"Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships."
- Stephen Covey
Candice POV
I woke up the next morning to the sound of Eric's snoring beside me. He had let go of my body sometime during the night, making it easier to turn around to look at him. He looked so peaceful while sleeping, like there was no worries consuming him and the tough facade he always kept up in front of others were gone. He was just Eric, my Eric. One of his arms were hidden under his pillow and the other was resting nicely on his stomach, following the movements of his rising chest. All I wanted to do was snuggle up to him and go back to sleep, but I was bright awake and I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again even if I tried. But there was another part of me as well, that wanted something different. As I looked at Erics naked chest, he was only in his boxers, something inside me stirred and my mind swirled with ideas of how to take care of just that. I smiled as I came up with something, I began to feel a little playful and teasing him would surely be a great way to start the morning before I had to meet Four to go through another day of torture. I scooted closer to Eric and started to leave small butterfly kisses down his chest. I could hear Eric's breathing getting heavier, indicating that he was awake, and a big smile was plastered on my lips as I felt his hand stroking my back.
"This is certainly a surprise. What's the occasion?"
"Oh, I just woke up and saw you sleeping."
"So, you decided to wake me up? Though I must say, I find this awakening much pleasurable."
"Is that so?" I asked him with a brow raised, as he smirked at me and pulled my body over his so I was straddling him.
"But I like this position even more." He said and grabbed my hip with one hand and dragged me down towards him with the other.
"I bet you do." I whispered, before connecting my lips with his. His left hand went up and down my back as his right hand tangled itself in my hair. As our kissing got more heated, I started to grind my body on him, teasing him. Eric let out a quiet groan as he kissed me, gripping on to me harder. I kept up my grinding and I could feel him getting harder and harder, I had him right where I wanted him. I moved away from his lips, much to his dismay. But as soon as I started kissing down his jaw and neck, trying to find his soft spot, he groaned once again and trailed one of his hands up my stomach, reaching for one of my breasts to play with. Both our breathings got heavier as the sexual heat got more intense. Eric's boner poked my pelvis through my underwear and I could feel myself getting wetter by the minute, which meant I needed to stop before it went too far, since I was only going to tease him.
"Oh god, you're going to make me come if you keep doing that, babe." Eric said while groaning. I reconnected my lips with his again, biting his lower lip before once again letting go of his lips and stopped what I was doing. I sat still on his lap, his groin still poking me.
"That's all you get for now." I sad teasingly, and before he had a chance to react I bolted out of bed and strutted towards the door.
"Hey, what the hell?" Eric questioned angrily, but I only smiled at him when I saw how frustrating he was. He was obviously in great need of release.
"You should take care of that. A cold shower should do the trick." I said before turning away, walking out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. I could hear Eric's frustrating profanities as he staggered out of bed and towards the bathroom. I knew I was done for later, but U didn't mind. I had gotten what I wanted, and Eric had something to think about during the meeting he had to go to. He was going to be gone all day, which ment Four and I would be alone in the simulation room. I'd planned on catching up with my friends after training, it had been a while since I hung out with them and I kind of missed them. Sure, they had their new Dauntless life and were busy working and stuff, but that didn't mean we no longer had time to hang out together.
***
I was making omelets and oatmeal porridge, when Eric came out after about twenty minutes in the shower in just a pair of pants. I looked over at him and I could still see a frown on his face, indicating that he was still pissed at me for earlier, but I only giggled at his antics and put the omelets on two plates and walked over to the table where I put them down for us. Eric walked over to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice while I grabbed the coffee. We sat down, opposite from each other and began to eat. Not even a word was uttered between us as we ate, and I was beginning to think he was actually pissed.
"I'm sorry." I suddenly said.
"For what?" He asked with a confused expression.
"For earlier." At that he looked up at me with a grin."
"Oh, not worries. I'll get my revenge later." I gulped, millions of scenarios on how he would do it swirling in my head.
Eric finished his breakfast and went to the dishwasher to put his dirty dishes in before walking back to the bedroom to get dressed, as he had to meet with the other leaders in about ten minutes. When he was dressed and ready, he came up behind me as I stood by the sink and snaked his arms around me.
"I'm sorry I can't be with you today, love."
"It's okay, I have Four."
