voice is rising. He’s angry. And he points his gun at Eli.

  I don’t even think. I squeeze the trigger, and the revolver in my hand erupts. I drop it as the bullet I fired hits Michal in the back. He falls forward, and unlike Smith, he seems to be dead. I stare at him, waiting for him to move. I’m not even pointing the gun at him. I’m just holding it out in front of me.

  I literally killed someone.

  “Holy monkey balls!” I cry when Eli squeezes my shoulder.

  “Thanks,” he says. “You saved my life.”

  I nod, and Eli pulls me into a hug. I bury my face in his chest and take a deep breath. He smells…I’m not gonna lie, he has a distinct musk. But I probably do, too. And we’re alive, so who gives a fuck? Plus its his musk, so I kind of like it.

  Eli squeezes me tightly before letting me go and kneeling beside Michal. He checks his pulse. “Ding dong the bitch is dead,” he says. He drops Michal’s arm and rolls him over. “That was one hell of a shot.”

  Eli searches through Michal’s pockets, and I ask, “What are you looking for?”

  “These.” He pulls a lighter and a pack of cigarettes from Michal’s pocket. He holds them up for me to see. A soft pack of Basics. Eli laughs. “I haven’t smoked Basics since high school.” He stands. “Wanna join me on the deck?”

  I nod, and Eli limps outside.

  “You’re leg!” I exclaim. “Are you hurt?”

  “It’s fine. The bullet passed through my leg.”

  “But are you sure.”

  He nods and leans against the rail. “It might start hurting once the adrenaline wears off, but it’s fine right now.”

  “Should we call someone? We should, right? An ambulance? The police?”

  “In a minute, in a minute.” He lights a cigarette. “I want to enjoy this.” He takes a long drag, and he’s obviously relishing it. I stand in front of him, not sure what to do, and he pulls me into another hug.

  “He would have killed us,” Eli says quietly. “All these guys would have killed us. And that’s on them. Not us.”

  I nod against his chest. He lets go of the hug and squeezes my arms. “Remember what I told you about this deck at night?”

  “No.”

  “The view.”

  I look up, and for a moment I forget about everything that’s happened today. The sky is full of stars, thousands and thousands of them. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

  I look back at one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever known. His eyes and mouth are smiling.

  “Can I bum a smoke?” I ask.

  “You smoke?”

  “I quit a year ago.” I smirk. “But that really just means I’m the biggest cigarette bummer in New York City.”

  Epilogue

  One month later

  Tara

  “Sign here and here, and Tara, you sign under Eli.”

  Eli adds his signature with practiced flourish, and I scribble my name beneath his.

  Izzy turns the page. “Initial here, and Tara you initial there.”

  We initial.

  Izzy turns the page. “Okay, last one. Eli, sign there and there, and Tara right there beneath him, and then we’re done!”

  Eli signs, I sign, and Izzy applauds. We’re in her agency in Chelsea. It’s mod, and it’s huge. Ten foot ceilings. Big windows. Shiny gray floors. A sleek conference table that seats twenty. That’s where Eli and I just signed our contract with Sam Noble Books, Eli’s old publisher. We promised to deliver them a mass market true story of our daring escapades out West. For an insane $2 million advance.

  “And we’re done.” Izzy collects the papers—several different sets, for different people at Sam Noble, for Izzy’s agency, for Eli and me. She puts each stack in its own padded manila envelope. “I’m going to personally deliver this to Oscar.”

  “Thanks, Izzy,” Eli says warmly.

  “Yeah, thanks,” I echo. “This deal is incredible.”

  “I’d like to take the credit, but this book was the easiest sell I’ve had in like six year. And I’m not exaggerating.”

  The story is hot right now. Suddenly the whole world is interested Eli, and me.

  “How does it feel to be a millionaire?” Izzy asks me.

  “Pretty amazing,” I say, and it does, although I’m not a millionaire. Eli and I are splitting the advance fifty-fifty. After Izzy’s 20 percent comes out, we’ve got $1.8 million. That’s 900k each, although after taxes it’s more like $600k; but still, a lot of money. “It doesn’t seem real.”

  “Enjoy it. But remember, if you want all of the money, you have to write the book.”

  That’s true. It’s part of our deal. Eli and I will each get one-hundred-thousand dollars transferred into our accounts as soon as Sam Noble gets their contract papers from Izzy. That could even be tonight!

  We’ll get a bigger chunk of money once we give Sam Noble the book. And we’ll get the last chunk when they actually publish it.

  “And we need a title,” Izzy adds. “Have you guys come up with anything?”

  “I still like Finding Eli,” I say, but Eli shakes his hand violently.

  “That’s a terrible title.”

  “I don’t think so,” Izzy says.

  “Plus I don’t want my name in the title,” he insists. “It will already be at the bottom. Finding Eli by Eli Murphy and Tara Daniels sounds like a memoir.”

  I laugh. “If you’re going to shoot down a popular idea, you have to suggest something different.”

  “How about A New Hope.”

  Izzy groans. “That’s literally the title of the first Star Wars movie.”

  “Hmmm… I’d argue it’s more of a subtitle, and so what?”

  “So we’re not naming the book A New Hope,” I say.

  “I’m siding with Tara on this one,” Izzy says. “You have a little bit of time to think about it. Maybe take it. See what you can come up with. If you need help, you know we’ll do it for you.”

  Eli nods. “We’ll be able to come up with something.�
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  Izzy smiles at us. “Eli, I’m thrilled you’re back. And not just because you brought me a big paycheck.”

  He smiles. “Me too.”

  He and I hold hands as we walk to the elevator

  “So Ms. Daniels, that’s done. How would you like to celebrate?”

