Eva Has Lots of Feelings, Damn it: Bared to You Chapter 7

At the Bad Books, Good Times Headquarters, which sadly exists only within my head, Matt and I are hard at work on the E-book, trying to have it done by this weekend. Just in time for the holidays you say? Well, it’ll certainly be a must-have addition to your new Kindles winky wink.

God, now I wish Matt and I had some sort of awesome headquarters. Or an office with a nice view of the city. I wish I could spend all day blogging about bad books and earn a legitimate living.

Back to Bared to You!

Chapter 7

When we last left off, Eva and Gideon had just had sex in a limo, and then for some reason things became awkward after their post-sex haze wore off in thirty seconds.

As soon as they get to the charity event, Eva breaks away from Gideon to go see her mother, step-father, and Cary.

Eva’s mother, who gave Eva her dress (and the gift of life), tells her she looks beautiful, which prompts this reaction:

“Thank you.” I took a gulp of champagne from my second glass, remembering that I’d planned on expressing gratitude for the dress. While I still appreciated the gift, I was no longer so happy about the convenient thigh slit.

“Hey, mom! Next time you want to buy me a dress, make sure it’s a dress that prevents me from slutting it up in a limo! I’m going to need years of therapy because of you, bitch.” I’m just joking. Slut shaming is bad. Sisters unite or whatever.

Gideon comes over and is polite to everyone, but whispers passive aggressively to Eva that she shouldn’t forget she’s here with him. Wow it’s so sexy when a man gets all weird after you meet him and then gets all weird after sex and then gets all weird and controlling at a charity event. It’s so clear to me why Eva can’t resist this man.

To be fair, I get that people can be really sensitive and pick up on another person withdrawing (I’m hyper-sensitive and hyper-aware of these things, which often make me feel like a paranoid nut job). At the same time, though, I’m not sure if Eva’s drama is warranted right now. Perhaps she is being a paranoid nut job. When Gideon reminds her she’s here with him, her response is, “You’re one to talk,” and then basically says she’s never going to talk to him again, which doesn’t make too much sense (and is obviously not fucking true). What did Gideon actually do? They were in the limo for like five minutes after they had sex and then she ran off as soon as they got out of the limo. He didn’t actually say anything weird.

Eva is mopey throughout the night until Gideon gets up to deliver what is apparently an amazing speech. I remember when Christian Grey gave a similarly amazing speech of which we got to read like one line. That’s what happens here too:

“In North America,” he began, “childhood sexual abuse is experienced by one in every four women and one in every six men. Take a good look around you. Someone at your table either is a survivor or knows someone who is. That’s the unacceptable truth.”

So then Eva is totally moved because this subject hits close to home, and she’s not mad at him anymore. Man, it’s so unclear to me why women get a reputation of being emotional and unstable. Eva is so easy to relate to and understand. I’m not saying all feelings are rational for anybody, but I am saying that we’re supposedly in her head and I have no fucking idea what her deal is.

She actually gets up and applauds when Gideon’s done speaking, and she claims this surprises both of them. Then Gideon’s brother comes over and introduces himself. I hope Gideon’s family is as thrilling as Christian Grey’s family. For those of you who don’t read the Fifty Shades posts–that was sarcasm. Christian’s family is so boring you want to bring a book…even though you’re already reading a book.

Gideon’s brother, Christopher, is also handsome. Maybe he’ll be gay and start dating Cary. Isn’t it a rule in these romance novels that everyone the main characters know also have to start dating?

She and Christopher go to dance, and I feel like it would be a hilarious twist if she started dating Christopher instead. Make out! Make out! Make out!

I cursed inwardly. I’d known assumptions would be made, but I wanted more than ever to avoid further humiliation. “Gideon’s acquainted with my mother and she’d already arranged for me to come, so it’s just a matter of two people going to the same event in one car rather than two.”

“So you’re available?”

I took a deep breath, feeling uncomfortable despite how fluidly we moved together. “Well, I’m not taken.”

Christopher flashed his charismatic boyish grin. “My night just took a turn for the better.”

What a dick move–tryna swoop in on his brother’s date. But on the other hand Gideon is awful. But on the other other hand so is Eva. I root for no one in this book.