"I know, but I still want to be there in case something happens."
"If something happens, Four will be there. Don't worry." I said while turning to face him. Eric cupped my face in his hands and kissed me passionately.
"I will always worry about you." He whispered.
"I appreciate that, but you don't really have to, you know. I'm grown woman."
"I know you are, but consider your history. I say, I'm allowed to worry."
"Touché." Eric chuckled before kissing my forehead and releasing me from his embrace. Then he walked over to the front door, turned back to me and smirked.
"Oh, and don't forget. I'll have my revenge later." Even if I was scared that he was going to do something "leader Eric" like, I held my composure and gave him a smile.
"Oh, I'm looking forward to it." I said and took of my shirt, exposing my naked torso to tease him, and walked away to the bedroom.
"She is good." I heard Eric say to himself before he left the apartment. I giggled to myself before going to the closet to get some clean clothes to wear for the day. I had to meet Four in half an hour, so I decided to take a quick shower.
After I'd showered and gotten dressed, I walked out of the apartment, locked it and started to walk to the simulation room where Four were probably waiting. It was my last day of stage two and I'd done well so far, accept for maybe a few fears. But facing your worse fears wasn't easy. When I entered the simulation room, Four was typing on the computer but looked up and smiled when he heard me enter.
"Last day of stage two, huh. How are you feeling?"
"Like I want this to be over, so I can be a real member for once." Four chuckled and motioned me to sit down in the chair.
"It'll be over before you know it. Have you thought about what you want to work with?"
"Not yet."
"Well, you have some time to think about it." He said as he connected me with all the wires and then began filling the syringe he was going to inject me with.
"You know the drill, either fight your fear or calm your heartrate. Good luck, C." He then injected me with the needle and I was out in thirty seconds.
When I opened my eyes, I was standing by the chasm. I looked down at the depth of the water that cascaded on the walls. The sound of the waterfall calmed me and I closed my eyes again to relish in it. I soon heard the sound of boots coming closer to me, the sound was familiar and I knew who it was. I opened my eyes and looked at the familiar face of Eric. At first I was happy to see him, but when I looked closer I saw that he had an angry look on his face, one that could easily scare you.
"What's wrong, Eric?" I asked in concern.
"You are one of them, aren't you?" He asked me with malice in his tone.
"What?" I was confused.
"I can't believe I actually thought I felt something for you. People like you don't belong here." He spit at me with venom.
"People like me? I don't understand Eric, what's going on?" I walked closer to him but he just backed off.
"You are a danger to the system and for that you must die." He said and pulled out a gun and aimed it at me.
"Eric what are you doing? Put the gun down."
"Shut up! I know you are Divergent. I can't believe you tricked me into liking you, you little bitch." I was shaking and tears were threatened to spill out of my eyes.
"Don't do this Eric, please." I begged him.
"Your pleading won't work on me. Damn, I'll kill you right now if you don't stop with your whining. It's annoying."
"Why are you doing this, Eric?"
"Because people like you don't deserve to live, you are a problem that needs to get rid of before you destroy the whole system." Eric said bitterly and I couldn't believe what he was saying. A voice in my head kept saying that it wasn't real, Eric would never do that to me. And then another voice entered my mind. 'Fight the fear, or calm your heartrate.' It was Four, and that's when I knew for sure that it wasn't real.
"You don't really mean that, Eric."
"Oh, yes I do. Now shut up!" Eric screamed at me before pulled of the safety of the gun and got ready to shoot. I stood my ground, looking him right in the eyes.
"Then shoot me. What are you waiting for?" I closed my eyes and even though I knew this wasn't real, I could still feel the tears run down my face because it was still Eric who held the gun. With deep breaths, I was ready for the blow. A blow that never came, because I felt myself waking up to the real world. When I opened my eyes Four was sitting next to me, typing down on the computer.
"Three minutes and thirty seconds. A new record for you." He said with a small smile. However, that smile soon faltered and was replaced with a worried look.
"What is it?" I asked him as I sat up.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"How are you supposed to tell someone something like that? How are you supposed to tell someone that you are what they call a dangerous person, a threat to society?"
"Candice, you've let a leader know what you are. Eric knows what you are."
