Hyde, an Urban Fantasy (24 page)

“So, do you think Mitch is feeling better now?”

Jolie furrowed her brows. “Feeling better? You really don’t know, do you? Oh boy, are you in for a surprise. Shall we go check on him?” She stood, shook the empty bottle and then set it back down. They went to the kitchen to grab the last bottle before heading upstairs.

Eden held the banister for balance. She had no idea how Jolie could be in heels and not need something to hold onto. They passed Mitch’s bedroom and stopped in front of the third door down—the one that was always locked.

Jolie put her hand on the knob and her ear to the wood, listening. “Yep, he’s ready. Are you?”

“Ready for what?”

Jolie swung the door open, giving Eden a full view of the interior of the only room in Mitch’s house that she hadn’t been into. Her mouth fell open when she saw the cage. Seven or eight-foot tall bars, each one over an inch thick. “What the—”

Jolie crossed the almost barren room and peered through the bars. “Shhh. Let him get a little sleep, would ya?”

Eden slowly walked past the armchair toward the cage. Mitch was sleeping, his arms and legs strapped down to each corner of a metal bed. And he was absolutely naked. She looked away, thought how ridiculous she was acting in the face of something so totally bizarre, and looked back.

The first question that popped into her mind was beyond stupid, but she asked it anyway. “Why is he naked?”

“He hates to rip up his good clothes.”

“What does
that
mean?”

“You’ll see.”

“See what?”

“Shut up and sit down. The show’s about to begin.” Jolie backed up to the armchair a few feet away from the cage and then patted the upholstered arm. “Only one seat. We’ll have to share.”

“If this is some freaky sexual thing, I am
so
not into that.” She turned to leave.

“Get over yourself. Sit down.”

With denial becoming a rapidly fading oasis, Eden perched herself on the thick arm of the chair obediently. A small wooden table was on the opposite side. It held a keychain with two keys—probably belonging to the padlock on the door of the cage and the cuffs—and a large syringe filled with clear fluid. Eden suddenly felt nauseous. How did she get mixed up in all this? All she wanted was a simple, boring life—no craziness, no drugs, certainly no split personality. That shouldn’t have been too much to ask for. To expect her life to be.

Mitch’s body started to jerk, his back arching and his chest billowing out as if he was trying to breathe but could only gasp.

Eden leaned forward, blinking uncontrollably, as her mind tried to reconcile the image of his muscles growing and gaining more definition.  

“I love this part,” Jolie said breathlessly.

Eden flipped her attention to the woman beside her.

Jolie looked like all she needed was a box of popcorn and a soda. Her eyes were rapt and shiny. She must have felt the weight of Eden’s gaze because she glanced at her. “What? I like watching him. Sometimes I spend all night looking at him.” She smiled and shrugged. “Is that weird? It’s not like he remembers anything when he changes back.”

Changes back?
Eden turned toward the cage when she heard a moan. “Oh my freaking God.” She stopped breathing.

Mitch had grown. Inches. In every direction. Less of the mattress was visible as if he’d gotten taller. The normal definition of his muscles had become almost bodybuilder-like, veins barely contained by his skin. His enormous biceps clenched as he pulled against the straps binding his wrists. Then his quads gathered to tug at those on his ankles. His moan turned into a growl.

“Ta-da. Are you impressed?” Jolie clinked the bottle to her glass, and then skipped the middle man and took a swig straight from the bottle.

Eden couldn’t feel her body. “He changes—” She stopped, wondering if Mitch had told Jolie about Chastity. Until she knew for sure, she’d kept her mouth shut. “What is he?”

Jolie’s eyes roamed around Eden’s face, studying her. “He calls it his ‘Hyde’. Like Jekyll and Hyde.”

The book. This is why he’d given her the book. Which meant that Chastity was . . . “How often?”

“How often does he come out? One night. Once a month or so.”

“Is it like a moon thing?”

“You mean like a werewolf?” She laughed. “No. It’s a Saturday thing. Every-fifth-Saturday thing. Doesn’t cripple the social life too much.”

This is what he wanted me to pack an overnight bag for. To see this.
“Wait. It’s Friday.”

“Yes, it most definitely is Friday.” Jolie’s tone showed her frustration.

“So it varies? But you said—” She shook her head. “I don’t get it.”

“That makes two of us, kid. I’ve known him for almost fifteen years and
him
”—she nodded her head toward the writhing creature in the cage—“for a little less. It’s never happened on a Friday before. Or a Thursday. Or Monday. Or any other day of the week. Until now.”

“So why’d it change?”

“You’ll have to ask him about that.” Resentment or anger made Jolie’s lips tight and her voice staccato, so Eden decided to drop it.

It felt so strange to be talking about him as if he wasn’t in the room. “Does he always chain himself up like that?”

“Yep.”

