~~Chapter Two
Hundred Eleven~~

~Proposal~

 

 

–OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO–

 

‘If I give my heart to you …

‘You must be sure …

‘From the very start that you …

‘Would love me more than her …’

 

-‘If I Fell’ by the Beatles.

 

–Evan–

 

 

The most God-awful sound shook Evan right out of his sleep, and he cracked one eye open with a healthy groan, only to find Valerie sitting up in bed, staring thoughtfully around the room with a balloon in her hands that she kept rubbing very slowly, producing the horrendous racket that had jarred him awake. Where she’d found the balloon was anybody’s guess, but that didn’t really matter. The damn thing had to go.

 

He sat up, too, reaching up under her elbow with his index finger extended. The moment that his claws touched the balloon, it popped, whizzing across the room on a dizzying path until it fell to the floor just off the end of the bed.

 

“You scared the crap out of me,” she complained mildly, craning her neck to look back at him.

 

“Care to tell me why you thought that’d be a good way to wake me up?” he countered with a wide yawn. After all, they hadn’t actually gone to bed until nearly four in the morning, and they’d almost fallen asleep on the sofa. Valerie had, in fact, done that, and Evan didn’t have the heart to wake her up, either, so he’d carried her upstairs and just held her while she slept. He wasn’t sure when he’d fallen asleep, but he’d heard some birds outside the window, so it was safe to assume he hadn’t actually gotten much in the way of rest. It was enough to just be able to hold her close, even if he had to spend some of that time, telling himself that he would live if he didn’t wake her up to see to his baser needs.

 

“Because I’m always grouchy until I get some coffee,” she replied.

 

Evan grunted and grabbed her around the waist to drag her back down onto the mattress beside him. “I’m always grumpy until I get some ass,” he told her.

 

She giggled and tried to push him away, but her resistance only lasted a few moments before she kissed him back. “Coffee would be better,” she remarked between kisses.

 

He heaved a sigh and leaned away. “Coffee would be—? Maybe if you’re talking about fucking someone other than me. You’ve got a one-track mind, woman,” he complained. Then he kissed her on the forehead and rolled out of bed. “Coffee. Right. Got it.”

 

Stifling a yawn as he shuffled out of the room and into the hallway, headed toward the stairs, he still smiled to himself. The sky outside might be overcast and almost ominous-looking, but in Evan’s mind, there wasn’t a cloud to be seen.

 

Funny what a difference twenty-four hours could make.

 

‘Not so fast, lover boy,’ his youkai-voice said as he stepped into the kitchen. The coffee was already made since he’d learned long ago to schedule it to brew early enough that it was nearly always ready should Valerie decide to stop in early. ‘You still have to finish convincing her that you’re not entirely nuts.‘

 

There was that, too. He had the feeling that part of her really did want to believe what he’d told her, so maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult, after all. She’d come to understand eventually that he was telling her the truth, anyway.

 

‘Yeah, well, you’d better get a move on before she decides to pout all day because you made her wait for her coffee.’

 

Slapping two mugs and the carafe onto a tray along with an apple and a couple oranges, Evan hurried out of the kitchen.

 

She was sitting up again when he stepped back into the bedroom a minute later. Staring around at the room with a thoughtful frown on her face, she held out a hand without comment then waved it a few times for good measure.

 

Evan chuckled, making quick work of filling a mug for her and handing it over.

 

“Okay, Roka, tell me something.”

 

Hefting an eyebrow at her no-nonsense tone, he filled the other mug and slipped back onto the bed. “What’s that?”

 

“I’m your girlfriend now, right?”

 

That question surprised him, mostly because he’d never had occasion to actually have one of those before, but the idea of it made him grin almost stupidly. “I want you to be.”

 

She nodded slowly, taking her time as she drank her coffee. “Good, then. So since I’m your girlfriend, I get to have a say in certain things, right?”

 

He still wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but he figured he might as well go along with it. “Sure. Want me to strip naked and do the weenie dance for you?”

 

She looked like he had managed to catch her off guard, if the blanker-than-usual expression on her face meant anything. Then she rolled her eyes, but the effect was ruined a moment later when a little laugh escaped her. “You’re so weird. Anyway, I hate to tell you this, but that—” She waved her free hand in a broad, sweeping gesture at the room in general, “—has to go.”

 

“Which part?”

 

She wrinkled her nose and held out her coffee cup for a refill that he happily obliged her. “All of it,” she stated with all the diplomacy of a dictator.

 

“Even the stripper pole?” he complained.

 

“Especially the stripper pole. And the mirrors on the ceiling. And the mirrors on the floor. And the mirrors on all the walls. The ones on the closet can stay.”

 

He frowned at her. She missed it entirely since she was busy making her mental list of things she was going to get rid of. “Will you use it for me before you make me get rid of it?” he asked, only half-joking.

 

“I’ll think about it,” she said.

 

“Really? Hot damn!”

 

She heaved a sigh. “I said I’ll think about it.” Staring at him while she drained her second cup of coffee, Valerie sighed again and took the apple he handed her.

 

“Why do you look so serious?” he asked, using his claws to dig into an orange.

 

“Just thinking.”

 

He fed her an orange segment. “About what?”

 

Chewing slowly, she didn’t lose that thoughtful expression on her face. “My apartment.”

 

“You want to move in here?” he asked, trying for a calm tone and failing miserably. He didn’t really want to make her feel pressured, but the idea of waking up beside her every single morning sounded pretty good to him . . .

 

“Well, either way, I guess I need to find a new place.”

 

“Why’s that?”

 

She shrugged and peeled another orange segment off the fruit in his hand. “The apartment lease is in both Marvin and my names, and . . .” She made a face. “I just can’t tell him that he has to find a new apartment on top of everything else.”

 

He could tell from her tone that she expected another round of Marvin-bashing from him. He could also tell that she didn’t really want him to do it, too. So instead, Evan nodded. “Makes sense. I don’t really want you staying in a place that you shared with him, anyway,” he replied. “Just move in. You’re here enough. You might as well.”

 

“Hmm, that was romantic,” she said dryly. She was visibly relieved by his answer as she smiled at him around a huge bite of the apple. “I won’t be stepping on your toes?”

 

“No, but if you wanted to hop up and down on my dick, that’d be okay, too.”

 

She closed her eyes and heaved an exaggerated sigh. “You’re such a pervert. Why are you such a pervert?”

 

He chuckled. “I dunno, V. Why were you in my bushes?”

 

That earned him a slap on the arm, which only served to further his amusement. “You’re really never going to drop that, are you?”

 

“Hell, no.”

 

She sighed. “All right, as much as I hate to, I’ve got to go. I have to run back to the apartment and change and get to work.”

 

“Work? Today? But what about our new-found love?”

 

She stopped as she was climbing out of bed to stare at him. “Did you really just say that?”

 

He blinked innocently and popped an orange segment into his mouth. “What?”

 

“That sappy crap.”

 

He grinned. “Yeah, I totally did!”

 

Shaking her head, she stood beside the bed and stretched. When Evan reached for her, she laughed and scooted out of his reach. “Behave yourself until I get done, can you?”

 

Flopping back against the pillows, Evan sighed. “If I must.”

 

She leaned down to give him a quick kiss, and he tried to grab her. Unfortunately, she must have been expecting it because as fast as she kissed him, she retreated again. “I’ll be back after work.”

 

“Oka-a-a-a-ay,” he drawled in a very transparent effort to get her to feel bad enough to call in. It didn’t work as she fussed with her hair a little and smoothed out her sweater. She spared a moment to smile at him and wiggle her fingers before heading for the door. “Wait a minute,” he called after her.

 

She stuck her head back into the room as Evan leaned over to dig through one of his nightstand drawers. It only took a few seconds to locate the small black velvet jeweler’s box he was after, and he didn’t bother to look inside it before chucking it toward her.

 

She caught it easily and stared at it for a minute. “What’s this?”

 

“What do you think?”

 

She turned the box over in her hands a few times but didn’t open it. “If that was your way of proposing, you’d better try again, Roka,” she said.

 

He laughed but caught the box she tossed back at him. “But V!”

 

“Think about it while I’m at work,” she said over her shoulder as she started for the stairs.

 

He heaved a sigh loud enough that she had to have heard him, which was kind of the point. “But you tell me not to do that!”

 

The sound of her laughter filled the house and sounded in his head long after the front door closed behind her.

 

 

–Evan–

 

 

“What about these?”

 

Valerie glanced up from the stack of clothes she was pulling out of the closet at the stack of CDs that Evan carried into the room.

 

“Uh . . .” she frowned at the titles. “All of those are mine except for those two on the bottom.”

 

Evan pulled the two out of the stack and read the titles. “Blackhat Orchestra presents Mozart in the Park and the Vienna Boys’ Choir?”

 

“Marvin prefers classical music. He’s very cultured, I told you.”

 

“Or he just wants to look cultured,” Evan contended.

 

“Either help me or go home,” she said.

 

He chuckled and leaned in for a quick kiss. “I got it; I got it,” he replied before striding out of the room again. It wasn’t taking nearly as long to pack things up as he would have thought, but she had suggested it when she’d come in after work, and Evan was all for it since he really didn’t want her staying here any longer than she had to. She already said that she wouldn’t bother taking anything out of the kitchen since Evan already had anything she could possibly need, nor was she going to take any of the furniture, so it made things a little easier. He’d already packed up her books—they were easy since Marvin’s books tended to be one of two kinds: either medical journals or a few self-help ones, like How to be a Self-Starter or 10 Steps to Realizing Success.

 

He had just stuck Valerie’s CDs into a box when a soft knock sounded on the door. Dusting his hands off, he strode over to it, recognizing the aura on the other side of it before he reached for the handle.

 

Madison didn’t look surprised to find him standing in Valerie’s living room, but her normally effervescent demeanor seemed rather diminished as she slipped past him into the apartment.

 

“Hey, Maddikins . . . I was going to call you earlier,” Evan said. “Then Mikey stopped by with some shit to go over . . .”

 

“I take it the two of you smoothed things over,” Madison replied with a smile. “I’m glad . . . Are the two of you a couple . . .?”

 

Evan chuckled, and Madison sucked in a sharp breath.

 

“Oh, my God! You’re blushing! Evan Zelig is actually blushing?”

 

“I do that sometimes,” he grumbled.

 

Madison laughed. “Not nearly often enough . . . Is V back in her room?”

 

“Yeah. She’s packing her clothes.”

 

Madison nodded, but she seemed to hesitate.

 

Evan frowned as he stood up straight and crossed his arms over his chest. A vague sense of suspicion crept over him. “You’re the one who bruised her, weren’t you?”

 

Letting out a deep breath, Madison nodded once. “I didn’t mean to,” she admitted quietly. “I didn’t even mean to come over here last night. It’s just . . . I just ended up here, and when she answered the door, I-I don’t know. It was like something inside me snapped . . .”

 

Evan sighed. If it was anyone other than Madison, he’d rip him or her apart, no questions asked, and he would be lying if he tried to say that he wasn’t seriously irritated with her for it, either. The truth of it was that if the situation were reversed, he couldn’t honestly say that he wouldn’t have done the same thing for her. “That’s why she refused to tell me.”

 

Madison rubbed her forehead. “Do you want to hit me?”

 

Evan snorted and rolled his eyes. “No, don’t be stupid.”

 

She didn’t look comforted in the least. “I was scared,” she said quietly—so quietly that Evan almost didn’t hear her. “I was . . . really scared . . . More scared than I’ve ever been in my life . . .”

 

And just what could he say to that? Madison shouldn’t have hit Valerie, but he could understand why she did it, too.

 

“I’m sorry,” he told her. After all, he guessed that it was ultimately his fault, albeit in a roundabout kind of way. If he hadn’t been so quick to jump to conclusions, she wouldn’t have done what she did, either . . .

 

Madison sniffled and quickly wiped her eyes. “You should be,” she muttered, but she sounded more upset than chiding. “Anyway, I just came by because I wanted to tell her that I’m sorry.”

 

Evan nodded and watched as Madison headed off down the hallway.

 

He had to be slipping. Why else would he let Madison off for hitting Valerie when he’d have clocked anyone else who had done it? Then again . . . Letting out a deep breath, Evan shook his head. Maybe he was just too damn happy, or maybe he simply understood Madison’s feelings a little too well.

 

It didn’t take long to finish filling the box, and he closed it up and stacked it on top of the others waiting by the door. He’d already called and arranged to have Bone pick them up tomorrow. The only things of hers left in the living room were the computer and her knickknacks, but he figured that she would want to pack those up herself, and since there was nothing else for him to do, he strode off toward her room to see how far she’d gotten.

 

He stopped short when he reached the doorway and fumbled for his cell phone to click a picture before they noticed him. Sitting on the bed hugging each other, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. “You know, if you two want to get naked and do that, I’d be all right with it,” Evan remarked.

 

Both women’s heads turned to look at him, but Valerie was the one to hurl a pillow at him. “Go away, Roka,” she insisted. “And even if we were to get naked, we’d do it when you’re nowhere near.”

 

“As long as you film it, I’m all right with that,” he quipped.

 

Madison laughed shakily. “I love you, V. You know that, don’t you?” she said just before she choked on a sob.

 

Valerie hugged her again, wailing loudly as she dissolved in tears. “Aww, of course I do! I love you, too, my Maddy!”

 

“Uh, you two could love me, if you wanted,” Evan pointed out, raising his voice to be heard over the sobbing women.

 

They ignored him. It figured. “I’m so so-o-o-orry I hit you,” Maddy gasped out between hiccups.

 

“It was my f-f-f-fault,” Valerie insisted.

 

“No-o-o,” Madison wailed. “You can hit me if you want! You can have any of my sh-shoes you want, too!”

 

Heaving a sigh, Evan leaned in the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest, unable to do more than stare somewhat incredulously at the spectacle they were making. He honestly didn’t care how long he lived, he was pretty sure that he was never, ever going to figure women out; not really.

 

“Oh, no, you love your shoes! We should go shoe shopping! Evan won’t c-care . . .”

 

“Aww, Evan doesn’t mind shoe shopping,” Evan pointed out.

 

“It’ll be a girls’ day o-o-out,” Madison stuttered. “Without Evan!”

 

“Hey . . .” Evan protested. They still ignored him.

 

“He didn’t even ask me to m-marry him,” Valerie tearfully whined. “He just threw the ring box at me.”

 

“He’s such a j-jerk!” Madison cried.

 

“And then h-h-he started telling me this ridiculous st-story about him not being hu-hu-human!” Valerie went on, her voice muffled by Madison’s shoulder.

 

“Oh, he’s n-n-not,” Madison sobbed. “N-Neither am I-I!”

 

At some point later on, Evan was positive that he was going to remember this moment as being one of the funniest of his life. Right now, however, all he could do was shake his head and smile.

 

Valerie leaned away and wiped her eyes with a crumpled tissue. “You don’t ha-have to go along with his silly joke,” she said with a tumultuous sniffle.