"You don't think I know that? You don't think I was scared to death, knowing that he would find out? Not knowing what he would do or what his reaction would be? And worse of all, you weren't there."
"Are you sure you can trust him? He's not known for being the most trusted person you know."
"I've lived with the man for the past months, I think I can trust him well enough to keep my secret. I know him well enough to know that he wouldn't harm me. I'm alive aren't I?" Four came over to me, cupped my face in his hands and looked into my eyes.
"I just want you to be safe. I can't imagine a life without my best friend in it." I reached up to cover his hands with mine and smiled.
"And I can't imagine a life without you. That's why you have to trust me on this. Eric won't say anything, he has sworn to help me hide it. In fact, he was actually scared that you would find out."
"Well, he don't have to be. I'll keep your secret. And knowing your secret, I should tell you mine."
"What is it?"
"The reason why I got so fired up was because...I'm like you."
"You are Divergent?... I knew there was something different about you, Tobias Eaton. I saw it the moment I met you." I said with a smile. Four let out a chuckle before hugging me.
"Aa, you never cease to surprise me, Candice Heart. Come on, let's get some training done before lunch." Four let me go, and I hoped off the chair and followed him out and away to the training room. I wasn't back hundred percent yet, which meant that I sometimes had to spend a small portion of time each day in the training room where Four, Eric or sometimes Lauren would train with me. We would start with five laps around the compound, then twenty five sit ups and push-ups. After that we would work on my fighting, letting me hit them while they guarded. Doing that for a while, we then move over to the mat where we would fight for real. I may not have won any fights, but I was getting there and I lasted longer each time, which I was more than happy about.
After our workout, I went home to the apartment to take a quick shower before I headed off to lunch. When I entered the dining hall, I saw that all of my friends where there eating and laughing. Even Zeke and Shauna had joined them, mostly because of Four of course but still, it had been a while since I last spoke to Zeke and Shauna. I walked over to their table and sat down next to Four. When they saw me, they instantly dropped whatever conversation they had to say hi to me before they continued their conversation again. I served myself to all the good food, including Dauntless cake and began to ate and chat with the rest of them. Both Levina and Meg were free after lunch, so we decided to go to the pit for some shopping and a few drinks.
***
In the store we split to go look for some new clothes and especially an outfit for the upcoming party that my friends had told me they were going to throw as soon as I finished initiation. So all of us was going to start the night at Meg and Levinas, just us initiatives, then we were supposed to go down to the pit to continue the celebration with the rest of Dauntless.
I went through what seemed like hundreds of racks just to found the perfect outfit. I'd already picked out some workout clothes along with some regular clothes, so it was only the party outfit left and some new underwear. It took me a while but I finally found the perfect outfit. It was a black crop top with a deep neckline, a plum-coloured short skirt that reached above my knees and black open toe pumps. I would pair them with some dark eyeshadow and lipstick and nail polish that matched the skirt. I went to look for the girls only to find them having a little runway show for each other and others that were looking. Meg was wearing a black off shoulder dress with a deep v-shaped neckline that showed a lot of cleavage. It was cute and sexy, just like Meg. Like Meg, Levina was wearing a black dress, only Levinas dress was a peplum kind of dress and strapless. The dress was tight, especially around her bust, making her boobs visual. Both dresses suited them perfectly and I couldn't but snicker when I saw a group of guys ogling them from outside the shop. I shook my head and walked over to my friends.
"You do realize you have a horde of horny guys looking at you, right?"
"What?" Meg said scarily, while Levina just laughed and looked over where the guys were still standing, winking at them.
"Ah, let them look Meg. We are hot and I bet my brother would do the same thing if he was here. That dress is going to make him gawp with lust, you are so getting laid."
"Can't believe I just said that, I'm totally picturing it right now. I'm scarred for life!" Levina faked cried, making Meg and I start laughing which made Levina laugh too.
"Why don't you guys change back so we can pay before we go to the bar. I could use some drinks after today's fear sim." I said and they nodded.
"What was your fear by the way?" Levina asked.
"Spiders." I lied. I couldn't tell them about my divergence.
"I hate spiders." Meg shouted from behind the drapes of the changing cube.
