Mia moved her legs out from under the covers and pulled down the overlarge shirt she was wearing for bed, until it safely covered her butt. She then pulled her feet up under herself and tried her best to sit comfortably without getting affected by the fact that Eli was shirtless again. He had been ready for bed, like her, when something inside him made him change his mind about sharing. She needed to focus right now and listen. Like a friend.
"So who are they?" She carefully asked and watched him closely as he crossed his arms, still leaning up against her door.
He waited two heartbeats. "I was born in London."
Well that was anything but what she asked. She decided to just go with it. "Well that finally explains your tattoos regarding Britain."
He didn't comment on that. Just kept looking at the floor like he had been doing the whole time. "I was born with a high IQ and I was getting noticed by some pretty important people. Around when I was eight, a group who called themselves C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S contacted me. They wanted me to join their elites team and help them discover new things within science. They told me they were researchers." He scoffed. "That they fucking were. I was just eight years old. To a kid that age who loved math and science, it sounded great, so I said yes."
Mia swallowed. "So then what happened?"
"They flew me to America."
"What about your parents?"
"Out of the picture."
So orphaned then. She had had her suspicions, but never fully been certain. "So they took you to America. Then what?"
"They brought me to this... research center," He said, putting a sarcastic emphasis the word research. "That was the first lie they told us."
"Us?"
"There were other genius kids there like me. We were kept locked up, but they explained to us it was a 'necessary confinement to avoid psychological contamination from the outside world'. They made it seem like a fucking sanctum for super smart kids."
"But it wasn't," Mia said, stating it. "So what was the place?"
Eli shook his head silently, staring at a spot on her floor. "It was an experimental facility. They experimented with us."
"Experimented... with you?" Mia said incredulously. "What do you mean by that?"
Eli sighed and finally moved away from the door, only to slowly pace the floor in front of her bed. He folded his hands behind his neck and looked down. "It started out as simple trials. A test of our skills, our knowledge, that kind, but then... then they pulled out the machines."
"Machines?" Mia wasn't certain she wanted to know.
"Hooked us up to them. Begun... harvesting our process."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"They treated us like computers," He very suddenly growled, and Mia now realized the pacing had been to control his anger, just like he had done when she confronted him about talking to Anna. He was pissed right now, old, pent-up anger stirring up again. "They harvested the pattern and process our brainwaves made whenever we aced their tests. Like data. They stored it."
"But..." Mia was struggling for words. "How does... I mean... how is that possible? Why were they doing it?"
"Don't ask me how they did it. As for why..." He stopped pacing and gritted his teeth. "They were trying to convert actual intelligence into artificial DNA so that, say, they could implant intelligence into an average-minded individual. It would boost their IQ and maybe even do more."
"L-like what?"
"I don't know!" He yelled and begun pacing again. He let his arms drop to his sides and begun opening and closing his fists. "It was like they were trying to create fucking mutants! They used our intelligence to try and develop some crazy shit, I don't even know—"
"Alright, calm down," Mia said, getting up from the bed when she noticed his nostrils started flaring. She wouldn't have caught the movement in the darkness if it wasn't for his piercing catching a reflection and glinting. "We're just talking here, okay? Remember, they don't know where you are. You're safe."
"Yeah, I'm safe, but what about the others?" He said, turning his head to look at her. "What about them? They're still getting experimented on like lab rats while I'm out here, mopping the floors of a goddamn school."
Mia opened her mouth, but closed it again after a second. She had nothing. He saw that and looked away from her again, resuming his angry pacing.
What could she tell him? Everyone always seemed to know what to say in the movies, but this wasn't fictional. This was real, this was his life and his world – his reality, however surreal it seemed.
"How did you escape?" She decided to ask instead when she couldn't think of anything else to say.
But he just shook his head. "Doesn't matter."
"Alright, then when did you escape?"
"When I was sixteen. As we grew older, they started increasing security on us as if they knew we'd grow smart enough to realize the shit they were doing was shady and would try to run away."
"So you escaped, and then what?"
"Then I came here," He replied and stopped pacing again. "I hid. I met some people. They helped me without knowing."
"And... that's when you decided to get... those?" Mia carefully mumbled, nodding at his many tattoos. "As a cover?"
He met her eyes for a brief second. "My ink has nothing to do with covering anything up. I got them because I wanted them. The end."
"Alright, alright."
He paced again. Mia sat down at the foot of her bed. Such a long silence stretched, so that when he finally spoke, it startled her.
"There's more."
She looked up and found him still pacing. "What more can there possibly be?"
"I signed a contract with them. That's why they're after me. I'm legally theirs until my 21st birthday where my contract expires. Imbedded in the contract was also a confidentiality agreement. I broke it when I spoke to Caleb about this, and I'm breaking it again right now by telling you. That means if they find me now, before my 21st birthday, they can legally sue me and maybe even get my contract extended."