She dances with Cary next, and he blah-blahs about how he’ll kick Gideon’s ass later even though Eva is really vague and like, “We’ll talk about it later.”

Then Gideon comes over to dance with her and tells her to stay away from his brother. So in response Eva tells Gideon to stay away from this woman Magdalene whom he was talking to. It’s unclear to me who this woman is, but Eva gives us her full name like we should know her. It’s also pretty dumb to act like some woman is the equivalent of someone’s brother in this case.

Gideon claims he hasn’t and doesn’t want to sleep with this random woman who no one cares about and yet we seem like we should care about. Follow? I don’t.

Oh, I think she might have been mentioned as one of the women previously photographed with Gideon. I still don’t know why Sylvia Day expected me to remember that. Doesn’t she realize I’m only reading one chapter once a week.

For some reason Magdalene follows Eva into a bathroom and asks the bathroom attendant for privacy. Here is their weird exchange.

“Oh, dear,” she murmured, the moment the attendant stepped out of earshot. She made a tsking noise that scraped over my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. “You’ve fucked him already.”

“And you haven’t.”

That seemed to surprise her. “You’re right, I haven’t. You know why?”

I pulled a five-spot out of my clutch and dropped it in the silver tip tray. “Because he doesn’t want to.”

“And I don’t want to either, because he can’t commit. He’s young, gorgeous, rich, and he’s enjoying it.”

“Yes.” I nodded. “He certainly did.”

Her gaze narrowed, her pleasant expression slipping slightly. “He doesn’t respect the women he fucks. The minute he shoved his dick in you, you were done. Just like all the others. But I’m still here, because I’m the one he wants to keep around for the long haul.”

I maintained my cool even though the blow had been a perfect hit right where the most damage could be done. “That’s pathetic.”

I walked out and didn’t stop until I reached Stanton’s limousine. Squeezing Cary’s hand as I got in, I managed to wait until the car pulled away from the curb to start crying.

I know, I know, it was a really long thing to quote, but I couldn’t just paraphrase all that unnecessary drama! I mean, I could have, but I had to show you guys. Not tell.

Ya’ll I’m confused as shit. I thought Eva didn’t want to date Gideon anyway! Why didn’t she just roll her eyes and tell this lady that. I get confrontation being upsetting and having a bad night, but this scene presents it like Eva desperately wanted something more from Gideon. If this had happened down the road right as she was falling for him/starting to trust him and he got all cold and distant and then Magdalene confronted her, this might carry more weight. Too much drama too soon! They met like a week ago and had sex once!

The next day Gideon sends her flowers and keeps calling, but Eva ignores it and angsts to Cary.

Apparently Eva is upset because she feels like they connected during sex, had the best sex of both of their lives, and then he seemed cold (for five seconds.) Girl needs to chill out and stop saying things like, “He felt it too.” Crazy pants. Wearing the crazy pants. So why not answer your phone and talk to him and see what he says. You’re annoying, Eva. You’re not being strong, you’re being an idiot. I hate you.

Wait. I’m so confused. Cary says he banged a blonde woman last night at the event and her tits were real? Is he joking? Isn’t he gay? Is he bi? What the fuck, Bared to You. We’re only seven chapters in, and you’ve already lost your shit.

At work on Monday, Gideon contacts Eva and insists she hear him out. After some half-hearted protests, Eva agrees to go meet with him.

Her boss, Mark, is surprised when Gideon shows up.

I straightened in time to see Mark’s brows shoot up. He recovered quickly, his face smoothing into its usual good-natured handsomeness.

In case you’d forgotten–everyone in this book is attractive. Even if they look surprised for a brief second, their features will always quickly return to their natural states of handsomeness or prettiness.

Even though there’s only about a page left in the chapter after this, Eva undergoes many a mood swing.

-Gideon picks her up, touches her on the way out, and she talks about how turned on she is.

-But then she’s mad at him.

-But then he makes out with her and she’s turned on and happy because that’s what she’s wanted since they had sex.

-They get to his office and she tells him he’s hot.

-Then she says she never wants to see him again.

I’m about to get my period, am a week away from seeing not-boyfriend for the first time in six months, just watched some crazy episodes of The Vampire Diaries and ate almost a whole bag of cheesy popcorn, and even I feel more emotionally stable than this woman!