 

Madison grabbed a tissue from the box on the nightstand and blew her nose. “I’m not,” she replied when she’d gotten herself under control a little. “It’s true.” She seemed to be pondering that for a moment, and then she smiled, or at least tried to. With the tears that still hadn’t worked themselves out just yet, it was a pretty sad-looking sight. “I’m so g-g-glad you know now!”

 

Valerie shot Evan a pouty look. “You got her to go along with it, too?”

 

He chuckled and shrugged the shoulder that wasn’t leaning on the doorframe. “It’s the truth; I told you.”

 

She heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes as Madison’s face shifted into a marked frown. “And what does she mean, you threw an engagement ring at her? Why didn’t you ask?”

 

This time, it was Evan’s turn to roll his eyes, and he did so with an accompanying snort. “I have asked her a hundred times, and she always says ‘no’.”

 

Madison slowly shook her head. “So ask a hundred-and-one times.”

 

“She’d say no on principle,” he said. “It’s her turn to do the asking.”

 

“Women don’t ask men to marry them,” Madison scoffed.

 

“They do if they’ve already said no as often as she has,” Evan insisted.

 

Madison sighed and stood up. “You’re just being stubborn. If I were you, V, I’d just withhold the sex until he proposes properly,” she said. “I’ll get going so you can finish packing, V. We’ll go shoe shopping next weekend?”

 

Evan snorted and rolled his eyes but grinned. “Like she could!”

 

“I could,” Valerie countered. Evan didn’t miss the slight flush that crept into her cheeks as she lifted her chin a notch. “If I wanted to, that is . . .”

 

Evan chuckled while Madison sniffled and slowly shook her head.

 

Valerie stood up to give Madison one more hug before the latter strolled out of the room, pausing long enough to kiss Evan’s cheek in passing. Valerie watched her go with a smile then gave herself a little shake before turning her attention back to the clothes she was carefully packing in a box. “You’re really not going to ask me again?” she questioned.

 

Evan chuckled and shoved himself away from the door in favor of flopping back onto her bed. “That’s right,” he replied. “You want to do it, then you’re gonna have to ask.”

 

“Okay,” she said simply, turning around to grab more things from the closet.

 

“Okay?”

 

“Yep.”

 

Evan frowned. “What’s that mean?”

 

She took a deep, cleansing sort of breath. “It means that when I want to get married, I’ll let you know.”

 

Rolling his eyes, he chuckled again. “All right, V, but you’d better make sure you have a decent ring for me when you do.”

 

“Women don’t buy men engagement rings,” she pointed out.

 

He laughed at that. “They do if they’re the ones doing the asking.”

 

Her response was a chagrined sort of look, and that only made him laugh harder.

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

‘If
I
Fell‘ by
the
Beatles
originally
appeared
on
the
1964
release, A
Hard
Day’s
Night. Copyrighted
to
John
Lennon
and
Paul
McCartney.

== == == == == == == == == ==

Final
Thought
from
Valerie:

I have to propose …?

==========

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in
Subterfuge): I do not claim any rights to
InuYasha
or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

~Sue~

~~Chapter Two
Hundred Ten~~

~Wordplay~

–OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO–

‘I hear the echo of a promise I made …

‘When you’re strong you can stand on your own …

‘But those words grow distant as I look at your face …

‘No, I don’t wanna go it alone …’

-‘Forever’ by KISS.

 

–Evan–

 

 

Evan didn’t relinquish his hold on Valerie’s hand until he’d escorted her back into the living room, ignoring the negligible pain like a thousand prickles of fire that erupted in the soles of his feet as he stomped back through the mess of glass on the ground. Valerie gasped softly as the crunch of the shards reminded her that he’d already walked through it a few times.

 

“Evan, let me look at your feet,” she said, trying to tug her hand away.

 

“I’m fine,” he said in a tone that shouldn’t have left any room for discussion.

 

“You’re bleeding!” she persisted, digging her heels in, refusing to move.

 

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “They’re fine, I said.” Then he relented with a sigh. “All right, but you’re going to listen to me while you’re looking at them.”

 

She considered that then nodded, and he finally let go so that she could run off to find the first aid kit that he didn’t really need. He could tell that the older wounds were already healed, and the ones he’d just gotten were nothing, but if it made her feel better, then he supposed that he wouldn’t argue with her . . .

 

Hurrying back into the living room with the large, red canvas first aid kit in hand, she gestured at the sofa as she set the bag down on the coffee table. “Come on. Kick your feet up here,” she said, unzipping the bag and rummaging around for the antiseptic spray and a few packages of gauze pads.

 

He heaved a sigh but did as he was told. “You’re going to listen to me while you’re doing that, right?” he reminded her.

 

She nodded but didn’t really look like she was listening at all. Then she frowned as she got a better look at his feet. “These aren’t bad,” she remarked, sounding more than a little surprised as she carefully sprayed the antiseptic and gently wiped at the bloody spots. When most of them disappeared without leaving any trace of injury behind, Evan almost smiled at the almost consternated expression on her face. “Huh,” she muttered. “Guess there’s nothing too life-threatening here . . .”

 

He said nothing while she worked, content to let himself watch her for the moment. No matter what she said, he was pretty sure that she wasn’t actually going to do much listening until she was finished, anyway. Still, it was time, wasn’t it? Time to tell her everything, and maybe, once he convinced her that he wasn’t losing his damn mind, maybe she’d understand why he knew that forever meant forever because if she honestly thought that she was going to get rid of him any time soon, she was sorely mistaken . . .

 

She really had broken up with Marvin. She honestly had chosen him.

 

The very idea of it was so new, so foreign, so wonderful that Evan still couldn’t quite believe that it was true, but he supposed that wasn’t too bad. After all, if it meant that he got to spend the rest of his life, looking at her and wondering how he’d gotten that lucky, then he figured it was a fair trade-off.

 

‘Yeah, well, you owe her an apology before you do any other explaining, don’t you think?‘ his youkai-voice piped up.

 

He grimaced inwardly. There was that, too . . . For once, he almost wished that he had gotten himself drunk enough that he couldn’t remember everything. Unfortunately, he did, and he had to admit that he was more than a little surprised that she still wanted to have anything at all to do with him, and those things that she’d said . . .?

 

“I . . . I love you, Evan, more than I’ve ever loved anyone before, and it’s shocking and exhilarating and wonderful and terrifying, all at the same time. I’ve never been happier or . . . or more frightened in my life, and I know that you understand that, which makes me . . . love you . . . even more . . .”

 

He sighed and leaned over to catch her hand. She blinked and glanced at him, her gaze full of questions. “You’re going to think I’m overreacting if I wrap your feet in gauze, aren’t you? But I don’t think regular bandages are going to stick . . .”

 

“I’m fine,” he told her again, neatly sliding his feet off the sofa despite the look of chagrin on her face. “Anyway, forget about that for a little bit. I, uh . . . I need to apologize for my behavior earlier . . .”

 

She started to shake her head, and she tried not to look too upset at the unpleasant memories that his words had brought back to her. He sighed and pulled her over to him, wrapping his arms around her, tucking her head against his shoulder.

 

“No, I am. I’m sorry about that,” he said before she had a chance to protest. “You promised you’d listen to me now, so I’ll start off with that. It’s just . . .” Trailing off, scowling over her head, he sighed again. “To be honest, I was already worried, you know? I thought . . . I thought that you were going to wake up and realize what had happened . . . that you’d realize it was all a mistake, after all . . .”

 

“Evan, you’re not—”

 

He kissed the top of her head, closed his eyes for a moment while he inhaled the scent of her shampoo. “My turn, remember?”

 

She heaved a sigh of her own but nodded. “Yes, I remember.”

 

“Even if I didn’t get what you were trying to do, I . . . I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions, and I . . . I never meant to hurt you.” Suddenly, he barked out a terse laugh. “Man, does that sound fucking lame, or what?”

 

“It’s okay,” she assured him, leaning back far enough so that she could look up into his eyes. “I should have explained myself better, so it was my fault, too, and . . .” Drawing a deep breath, she tried to smile. It didn’t quite work, but he’d give her points for the effort. “Let’s just forget about all that, can’t we? Just pretend that it never happened?”

 

He stared at her for a long moment. It was there in her gaze, wasn’t it? She understood what he felt—the guilt, the remorse . . . Knew it because she felt it, too, and maybe it was for entirely different reasons, but the end result was still the same. Then he smiled. “No more apologies from either one of us?”

 

She nodded slowly. “That sounds good.”

 

Letting out a deep breath, he nodded, too. “Okay. Okay . . . but I am sorry. I’m such a damn idiot . . .”

 

“Hmm . . .” she breathed, resting a hand on his chest, cuddling closer to him. “I thought we agreed not to apologize anymore?”

 

“Just, you know, getting one last one in there.”

 

“Jerk,” she replied though her tone lacked any censure at all and sounded more amused than anything.

 

“So-o-o,” he drawled, tilting her chin, forcing her to look at him. “You going to tell me what really happened here?” he asked, scowling at the ugly bruise that marred her gorgeous skin. Dark red that shifted into violet, indigo in the center of the mark, he knew from looking at her that she hadn’t simply fallen against something.

 

“Nope,” she stated flatly.

 

He kind of figured she’d say that. He sighed. “There’s only one reason you’d refuse to tell me,” he concluded almost philosophically. “I take it you don’t want me going after whoever did it.”

 

She neither confirmed nor denied it, but she did roll her eyes and pull her face away from him in favor of resuming her previous position, snuggled against his chest. “It’s not a big deal, so don’t worry about it.”

 

He uttered a terse grunt, figuring that two could play the evasion game. He would find out who did it eventually—and yeah, when he did, he had a few choice things to say about it . . .

 

He didn’t know if she believed that he honestly was going to let it alone or not, but she seemed to think that the subject was dropped. It wasn’t, but at the moment, he didn’t really feel like having the argument that it would likely take to get a real answer out of her, and she didn’t speak for a moment, content just to be near him, idly rubbing his chest, and he started to wonder if she wasn’t going to fall asleep. He had things he wanted to tell her, sure, but whether he did it tonight or tomorrow, it was all good . . . “Evan?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

Heaving a sigh like it was the very last thing she wanted to do, Valerie pushed herself up but didn’t move away from him. Still, the expression on her face was troubled, drawing her eyebrows together in a slight frown, and he could tell that whatever it was floating around in her head wasn’t positive, even if she did need to say whatever it was, to get it off of her chest. “Those girls . . . You . . . You wouldn’t really have . . .?”

 

He grimaced. “I don’t know . . . Maybe . . .” He sighed, too. “At least, that’s what I want to say . . .”

 

She tried not to get upset over his quiet statement, but it didn’t matter when he could see the way her back stiffened, the way she drew away a little, deeper into herself.

 

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” he said, sitting up a little more, drawing his feet up onto the sofa, wrapping his arms around his knees. “Some small part of me would like to say that—I don’t know, I guess it’s just that arrogant part of me, my ego—you know, ‘I can always get the girls,’ and all that crap, but . . .” Trailing off, he made a face. “No, I wouldn’t have.”

 

Valerie stared at him for a long moment. Then she suddenly laughed, shaking her head slowly, probably at the disgust thick in his voice. “Is that right?”

 

He snorted indelicately. “I’m losing my edge,” he lamented.

 

“Are you saying I’m not enough woman for you?” she challenged.

 

Evan chuckled and flopped back in favor of pulling Valerie close again, dropping his feet back onto the floor with a dull thud. “Absolutely not,” he said. “You’re probably too much woman for me, actually . . .”

 

She laughed, letting him draw her close again.

 

“I could stay like this forever,” Evan mused quietly.

 

Valerie sighed, though it was less of a sound and more of a movement instead. “Mmm . . . Me, too.”

 

His smile shifted into thoughtful frown. “Speaking of forever, V . . .”

 

“Hmm? What’s that?”

 

Taking a deep breath, he gave her a little squeeze before gently but firmly pushing her back. “We need to talk,” he said. “There are some things about me that you need to know.”

 

She smiled slightly, bringing her feet up to hug her knees, laying her cheek on them. “You mean, there’s more about you that I don’t know?”

 

He chuckled. “Of course.”

 

Her smile faded slightly but didn’t completely disappear despite the more serious glow that surfaced in her gaze. “Is this some kind of deep, dark secret?”

 

“Dark, no, but yes, I guess you could say that it’s a secret. Strictly speaking, we’re not supposed to talk about it unless . . .”

 

“Unless . . .?” she prompted when he trailed off.

 

“Unless—or rather, until—I find the one woman I want to spend my forever with.”

 

That got her attention, and she careened her head back to peer up at him. He could see it in her eyes. She was about to start in on the same line of bullshit she’d already said to him out by the pool, and before she could say anything, he leaned down, kissed her gently, tenderly.

 

“You promised that you’d listen to me this time,” he reminded her when he finally pulled away.

 

She looked entirely bemused, and Evan figured that he ought to be proud, all things considered. After all, how many people really could profess to being able to render an attorney of Valerie’s caliber completely speechless? But she nodded and sat back, wiggling around to make herself more comfortable for the duration, then she held out her hand, inviting him to continue.

 

If only it were that easy. Telling her everything? It wasn’t that he didn’t want to do that. No, it was more that he really had no idea just where to start.

 

As the seconds ticked away, Valerie fidgeted, and the bemused little smile that she had on her face slowly dimmed and then faded away altogether. “You’re making me nervous,” she admitted at length. “What . . .?”

 

Evan bent forward, resting his elbows on his knees, scratching his head vigorously for a few moments. “It’s not bad,” he quickly assured her. “It’s just . . . uh . . . kind of hard to explain . . .”

 

She digested that for a bit, nodding slowly as she mulled it over. Then she took a brisk breath and stood up, wandering over to grab a couple bottles of water before she came back and handed him one. “Why don’t you start at the beginning? That’s usually the most logical place, right?”

 

He chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t think there’s a beginning, per se. I think . . . Well, you’ve met my family. You like them—even the ones who are complete and utter asses—Bubby, for example.”

 

“He’s not an ass,” she retorted, rolling her eyes as she tried not to smile.

 

“I beg to differ, woman. You don’t think he is because you didn’t have to grow up with him. Anyway, would it surprise you if I were to tell you that Bubby’s ten years older than me?”

 

She blinked and looked a little taken aback, but she nodded. “Okay,” she allowed. “He’s ten years older than you. Got it.”

 

“And my sister, Belle—you met her, remember? In Hawaii.”

 

Again, she nodded. “She’s very pretty—looks like your dad.”

 

“Yeah, and what does that really say about him?” Evan replied. Then he shook his head, reminding himself not to get sidetracked. “Anyway, I digress. Did you know that Belle and Kichiro got married just a few months before Mama and Cain did?”

 

“. . . Huh . . .?”

 

“Strictly speaking, Mama and Belle are pretty close in age.”

 

Valerie frowned. “But that would make your dad at least . . . Eighty? N-No-o-o-o . . .”

 

He could hear the doubt rife in her voice, and he grimaced. “Actually, Cain’s just over three hundred now—three hundred twenty-something, I think.””

 

The puzzled expression on her face gave way to the better-known, ‘You’ve-Gotta-Be-Shitting-Me’ look. “Ve-e-e-ery funny, Roka,” she said. “Now you’re just being an ass.”

