Running From Eden Read online

  She did eat more than Charlie now, and that was saying something. Their grocery supply had certainly grown, and a lot of it was oily food, especially sardines...she craved them with a passion. Fred didn’t complain though when he brought the shopping over in his boat. He would go with Charlie to check the generators then unpack his boat, leaving Charlie to cart the items to the house. But this time Charlie wanted to bring Fred to the house.

  “No, Charlie,” she repeated. “I’ll help bring the things to the house. Please,” she begged. The fear she felt was overwhelming. She couldn’t breathe, her chest began hurting, and she felt like she was dying. “Oh God, Charlie,” she panted out.

  “Slow your breathing down, sweetheart. You’re panicking. Come on, breathe deep, slow it down,” he chanted.

  She focused on controlling her breathing. Her heart stopped pounding like it was trying to climb out of her chest. Eventually she found herself slumped on the floor, lying in Charlie’s arms. Tears were flowing down her face.

  “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I got so scared.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay. I just remembered something else Henrietta said about the other women who became pregnant...they became overprotective. Maybe the thought of Fred coming here could have triggered it?”

  She nodded against his chest. Yes, maybe he was right. Now that she had calmed down and felt more rational it did seem right. She still didn’t want anyone near the house, but she knew there was no way in hell Charlie would let her help carry the heavy furniture. He wouldn’t even let her move the cot around in the nursery last week and all she had to do was slide it across the carpet. As much as she didn’t want to she was going to have to relent.

  With a sigh and a heavy heart she muttered words she didn’t want to say. “In and out, right?”

  Charlie kissed the top of her head. “Yes. It will be very quick.”

  “I’ll go for a walk, but I’ll be listening,” she warned, tapping her head like he often did.

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” He winked. “I’ll repeat this as often as you need me to—I promise to protect you and our baby with my life.”

  She knew he would too. Breathing in deeply, she relaxed a little. She trusted him. “Thank you.”

  “Anything for you, sweetheart.”

  She took a slow walk to the other side of the island and sat on the beach. The tide was out, leaving soft sand that ran through her toes. It wasn’t as soothing as it was normally.

  She kept in constant contact with Charlie, listening to everything as he relayed it back to her. That man could talk the hind leg off a donkey. The stuff he thought about. She listened in as Charlie relayed the constant chatter coming from Fred about his children and grandchildren. It was obvious that Fred loved his family dearly. Charlie’s thoughts drifted to his own parents and how he missed them. She wished she was with him so she could soothe his pain.

  Several times as she sat looking out over the ocean Charlie kept telling her he was safe and everything was okay. He also swore a lot as they carried the chest of drawers, wondering why the hell they hadn’t just ordered a flat pack instead of one that was already put together. “This thing is fucking heavy, woman. Next time choose a lighter one or one that I can put together.”

  Finally, after what seemed like hours, Charlie said he was heading back to the dock with Fred. She rose and began a slow walk back to the house. Never once did she lose contact with Charlie until he got home. Fred’s visit had lasted less than an hour, but it felt like a whole lot longer. It left her feeling emotionally tired. When Charlie got back to the house ten minutes after she got home and held her in his arms she once again felt secure and safe.

  “Panic over, yes?” he asked.

  “For today at least.” She sighed.

  * * * *

  By the time Eve was supposed to be four months along, she felt huge. According to the books she should only have a small bump, but she looked about eight months. Even with a measuring tape over her stomach, it said she was that. They assumed in the end that maybe her pregnancy was just quicker than the normal, average human one.

  Between them they had cleaned, painted, and decorated the nursery. The new rocking chair looked great and was really comfortable. From beginning to end Eve had found the whole process fascinating and had enjoyed every minute. They’d had plenty of fun with the painting, and not just on the walls, a lot of it ended up on themselves.

  As the weeks progressed Eve became a bit apprehensive about the birth and having no one there but Charlie. Henrietta had said something about the child not having a belly button or a sack around it. They weren’t sure what to expect, but asking for a doctor’s help was out of the question, because they would immediately know something was wrong. Several times Charlie had suggested his mother, but the thought of putting her in danger or having her followed there wasn’t an option for either of them.

  Over the last month Eve had slowed down. She put her telekinesis to some use though, picking up bits and pieces instead of bending down or moving. Charlie kept calling her a cheat. But he didn’t think she was cheating when she was getting something for him. She had also given up on the morning run and had begun to take a morning stroll instead to keep some kind of activity. Charlie, however, had kept on running.

  * * * *

  The front door slammed open, immediately putting Eve on alert. Turning, she saw Charlie’s worried face. The knife in her hand that she had been cutting vegetables with was now held in a tight fist.

  “What?” she asked, panicking with all kinds of scenarios going through her head.

  “I felt something, like you feeding emotions to me in my head, but it wasn’t you!”

  “What?” she asked, confused.

  He put a finger up in the air and cocked his head like he was listening to something. His face changed into one of surprise. He stumbled forward and knelt in front of her, cupping her swollen belly. A look of total awe crossed his features.