  Eli grins, and I know what that glint in his eye means.

  ****

  Eli erupts inside of me, a geyser of cum that pushes me over the top of my third orgasm. I scream as loud as I want because we’re in a penthouse suite, compliments of Sam Noble Books.

  Eli pulls out and hops out of bed. He returns a minute later with a warm cloth and helps me clean up. Then he collapses onto the fluffy mattress beside me.

  The light from the city shines through our open windows, casting an orange sheen over Eli’s naked body. Even though I’m used to seeing him without clothes, I still can’t help but stare. He’s beautiful. And mine.

  “Whatcha thinkin’ ‘bout?”

  “Nothing,” I say, smiling. “How I like it when you’re naked.”

  He leans over to kiss my lips. “I like it when you’re naked more.”

  I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

  “Believe me. I’d be happy to have you naked literally every second.”

  “You don’t think the allure would wear off?”

  He shakes his head. “Never.”

  “Okay. You’re hot and all, but maybe you win.”

  He laughs. I laugh.

  We’ve been in New York City for four days now. We flew in to negotiate our book deal, and also to see our friends. And for Eli to reintroduce himself to society.

  So far, the only not fun part of that has been our visit to The Watcher. Everyone was thrilled to see Eli again—and me, too. But there was one face I kept looking for but never seeing: Frankie’s.

  She was found dead in her apartment the day after my and Eli’s adventure on the mountain. The coroner thinks she was murdered sometime before Michal flew to Colorado.

  I still feel sad for her, but I’ve at least accepted that I won’t get any answers.

  Whatever happened to Frankie, however she got tangled up with Michal and his crew, I’ve got to figure she probably asked for it. Not that I wanted her to die, but I’ve got to tell myself something to keep from feeling absolutely gutted.

  Forgetting Chris is not so easy. I think I’ll always carry that—the weight of it. But Eli keeps telling me to let it go. No matter what precipitated Chris being on that mountain the afternoon he was shot, it was Armand that shot him, and Borys that gave the order.

  Eli seems okay. I think it helps that everyone he killed deserved to die. Plus the dark cloud of Michal’s revenge has been lifted from his life.

  Special Agent Nathan Smith survived, somehow. He’s still under 24-hour police supervision in a hospital in Colorado, but soon he’ll be moved to a jail to await trial. I honestly don’t care what happens to him. He’s not my problem. That shit’s over.

  That’s something Eli and I remind each other of a couple of times a day. “It’s over.”

  I stretch my arms over my head. I’m feeling lazy, and not sure what I want to do.

  “How much longer do we have this room again?” I ask him.

  “Hmmmm…I think two more nights. Not including this one.”

  I sit up, looking out the window at the city that I love. “I want to go to the American Museum of Natural History tomorrow… and see the dino bones together.”

  “Got a soft spot for bones?” He winks.

  “You dirty boy.”

  “And what about after that?”

  “I don’t know.” Does he mean tomorrow, or does he mean once we’re out of this hotel room. We’ve been overseeing repairs and improvements to Eli’s house in Colorado with the goal of selling it. But we haven’t made any concrete plans yet for what our lives will be like after that. Only that we’ll enjoy them together. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Well, I was thinking: You’re rich now, and I’m more rich.”

  “You’re rich. I’m just not poor anymore.”

  “You’ll be rich,” he says. “You’ll see. We’ll hit the New York Times list for the whole damn season.”

  I squeal. “You really think so?”

  Eli nods. “I really know so.”

  “So what you’re plan?”

  “Let’s spend some of that money.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Then let’s spend some of my money.”

  I’m more open to that. “How?”

  “Let’s travel. Everywhere. Europe. Asia. Africa. Antarctica.”

  “Antarctica?”

  “It’s got green now, haven’t you heard?”

  “I have.” I grin. “That’s not a good thing.”

  “Maybe not for the future of humanity, but it’s good for us. We can start a new trend in Antarctic tourism. Maybe even start a tour company.”

  I laugh. “That doesn’t sound much like a vacation.”

  Eli shrugs. “Just an idea for later.”

  “We have to write our book first. We have six months.”

  “We’ll write it while we travel. And we’ll be done in three.”

  “We haven’t even come up with a title yet.”

  “It won’t be hard. Hey, maybe we begin our journey in a château in the French Alps. We’ll hole up for a few weeks and bang this book out.”

  “What about Acer?”

  “He can come with us.”

  “Are you for real?”

  “Absolutely. I’m in the mood for some adventure.”

  I laugh. “That sounds amazing.”

  “It will be. The Alps—have you been?”

  “You know me, always in the Alps.”

  Eli shakes his head. “I can’t describe how big they are. We’re definitely going.”

  “What will we do when we’re done with the book?”

  “Visit all the cities,” Eli says.

  I smile. “All of them?”

  “Every one. Paris and Kyoto in the spring for sure. Maybe Cape Town in the summer; we can learn to surf.”

  “I’ve always wanted to learn actually.”

  “I’ve always wanted to see you learn.”

  I swat him. “Where else will we go?”

  “Hmmmm… Berlin for Christmas. I want to go to one of the Christmas markets.”

  “I’ve wanted to go to Milan for forever,” I say.

  “Me too. Let’s go there.”

  “What will we do when we run out of cities?”

  “We’ll hike all the mountains.”

  “Then swim all the seas?” I laugh.

  “We’ll see all the shows and visit all the castles and drink all the wine and fuck all the time and smoke as many cigarettes as we want.”

  I sigh and run my fingers over Eli’s chest. His plan sounds perfect. “Okay. Let’s do that.”

  The End

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