"Me too." I said while waiting for them to be finished. When they came out, we all walked over with our clothes to the cashier and each of us swiped our point cards for payment. Since I had barely used my card before, I had good enough points to buy all the things I had picked out and also have some drinks without it being empty. We paid for our clothes and walked away towards the bar. Shauna was the bar manager, and when she saw us she smiled our way.
"Hello, dolls. How are you today?"
"Excellent. We just came from the store, bought us some new clothes." Levina said.
"That's good to hear. You guys want something?" Shauna asked while serving some other people.
"Three margaritas and tequila shots please." Levina piped up before either Meg and I had a chance to say anything.
"Coming right up." She gave us the tequila shots first before making us the margaritas. We licked our forearms and poured the salt over them before taking our shot glasses in one of our hands.
"So, ladies. To a beautiful friendship that will last for eternity." Levina said while raising her shot in front of her.
"To friendship!" Both me and Meg shouted as we raised our own shot glasses, and together we quickly licked the salt off our arms, downed the shot and then bit our limes. All of us made a sour face caused by the lime.
"Three more!" I shouted to Shauna, the loud music making it hard not to.
"You guys are going to be hammered." Shauna chuckled as she gave us our cocktails before filling new shot glasses of tequila for us.
"That's kind of the idea." Meg said while laughing, smutting on her drink.
"I don't start work until afternoon tomorrow, giving me plenty of time to recover." Levina said before licking her arm one more time, as did Meg and I.
About eight shots and three drinks later we were ready to leave. I don't think I'd ever been that drunk before, I stumbled through the corridors on my way home after saying bye to Meg and Levina. Zeke and Four must have had a blast seeing me. Once I got to the apartment, I struggled with the keys but after some struggle and a few well-chosen profanities along with some giggles, I manage to open the door and stumbled in and closed the door. I turned the light on and threw the bags on the floor, before walking straight to the pantry where I knew Eric had his liquor collection and took off my shirt while doing so. I grabbed a bottle of tequila, opened it and took a big swig. The liquor burned down my throat, but I loved it. I speeded of to the stereo and pressed play, a song I never heard before started but it was catchy and I started to dance to it. I felt like one with the song after listening to the lyrics. Song after song played and the bottle in my hand got emptier for each song that played.
I was so caught up in my dancing that I didn't notice the door open and close.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Eric POV
I stepped out of my apartment, closing the door and shook my head.
"That girl will be the death of me." I said to myself and walked down the hall, on my way to the garage. We were going to Erudite for a meeting with Jeanine. I was still semi-hard from our steamy makeout session in the bedroom. I tried to make it go away in the shower but it didn't work, and Candice little antic when she took off her t-shirt didn't help one bit. It left me frustrated and knowing I would have to sport a tent in my pants until it calmed down in front of all the leaders, I knew it was going to be a hard day. I tried to discreetly readjust my pants to make it less obvious, the only one who knew about me and Candice was Lauren and without a doubt Theresa, But I knew none of them would tell a soul, unless I told them otherwise.
As I came down to the garage, the rest of the leaders where already there waiting. Lauren gave me a smile as I approached them and bit her lip, trying not to laugh.
"Right, now when everyone is here let's go." Max said.
"I go with Eric." Lauren said quickly and grabbed my arm as she walked over to one of the cars. I knew not to question Lauren, so I just followed her to the car and got in the passenger seat as she sat in the driver's seat.
"So, what made you so late? Normally you would be one of the first to arrive" Lauren asked with a knowing smile.
"I wasn't late."
"You were at least five minutes late and you are sporting a tiny boner. You were obviously occupied."
"Fuck, Lauren. Stop watching my crotch!"
"Please, I would gladly do it but I just couldn't help but notice. No happy ending, huh?" She snickered.
"Is this why you wanted to share a car with me? To taunt me with these stupid and not to mention private questions?"
"Oh, please. As soon as you guys slept together it ceased to be private. Have you forgotten the walls aren't soundproof?"
"Shut up. At least I get some." I was beginning to get more aggravated by the minute and I just wanted to go back to my apartment. I didn't want to go to that stupid meeting, knowing what Jeanine wanted to talk about. However, I had to and maybe it was a good thing anyway. That way I would know more about what Jeanine's plans on Divergents were.