 

“No, no, no, I swear, I’m not,” he insisted, grasping her arm before she got up to leave. “InuYasha and Kagome . . . They really are my grandparents—Mama’s parents. In fact, jiijii’s pretty infamous back in Japan; at least, to those who know or remember.”

 

“Jiijii?”

 

He grinned. “Yeah. My generation call him ‘jiijii’, which basically means really old man . . . My uncles call him ‘oyaji’—like calling your dad ‘old man’ or ‘pops’, and their cousin calls him ‘jiji’ . . . I called him jii-san—grandfather—once. He kicked my ass for it. InuYasha’s a little strange. The ruder, the better, at least, to him.”

 

Valerie’s lips twitched. “And jiijii’s rude?”

 

“Pretty much. I mean, if you went up to some old guy somewhere and called him that, he’d probably think you weren’t too polite. It’s roughly equivalent to calling him a really old man. Jiijii does let girls address him more normally, though. Mama calls him Papa. You’ve probably heard her. Jilli and my girl cousins get away with calling him jii-chan, too.” He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “The only guy I’ve ever heard call him anything but jiji or jiijii is my uncle, Mikio.”

 

“And what does he call him?”

 

Evan’s grin widened. “Papa.”

 

“And your grandmother?”

 

“She’s baa-chan—grandma.”

 

Valerie laughed, but the amusement was quickly quelled as she considered what he was saying. “Cute, but I happen to know that there’s no way those two are old enough to be your grandparents, and your dad? If you’re going to try to feed me lines, then the least you could do is be a little more realistic.”

 

“I’m not human, V. Well, not really, anyway.”

 

She stopped short and blinked, her expression almost comically flabbergasted, and for a moment, Evan actually thought that she might turn tail and run. Then she narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as she pinned him with a no-nonsense stare. “I thought you had something serious you wanted to tell me,” she said flatly.

 

“I am being serious, V!” Heaving a sigh, he rolled his eyes. He knew convincing her was going to be tough. She was nothing if not completely and entirely pragmatic, after all. “Oh! Just watch! Don’t blink!”

 

Arching an artful eyebrow, she pursed her lips but didn’t move. Evan figured that it was as good s he was likely to get. “Now don’t blink or you’ll accuse me of pulling some weird trick,” he warned her.

 

She looked like she wanted to roll her eyes again, but she didn’t. Evan took a deep breath and removed the concealment.

 

Valerie froze as she stared at him, her gaze wandering from the tip of his pointed ear to his eyes and the elongated pupils that had suddenly appeared. As though she had to look away, her eyes seemed to fall to his lap, and she gasped softly when she caught sight of the long, razor-sharp claws that he’d kept hidden from her, too. Slowly, hesitantly, she started to reach out, as though she were going to touch them, like she couldn’t quite believe what her eyes were telling her.

 

Grasping one of his hands in hers, she turned it over, palm-side-up and leaned in a little closer to fully inspect his fingers. When she started to reach out, though, extending her finger slowly toward the tip of one claw, he stopped her. “Careful, V. They’re sharp.”

 

She yanked her finger back and shot him a suspect glance then heaved a sigh and shook her head. “Okay, I give. How did you do that?”

 

“Do what?”

 

Wrinkling her nose, she gave a curt snort. “Change your appearance. What else?”

 

“I told you, V,” he said with a laugh, “I’m not human. I’m youkai.”

 

“You have fangs?” she gasped, leaning in to shove his lip up a little further so she could get a better look at his teeth.”

 

“Oh, yeah, there’s that, too. Dog-youkai have fangs, and most of the cat-youkai do, too, but some don’t. It just depends on the kind of youkai, I guess.”

 

“You-what?”

 

His laughter escalated just a little. “Youkai. It’s a Japanese term. It basically means that I’m a magical entity. Strictly speaking, I belong to the classification known as mononoke—a creature spirit.” He grinned and winked at her. “A dog spirit.”

 

The irony of that was not lost on her, if the expression on her face meant anything. She looked like she might be fighting to back a laugh but didn’t want to do it since she was still convinced that he was trying to feed her some weird story. He supposed that he could understand that. It wasn’t every day that someone told her that he wasn’t exactly human, now was it?

 

“A dog,” she repeated skeptically when she finally got the urge to laugh under control.

 

He nodded. “Now you know why it seems like I talk to mine—and why they seem to understand me when I do, right?”

 

“Lots of people talk to their pets, Roka,” she pointed out mildly.

 

“Yeah, but . . . Youkai are stronger than humans. Stronger, faster, we live longer . . . Human illness doesn’t affect us. That’s just how it is,” he said.

 

She still didn’t look like she was buying into it, and she kind of looked like she might well be getting a little irritated, too—not surprising if she thought that he was lying to her.

 

Changing tactics, he got up and walked into the kitchen, returning a minute later with the wicked-sharp chef’s knife that he kept up on the shelf in the butcher’s block. Valerie sat up and scowled at it when he sat back down beside her, idly turning the blade a few times.

 

“What are you—? Oh, my God!” she screamed when he took the knife in one hand and sliced his palm open on the other. Rising up on her knees, she yanked the sleeve of her sweater down over the heel of her hand to smash against his bleeding palm. “Why did you do that? Oh, God, you are still drunk, aren’t you?” Casting a wild look around, she reached behind herself for a throw pillow and jammed it under his nose. “Here. Hold this on there while I call Bone. We’ve got to get you to a hospital!”

 

“It’s fine, V,” he said calmly, taking the pillow and tossing it over his shoulder. “You’re going to ruin your sweater.”

 

“I don’t care about the sweater!” she shot back. He winced when he heard the panic thick in her voice.

 

“It’s okay,” he told her again, grasping her hand that she was using to staunch the flow of blood and gently tugging it aside. “It’s already starting to heal. See?”

 

She opened her mouth to berate him but blinked when she got a better look at his palm. Despite the blood that still seeped from the wound, she could see that the sides were already starting to pull together at the top and bottom of the cut. “H . . . How . . .?”

 

Tucking a long lock of hair back behind her ear, Evan smiled just a little. “I told you: I’m not human. I’m youkai.”

 

Slowly, she lifted her gaze to meet his, and, while she didn’t look entirely convinced, she did seem like she just might be trying to consider the possibility of it. “It’s really not possible,” she finally said, letting her eyes fall back to his wounded hand once more.

 

“It is,” he replied simply.

 

“Okay, so . . . your family are all these . . . youkai . . .? That’s what you’re trying to tell me.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And that’s why they all look so young?”

 

“Yes.”

 

She looked thoughtful for a moment, as though something had occurred to her that she hadn’t considered before. “That’s why you were able to scale the fence earlier?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Leaning back, crossing her arms and resting them on her raised knees, she slowly shook her head. “And is your family the only ones in the world?”

 

He chuckled. “No. There are a lot of them, comparably speaking.”

 

She made a face. “Like who?”

 

She was definitely humoring him, at least for the moment, but he figured that was all right. She’d come to accept it eventually. “Maddy’s youkai.”

 

Valerie blinked. “No, she’s not! She—”

 

“She’s a pole-cat youkai like her father.”

 

She said nothing, just blinked at him very, very slowly.

 

“Bone and Bugs are both youkai, too . . . So’s Mikey . . .” His smile faltered. “So was Dieter.”

 

Digesting that for a few minutes, Valerie stared at his hand. The bleeding had stopped—it wasn’t that deep of a cut to begin with—but she still didn’t seem to quite believe what she was seeing with her own eyes. “If you heal like that,” she finally said, nodding once at his hand, “and Dieter was . . . was like you said . . . why . . .?”

 

“Why did he die,” Evan finished for her when she trailed off, but it was more of a statement than an actual question. “Youkai are faster than humans, and sure, we heal faster, too, but we aren’t indestructible. It just so happens that his body couldn’t heal as fast as a bullet could destroy him.” Letting out a deep breath as he struggled with the deep-rooted emotion that the memories evoked in him, he had to clear his throat a few times before he could trust himself to speak again. “Diet was shot through the heart. There was just too much damage . . .”

 

She was silent for a while, and he could tell from the expression on her face that she, too, was remembering that awful day so long ago. Then she sighed. “Evan, how am I really supposed to believe this? If you really were this . . . this . . . youkai or whatever you called it, then why didn’t you tell me this before?”

 

“I told you, V. It’s not something we talk about unless we’re telling our mate.”

 

The sound of that word was enough to make her arch a brow in silent question. He chuckled. “But you have to believe me about it because there’s more to it than I’ve already told you.”

 

She looked like she was dreading whatever else he might be getting ready to say, not that he could rightfully blame her for that.

 

“You said that I might believe that I’ll love you forever now, but that nothing is ever ‘forever’, right?”

 

The reminder of her own words was enough to make her look away. “Evan—”

 

“I do know what it means, V. Everyone like me knows what it means. To my kind, when you find your mate, you spend the rest of your life making sure that that one person is happy because their happiness is your happiness. It’s not because we have to. We do it because we want to.”

 

Somewhere in the midst of Evan’s quiet speech, Valerie’s gaze had returned to his face, and even though she still looked like she wasn’t entirely sold on the whole thing, she did look like she felt it: that quiet sense of hope that maybe she could hold on to. But she did smile wanly. “So if I were to believe what you’re trying to tell me, then you’re saying that you really would love me forever?”

 

He nodded. “Absolutely.”

 

She shook her head slowly but the smile didn’t disappear. “And just how long have you known that I’m your . . . mate, was it?”

 

“Since the day I walked into your office,” he replied.

 

That assertion made her laugh—she really thought that he was just being outrageous again, he figured. “So why didn’t you tell me all of this back then?”

 

He shrugged. “You weren’t ready to accept the idea, right? And . . .” He winced. “And you were engaged . . .”

 

She sighed and reached for her bottle of water, taking her time removing the cap and draining a good half of it before she deigned to look at him again, and when she did, she frowned at him in that thoughtful way of hers. “I’m not saying I believe you because even you have to admit that what you’re telling me is just a little out there, if you know what I mean.”

 

“Just wait till you see Mama without her concealment,” he said.

 

“Why’s that?”

 

Evan chuckled again and dragged Valerie back over against him. “She has dog ears like jiijii.”

 

Pushing against his chest so that she could twist her body to look at him, she snorted. “Dog ears?”

 

“Mama’s half-youkai, half-human—hanyou. So’s jiijii. They have dog ears. Damn cute, if you ask me.”

 

“But you don’t. You just look like Dr. Spock.”

 

He laughed. “Yes, that sounds about right.”

 

She laughed, too, and finally relaxed against him. There was more he wanted to tell her, but he figured that it was all right to stop for now. A moment later, he jerked slightly when her fingertip traced the outline of the crests that had appeared when he’d removed his concealment. Damn his luck for having his in roughly the same spot as Cain. It didn’t annoy him, exactly, but how fair was it for those to be stuck right where it tickled the most?

 

“Something else that you were hiding?” she asked dryly.

 

Evan squeezed one eye shut and grabbed her hand, bringing her fingers to his lips. “Yep . . .”

 

“Hmm . . . interesting . . .”

 

Evan nodded. Interesting? Okay, he’d take that. It was a good start, anyway. Still, he would be surprised if she was able to accept what he’d told her without a lot of inner debate, but that was all right, too. He had a lifetime to prove it to her, and somehow, he didn’t think that he’d mind that at all.

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

I’ve been asked a few times over the years how people actually address certain others. In this case, Evan’s talking about the particulars of addressing InuYasha. Normally, I address this simply by using English equivalent, but since Evan’s explaining things to Valerie, it made sense to do it here.

Oyaji: relatively disrespectful way to address your father. Ryomaru and Kichiro use this one; Takara might when she gets older, too, as she is a bit more forward than Gin and Mikio Otherwise, she would likely use Papa, like those two do. (Note: InuYasha often uses this one, and why the Viz translation often has him say ‘father’, I’ll never know lol)

Jiji: old man. Some argue that it can be used like ‘gramps’ but that’s kind of not exactly the context. It is considered a rude way to address an older man. Toga uses this one and Sesshoumaru probably has discouraged it when Toga was younger, however, Toga would ignore that and still use it when addressing his uncle.

Jiijii: old(er) man. Same argument as before, however keep in mind that when InuYasha talks to Myouga, he calls him “jiijii’—the implication is clear here. Bas, Gunnar, Morio, Evan, et al use this one.

Jii-chan: This one would be the one that is more informal yet still okay to use, as in, gramps or a more informal grandpa. Isabelle, Alexandra, Sami, Jillian, et al would use this one.

‘Forever‘ by
KISS originally
appeared
on
the
1989
release, Hot
in
the
Shade. Copyrighted
to
Michael
Bolton
and
Paul
Stanley.

== == == == == == == == == ==

Final
Thought
from
Valerie:

Youkai? Sounds like a weird brand of cell phones …

==========

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in
Subterfuge): I do not claim any rights to
InuYasha
or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

~Sue~

~~Chapter Two
Hundred Nine~~

~Ultimate
Truths~

 

 

–OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO–

 

‘But we’ve got these ugly scars …

‘On our infected hearts …

‘Maybe it’s time for a change …

‘Yeah …’

 

-‘Lies of the Beautiful People’ by Sixx:A.M.

 

 

–Valerie–

 

 

“Aww, what the fuck are you doing here?”

 

Valerie blinked and frowned as she followed Evan and the girls up the driveway and leaned to the side to see who, exactly, was drawing Evan’s attention. Bas stood at the top of the steps, arms crossed over his thick chest, leaning against the pillar with a very displeased scowl on his already intimidating countenance, and beside him was Gunnar who actually looked almost bored, though he mirrored Bas’ stance, minus the lean. The sight of them was enough to draw a sigh of relief from Valerie, and though it occurred to her that they had made record time, she also wasn’t about to question it, either.

 

“What do you want?” Evan went on, wasting absolutely no pleasantries on the duo who moved almost imperceptivity to block the path, lest Evan should try to escort the women inside.

 

“Think you’d better send them home,” Bas said in a tone that left no room for discussion on the matter.

 

“I think you should mind your own fucking business,” Evan growled in reply.

 

The two men on the porch exchanged glances, and Gunnar nodded once before turning on his heel and striding into the mansion, leaving Bas alone to block the way—easy enough, considering the man was absolutely huge.

 

“Who are they?” one of the girls asked Evan in a loud stage whisper and without taking her eyes off Bas.

 

“No one you need to worry about, sweetheart,” Evan replied before turning his attention back to his brother again. “Why the hell are you here?” Then he snorted. “No, wait. I’ve got a good guess as to who called in the dogs.”

 

To her credit, Valerie didn’t even flinch when Evan tossed her an almost hostile glance. She did, however, turn at the sound of a car rumbling down the driveway, and she wasn’t at all surprised when Bone got out of the vehicle just as Gunnar stepped back onto the porch once more. He must have gone into the house to call Bone down, and that was fine. At the moment, nothing mattered to Valerie except getting rid of those women.

 

“Take the ladies home, please,” Bas said, nodding at Bone and ignoring the protests from the girls and the scathing glower he was receiving from the younger of the Zeligs.