  “I can hear him.” He looked up at her with eyes as big as saucers. “I can hear him. I know when you’re in my head, it feels like a tingling, but with him it’s like he is sending me happy feelings. I was running when I felt what I thought was you, I thought you were in trouble because it felt different, like you were worried.” He leaned in and kissed her belly.

  “Him?” She had always assumed she was having a girl, because no male had survived the fetus stage. They hadn’t even thought about a name for a boy.

  “Yeah. I don’t know how I know, I just do. This is so weird.” He chuckled.

  Eve started crying, great big heaving sobs. She’d been frightened one second and was in awe the next, it was too much for her hormones.

  “Oh God, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” He led her to the sofa and sat next to her, drawing her into his huge arms. He cooed and uttered sweet words as he calmed her down. “He’s upset now. He doesn’t like it when his mummy is distressed. Can you read his mind?”

  Eve calmed down and quickly scanned and found her son. Why had she never thought of this? She found two brain energies near her—Charlie’s and the baby’s.

  “Oh wow, I can feel him. He feels happier now that I’ve stopped crying,” she mused. “He’s tired too. I guess he likes the nights to stay awake,” she grumbled.

  “Another positive about this is his name—we only have one gender now to contemplate.”

  “I thought we only had one anyway...only female, not male.”

  Charlie had a huge, beaming smile on his face. “It would also seem our son is going to have a little bit more talent than his mummy.”

  “Oh boy, he could be a challenge, huh?”

  “No, sweetheart, he will be as special as his mum.”

  Chapter 13

  After his run, Charlie found Eve on the floor of the nursery folding baby clothes and organizing them in the drawers. It had been a week since the baby had started communicating its emotions to Charlie, and she herself had figured out a
way to communicate with him too. He didn’t understand a lot of words, but she was teaching him slowly. She would often sing nursery rhymes to him that Charlie had taught her over the months.

  Between the three of them they had a good relationship. It still felt unreal at times, and she still struggled sometimes with new things. They had discovered a small television and antenna in the loft when Charlie had gone up to fix a small leak. When he brought it down and turned it on the first thing she saw was someone getting murdered on it. She’d screamed and had launched the box at the nearest wall. Charlie had laughed so hard she had picked up a small ornament and dropped it on his head.

  He spent a week making it up to her with long foot rubs and a lot of loving.

  That was another problem. This week she had become incredibly horny. Every time she saw Charlie she wanted to jump his bones. But he didn’t mind. It would seem that even though she was as big as a house he still found her gorgeous. She had trouble believing that and often searched his mind and found that he was in fact telling the truth.

  “Sweetheart, you just did that a few days ago.” He stood by the door with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah, well they needed doing again. I love the smell of this room. If this is what babies smell like, how do people treat them so badly?”

  “Are we talking about you or people in general?”

  “I don’t understand how women could have given birth to us and then left us with the Coats, knowing we were nothing but test things to them. I love this baby so much, Charlie. I couldn’t hand it over to people like that, not for all the tea in China.”

  “Been reading again, dear?” Charlie chuckled at her new saying.

  She just stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry.

  “I can’t imagine handing the baby over to anyone like them either, sweetheart. It makes us different from the women who did it in the first place. You aren’t like them at all. You know that, right?” He came to sit beside her, picking up various pieces of clothing and helping her fold them.

  “I know. I just don’t see why we were created and then abandoned like we were.”

  “You were made for me and we made him for us.” He smiled at her, his eyes sparkling.

  Her nipples grew hard and her pussy fluttered. She wanted him again. She moved her body over to his and kissed him with all the passion she felt right then. Their tongues entwined and fought, and his hands came up behind her and lifted her as he stood.

  “Charlie,” she shrieked. “Elephants don’t need carrying, they have enough weight to stand on their own!”

  “Are you calling my son an animal?”

  “No, me, silly,” she said before she realized he was just winding her up.

  Groaning, she placed her arms around his neck and nibbled on it, smelling the all-man scent she had grown to love. He placed her gently on the bed and pulled her oversized top off and unclipped her bra. Her breasts flopped and felt heavy against her chest, they had certainly grown in the last few months. Her freckles came to life and started glowing as he caressed her skin, running his hands over her breasts and feeling their weight.

  “Oh, baby, I love your breasts.”

  She moved her hands to the waistband of his sweatpants and pulled them down along with his boxers. His cock bounced against his stomach, tall and proud. He pushed her down and pulled the shorts she was wearing off, snapping her panties as he went.

  “Don’t you dare snap another...” Twang! “You swine, you are going to have to buy me some more soon.”

  “Nope, you can run around without any...easy access.” He wiggled his eyebrows comically, making her chuckle.

  He knelt between her legs, opening them. With her big belly she couldn’t watch what he was doing and gasped as his heated mouth slammed over her clit, sucking it in deeply.

  “Oh yeah, so wet already for me,” he murmured against her skin after he ran a finger through her wet, tender folds.

  “Always for you, Charlie.”