"Not this morning, you didn't." I gave her a death glare, indicating that I no longer wanted to talk about it.
"Fine, but you should try to hide that tent before Jeanine sees it. Though, I'm pretty sure she hasn't gotten any lately."
"Your point being?" I asked.
"Just that someone as stiff as Jeanine might...You know what, I don't know where I was going with that. Just hide it and it will be fine, and don't picture your girlfriend during the meeting. It will just worsen the whole thing."
"Easier said than done." I murmured to myself, looking outside to see that we had arrived at Erudite.
We stepped out of the cars and walked off to the entrance of the building, where two men in blue clothes waited for us. They guided us through the halls of the glass building, fair to say Jeanine was too much of a hector to come meet us herself. Miss Dandy, as Lauren usually called her when neither her nor Max could hear her. Safe to say, Lauren detested Jeanine almost as much as I did. I got away from her once, only to have her trying to pull me back around her little finger again, but I wouldn't give her that satisfaction. Not when I had someone else to think about, someone Jeanine wanted rid of, someone she was afraid of.
The men led us through multiple sets of corridors until we finally arrived at one of Jeanine's conference rooms. One of the men knocked the door and after a few seconds Jeanine's voice could be heard from the other side, saying we could come in. Max and Carson went in first, as they were the head of the Dauntless leaders, we others followed after.
"Max, Carson, thank you for coming." Jeanine said with enthusiasm. Upon seeing the rest of us, she just nodded.
"Jeanine, always a pleasure meeting you." Max said with a huge smile on his face. Lauren rolled her eyes discreetly and looked at me and Aaron. Aaron just chuckled and shook his head. We sat down and Jeanine instantly started to talk.
The meeting was boring and the only thing that kept me listening was because I wanted to know as much as possible about Jeanine's plans, so I could come up with my own plan to save Candice.
Candice
The woman made me crazy, but sane at the same time. She was like coming up for fresh air. Like I was drowning and she saved me. She was my light in the dark, my sanity. When we slept together that night, it was like I was doing it for the first time. Never had I treated another woman that way before. Before her, I only saw it as sex, hot and steamy, rough and hard. And then when morning came I would throw the women out. If I was in a really bad mood, I would kick them out right after we had finished. But not with Candice, she was different. She was someone I would never want to throw out of my apartment, or my life for that matter. It was the best sex I've ever had and I'd done it plenty. But that was all in the past, that didn't matter anymore because I had Candice, she was my future.
As soon as the meeting ended, we said our goodbyes and Jeanine had her lackeys escorting us out of the building. We went to the cars and Aaron decided to ride back with us this time.
"Is it just me, or is that woman getting more and more loony for each time we see her?" Aaron asked us.
"She is a nutcase. Why would we want to kill innocent people?" Lauren asked while she pulled up her legs on her seat. This time I was the one driving, so I let them rant while I focused on getting home fast. I wanted to get home to Candice.
"What do you think, man?" Aaron asked me.
"I think it's just bullshit all of it, but Max seems to be on Jeanine's side. So for our own sake, I suggest we just play along for now."
"What? You want us to play along with this absurd homicidal game of hers?" Lauren shouted.
"This isn't a game to her. Jeanine is actually planning to go through with this. No matter how crazy this is to us, she really believes it. We can't just play along, Eric. It's wrong and you know it. We didn't choose Dauntless so we could become killer machines in her reign." Aaron fought.
"What do you want us to do, huh? Rebel against them? You want us to get thrown out? Live factionless? Because that is what will happen if we do just that, if they don't kill us first." I was getting angry. They didn't see the importance in the situation. We needed to buy time to come up with a plan to overthrow Jeanine. And in order to do that, we needed to play along with her plan.
They both went silent, not wanted to anger me more as they knew it would be pointless. The rest of the drive home was quiet, no one wanted to talk and I was thankful for that as I didn't want to get more upset, especially since I didn't want to take it out on Candice.
***
We arrived at the compound, parked the cars in the garage and walked into the building. I walked away from the rest of them, determend to get to my apartment as fast as possible, knowing Candice would be there. It was after all late, dinner was in an hour and I had planned on spending the rest of the evening with her, no matter what Lauren said.