 

Valerie almost felt sorry for the head of security—almost. He was most definitely in a bind, considering his boss very obviously didn’t want him to do what he was told, but the boss’ older, bigger, and way more intimidating brother was just not someone that one wanted to disobey, either. After weighing his options for about five seconds, Bone intercepted the look that Valerie was giving him, and he chuckled and shook his head. “Sorry, little man,” he said, very obviously addressing Evan. “Gotta go with the boss-lady on this one.” That said, he stepped forward, carefully extricating all three women from Evan’s sides and escorting them over to the running car.

 

“Well, that’s just fan-fucking-tastic,” Evan grumbled, stomping up the steps and onto the porch, shouldering his way through the makeshift barricade that was Bas and Gunnar. The girls were asking Bone if he’d be interested in partying with them, and of course the big man agreed, which was fine with Valerie, as long as they were nowhere near Evan . . . “While you’re at it, get rid of her, can’t you?” he complained, jerking his head toward Valerie without stopping.

 

Heaving a sigh, Valerie followed Evan up the steps at length, only to be stopped when Bas grasped her shoulders and held her back at arms’ length. “Who did that to you?” he demanded without preamble, the anger in his tone measured, carefully controlled. She didn’t know why she was taken aback by Bas’ reaction to seeing her cheek, but she was. She also supposed that he had just gotten a good look at it when she’d stepped into better light.

 

It only took her a moment to realize that Bas actually thought that maybe Evan had hit her, and she quickly shook her head. “It wasn’t Evan,” she hurried to say before Bas decided that he was going to flatten his brother on principle.

 

Bas narrowed his eyes as he leaned down to get a closer look at Valerie’s cheek. “You’re not protecting him, are you?”

 

“Evan wouldn’t hit me,” she insisted stubbornly. She wasn’t sure exactly where Evan was at the moment, so she stuck to the story she’d already told him since he was still quite volatile and since she really had no idea just what he’d do if she did tell the truth about it. But she’d seen his overreaction when she’d been injured less, and the last thing she wanted was for him to do something really unnecessary, like go after Madison for what she’d done, especially when Valerie wasn’t about to hold it against her. “It was an accident.”

 

Bas’ expression stated quite plainly that he didn’t buy Valerie’s story. “Okay,” he drawled, contesting her claim without coming straight out and calling her a liar. “But it wasn’t him, right?”

 

“No,” she said as firmly as she could. “It wasn’t . . . and really, it probably looks worse than it is.”

 

He didn’t look like he believed that, either, but he heaved a sigh and let go of her shoulders, straightening up to glance over her head at Gunnar. “You want to search the house or sober up that little fool?”

 

For the first time since their arrival, Gunnar’s expression changed, and to Valerie’s chagrin, the latter actually broke into a rather nasty little smile, leaving Valerie to wonder if bringing along that particular cousin had ultimately been a bad idea. “You mean, you have to ask?”

 

Bas sighed and made a face. “Never should have,” he muttered as he turned his attention back to Valerie once more. “What kind of shit does he have here? Just pot?”

 

Rubbing her arms against the chilly air, Valerie nodded. “I think so,” she replied. “I mean, I haven’t seen anything else . . .”

 

With a nod, Bas turned on his heel to follow Evan into the house. Gunnar fell into step right behind him, and, biting her lip, Valerie chased after them.

 

She didn’t know exactly how Gunnar was planning on making sure that Evan sobered up. She might have just assumed that he’d force-feed Evan a few pots of coffee or something like that. She should have known better; she really should have. Catching up to Evan in the living room, Gunnar didn’t stop to ask questions as he grabbed Evan by the front of his jacket and yanked him out the sliding doors. He didn’t stop until they were beside the pool, and Valerie realized just what Gunnar had in mind about a second before the man’s arm flashed straight out, catching Evan in the center of his chest and sending him crashing down into the pool.

 

Evan came up sputtering, wiping his face furiously, as he glowered at his cousin. “Goddamn you, Gunnar! Fucking motherfucker! Cocksucking son of a—”

 

“Knock it off, Evan,” Gunnar interrupted in an almost bored tone of voice. “You’re absolutely disgraceful.”

 

Evan floundered over to the edge of the pool and hefted himself out of it. When he straightened up, ready to continue his tirade, he was cut off when Gunnar’s arm snapped out again, repeating the process of dunking the rockstar.

 

“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” Evan spat as he hauled himself out of the pool again. “What the fuck is your problem?”

 

“Still not sober,” Gunnar concluded seconds before Evan hit the water once more.

 

“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” Evan snarled after the seventh or eighth time of being shoved into the pool. He pushed himself up on his arms, ready to climb out of the pool, but this time, Gunnar returned him to the water, hands in his pockets, using his foot to give Evan a good shove.

 

Valerie caught Gunnar’s arm. “You’re going to drown him,” she pointed out.

 

Gunnar glanced at her then shrugged. “As if we’d be so lucky. He’s fine.” Then he raised his voice as he shifted his gaze to Evan. “Sober yet?”

 

“Fuck you, Gunnar,” Evan growled, levering himself out of the water once more.

 

Shaking his head, Gunnar shot Valerie a meaningful look as he shoved Evan back into the water—again.

 

Evan came up sputtering and coughing once more, but this time, he didn’t try to swim over to the side, opting instead to sink down in the water until only his eyes cleared the surface, and he contented himself by glaring daggers at the man standing beside the pool.

 

“You sober now?” Gunnar challenged with a raised eyebrow.

 

Evan rose up far enough to growl, “Yes, goddamn it!” before sinking back down once more. He wasn’t finished talking, though, because a few bubbles rose to the surface along with the muffled sound of Evan’s voice with no discernable words.

 

“Good,” Gunnar continued in the same affectedly bored tone of voice. “Are you going to listen to what she has to say now?”

 

Another few bubbles without formed words.

 

“What was that?”

 

“Yes, damn it! Fine!” Evan snarled and sank again.

 

“He sober yet?”

 

Gunnar grunted in response to Bas’ question as the big man stepped outside, glancing down at the mess of broken glass with a scowl. “Unfortunately,” Gunnar replied. “Too bad. I could’ve shoved him in a few hundred more times. Something kind of therapeutic about it . . .”

 

Bas sighed, planting his hands on his hips as he shifted his scowl to his sibling. “Is it safe for us to leave now, Evan?”

 

Evan grunted but didn’t move other than his arms that he was using to tread water as he continued to glare at his brother and cousin.

 

Bas shook his head slowly then turned to Valerie. “You going to be okay alone with him?”

 

“Yeah,” she said, even as she wondered vaguely how it had all come down to this. “Did you find anything in the house?”

 

Bas snorted. “Are you kidding me? A few bags of it, stashed here and there. Anyway, it’s all gone. I flushed all of it.”

 

Evan muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “Fucking dick.”

 

Bas ignored it, and instead, he reached over and tagged Gunnar’s arm. “Come on, Gun.” Then he looked at Valerie again. “Give me a call if he gets out of hand again.”

 

She nodded but knew in her heart that she wouldn’t be calling him back tonight. As much as she wanted to be able to talk to Evan, as upset as she was about the things that had happened since she arrived at his house, she hated the way they’d dealt with him, too, even if the end result was what she wanted—for him to listen to her.

 

Bas and Gunnar headed for the doors. “You could have given me a chance to shove him into the pool a time or two,” Bas pointed out as they stepped inside.

 

“Are you kidding? That was the highlight of my day,” Gunnar shot back.

 

“You’re such an ass . . .”

 

“You shouldn’t have asked which one I’d prefer, then.”

 

“Yeah, I guess . . .”

 

Valerie didn’t speak, and Evan didn’t move until after the men’s voices had faded away. In the distance, she thought that she heard the front door, and she sighed.

 

Splashing in the pool drew her attention, and Valerie watched in silence as Evan cautiously swam to the side to climb out again. He stood on the edge, water running down his body in rivers, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest, his head turned to the side to avoid her gaze.

 

They stood in silence for a minute: Evan apparently making good on his promise to listen, and Valerie trying to figure out exactly where to start. Biting her lip, she took a reluctant step toward him. “Evan, about this morning . . . I—”

 

Her words were cut off by the trill of her cell phone, and with a grimace, she dug it out of her back pocket and glanced at the caller ID. It was Marvin, and didn’t that just figure? She sent it to voicemail.

 

“Sorry,” she said, stuffing the phone into her pocket once more. “Anyway, I wanted to explain things to you—things I should have told you before I left. I wasn’t trying to ma—”

 

The phone rang again, and Valerie repeated the process. “I wasn’t trying to make up with Marvin. That was never my intent,” she said as she fumbled with the keys to shut off the phone entirely. “I wanted to tell him that I don’t wan—” The phone rang in her hands before she managed to shut it down, and with a smothered gasp, she started to send it to voicemail.

 

“Answer it,” Evan said, his voice quiet though no less authoritative.

 

She shook her head. “No, I—”

 

“Just answer it,” Evan insisted. “It’s . . . It’s fine.” Valerie frowned at him, but he was finally looking at her, and this time he nodded. “Do it.”

 

Hesitating for another moment, she gave in with a curt nod and connected the call. “Hello?” she said, holding the device to her ear.

 

“Val? You’re never going to believe this! Never in a million years!” Marvin blurted.

 

Valerie’s frown deepened since he didn’t sound at all like he’d even bothered to listen to his voicemail. No, actually, he sounded . . . excited . . .? She rubbed her forehead, wondering dizzily if it could possibly get any worse. Evan was looking anything but amused, and she . . . Well, she just wanted to be done with the whole mess . . . “Marvin,” she said in a calm but firm tone. “Did you listen to your voicemail?”

 

“What? Oh, no! I haven’t had a chance yet! But I take it you heard? I mean, I saw that you called a few times! It’s awesome, right? I mean, wow! I knew that they were generous, but I’m just completely blown away! Did you have something to do with it? Did you talk to your friend about it? Evan?”

 

Shaking her head in confusion, Valerie had no idea just what Marvin was going on about, but he seemed to think that she did . . . “About what? What are you—?”

 

Marvin plunged on. “You have no idea how floored I was when I got the call! It’s great, right? And I know you’re excited about it, too!”

 

“Marvin,” she said, her voice a little louder, a little sharper, in an effort to gain his full attention. “What are you talking about?”

 

Marvin laughed. “The funding! The Zelig Foundation’s going to underwrite the whole thing!”

 

Valerie blinked and shook her head slowly since none of it made a bit of sense. Even as she did, though, one thing clicked in her head as she shifted her gaze back to Evan once more. The Zelig Foundation . . .? Evan . . .

 

The man in question was still just standing there, looking like he wasn’t about to fess up to a damn thing, staring at her with a blank kind of expression, as though he was preparing himself for, well, something.

 

Marvin was still rambling on in his excitement, and Valerie rubbed her forehead. “It’s fantastic, right? I mean, I can come home, and we can be married whenever you want, and—”

 

“Marvin, wait,” she blurted when he didn’t stop. He didn’t hear her, or maybe he simply didn’t want to. “Marvin, stop!” she interrupted. He cut himself off abruptly, and she sighed. “Listen,” she said, her voice dropping to a softer tone, a gentler resonance. “I really don’t want to do this over the phone, but . . . I don’t want to get married.”

 

Marvin stayed quiet for a few moments, like he was struggling to understand just what she meant. Then he uttered a small, unsure little laugh. “Well, I know that you were pretty unhappy about putting our wedding off and all that, but surely we could just move it up again, and—”

 

“No, that’s not the issue,” she insisted. “Listen, I did a lot of thinking, and you know, I wasn’t really that upset about the idea of delaying the wedding. Irritated that I’d paid deposits for things that I couldn’t get back and that wouldn’t transfer, but really, I wasn’t upset, but . . . but shouldn’t I have been? I mean, I should have been, but I wasn’t, and . . .” She drew a deep breath, frowning as she tried to find the words to say to him. “I’m sorry, Marvin, but I . . . I don’t want to marry you, e-e-ev . . . er.” Her last word came out as more of a reluctant sigh than anything.

 

“But . . . But . . .” Marvin stammered a few times as what she said finally started to sink in. “Why . . .?” Then he suddenly forced another small laugh. “Valerie, whatever’s bothering you, I’m sure we can talk it out. Just give me a couple days to get things tied up here, and—”

 

“No, Marvin, that’s not it,” she said, hating what she was doing, but knowing that she had to put an end to it, once and for all—for all of their sakes, not just hers. “It’s not about whether you’re here or there. It’s about—”

 

“I-It’s about that rock star, isn’t it? That Zel Roka? The one you’ve been working for, right?” Marvin blurted, late anger suffusing his tone, twisting it into something she’d never heard from him before.

 

“No, it’s not him,” Valerie insisted. “Marvin—”

 

“Then it’s the other one, right? Evan? Evan . . . Zel . . . ig . . .”

 

Valerie grimaced at the understanding that was rife in Marvin’s tone, and as much as she wanted to gainsay him, lying to him was just a little more than she could do, too.

 

“Oh, my God, that’s why I’m getting the funding?” Marvin continued in shocked disbelief. “Is this some kind of weird arrangement? You’re, what? A-Are you . . . Are you sleeping with him?”

 

“I didn’t know anything about that,” Valerie insisted. “You got the funding because your cause is worthwhile.”

 

He must have picked up on the hint of doubt in her voice, because suddenly, he uttered a terse, almost caustic laugh—a sound that Valerie hadn’t realized Marvin could make. “But you’re not going to say whether or not you’re sleeping with him?”

 

She didn’t know what to say to that, so she said nothing as her grip on the phone tightened.

 

“You are . . .” he concluded. “R-Really? Oh, God, you’re screwing him, aren’t you? All that stuff you said I didn’t have to worry about, and you’re fucking him?”

 

“Is it really important?” she finally, wearily asked: a stark contrast to the raw outrage in Marvin’s voice. “It’s not about him; it’s about us, Marvin—Us . . . I don’t think—”

 

“A guy like that, Valerie? I thought . . . I thought you were better than that! I thought you, of all people, had morals and values! Guys like Evan Zelig aren’t going to stick around! You’re nothing but a plaything to someone like him! He’ll use you and throw you away like some kind of toy, like all rich kids do! God, you’re nothing but a goddamned whore! I can’t believe you’d do that, you bitch! I can’t—”

 

Valerie gasped as the phone was suddenly yanked out of her hand, as Evan lifted it to his ear, impassive expression slowly giving way to a look of stone-cold anger. He listened for all of thirty seconds before he bothered to speak, ignoring Valerie and turning his body to avoid her hands as she tried to reach for the phone .

 

“That’s enough,” Evan said in a deceptively calm tone. Over the phone, it might well fool Marvin, but from where Valerie stood, she could see that it was taking everything within the man to keep his temper in check. “I couldn’t give a rat’s ass what you have to say about me, so judge me all you want, but . . . but be careful what you say about her. Now, I gave her a chance to talk to you, to tell you everything she wanted to say because she feels bad about it. I don’t know why, considering you’ve never treated her like anything but an afterthought, anyway, so if you really want to continue this round of name-calling, then you’re just shit out of luck. It’s too late for you to try to act like the outraged party here, like you have the right to be even remotely upset, and if you ever, ever call her a bitch again? Well, just don’t.”