Mia could barely contain it. Her head started pounding with the size and the magnitude of the situation he was in. It was unbelievable. She thought all of this secret, shady, governmental, human experimenting thing was for the science-fiction movies only. Turned out, the world was much more fucked than she thought.
"Eli..."
"No, you know what?" He suddenly said, stopping up and glaring at her. "I know I'm fucked as it is. I've got three months till my 21st birthday, theoretically I could sit them out and stay hidden until they're up. Caleb would probably be able to handle that, Elana, too, but then what? I come out of hiding, and then when they find me, who's to say they won't implement me for some other shit that the contract probably stated? I'm fucked, Mia, and I know it."
"But what if they don't?" Mia argued and stood up. "What if they decide you're not worth the effort and just let you go?"
He glared at her for a long moment, looking at her as if she was kidding. When she didn't crack, he walked up to her and stood so close to her, she could practically hear his heart thumping against his bare chest. "Do you think I'm not worth the effort? I solved that Fermat shit in less than a night; You think that's not worth it?"
He was right. She knew she was acting optimistic, but dammit, she couldn't help it. She wanted him to be free, she wanted him to...
"And even if I wasn't, they still wouldn't let me go. I know shit," He snapped and leaned down to her face. "I know what goes on in that facility. Say I went public with it; You think the government would let a liability like me walk around on the street?"
Mia's heart started beating so fast and so hard, her ribcage started hurting. "Are you saying... they could potentially kill you?"
"Don't be fucking stupid. I'm too smart to kill. My brain ain't worth nothing scattered across the pavement, they need it alive and functioning. All their research would be worth nothing if I couldn't back it up."
"So... they'll just lock you up again?"
He met her gaze with a dead one. "For the rest of my life."
Mia sunk down on her bed again. Grasping the sheets, she stared into thin air.
Holy shit. Caleb hadn't been exaggerating when he warned her this was deeper than anything she'd ever imagine. Eli couldn't see a way out, and neither could Caleb – and if they couldn't, then what chance did Mia have of finding a way?
"You see now why you should be scared of me? Why I don't do friends? Why I only fuck?"
Mia looked up and found Eli glaring at her. Even in the darkness she could see his eyes glinting at her.
"My world is fucked, and now you're officially a part of it. Did you finally learn everything you wanted? Maybe you'll be able to finish that drawing of yours now."
– And now, of course, he was going back to his usual self. Mia closed her eyes and hung her head. Figured. "Yeah, maybe I will, Eli. Only I don't care about drawing you anymore. I care about helping you and getting you the hell out of this."
"You can't get me out of this, don't you fucking get it?!" He very suddenly snapped again, making Mia jolt back in shock. "I'm in this for life, I'll be hiding until the day I fucking die. If I don't fucking kill myself before old age has the chance, that is..."
"Eli, don't even say that," Mia jumped off the bed and walked up to him. Even when he glared hard at her, she didn't let it stop her from approaching him. "We'll find a way out, I know we will. You, me and Caleb, we can get you out of this."
His eyes flashed with something. It could've been anger, but it also could've been vulnerability. "Why? Why the fuck do you guys try and help me when all you do is get yourselves dragged down into my shit?"
"Because that's what friends do," Mia said sincerely. She grabbed the side of his head and forced him to look at her when he rolled his eyes. "I'm your friend, and so is Caleb. We'll do everything we can to help you because that's what we do. Whether you planned on making some or not, you got friends, Elijah. Deal with it."
He stared at her for a really long time. His jaw was grinding something and his body was tense. His eyes were like two lightning bolts in the dark, blinding her with the intensity. With electricity.
"Fuck friendship."
And then he kissed her.
Mia gasped as he leaned down and kissed her roughly, thoroughly, his lips molding themselves against hers. She found herself clinging to him within seconds as he circled her in his arms and walked them both backwards, until they hit the bed. Pinning her down, he kissed her down her jaw, her neck, her chest. Mia gasped for her breath, but at the same time couldn't care less if she ran out of it.
This might be what she currently lived for, but she would also die for it.
Clothes vanished. Time did, too. Anything but that bed and their bodies disappeared – the proof was the silence that only got broken by Mia's gasps and strangled moans as Eli went down on her. Not many words were said. Only a string of incoherent sounds and erotic noises. Everything melted together – exploded. Then melted together again and created something new. Something better.
Afterwards, Mia realized this time hadn't been fast, hard or wild. There had been moments where passion and impulses had played their delicious parts, but it had never been raw or furious. Rather, it had been almost gentle, almost loving. Almost. He had held onto her differently, moved inside her differently – deeper, so to speak.
And now as she laid there, his arm possessively wrapped around her in his sleep, she wondered...
Had he done more than just open up about his past tonight, or did he open up a part of himself that he banished a long time ago?
• • •
*Insert sarcastic, yet humorous phrase*