  One finger slipped inside of her then another. Her hips bucked as he slid across the walls of her vagina. He sucked harder on her nub as he began to set a pace with his fingers, and she couldn’t help but wiggle. She raised her hands and played with her breasts, tugging and pinching on her nipples. She moaned as his fingers moved faster.

  “Yes, Charlie, yes!” she screamed when she plummeted into ecstasy. Her pussy tightened around his pumping fingers. Her body stiffened for a few seconds then gradually relaxed.

  He stuck his fingers into his mouth and moaned. “Yum.”

  He lay on the bed beside her, and she rose to her knees and straddled his lap. Positioning his cock at her entrance, she slid down until he was buried all the way inside her and his balls rested on her butt cheeks. They both groaned at being united. His hands came up and pulled on her arse, making them moan again as he was pushed a tiny bit more inside her. She began to rock backward and forward. She lifted off his cock so just the head was inside, then slowly lowered down again.

  “Sweetheart, yes, keep going.” He kneaded her breasts as they bounced along to their rhythm.

  She stroked her hands over the tanned skin on his chest. It had been a good summer, even she had gotten a tan. Sometimes when they slept together at night she would breathe the scent of the sun off his skin.

  She used the strength in her legs to move faster. He bent his legs at his knees and thrust up, meeting her halfway. She cried out when he tapped on her clitoris. Watching his muscles begin to twitch on his stomach, she slid into his mind, feeling him as close as she was, and with a few more thrusts and bounces they went off together. Her orgasm was more intense being in his mind and she went off again. Her freckles lit up as she clasped her eyes shut, throwing her head back, calling his name.

  “So fucking tight,” he moaned, straining underneath her, his cock still pumping streams of his seed inside her.

  As the spasms began to dissipate she slid off his gorgeous body and laid beside him, their combined juices sliding over her thighs. She propped her head on his chest and listened to his heart slow down.

  “Will it always be like this?” she asked.

  “I hope so.”

  Chapter 14

  The baby had kept Eve awake most of the night. She had tried to soothe him but to no avail. It would seem the poor little thing was getting annoyed at the small space he was in. She was only supposed to be four and a half months along, but she looked like she was ready to give birth. She’d started to get more anxious as the weeks had gone by. She felt sorry for Charlie, as he took the brunt of it. She had tried so hard on those occasions not to point her anger and stress at him, but it just seemed to spew out of her.

  He kept quiet though and took everything that came at him. He had succeeded several times in turning her negativity or protectiveness around, and the other times he just held her tightly until she either cried or relaxed in his arms.

  It wasn’t just the baby though, she had begun to fear Eden again. She’d had a few nightmares, and she’d woken up thinking they were coming. It didn’t help that today was Fred’s day to come check on the generator. Giving up on sleeping, she went downstairs and sat in one of the deck chairs on the back porch with a blanket over her knees.

  Whenever she was unable to sleep she always went outside and sit in a lounge chair to watch the sun rise. The beauty of it never failed to amaze her. She loved it. The colors and patterns of the clouds and the gentle breeze that moved the trees were incredibly peaceful.

  They had gone through a list of names for the baby. Charlie had asked her that they use George, after his father, as the middle name, and she had been more than happy to agree. She could hear the love he had for his parents when he talked about them, and it was nice to see it. It made her sad at times as well, because she hadn’t known her own parents—she was just created and carried. She wondered how the surrogate that had given birth to her had endured carrying her then handing her over for a life of testing. Eve felt overwhelming love for her baby, a
nd she couldn’t imagine a woman feeling anything less than that.

  She glanced down at her stomach after feeling it flutter against her fingers. It wasn’t the baby, he had finally fallen asleep while she had sat watching the sun rise. This was different.

  “Charlie,” she shouted as the fluttering became worse. She lifted her t-shirt to see the skin on her belly rippling in waves. “Charlie,” she screamed.

  Charlie came running through the back door, his hair all disheveled from waking up. He frantically scanned the area then turned his attention on her. “Eve?”

  She pointed down at her stomach that was still rippling in waves.

  “The baby?” he asked.

  “He was asleep, but is waking up. He’s getting annoyed at the constant movement. It feels like with each wave that happens he’s moving a little lower. I can feel pressure building down below.”

  “Any pain, sweetheart? Charlie said, moving between her legs and opening them.

  “No. In fact, I feel quite calm now. It was frightening when it started, but now I feel like this is supposed to happen.”

  Charlie looked up at her with startled eyes. “I think he’s coming. I see a head, and he’s got your hair, that’s for sure. There is one thick wad of jet black hair on the top.” He chuckled.

  A couple more stronger waves rippled over Eve’s belly. She could actually see the ripples begin at the top of her abdomen and work their way down. She could see her bump do the same, and she watched in fascination as her baby was pushed lower and lower.

  Charlie pulled the blanket off her knees and held it out underneath her. “His head is all the way out. You don’t feel any pain at all?”

  “No.” She chuckled. “After reading about the pain methods and such in those pregnancy books I was worried silly, but I don’t feel anything but the waving motion. Is it supposed to happen like this or as quickly?” Another few waves rippled over her stomach.