 

She blinked and stared as the phone sailed over Evan’s shoulder, landing with a rather anticlimactic plop in the middle of the pool.

 

Only then did Evan look at her again, the defiance in his expression quickly shifting into one of near-contrition as he shrugged off-handedly. “Sorry about that,” he muttered, jerking his head at the pool behind him. “I’ll . . . I’ll buy you a new one tomorrow.”

 

Shaking her head, Valerie managed a small half-smile. “It’s okay,” she said with a little shrug of her own. Then her gaze skittered away, fell to the pavement under her feet. “I . . . I deserved what he said,” she admitted quietly. “Everything . . .”

 

“No, you didn’t,” Evan stated flatly. “You can’t help the way you feel.”

 

She shook her head and sighed. Maybe she couldn’t, and she understood what Evan was trying to say, but it didn’t really matter when she was the one who had ultimately managed to screw everything up, in the first place. She opened her mouth to say something about that, but something entirely different came to mind, instead. “You . . . Did you ask your mother to okay the funding? Why would you do that?”

 

Evan grunted as he shrugged off the soaked and likely ruined leather jacket. He tossed it aside where it landed in a wet heap nearby. “I thought it was what you wanted,” he replied simply enough. “Thought you’d rather that he came home so you could . . . could marry the little bastard . . .”

 

She winced. “You did it for . . . for me . . .”

 

He didn’t confirm or deny that. “Do you want me to tell Mama to cancel it?”

 

She shook her head quickly. “No . . . I mean, it is a worthy cause, and even then, Marvin . . . I know he can do it.”

 

Uttering another terse grunt, Evan didn’t look like he wanted to acknowledge anything of the sort, but he did nod curtly, and that was enough.

 

Valerie sighed again, retrieving a towel from the small cabinet and slowly stepping over to Evan, taking her time as she carefully squeezed the length of his hair in the towel, as she used the corner of it to dab the residual moisture from his cheek, his chin. “I didn’t realize this morning that I didn’t take the time to explain things like I should have,” she finally said as she continued her ministrations. “All I wanted to do was to properly end things with Marvin, which I’d tried to do yesterday, but he wouldn’t answer his phone, and . . .” Trailing off with a sigh, she gnawed on her lip for a moment, shoving back the excuses that had been forming in her head. “I don’t want you to be the other man, Evan. I’ve never wanted you to be that. You’re the only man—the best man, and I—”

 

“V—”

 

Shaking her head stubbornly, she frowned up at him. “You deserve better, Evan Zelig, and I . . . I messed all that up . . .”

 

“No, you didn’t,” he replied, looking more and more disgruntled by the second. “I’m the one who jumped to conclusions, and—”

 

“You had every right to,” she interrupted.

 

“Valerie—”

 

“Please, just listen to me.”

 

He looked like he didn’t want to comply. But he heaved a sigh and made a face as he crossed his arms over his chest, cocking his head to the side as he waited for her to continue. Her gaze fell away again as she tried to gather her thoughts, to find a way to tell him the things that she had come to know over the course of a few days. She still didn’t know exactly how to word it all, but she had to give it a try. She owed it to herself. She owed it to Evan . . .

 

“I . . . I love you, Evan, more than I’ve ever loved anyone before, and it’s shocking and exhilarating and wonderful and terrifying, all at the same time. I’ve never been happier or . . . or more frightened in my life, and I know that you understand that, which makes me . . . love you . . . even more . . .” Pausing a moment, she glanced at him, only to find him staring at her in such a way that a round of butterflies erupted in her belly, and she pressed her hands over her stomach to still them before going on. “I believe you when you say that you love me, too. I really do. That is, I know you mean it now, but I . . . I also know you can’t guarantee that you’ll always feel that way, and that’s . . . that’s okay, too . . .”

 

“I’ll love you forever,” he said. The look on his face, the emotion in his eyes . . . He believed what he was saying, and she knew that he meant it, too. He always meant it when he said things. As outrageous as he could be, he was nothing if not completely earnest, and that was not the issue, anyway. She didn’t doubt for a moment that he was being absolutely honest with her, but the same words that she’d heard a million times, the same things that she knew . . . The world was ever-changing, always evolving, causing the hearts of men who might have once truly believed in this or that to falter. She knew that, too, understood it completely, just as she knew that she wouldn’t ever hold it against Evan if his feelings began to change, too, even if it left her alone and lost and lonely.

 

Closing her eyes, she managed a wan smile as she pressed her fingers against his lips to silence him. “I’m old enough to know that nothing ever is ‘forever’, no matter what you might want or how good your intentions are, and . . . and it’s okay because . . . because I’ve decided.” Swallowing hard, blinking back a wash of tears that suddenly sprang up to cloud her vision, Valerie’s trembling smile widened just a little, her hand moving from his lips to his cheek as a single tear slipped from her eye. “I don’t care if it’s only a week, a month, a year . . . Anything at all would be better than a lifetime without you, so as long as you’ll have me, I’ll stay with you . . .”

 

He frowned at her, his eyebrows drawing together in a marked scowl, and for some reason, Valerie had the distinct impression that he was angry, though she couldn’t really say why he would be. Narrowing his gaze, he seemed to be trying to see into her mind. “Is that it? Is that what you wanted to tell me?”

 

She nodded, her hand starting to fall away. He caught it, held it, refused to let go.

 

“Okay,” he said, giving a curt nod. “You’ve had your say, right?”

 

Blinking at the mounting weight of Evan’s irritation, Valerie nodded again and tried to pull her hand away. He hung on tight. “Evan?”

 

Shaking his head, he shot her a look meant to quell her words, and it did the trick. Then he started tugging on her hand, his intention clear as he led her toward the doors. “No, V. You’ve had your say, and I listened,” he said as he dragged her back inside. “Now you’re going to listen while I have mine.”

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

 

Just a reminder that supporting me by buying my original works in PDF format off my website is GREATLY appreciated!

 

‘Lies
of
the
Beautiful
People‘ by
Sixx:A.M.
originally
appeared
on
the
2011
release, This
is
Gonna
Hurt. Copyrighted
to
Nikki
Sixx,
James
Michael, DJ
Ashba,
John 5.

== == == == == == == == == ==

Reviewers

==========

MMorg

puppypal27 ——— vvkimbo07 ——— ji-an ——— slsonic

==========

Forums

x siesie x ——— omgitzkye ——— HisEveryThing ——— amohip ——— cutechick18 ——— Midcat

==========

Final
Thought
from
Valerie:

He’s … angry …?

==========

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in
Subterfuge): I do not claim any rights to
InuYasha
or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

~Sue~

~~Chapter Two
Hundred Eight~~

~Destruction~

 

 

–OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO–

 

‘And now I’m begging for help I know I can’t get …

‘I’ve got to face this one alone…

‘And if I don’t make it …

‘Remember that I’ll always be a part of you …’

 

‘I’ve trapped myself in a ring of fire…

‘If I say I’m okay, I’m also a liar …

‘The only way out is through the pain …’

 

-‘Through the Pain‘ by Madina Lake.

 

 

–Valerie–

 

 

“Hey, Marvin, it’s me . . . I’m really, uh, I hate to do this over the . . . the phone like this, but . . . But I’ve decided that I don’t want to . . . to marry you. I’m really sorry . . .” Grimacing, hating the coldness of her words, the sense that she was somehow being a coward, Valerie gritted her teeth, forced herself to continue. “I care about you—I really do. It’s just that I don’t . . . I don’t love you—at least, not in the right way, and . . . and I’m sorry . . . I hope you find someone who does because you deserve that. I’m . . . I’m sorry, Marvin. Goodbye.”

 

Ending the call with a long, loud sigh, Valerie frowned at the phone for a few moments, tapping it idly against her slack palm. She leaned forward, scowled up at the rain still coming down hard, but it had lessened somewhat since she’d first left her apartment almost half-an-hour before. Getting a little wet, running up to the porch wasn’t her issue at the moment, though. Taking a deep breath, she tried to push the thought of Marvin and of the phone call she’d just made out of her mind, especially after Madison’s unceremonious visit. She didn’t know what to expect inside that house, but if Madison’s mood was any indication, then whatever awaited her was probably not exactly ‘good’ . . .

 

Every light in the place was on, or at least, they seemed to be. The overall effect was almost stunning, really, if Valerie had been in a mood to appreciate it, anyway. As it was, the light spilling out of the windows seemed to give the place a morbidly festive sort of appearance despite the heavy curtain of rain that was starting to let up a little. But the cold air that had accompanied the rain hit the warmed ground and raised a light blanket of fog that cast the area in a rather eerie kind of glow, and the odd things that dotted the lawn seemed out of place in the perfectly trimmed grass. At some point during the day or early evening, Evan must have decided that a little remodeling was in order. Near the car sat a wrecked heap that might have been the antique armoire that was in one of the extra rooms—the dogs’ room, maybe? A broken chair, a busted frame and a mangled painting . . .? A few more things that she couldn’t discern at this distance . . . Windows were opened all over the house, curtains blowing in the wind, and she grimaced when she wondered what kind of mess waited behind the front door. Just what was Evan thinking? One thing was for sure, his cleaning lady wasn’t going to be too pleased when she saw the carnage he’d left behind . . .

 

Drawing another deep breath, Valerie fumbled for the door latch and stumbled out of the car then ran across the small patch of yard between the driveway and the walk and up the steps onto the porch. The question of whether or not to knock before entering was answered before it could even really occur to her since he’d left the front door open a crack. But the music spilling out of the mansion made her grit her teeth, not because of the actual song—something raw, aggressive that she couldn’t place but might have heard before. The sheer volume, however, was enough to make her hesitate before pushing the door open and stepping inside.

 

She wasn’t sure what she expected to see when she rounded the corner and stepped into the living room. It wouldn’t have surprised her if she walked right into more of the same mess like she’d seen in the front yard. Nothing was out of place, exactly, and that was a bit of a relief. Well, there was a thick white bath towel hanging from Dieter’s sculpture in the living room, but that wasn’t too bad, all things considered, and the only other thing she noticed was Evan’s leather jacket, lying over the back of a chair. The drawers were pulled open on a couple end tables, the windows all opened up, too, as well as the sliding glass doors that were letting the cool, damp air inside, stirring the sheer curtains.

 

Stepping over to the wall panel, Valerie turned down the blaring music. Evan was nowhere to be seen, but she didn’t doubt that he was here somewhere. Sparing a moment to take off her jacket and lay it over the back of the chair next to his leather jacket, she slipped her phone into her back pocket and started looking for Evan.

 

He wasn’t anywhere upstairs or down—it had only taken her a few minutes to check. He wasn’t in the kitchen or the sunroom, either, and the door to the music room was wide open, too. Stepping outside, her thoughtful frown widened as she stared at a very large mass of shattered glass—beer bottles, judging from the looks of the smoky shards. Well, no, some were smoked amber, some were dark green. Some were clear, but all were from bottles of one kind of booze or another . . . Just how long had he been drinking?

 

She sighed and lifted her chin, continuing her perusal for Evan once more. For a moment, she had considered that he might be in the hot tub, but from where she stood, she could tell that he wasn’t. Surely he wouldn’t be out here in the rain, and she was starting to wonder if he really had left, but Bone hadn’t mentioned anything when she’d stopped to be let through the gates.

 

A low groan drifted to her followed moments later by the unmistakable sound of sloshing water. Narrowing her eyes as she looked off toward the pool, she gasped softly.

 

The rain had lightened up considerably, now no more than a few handfuls of sprinkles despite the ominous rumble of thunder that sounded off in the distance. Sighing softly, crossing her arms over her chest, Valerie swallowed a few times to dispel the painful lump that had grown in her throat as she’d searched the mansion for the missing rockstar.

 

Floating in the middle of the pool on a hideously bright blue blow-up lounger, he was completely naked except for a pair of sunglasses with a lit joint casually dangling from between his long fingers on one hand and clasping a beer besides, while he held his fully erect penis in the other, stroking himself over and over again. His hair was brown, and from where she stood, she could see that he had more tattoos than usual, too. In full Roka regalia, or so it would seem. She didn’t know why, but then, it was the least of the questions foremost in her mind at the moment. She wasn’t sure if he knew she was there or not since he gave no indication, one way or another, and she opened her mouth to speak, only to find that she just couldn’t speak.

 

There was a sense of foreboding that hung thick in the air, as though he were simply waiting, just waiting . . .

 

“E-Evan?” she said, her voice thicker, heavier than she intended for it to be.

 

He didn’t respond. Instead, he gave another low groan as his hand seemed to move a little faster with a little more purpose.

 

Valerie sighed, ducking her head for just a moment, closing her eyes as she considered the situation. She’d seen Evan in many moods. She’d honestly thought that she had seen them all. Apparently not; not by a long shot. This one . . . This was a new one, and to be honest, she wasn’t entirely sure how to deal with it—with him . . .

 

“Evan?” she called again, clearing her throat, forcing herself to speak a little louder. “Evan, I . . . I need to talk to you.”

 

“Talk later, V,” he finally said. “Busy now, if you can’t tell. Unless you came over to give it another go? Can’t say that I’m all that interested, but what the fuck? One pussy’s as good as another, right?”

 

Gritting her teeth, ignoring the blush that rose to her cheeks at the obvious and intentional slur, Valerie wasn’t about to give up. “Come out of there and talk to me,” she said, taking a hesitant step forward, only to stop when he drained the beer bottle—how he managed without catching his hair on fire, she wasn’t sure—and neatly chucked it toward her. He hadn’t been aiming to hit her, though, and it sailed neatly past her, only to shatter on the pavement near the doors. After taking in the sight of the smashed glass, she turned her attention back to Evan once more. “Please, Evan . . .”

 

He uttered a harsh laugh, as devoid as humor as it was full of edgy cynicism, bordering on hostility, and if Valerie had any lingering doubts as to what had set Madison off earlier, she certainly understood now.

 

“What’s the matter, V? Ol’ Mousewin didn’t want used goods?” That laugh again. “Can’t say I blame him. Gotta say, I was pretty disappointed, V . . . But you did give pretty good head . . . I’ve had better, sure, but hell, you’re here. Beggars can’t be choosers . . . Might as well make use of you, right?”

 

Pressing her lips together, she tried to remind herself that he was just being nasty because he was hurt. It didn’t stop the tears from stinging the back of her eyelids, but she blinked furiously, managing to keep them in check.

 

“Anyway, since you’re here, I guess I could let you get me off again. I mean, I’m almost there now . . .” To punctuate his statement, he gave himself a few more rough yanks, groaning obnoxiously as he lifted his hips to meet his hand.

 

“I . . . Can we talk?” Valerie asked when she trusted her voice to be steady. “Please.”

 

He sighed. “If you’re not gonna climb in here and wrap your pretty lips around my cock, the least you could do is get naked. I mean, you are hot. You’ve got that going for you, anyway. Don’t gotta do much. Maybe finger fuck yourself a little . . .” He groaned again.

