AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You should take a shower too,” she muttered, having noticed his poor state.
“Come take a bath with me,” he suddenly offered, totally oblivious to the dozen people who could hear them.
“We don’t have time for that. The Zodiacs and–”
“We’ve got all the time we want.”
Before she could protest, Dante pulled her hand, and took her outside the room, glaring just once at his men who had kept staring at Eden. She didn’t mind him holding her hand, despite the struggle to hold two pups with one arm. In the elevator, she sighed, still hugging those two. She didn’t hold herself back from leaning against Dante anymore, and he wouldn’t comment on it either. It was as if they had taken a new, invisible step together.
The time it took to go up felt a bit longer than usual, and Eden closed her eyes, her headache gaining the upper hand.
“...I’m surprised you didn’t do anything,” she muttered without thinking.
“What?”
“Your men, staring at me.”
She heard him scoff.
“All they can do is stare. ...But I can do something about it if you want. Shall I gouge their eyes out? It’s easy.”
“You sociopathic sadist... If you were to blind all the men who had stared at me, half of Chicago would be blind... Too many dogs out there.”
As if he had understood her, Bullet suddenly barked out of the blue, although it was probably due to the long time spent in that strange enclosed space.
“...Hyenas,” she grumbled.
The door finally opened to their suite and Eden felt a bit strange, remembering how she had left this place in a hurry just about an hour ago to look for Dante. Her feelings then and now were completely different, but at least now he was by her side.
Letting the pups down to go play around the room, Eden and Dante walked together to the bathroom. Opposite the shower was a large tub, with enough space for two people to sit in it. Eden had never seen such a thing before, so she hadn’t really paid much attention to it the previous times she had come in here. Yet, Dante turned it on, and hot water quickly filled it, along with a surprising amount of bubbles, triggering her curiosity. Not only that, but something was coloring the hot water pink, with a strong floral scent. Eden couldn’t resist herself and leaned forward to touch the water, but it really was just normal water. Meanwhile, Dante undressed at record speed, but instead of diving in right away, he began unbuttoning her shirt from behind. Eden frowned and put her hands on his.
“What are you doing?”
“Undressing you.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious, but why?”
“You don’t want to take a bath with me?” he asked, sounding almost pained.
“I’m already clean!”
“I know...”
Eden kept glaring and holding his hands away from her shirt until he gave up, and took a step back. She was grateful for that, as his naked body against her was extremely troubling, and making things harder... Stepping where she could see him, Dante put a foot in, naked as a worm, and sat down, his legs and butt quickly disappearing under the clouds of bubbles. Eden stared helplessly until he turned around, his golden eyes now riveted on her. She had mixed feelings about seeing him and his freshly stitched injuries in there, but she kept her arms crossed, unsure about the situation.
“...I won’t do anything,” Dante promised as if he had read her mind.
“I don’t trust that for a single second.”
“I mean it. Not if you don’t want me to.”
Eden sighed. She hated how he could look so sincere while spouting those lies. Not innocent, but sincere. She let out a long sigh and began undoing her shirt. She was tempted by the bath’s nice scent anyway... and her face was probably a mess too after all the tears and snot. That gave her the perfect excuse to step in. Dante helped her in, holding her hand, but he didn’t say anything when she chose to sit opposite him.
The warm water enveloped Eden as soon as she got in, a delicious sensation that made her shiver with bliss. She had rarely been able to enjoy such a luxury, but she loved it. There were definitely some advantages to being with a very rich guy in this world. She closed her eyes, letting the hot water wash away all the tiredness. She had never realized how good it could be to simply immerse herself in a body of hot, scented water. It was almost unbearably hot, but it was a blessing to her sore muscles.
For a few minutes, she just let herself be, enjoying the heat her body was adjusting to, and keeping her eyes closed to ignore Dante facing her. She could feel his fingers gently caressing her leg. The model of her legs was of such high quality that she could feel it, but all pain signals were blocked when she thought about it. Many would have thought this was a luxury, but Eden would much rather have had her real legs instead. Not because of all the crap she had gotten from being a Part, but just because she hated not feeling completely human. She hated having parts of herself that could be replaced like one would replace the tires on a car, and not being able to feel the pain. Pain made her feel alive. Even during her Dives into the Dark Reality, she never shied away from pain. She deeply believed that pain made her more human, and also more survival-driven, at all times. She didn’t want to feel like one of those emotionless robots.
“...What is going to happen next?” she finally asked.