He yanked against his bonds, letting out another growl.

Eden fought her inclination to take a closer look, her body swaying back and forth with the effort. “He looks like he’s in pain.”

“I don’t think it’s pain, just rage.” She slapped Eden’s leg. “Why did he want to show you?”

“He didn’t tell you why?” Eden asked.

Head shake.
“You’re not going to tell me either, are you? Fine. We all have secrets, don’t we, Eden? From each other. From ourselves. Ain’t life grand?” She rolled her eyes and shrugged. “You are pretty. Now I see why he likes you so much.”

“He hates me.”

“Oh. Right. I guess I must have read that wrong.” She leaned back and took a long swig of champagne.

Eden looked back at Mitch. Or, at Hyde. In addition to an increase in muscle mass, another part of him had increased in size. His erection stretched to his belly. She looked away, feeling guilty for her invasion of his privacy and wondering what Chastity would be thinking if she was here. God, was this what she was like? Was this what Carter hadn’t wanted to tell her?

“Is he always naked?” Eden asked. “Couldn't he wear sweats or something?”

“Maybe he doesn't like how his ass looks in sweats. Are we done with the stupid questions now?”

A voice came from the cage. “I can smell you.” Not Mitch’s voice. Nothing like Mitch’s. This one was lower, gruffer, meaner-sounding. “Sex.” A long sniff. “Two sexes. One different. Niiice.”

Eden’s stomach took a free-fall to the floor.

“Release me so I can be close to that glor-ri-ous smell.”

Jolie’s cheeks were flush, her chest lifted. When she saw Eden looking at her, she relaxed and scratched her temple.

“Let me go, lambs. I’ll be gentle. I’ll take one of you. Then the other. All night. Let me go.” He waited for a response that both women didn’t give—one because she was terrified of what was in front of her and the other perhaps because she knew that he was lying. “Fine. Leave the straps. Just come in here and keep me company. Sit on my cock and let me come all over you. Fuck. Me.” The base in his voice echoed off the ceiling and sent vibrations through Eden’s body.

Eden felt Jolie’s hand clutch the fabric she was sitting on. The woman rose on her seat like she wanted to go to him.
How can she possibly be turned on by that?
The only hormone flowing through Eden’s body was adrenaline.

He sniffed the air again. “Fear. Could do something with that, too.” He jerked against all four cuffs, contracting every muscle, again and again and again. “Let me go! I’ll fucking tear you apart! Let me go, cunts!” He strained his neck, using all his force and slack in the straps to lift his head.

When she saw the color of his eyes—like glaciers, like shadows on a snow-covered peak, an only slightly-darker color than she’d seen in her own eyes just a few days before–Eden flinched back, falling into Jolie’s lap. But she kept her stare on the monster in front of her.

 “Oh. My. God.” She’d never sleep again.

§         
§          §

Mitch knew it was morning. Not that he could see sunlight—the windows in Hyde’s room had been boarded up long ago. And he was anything but rested. No, he knew it was morning because he was human again. He couldn’t see Eden, but heard her humming quietly. He hoped what she’d seen last night hadn’t driven her completely off the deep-end straight into some sort of mumbling psychosis.

He called out to her, “Good morning. How was the show?” He heard her feet hit the floor and wondered if she’d gotten any sleep herself, curled up in the chair, or if Hyde had kept her attention all night.

She yawned, maybe stretched.  “Fascinating.”

“Where’s Jolie?”

“She went downstairs a few hours ago. I think she got annoyed with all my questions.”

“Jolie doesn’t get annoyed very easily. You must have had a lot of questions.” He saw her when she stopped just outside the bars. Jesus, she looked exhausted—pale skin, matching dark rings under her eyes. Or maybe that’s what terror left behind on someone’s face after they’d seen a monster.

She gripped the bars. “Does she know about Chastity?”

“Nope. That’s your tale to tell. Not mine.” He flicked his head to the cage’s door. “She usually unlocks me. She left the keys on the table, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, sorry.” She ran out of his line of vision, and then ran back into it, gripping the keychain in her hand.

He wasn’t sure if she was shaking or was just unfamiliar with industrial-sized padlocks and cages, but it took her a while to open it.

“How can you stay in there?”

“No choice.” And he needed to get out of here as soon as fucking possible. “Not a lounge chair under an umbrella here. You mind?”

She stepped inside, her eyes taking turns between gawking at his body and trying to avoid it.

“And the performance continues,” he muttered. “While I’d love to stay here, spread-eagle all day while you ogle me, my arms are cramped.”

She blushed. “Why don’t you wear something when you . . . change?”

“We don’t seem to like the feel of clothing.” He’d used the word “we”. Jesus, that was something he’d never thought he’d do, but, strangely, it eased the weight in his chest at the same time. He wasn’t alone anymore. “Carter didn’t tell you about that part?”