 

“I wasn’t going to call Marvin to try to make up with him,” she plunged on, hoping that he was at least listening between his bouts of nastiness. “I was—”

 

His ungodly moaning cut her off. Before she could say anything else, she watched in mute fascination as an arc of semen jettisoned from his body. He jerked a few times, involuntary spasms, breathing heavily as his hand flopped into the water like he couldn’t control himself. Wincing at the spectacle he was making of himself, she wished that she hadn’t had to see him like this. There was something entirely horrifying, almost pathetic, about him, and that she had anything at all to do with his current state shamed her more than she could credit.

 

For a minute or more, the only sound to be heard was Evan’s harsh breathing, the incidental sounds of the water in constant motion around him. Lifting his hand once, he did manage to yank off the sunglasses, only to let it fall back into the pool again, and he seemed to be trying to control himself. The worry she’d carried since she had spotted the shattered bottles by the doors intensified as she watched him. Just how drunk was he? And, more to the point, how in the world was she going to get him out of the water before he managed to drown himself?

 

With that thought in mind, Valerie took a few hesitant steps toward the pool, and when she spoke, she was careful to keep her tone even, soothing, coaxing. “Evan, why don’t you come out of there? Let me . . . Let me explain things to you . . .” Encouraged slightly when he didn’t resume his caustic tirade, she took another step closer. “I’m sorry . . . I should have talked to you before I left. I should have—”

 

He grunted and managed to lever himself up on his elbows, but the strings of light that ran around the perimeter of the pool didn’t reach him, left his face mostly in shadows. It didn’t help that the light filtering out of the living room was stronger where she stood, too. It made the shadows seem that much darker, deeper. Still, she could see the light reflecting from his eyes. It gave them an eerie kind of brightness, like a wild animal in the dark. “If you’re gonna keep yakking, do me a favor, and grab a beer for me, will y’?”

 

“I think you’ve had enough for tonight,” she replied softly.

 

He heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Shoulda known . . . Val, the fun-police . . .” Then he rolled to the side, straight into the water, and for a second, Valerie almost panicked until he surfaced, swimming neatly toward the side of the pool.

 

She frowned. He had to be pretty tipsy, didn’t he? At least, if the remnants of glass gathered by the door meant anything at all. Still, if she hadn’t seen him drink that beer, if she hadn’t seen the mess of glass, she might not have thought that he was even slightly drunk.

 

It did take him a couple tries to haul himself out of the pool, though. She heaved a sigh of relief when he finally managed by himself since he was dead-set on ignoring the hand she’d held out to help him.

 

He also ignored the towel she retrieved from the nearby cabinet, and she barely had time to turn her face when he decided that it’d be faster just to shake himself off instead. Refraining from comment about that, though, she cautiously looked back at him when the water finally stopped flying.

 

Evan stood, hands on hips, a scowl on his face, staring past her with an almost stubborn refusal to look directly at her, his gaze fixed on some point behind her. She wasn’t sure what.

 

“Can we talk about earlier?” she asked quietly.

 

For a moment, she thought that maybe he hadn’t heard her. He didn’t react in any way at all. When she opened her mouth to repeat her question, he snorted loudly to cut her off. “I don’t wanna fucking talk, Val,” he growled without slurring in the least and somehow managing to force more venom into that one syllable than she had thought possible.

 

She winced inwardly at the absolute reek of alcohol on his breath despite the space that separated them. “Evan—”

 

“Listen, if you’re not here to fuck, then I got no interest in you,” he said. “Get the hell outta here, will you? Go back to your Murmis and leave me the fuck alone.”

 

She caught his arm when he tried to storm off. He yanked it away, and she stumbled. Completely ignoring the broken bottles littering the ground in front of the door, Evan strode right through it, drawing another grimace from Valerie, especially when she saw the smudges of blood he tracked into the house.

 

Darting after him, she caught up just inside the door, and when she grabbed his arm this time, she hung on tight when he tried to shake her off. “Sit down, Evan, please. Let me see your feet.”

 

Whipping around to pin her with a fierce glower, started to say something, only to be brought up short as he stared at her. “What happened to your face?” he demanded.

 

Valerie brushed aside his concern since she really wasn’t sure how he’d react if she told him the truth of it now. Given his present mood, she just didn’t want to find out, either. “I slipped,” she lied.

 

He didn’t look like he believed her, but he must have figured that he wasn’t going to get any other answer out of her. Or maybe he simply didn’t want to get side tracked by becoming concerned. He accepted what she said at face value instead, and, shaking his head, he grabbed one of her wrists in his hand, tightening his grip until she let go. The moment he was free, he jerked away from her and stomped over to the end table, digging around inside until he’d found what he was looking for—a joint.

 

“You don’t need that,” she insisted, crossing the floor to take it away from him. He was faster, using his shoulder to block her as he raised it over his head and spared another moment to scowl at her.

 

“What I do is none of your damn business,” he growled. “Damn, you’re a drag! Dunno what I was thinking! Guess it was what everyone said it was: lust. Anyway, now that I know that it wasn’t nothin’ special, it’s over, you know? I’m over it—totally over it—over you. So why don’t you get outta here, because all you’re interested in doing is ruining my fun, right?”

 

“No, that’s not it at all!” she insisted. “This isn’t you! You’re not like this!”

 

He suddenly grinned, but it wasn’t his usual expression. No, this one was full of anger, of bitterness, and maybe even a little hatred though who, exactly, that hatred might be aimed at, she wasn’t entirely sure. “What’s the matter, sweetheart? Don’t like what you see? Well, that’s all there is. This is the big show, like it or not. It’s what every-fucking-body pays to see, ain’t it? So sorry to disappoint you, Val, but you should know better’n anyone, right? It don’t get better than this.”

 

She swallowed hard. Damn, but he could be intimidating when he wanted to be, and apparently, at least at the moment, he wanted to be. It was that emotion that stilled her tongue, that kept her from rebuffing him. That grin took on a derisive sort of mocking feel, but he lowered his arm, and she grabbed the joint, crushing it in her fist before he could stop her. “Now, what the fuck did you do that for?” he complained, rolling his eyes as he stomped away from her. “Fucking waste of a perfectly good joint!”

 

“I think you’ve already had more than enough for one day—or more,” she shot back dryly.

 

“I hate to tell you, Val, but I don’t need you to pull my fat out of the fryer anymore, remember? Your terms are history. Finished. Done.”

 

“This has nothing to do with that,” she said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

“What-the-hell-ever,” he muttered.

 

With the increased distance between them, the feeling of being slightly cowed diminished, and she shook her head stubbornly, ready to stand her ground, ready to make him listen. “You don’t need it,” she insisted. “Will you please just lis—What are you doing?” she asked, cutting herself off mid-sentence as he yanked on a ripped pair of jeans that looked like they had seen better days.

 

He spared a moment to cast her a look that stated quite plainly that he believed she was being dense on purpose. “What’s it look like? Since you’re so fucking set on being a downer, I’m going to go find some fun somewhere else.”

 

“No!” she blurted, darting over to intercept him before he could make good on his statement.

 

“Back off, goddamn it!” he snarled, waving his cell phone in her face to punctuate his words.

 

She yanked it out of his hand to keep him from inadvertently smacking her with it. “No, Evan! I’ll . . . I’ll do whatever you want, okay? Anything, all right? Just don’t leave . . . Just promise you’ll listen to me first.”

 

He snorted indelicately and stepped around her, grabbing his leather jacket off the back of a chair as he headed for the door. “Had enough of making promises to you,” he tossed over his shoulder. “See ya.”

 

Smothering a growl of pure frustration, Valerie darted around him, slamming herself against the door just as he had started to open it. Muttering about a million curses in the space of a few moments, Evan rolled his eyes, tossed his hands into the air, turned on his heel, and headed back the way he’d come.

 

The crunch of broken glass galvanized her into motion once more. He was going out the back door and probably still barefooted. For a moment, she considered following him, but the only way off the property was through the front gate, and she was closer to that than he was—for now, at least. “That man gives ‘stubborn’ a whole new meaning,” she muttered under her breath as she yanked the door open and darted outside.

 

The wind had picked up, and as she ran toward the side of the mansion to intercept Evan once more, she skidded to a stop when a hint of movement caught her eye. Toward the far side of the fence—the area she’d scaled to check up on him on that night so long ago—she saw him just as he dropped off the top over the side. Whether he’d realized that she would chase him or not didn’t matter, and with a few curses of her own, she ran toward the gate. How the hell had he managed that? Shaking her head, she dismissed the question instead of trying to figure out the answer. At the moment, there were far more urgent things on her mind, like how she was going to catch up with him, and wondering about his physical abilities would have to wait.

 

Bone saw her coming and opened the gate. She didn’t even take the time to acknowledge him as she ran straight through. Down the sidewalk to the corner, and for a moment, she thought she’d lost him. Then she saw him. He wasn’t even bothering to run, just affecting an arrogant swagger as he strode down the street away from her.

 

She started to break into a run when the cell phone in her hand nearly scared the life out of her. With a frown, she glanced at it, only to realize that she was still holding Evan’s phone—the one he had waved under her nose—and that the name on the caller ID was one she knew.

 

“Evan? Hey, it’s Bas. Mom wanted me to give you a call.”

 

“N-No, it’s Valerie,” she said. She could sense Bas’ surprise that she had answered Evan’s phone.

 

“Oh . . . Valerie . . . Uh, is Evan around?”

 

Still ahead of her, she could still see him, and she grimaced when he turned into a corner pub at the end of the next block. For the briefest of moments, she considered lying, getting Bas off of the phone, but common sense stopped her. Even if he wouldn’t appreciate it later, she had to stop him, and even though she knew damn well that it was likely going to make him even more angry, she was afraid that she couldn’t actually stop Evan, at least, not without some assistance . . . “Bas, I need help,” she blurted, ignoring the stabbing feeling that she was somehow betraying Evan. “I . . . Evan and I . . . Well, it’s my fault—really, it is. He misunderstood me because I didn’t take the time to explain some things, but now he won’t listen to me, and he’s drunk, and he just went into a bar . . .”

 

Bas didn’t answer for a long moment, but when he did, his tone was matter-of-fact. “Drunk.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Bas sighed. “Just drunk?”

 

It was on the tip of her tongue to say ‘yes’, but she made a face. “I think he’s been smoking some stuff, too . . .”

 

Bas sighed again, only this time, it was long and rather irritated. “All right. You’re following him now, right? Try to get him back home. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Not a problem.”

 

“Bye.” Valerie wasn’t sure if her words were enough to convince Bas that she needed help or if maybe it was the desperation in her voice that did it. What did it matter, though? The bottom line was simple: Evan wasn’t about to listen to her, and even though she couldn’t really fault him for that, she had to make him do it, one way or another. Try to convince Evan to go back home? She wasn’t at all sure she could do that, but she’d try . . .

 

She heard him inside the bar long before she saw him. The place was packed, probably brought in by the stormy weather—the night crawlers, the people from the better neighborhoods, sure, but they always seemed to be looking for something. Meeting friends or co-workers, or just searching in the owlish way that they all seemed to possess, all with the same emptiness in their gazes, granted, in varying degrees . . .

 

Evan stood over by the bar with one girl under each arm and holding a beer, another one pawing at his chest as he rumbled out that intimate little chuckle that she thought he only used with her . . . It hurt, didn’t it? Seeing him let those girls paw at his chest, whisper in his ear, as familiar as a lover . . .

 

“Hey, hon, better move it.”

 

Valerie blinked and glanced up at the man who had spoken to her. A huge, hulking bear of a man decked out in full biker regalia, complete with a long braid on both sides—his waist-long hair in the back and mountain-man beard in the front—who looked sorely out of place in this neighborhood. Valerie heeded his warning, though, scooting over toward the wall as she tried to keep her eyes on the errant rockstar. “Sorry,” she muttered.

 

He man grinned at her and scooted past in the narrow aisle before plopping down at a table a little farther up with a couple other guys that made the entire booth creak and moan loudly enough to be heard over the din of the pulsing music coming from the room just off on the far side, and the steady drone of voices.

 

Turning her attention back to Evan once more, she wondered whether or not he actually saw her. But that would be a little hard to do, wouldn’t it? Strictly speaking, he had to know that she had followed him. Her suspicions were verified a moment later when his eyes met hers, and even in the dimly lit bar, she could see it, the hardening of his emotions, the anger in his gaze despite the mocking little grin on his face. He stared at her for another moment before very deliberately shifting his eyes away, murmuring something to the trio of girls that made them giggle. The one on his left pulled him down for a long, slow kiss, tangling her fingers into his hair, tongues flicking against each other when their lips parted long enough for them to come up for air. Valerie ground her teeth together hard, despising the blatant show she was getting, yet powerless to look away. The whole time he sucked face with her, his free hand around the other kept squeezing and releasing the one on the right’s breast. Valerie had seen enough. Pushing herself a few feet closer with every intention of dragging Evan out of the bar by his hair, if need be, she stopped abruptly when he broke contact with the girl and marched them through the bar, right past Valerie.

 

“Why’s she staring at you?” one of the girls asked, jerking her head in Valerie’s direction. “You know her?”

 

“Nope. Never met her before in my life,” Evan lied.

 

Ignoring the indignant heat that exploded under her skin, Valerie started to open her mouth to ask Evan to come home, but stopped when he leaned down, kissed the girl in another lewd show of tongues and touch, allowing her to run her hands up and down his chest, bare under the leather jacket, before turning his head to kiss the other girl, too. The third girl pouted until Evan noticed her, too, and she slipped her arms around his neck, ignoring her friends as well as everyone else in the bar who were now staring at the spectacle, as she ground her hips against Evan’s, and that miscreant slipped his hand up her thigh, under her skirt, grasping her g-string clad ass for all to see. “Why don’t we take this party to my place? You ever wanted to fuck a rockstar?” Evan drawled without sparing Valerie as much as another glance.

 

“I don’t know,” one of the girls said in a mock-teasing near-purr. “You got anything good at home?”

 

“Fuck! I’m Zel Roka! You think I don’t got good shit?”

 

The girls giggled, much to Valerie’s chagrin, and she started to step forward to shove them away from Evan, but he was faster, escorting them out the door and onto the street.

 

Trailing along behind them, ordering herself not to cry, Valerie could only tell herself that it would be fine, it would be all right, that he was going home, and that was where she wanted him to go.

 

Glancing at her watch when Evan stopped at the corner, long enough to pull one of the girls into another kiss, Valerie gritted her teeth, tried to keep herself from coming completely undone at the sight of it, of him, of that girl with her hand so happily pumping him through the rough fabric of his jeans. He was going along with it, too, and even though she tried to tell herself that he was just upset, just angry, just hurt, she couldn’t repress the sob that she had to choke back.

 

It was like every nightmare she’d ever had, every doubt, every worry come to life, and yet . . . Yet she still didn’t have it in her to be mad at him, not when she knew why he was acting like that. Swallowing hard, she said nothing as she followed him. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry, which she would have preferred since the pace at which he was going included a lot of near-pornographic pit-stops that she would rather not witness.

 

How the hell had things spun so far out of control? More to the point, how the hell was she going to get him to listen to her?