As I was getting closer to the apartment, I heard loud music coming from inside the apartment furthest away in the corridor, my apartment. I walked with quick strides, wanted to know what was going on. As I came up to the door, I took a deep breath, still a little angry from earlier and then opened the door. What I found in there, I never thought I would experience.
"What the hell are you doing?" I shouted over the loud music, the booming voice echoed in the room. In the middle of the living room, Candice was dancing to some music I didn't even know off, not to mention she had no shirt on. She turned around abruptly when she heard me, holding an almost empty bottle of tequila in her hand, my tequila.
"I'm dancing, what does it look like?" She said, still dancing and looking at me with a big smile.
"Is that my alcohol?" I asked, nodding my head towards her hand that held the bottle, knowing full well it was in fact mine.
"Yes." She said sheepishly, which made me smirk.
"Well, well, well. Aren't we a naughty little girl?" I said, moving closer towards her.
"You might be, I'm just drunk." She said and giggled as I had reached her and now stood before her. I circled my arms around her waist, making her stop dancing.
"I can see that." I said, disregarding what she said about me being a naughty little girl. I took the bottle out of her hand and gulped down the remaining of the liquor before dropping it on the floor beside us without is breaking. I then smashed my lips on hers and kissed her with such a passion. I could feel her legs getting weaker so I tighten the hold I had on her. Her arms snaked around my neck and her hands started playing with my hair while pressing her body closer to mine. I could tell she was getting excited as she urged me to take off my t-shirt. I immediately obliged and broke our kiss quickly to take it off. As soon as I had taken the shirt off I picked her up, her legs going around my waist and walked over to the cooking island where I sat her down.
I leaned closer to her and started to give her feverish kisses on her exposed neck and down to the base of her breasts. I snaked one of my hands behind her back and unclasped her bra without much struggle, all while I kissed her skin. Her eyes were closed at that point, her head had lulled to the side and her hands were still in my hair, pulling on it. I kissed down her chest, down to her nipples and started to suck on one while I kneaded the other breast. This caused her to gasp and her hold on my hair got tighter, one of her hands grasped my back, clawing at it.
"Oh god, that feels so good." She said breathlessly as her breathing had gotten heavier. I kept on sucking on her nipple and playing with her breast, all while she reached down to my pants and zipper to open my flyer and unbuckle my pants. She then pulled down my pants a little so she had more access to my boxers and more importantly, what was hiding inside them. I felt her reach towards my crotch, I was semi hard at that point and she started to massage me through my boxers. I started to groan, her nipple still in my mouth and the vibration sent small jolts of pleasure through her body as she convulsed in orgasmic pleasure.
"Eric, please." Candice pleaded with lustful eyes. With that, I took hold of her again and walked over to the dinner table and laid her down, ripped off her pants and underwear and then took off my own boxers in a haste before leaning down to connect my lips with hers again. She snuck her arms around my neck, sat up a little as she scooted closer towards the edge of the table. I spread her legs and got ready to take her right there on the dinner table. With one hand on her lower back and the other holding my dick, I entered her and she let out a gasp as I stretched her out little by little.
I started slowly, trying to get a good rhythm but eventually the pace got quicker and rougher. Candice's scream could be heard through the apartment. Fortunately the music was still on, damping most of the sound. She clawed at my back and I let out a groan in pleasure. Nothing felt better then to be with Candice, everything else vanished. All the worries and thoughts about earlier, disappeared as I saw Candice. While in my state of complete pleasure, Candice had snaked her legs around me, pressing our bodies tighter together. We were both getting sweatier and our breathing heavier. I could feel she was about to come and I wasn't too far away either, since I had held up the entire day.
"Eric, I'm about to come." She panted.
"Come for me, baby. I'm about to come too!" That seemed to have been it for her as she tightened her grip on me and started to scream out as she came. Her body convulsed with multiple orgasms and I felt myself release my seed in her. Our screams echoed through the apartment and when we came down from our high, we collapsed on the table, me on top of her. We laid there panting for a while, waiting for me to shrink so I could slip out of her.
"That was amazing." Candice panted.
"Yeah, it was." I replied.
"Round two?" She asked me and then giggled.
"You bet on it." With that I stood up, lifted her up in my arms and carried her to the bathroom.