 

With every passing moment, she couldn’t help the hopeless feeling that was growing larger and larger in her gut. ‘Hurry, Bas,’ she thought as she bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep herself from screaming, only to gasp softly as the ragged flesh tore open once more, filling her mouth with the coppery taint of her own blood. For a brief second, Evan seemed to turn his head, to glance back at her, but maybe that was all in her imagination, because he didn’t stop, didn’t acknowledge her presence. Valerie sighed, veering to the side to spit the blood in a trashcan as her stomach gave an unpleasant lurch. ‘Please hurry . . .’

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

‘Through
the
Pain‘ by
Madina Lake
originally
appeared
on
the
2009
release, Attics
to
Eden. Copyrighted
to
Madina
Lake.

== == == == == == == == == ==

Reviewers

==========

MMorg

Lynzi18

==========

Forums

Midcat ——— x siesie x ——— indigorrain ——— cutechick18 ——— sydniepaige ——— tinywingedthing ——— amohip ——— omgitzkye

==========

Final
Thought
from
Valerie:

I hope he’s hurrying …

==========

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in
Subterfuge): I do not claim any rights to
InuYasha
or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

~Sue~

~~Chapter Two
Hundred Seven~~

~Thunder~

 

 

–OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO–

 

‘Then the snow; it fell without a warning …

‘Left me standin’ out in the cold…

‘My heart shattered, thinking only of yesterday …

‘Does me no good to reminisce …

‘I can really only tell you this …

‘If I had my way, I’d take yesterday …’

 

-‘Summer Nights‘ by Survivor.

 

 

–Valerie–

 

 

Pacing across the floor and back with a slim-file in her hands, Valerie read through the police reports for one of her cases as she tried not to glance over at the silent telephone. She did, however, glance at the clock with a marked frown. Already after five, and that man had still yet to return her calls.

 

It truly figured, didn’t it? She’d rushed out of Evan’s house in such a blind panic, speeding home as quickly as she could since she’d left her cell phone at home last night, thinking that maybe Marvin had called, that she’d missed it, but no. Neither the answering machine nor her cell phone showed any missed calls at all, which had irritated her beyond belief even as it had also made her feel at least a little relieved.

 

She just wanted it to be over so that she could move on, so that she could be with Evan without having any regrets.

 

With a sigh, Valerie snapped the slim-file closed and dropped it onto a chair in passing as she wandered over to the windows. Funny how everything looked exactly the same outside when nothing in her life would ever be that way again. Right or wrong, she’d taken that first step, and now it was all in the hands of fate to see exactly where it all ended up. Somehow, she felt like there ought to be some kind of fanfare involved in it all, shouldn’t there?

 

Even so, she couldn’t help the little smile that surfaced as she gazed out the window, as she remembered the absolute contentment that had greeted her this morning when she woke up in Evan’s arms. It was a feeling that she hadn’t had before, at least, to that extent. As though every single thing in her was at peace, and if she had to put a word to it, she might have chosen ‘joy’, yet that wasn’t quite right, either. It was more than that. It was the strangest sense of everything being just right, as if there were nothing else in the world that she could ever need or want as long as she knew that feeling every morning.

 

And the sex?

 

Uttering a quiet laugh, she wrapped her arms over her stomach to suppress the rise of the butterfly brigade at the mere thought of the night before. She could feel a light blush suffuse her skin, which only served to heighten her amusement, too. The wine she drank last night did nothing to diminish the memories as they flooded over her, one after another, a tumble of thoughts and mental images that cascaded around her with the majesty, the beauty of a waterfall. Kissing, touching, reveling in the feel of his body, and she’d known, hadn’t she, that it was perfect, absolutely stunning. How was it that it could be so vastly different from any encounter she’d ever had before? But maybe the answer to that was simple. Maybe it was because of Evan . . .

 

Then she sighed. As perfect as it all was, she couldn’t help the small part of her that regretted what had happened, too. Well, she didn’t regret it. It wasn’t that. It was just that she hadn’t intended for it to be the way it was before she’d gotten a chance to really break it off with Marvin. It was that lingering sense that she had inadvertently turned Evan into the proverbial ‘other man’ that had led her to rush out of his house this morning, that attributed to the feelings of guilt that she couldn’t quite shake. The one and only flaw in her memories, of the foundation of this newfound love, and she had to fix it—had to—because Evan deserved better than that.

 

She owed it to the both of them: Marvin, who had always tried in his own way to make her happy, who had satisfied himself with whatever Valerie had been willing to give, and Evan, who knew every terrible thing about her and loved her anyway. Evan, who might be outrageous, might act completely goofy, but possessed such a loving heart that he couldn’t hide it, as much as he tried.

 

No, Marvin didn’t deserve it, and Evan deserved far more respect, too.

 

Turning away from the window, Valerie sighed. If that man would just answer his phone or check his messages and call her back . . .

 

Drawing a deep breath, Valerie tried to remind herself that it wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary. Marvin was always like this, and to be fair, he had no idea just what she wanted to say to him. It was something she’d reminded herself a hundred times or more since she’d walked in the door after leaving Evan’s house. If she could just get Marvin to call her back, she could go back over to Evan’s house, and besides, she still wasn’t exactly done talking to him. There were still a number of things that she wanted to tell him; things that she’d forgotten about last night—and she still hadn’t really apologized for what had happened with Marvin, either.

 

Then and only then could she get on with enjoying her time with Evan wholeheartedly, making sure that he understood that she loved him, that she wanted to be with him.

 

Before she could talk herself out of it, she strode across the room, grabbed her cell phone off the coffee table and dialed Marvin’s number. It didn’t really surprise her when the call went straight to voicemail. “Hi, Marvin. It’s me. I want you to call me as soon as you get this. We really need to talk,” she said. “Okay. Bye.”

 

With a sigh, she let the phone fall onto the coffee table once more and slowly shook her head, reminding herself that she just had to be patient, that it would all be fine when he did call back.

 

For the briefest of moments, she considered calling Evan, but she dismissed the idea as soon as it formed. Knowing him, he’d insist that she come back over, and, while she wanted to do that, she needed to wait until after she’d explained things to Marvin. After all, Evan was nothing if not incorrigible, and she didn’t want to miss Marvin’s call if and when Evan decided that he’d rather drag her off to his bedroom again—something that was entirely probable, given Evan’s preoccupation with sex.

 

Which brought on another bout of blushing on Valerie’s part. For the first time in her life, she could appreciate just why the man might want to spend every waking moment in bed, not that she would be telling him that any time soon since he really didn’t need the added incentive. Still, she thought as a secretive little smile surfaced on her features, she supposed that she could understand his feelings, after all . . .

 

An ominous rumble outside the window drew her attention, and Valerie frowned when she noticed that the skies had clouded over. She couldn’t say that she’d paid much attention to the weather forecast, but judging from the sound of the thunder, they were in for a pretty good storm.

 

Not even that could damped her mood, though. The only actual thing that could bother her was just the waiting.

 

Letting out a deep breath, Valerie reminded herself that it did no good to be impatient, and willing the phone to ring just wasn’t going to do her any good. It didn’t really help nearly as much as she was hoping . . .

 

Wandering back over to the windows once more, Valerie leaned against the frame, smiling just a little as she stared outside. The first fat droplets of rain had started to come down, pelting the panes of glass win a series of pings, snaking downward trails that didn’t necessarily make it far in their descents. Evan as she watched, though, the rain grew harder as the light sprinkles gave way to a steady sheet of gray that had so rapidly dropped over the city like a veil. The little plings of sound had evolved into a deeper percussive sound, and no insular one couldn’t be as easily discerned, layering atop one another as a steady wave of water ran down the glass.

 

There was something altogether soothing about it, a lulling effect that served to calm Valerie’s restlessness, and she wondered if Evan was staring at it, too. Probably not. He wasn’t exactly the kind given to watching the rain. Still, she smiled. She’d be over there again soon enough, and she almost laughed at herself when another wave of butterflies erupted in her belly. Just the thought of seeing him again was enough to do that? Almost thirty and acting like a teenager with her first crush . . . Well, if she had to wait that long for it, then she supposed that it was all right, too. Evan was most certainly worth it.

 

The only real sticking point in the entire thing was Marvin. As much as she wanted to be with Evan, she couldn’t help but feel guilty when she thought of her soon-to-be ex-fiancé. He really had no idea just what was coming, and that bothered Valerie. Maybe he should. Objectively speaking, even she knew that the signs were all there, had been there for a while. But Marvin, in his complete and utter blind faith . . . No, he didn’t know, and that made her feel even worse about it because the last thing she’d ever wanted to do was to hurt either of them, and despite the innate understanding that she was doing what was ultimately right for her, she couldn’t help but feel as though her happiness had a price, and that price was Marvin’s feelings.

 

Biting her lip as she pondered the entire situation, Valerie sighed softly, rubbing her forearms against the slight chill permeating the window panes. It had crossed her mind earlier that maybe she was taking the coward’s way out, that really, she ought to hop back on a plane and go see Marvin in person, to tell him everything face to face, and to listen to whatever he wanted to say to her in response. In truth, it was something that she had seriously considered, but in the end, she’d discarded that idea. She had very little doubt in her mind that Evan would understand her reasons, but she wasn’t as confident that he would allow her to do such a thing by herself.

 

It was all right this way. She’d already dragged Evan away from work often enough lately that she would feel bad if she went and he insisted upon going, too. Besides, speaking of work, she’d missed entirely too much lately herself. No, she had her opportunity to tell Marvin everything in person, and she’d chickened out, and even if she did realize on some level that she wasn’t really in a mental state to have that particular discussion with Marvin in the right way, she should have at least tried.

 

But standing around, considering things that she should have or could have done wasn’t going to do her any good. All she really could do was what she was doing now: waiting to explain things to Marvin, waiting on that so that she could honestly feel free, so that she could start to give back to Evan everything that he’d given her already.

 

The knock on the door jarred her out of her thoughts and made her jump. Loud, hard enough to rattle the door in the frame, it continued in a steady thud as she hurried across the floor. Surely that couldn’t be Evan. After all, he had a weird fixation with using her fire escape as his own personal entry, but who in the world would be beating down her door like that if not him . . .?

 

“Valerie! Valerie, you’d better open this door right now, or I swear to God, I’ll break it down!”

 

Valerie’s frown deepened at the sound of the familiar voice—familiar, yes, but colored with a hostility that Valerie couldn’t quite reconcile. She might not know exactly why Madison sounded so angry, but there was something else in her tone, too, like a certain level of desperation . . .

 

It took her a moment of fumbling with the lock in her haste to get the door, but she finally did. Madison must have heard her, because she gasped as the door was flung wide open—she barely had time to react and step back—but the closed fist that flashed toward her faster than she could credit couldn’t be avoided, and the impact hit her hard just under the cheekbone. Head snapping to the side, Valerie fell back and slid, stopping only when she smacked against the side of the sofa—hard.

 

“Wh-What . . .?” she stammered, hand cradling her cheek as she blinked back tears and tried to force back a wave of blackness that momentarily ringed her vision.

 

“Get up, Valerie! Get up, goddamn it!” Madison screeched, taking a step toward her. She stopped abruptly, as though she were afraid to get too close.

 

“Wh—No!” Valerie blurted, shaking her head, trying to figure out just what had set Madison off.

 

“Get up!” Madison screamed, eyes bulging slightly, shooting fire and filled with rage so deep that Valerie wondered whether or not her friend could even see her. “Get up so I can hit you again!”

 

Again, Valerie shook her head, cautiously grimacing as she refrained from the urge to spit out the blood that was pooling in her mouth where her teeth had dug into the flesh.

 

“So help me God, if you don’t get up, I’ll yank you to your feet!” Madison railed, looking like she was absolutely serious in the threat she was making.

 

“What . . .?” Valerie managed, reaching for an empty cup on the coffee table without taking her eyes off of Madison’s face.

 

“Just tell me why!” Madison went on, ignoring Valerie’s question. “Why would you do it? My warning wasn’t enough? You just had to have your little fling so you can run off and marry that little jackass? You and your sanctimonious bullshit! You bitch and moan when Evan fucks other women, and then you—you—you just have to do the very same damn thing to him, and maybe that’s all right, right? After all, that’s all he’s good for, isn’t he? But you missed one little thing when you were out doing whatever the hell you wanted! That man loves you! And you’ve completely destroyed him! What the hell is wrong with you?”

 

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Valerie set the glass on the table with a shaking hand, but as the gist of Madison’s tirade sank in, she slowly shook her head, as though the action could refute the charges levied against her, as though they could shield her from Madison’s outrage. “I didn’t . . .!” she blurted, holding up her hands in front of her. “I never—I don’t—I’m not going to marry Marvin!”

 

Snapping her mouth closed on whatever she had been getting ready to say, Madison blinked then narrowed her eyes on Valerie, like she was trying to decide whether or not to believe her. “Then why did you tell Evan that you were sorry?” she demanded, cracking her knuckles in a way that made Valerie wonder if she really knew Madison at all because she had certainly never pegged her as a violent person, but, given the circumstances, she had to wonder about it now. “Why did you leave him?”

 

Rubbing her face as she tried to make sense of Madison’s uncharacteristic behavior, Valerie sighed then grimaced when the forced air hit her raw cheek. “I told him—”

 

“That you were sorry, that you didn’t mean for it to have happened! That you wanted to talk to Marvin! That’s what you said to him!” Madison growled.

 

“I do have to talk to Marvin,” Valerie insisted. “I need to tell him that it’s over! I need—”

 

“You need to march your happy ass over there and talk to Evan! That’s what you need to do! Right now, he thinks that you’re making up with that little monkey!” Suddenly, she stopped, almost as though she had run out of the anger and outrage that had brought her this far, and she rubbed her forehead, her hands shaking visibly. “Why did you leave him? Do you have any idea what he—?” Cutting herself off abruptly, shaking her head as if whatever she were going to say was of little consequence now, Madison drew a deep breath to calm herself, if only enough to speak without yelling though the irritation, the undisguised disgust, in her expression hadn’t waned. “You need to go over there,” she said instead. “You need to get your ass over there and talk to him—do it before he does something stupid.”

 

And that’s what it was, wasn’t it? It dawned on Valerie as she continued to give Madison a wary eye. It wasn’t anger or outrage or even disgust that was goading her. No, it was . . . It was fear—the deep-rooted fear for a very precious friend. Slowly, cautiously, Valerie pushed herself to her knees, slowly grasped the arm of the sofa to pull herself up. “Let me just call Marvin once more,” she said, reaching for the cell phone on the table. “I want to tell him that it’s over.”

 

It only took her a moment to dial the number, only took another moment for the voicemail to pick up. Rolling her eyes, heaving a sigh, she ended the call with a growl of frustration. “Why can’t he answer his damn phone?”

 

“Then just leave him a fucking message!” Madison insisted, waving a hand in blatant dismissal. “‘Hey, Marvin, it’s me. I’m just calling to let you know that it’s over. You’re history. Go fuck yourself, and have a nice life.'”

 

Valerie made a face at Madison’s cold imitation. “I can’t do that,” she muttered, rubbing her cheek again and wincing when a fresh wave of pain rewarded her efforts.

 

“Why the hell not?” Madison snapped back.

 

Valerie sighed. “Because! We’ve been together for a long time, Maddy! I can’t just call and break up with him on his voicemail!”

 

Madison made a show of rolling her eyes, and for a moment, Valerie had to wonder if Madison was going to grab her and shake her. Or punch her again . . . “Oh? And hasn’t he called and left messages to put off your wedding before? Called and left messages to cancel visits or other plans you’ve made? I respect the fact that you are a more decent person than Marvin will ever be, but right now, I’m telling you to call him back if you must, and if he does not answer, then just leave him a goddamn message and get moving!”

 

“Maddy—”

 

“Who’s more important to you? Marvin or Evan?”

 

“That’s a dumb question,” Valerie said with a scowl. “Evan is, of course!”

 

Madison snorted. “Then show it for once, damn it! Put Evan first for once in your miserable life! Forget fucking Marvin—leave him a message if you absolutely must—but the only person on earth who can stop Evan from doing something entirely stupid to himself is you!”

 

Valerie shook her head, confused by the urgency in Madison’s voice. There was something else, too, something just below her words, and Valerie hurriedly sat down to pull on her shoes. Whatever it was that Madison was scared of . . . Just what had Evan said to her? And did it even matter when the things that Madison had said made perfect sense to Valerie, anyway? Still, the trepidation that was growing fast in the pit of her stomach was a frightening thing as a myriad of fleeting images flashed through her head—memories of different moments in time when Evan’s anger, his rage, his self-destructive streak, had frightened her, too . . . “What aren’t you telling me, Maddy? What’s that man doing now?”

 

Heaving a very weary sigh, Madison rubbed her face again, and this time, she didn’t try to hide the sadness in her expression. “You know how he is, Valerie,” Madison said quietly. “You know the kinds of things that he does, right?”

 

She did know that. Of course, she did, and, while she still felt that there was more to it that Madison wasn’t saying, what did it matter when Evan . . .? Because Evan really was more important to her than anything or anyone, and even if she hadn’t meant for him to think anything of the sort, he had obviously misunderstood. If she had only realized as much this morning, because the very last thing she ever wanted to do was to hurt Evan. All she’d wanted to do was to break up with Marvin so that he was the only one in her life because he deserved that. But she hadn’t seen it at the time. Too worried about the idea of what had happened when she was still technically engaged to someone else, she’d felt too guilty that she’d inadvertently made Evan into the ‘other man’ that she hadn’t stopped to notice that she might be doing more harm than good in her haste to make things right . . . It figured, didn’t it? At the rate she was going, she’d have to spend the rest of her natural-born life apologizing to Evan . . .

 

With a sigh, she stood up, strode over to grab her purse but kept her cell phone in her hand. “Okay,” she said as she reached for the door. “I’m going over there.”

 

“And Marvin?” Madison grudgingly reminded her.

 

Valerie didn’t stop as she reached for the door handle. “I’ll call him on the way, and if he doesn’t pick up, I’ll just leave him a message, like you said. Can you lock the door when you leave?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” she replied, her voice flat, like all her emotion had been completely spent. “V?”

 

Pausing in the open doorway, Valerie looked back at her friend.

 

Madison didn’t even try to smile. Instead, she shook her head again in an almost helpless kind of way. “Hurry . . . Please.”

 

Valerie blinked and nodded slowly. “Okay,” she agreed. “Okay.”

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

‘Summer Nights‘ by
Survivor
originally
appeared
on
the
1981
release, Premonition. Copyrighted
to
Jim
Peterik
and
Frankie
Sullivan.

== == == == == == == == == ==

Reviewers

==========

MMorg

puppypal27 ——— sutlesarcasm ——— Bitzer ——— Nozome ——— xSerenityx020 ——— oblivion-bringr ——— AtamaHitoride

==========

Forums

MidCat ——— omgitzkye ——— cutechick18 ——— HisEveryThing ——— lovethedogs ——— indigorrain

==========

Final
Thought
from Madison:

She’d better get moving!

==========

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in
Subterfuge): I do not claim any rights to
InuYasha
or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

~Sue~

Ah, it’s that time of year again … time for snow and carolers and all that happy crap … Around here? Well, I’ve been pretty busy. Those who have been on the forum know that I have been having some things going on with my family, namely my daddy. He’s been in the hospital since before Thanksgiving, and he seems to be doing a little better every day, so thank you to everyone who has taken a moment to send up a little prayer for him!

 

 

I wanted to give a few updates as to what, exactly, I’ve been doing with writing. As many of you know, I’ve been heavily editing the existing chapters of Desideratum (yes, Desideratum). I’ve got a chapter done and in beta at present (look for it in the next few days). I’ve decided that I really like the premise of this story, so I’m going to continue it as a divergence instead of the usual continuation. Originally, I stopped posting to see what Ms. Takahashi was going to do to my beloved characters as the manga seemed to be winding down. After she finished it, however, I thought that I couldn’t continue because she’d wrapped everything up so wonderfully already. It was one of those rare moments when I felt as though everything I’d hoped for came to pass. But because of that, I wasn’t entirely sure I could do anything with Desideratum because, I’ll be honest, I don’t LIKE non-canon and am a firm believer that the original author must be respected. It is, after all, her work.

 

 

That said, I spent the Thanksgiving weekend re-reading Chronicles. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will confess, I’d forgotten a lot of it, so it was like reading a story I’d never read before (seriously), and I was so thirsty for more InuYasha/Kagome fluff that I did what I never, ever thought I’d do: I re-read Metamorphosis—and I was able to do so without the negative feelings that had followed me around for so long with that story. I was able to look at it the way I’d wanted to all along, and, yes, I actually felt a bit proud of what I’d managed to accomplish with it. Yes, I know, it needs some editing here and there, and maybe I’ll get to that eventually, however ..

 

 

As I was reading those stories, this thought kept nagging at me. I kept thinking, ‘I miss those two. I miss writing those two. I miss the distinctive relationship they have, and no matter what the circumstances, they always—always—make me laugh.’ Then I started to consider the parts of the story that cannot work, given the framework of Takahashi’s original and completed work. Well, I realized that with some minor tweaking and one major divergence, it could still work. I tried to figure out if I actually could use the rest of the manga and just re-write to be a real continuation, buuuuuuut …

 

 

So bearing in mind that the divergence occurs within Desideratum just after the fight with Naraku and before Kagome gets sucked into the Shikon no Tama, I’ve decided to do what makes ME happy… and continue this story, after all. Now, the plan at present is to finish Purity 9: Subterfuge (there really isn’t a lot left …. Not sure if people realize this or not), and then I’m going to take a (gasp!!) Purity break long enough to devote my time to telling the story of Desideratum before I go back to pick up where I left off with Purity 10: Anomaly, Purity 11 (the enigma lol), and Purity 12: Rebirth. I also plan on working the rest of the original Purity rewrites into the scheme of things, as well but that’s secondary. I feel compelled to work on Desideratum right now. (I know; I know … never say ‘never’, right?)

 

 

Sooooo … is there anything I can tell you about Desideratum? Firstly and most importantly, please do take the time to read the edits. There have been a number of changes to make the story fit into canon as well as some other things that I changed … just because. Not as important but noteworthy is that InuYasha’s last name in present day has been changed to something more befitting: Akamori (red forest), and, because I didn’t like the name Renzomori, his name is now “Sora”, which means sky. It was almost Kuro but that sounded odd, given his looks lol. I’m pretty sure that Sora will be a character that no one expects—I hope. I think you’ll be surprised when you learn who he really is… maybe.

 

 

Another thing worth noting is that, starting with Purity 10 (I haven’t decided on whether or not to do so with Desideratum), new chapters will appear here in my blog a day or two before being posted on Media Miner. The reason for this is because of some site issues that keep popping up there, and no one seems to be willing or able to fix them, so I’m not entirely sure how long that site will be around. So saying, I am trying to encourage people to read the site instead. Comments should be easy to leave here, too. I believe that the site here is set up to require registration, and the first comment you post will be monitored to keep from allowing spam bots and stuff to post freely. After your first comment is approved, however, I THINK that any future comments will post automatically. I think. Lol, I’ll have to check into that …

 

 

Thanks for those who helped pay for the server costs. With my dad’s health and my husband’s cut hours at work, we simply don’t have the money to pay for them. We’re still accepting donations because there’s a third server as well as some domain renewals to pay, but the main site is paid for already.

 

 

I want to wish everyone a merry holiday season and lots of love. Prayers for my daddy are still very welcome, and I hope that you all have a safe and happy Christmas and New Year!

Guess it’s been a long while since I posted anything, huh? Sorry about that. To be honest, I couldn’t do much but sleep for a long while. The issues I’d been having with my blood sugar were really rough for a time. It was pretty bad for a bit. Then the holidays crept up and bit me, and then a very unexpected reunion caught me by surprise. To make a long story short, just after I’d posted the first chapter of the holiday short, my husband’s brother’s mother-in-law died, and they had to come up for the funeral. It was a brother that my husband hadn’t seen in roughly 25 years. It definitely took precedence, as I’m sure you all understand.

I still do have some moments when I just need to lie down and rest. It seems like the mind is willing, but my body fights me sometimes. I am going to get back to work on the holiday short this week after I get my youngest back to school again, so rest assured, I haven’t forgotten.

I also haven’t forgotten Evan and Valerie, either. I plan on returning to them as soon as the holiday short is finished, but I’ve decided to do something a little different this time. I’m going to finish the story before I resume posting. Now, before anyone gets upset (if anyone’s still looking for the end of the tale), there really is a reason I’m doing it this way. To put it simply, there’s a LOT of stuff that I want to make sure is completely right before I post it. Often times, I just post the story as it goes without always waiting for the betas (mostly Mel because she’s not always accessible. Greta has beta’ed almost every chapter I’ve ever written before I’ve posted them since she started working with me lol) However, there are a lot of things that I want to make sure are there, and I don’t feel right in posting something, only to hear from Mel that I’d forgotten something, big or small. I mean, does anyone ever go back and re-read when I post edits? Lol, I’m not even sure that I would! But it’s for that reason that I want to finish the story before I post the rest. Rough projection is that there are about… thirty chapters left, give or take. Knowing me, there’ll be more like fifty, but honestly, I don’t think so.

I do also want to apologize to everyone who was/is reading Evan and Valerie’s story. I didn’t mean to leave anyone in the lurch. Those of you who know me know that I really didn’t mean to do any such thing, but at the same time, those who know me also know that I don’t often talk about personal issues, either. I was kind of blind-sided by my health issues, and there were some days that I never got out of bed. I’m doing much better now though I still need to get to the doctor for some testing. Just can’t really afford it (and my husband’s health insurance isn’t worth two nickels), so I did what I could do, basically.

In any case, I just wanted to let everyone know what’s going on. Thanks to everyone who sent words of concern. It was greatly appreciated, and I apologize for not responding to them personally.

Here’s to a better 2012!!

Since MediaMiner is currently offline for some reason, I’ve decided to post ch 144 here.  If you need the password, you can get it in the Subterfuge thread in the forum.  The catch?  You have to comment either here or in the discussion thread if you read the chapter, even if it’s just, “I read it!  Thanks!”.  Sometimes I feel like I’m posting and no one is hearing me, you know?  Anyway, I’d post the on MediaMiner if I could and I will when it’s back up, but until then, I’ll post them here AS LONG AS everyone who reads the chapters makes some sort of comment.  Otherwise, I’ll just wait until the regular site is back up before I bother to post again.  It sounds mean, huh?  Just remember that it takes me hours to write a chapter out.  It takes a few minutes to let me know you read it, right?

You don’t have to be registered for the blog in order to read the chapter; you just need the password, however, to get the password, you DO have to be registered on the FORUM.

Anyway, the password can be found in <<this post>> and the chapter can be found <<here>>

EDIT: This chapter has FINALLY been uploaded on MediaMiner so go read it there!

Wow, it’s been awhile, huh?  Sorry for the long break.  I’ve had a ton of stuff going on, but I’m glad to say that I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things.  By the time I was ready to jump back in, though, I figured it’d be a good time to go back and see how far I’ve come, and so I started reading Purity, and …

Well, I don’t know.  I mean, I guess that the mind can play tricks on you, right?  Sometimes you remember things a little fonder than you maybe should have, and I think that’s the case with Purity.  Don’t get me wrong, I still love the story, but …

But as I read through this, my first fanfiction, I started to realize a few things: things like … good God, it’s bad.  Okay, well, it’s not BAD but it’s certainly not great, either.  In fact, I spent a lot of time cringing as I read it, and to be brutally honest, I’m not entirely sure why anyone else bothered to go on to read the continuations from it.  Sounds harsh, maybe but then I am likely my own worst critic.

So my options were 1) leave it alone and keep grimacing every time I thought about that story–one of the ones that I really do love best, or 2) Rewrite it.  Okay, not a complete rewrite but a mass edit to fix the things that made me cringe: things like characterizations and areas where I just kind of skimmed over parts that I just was too lazy to write.  Well, maybe not lazy.  Maybe it’s more of an evolution in my own writing that makes me realize now that the story line is good even if the writing isn’t always as complimentary.

Thing is, this is the story of InuYasha and Kagome, and it’s a story that I’ve always loved.  I really hope that  you’ll take the time to read the edited chapters as I post them.  I think that it’ll serve to improve the quality and overall story.

As for Subterfuge … don’t worry.  I’ve been working on that one, too.  At the moment, I’ve got two chapters of it in beta, and you’ll get those as I get them back.  Believe it or not, we’re only about 1/2 way done with Evan’s story.  I’m hoping to have this one wrapped up at least by the end of the year.  Wish me luck!

Thanks to everyone who sent me emails or stopped in the forum to let me know that you were thinking of me.  You guys have helped me a lot, even if you don’t realize it, and for that, I sincerely thank you all.

I’m channeling Arnold, I think … anyway, I just wanted to let everyone who cares know what’s going on.

 

My parents are coming into town next week for a long overdue visit, and with them staying here, I’m just not really going to be able to sit down and do much in the way of writing, but it’s been a long while since I’ve last seen them, and I really want to spend time with them. For those of you who don’t know, my father’s recently been confined to a wheelchair. All of his foot surgeries have taken their toll on him, and he just cannot seem to stay on his feet without falling a lot. He just doesn’t have the balance nor the ability to catch himself before he falls anymore, and he’s suffering pretty severe depression. Anyway, Mom’s bringing him up because he says he wants to visit some places that he used to go when he was younger. Mom’s afraid that he’s just going to sit back and wait to die. I sincerely hope not.

 

Because of all that going on, I’m just not going to be able to update next week as I normally do. I hope you understand. Right now in my life is such a struggle to put a bright face forward, and Evan and Valerie have been good for me in that sense. I just want to be able to focus on my family’s visit next week without worrying about anything else, but …

 

It really does make me feel better to read the discussion on the forums or read through the reviews when I have time. Thank you all for those. Sometimes, you just don’t know how much I appreciate hearing that someone appreciates the stories I tell. Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know what was going on, and I’ll see you on November 23!