Last time, Eva and Gideon had a really moving conversation, which quickly went south when Eva had to go and make it all about anal sex. Come on, Eva there’s a time and a place. Also, minor characters have plots too, but we don’t really care about them.
At the very end of the chapter, Eva fights with her mother about how controlling she is, and how putting tracking devices into all of Eva’s things without her consent is so uncool. Especially putting a tracking device into a beloved gift! You thought it was bad when your mom just looked through your room without your permission.
Chapter 7
After running to Gideon’s apartment to cry about her mother’s betrayal (or misguided expression of love, if you’re feeling generous, which I rarely am when I read books on BBGT), Eva is comforted by Gideon when he returns from work.
They also discuss reporter Deanna who is clearly holding a grudge because Gideon never called her back. There can be no motivations in this book other than sex and/or love whether it’s for justice or revenge.
Because this conversation about vindictive reporter-one-night-stands is too hot to handle, Eva tells Gideon she wants tonight to be all about her pleasuring him. [Matthew says: It must be painful to think about sex this often.]
“No returning the favor?” [Gideon argued.]
“No.”
“Not happening,” he said decisively.
I pouted. “Pretty please.”
“Angel, getting you off is ninety-nine percent of the fun for me.” [Matthew says: Much like Gideon himself, Gideon’s orgasms are apparently the 1%.]
If Gideon were on The Bachelor, the creators would be like “Gideon’s biggest flaw is that he’s too perfect. Don’t try to please him, he’ll please you.”[Matthew says: Don’t try to leave the house! HE WILL BE YOUR EVERYTHING.] Seriously, this argument goes on for way too long, until Gideon agrees only after he tells Eva he’s doing the same for her all next weekend.
Gideon: No, I’ll sexually pleasure you.
Eva: NO, it is I who will sexually pleasure you.
Gideon: You are mistaken, for it is I who will be giving the pleasure that is sexual to you.
Eva: You have to let me do this, because when you’re pleasuring me, I can’t feel how I’m pleasuring you. It’s so unfair!
Gideon: Well, fine, but only if you allow me the pleasure that is pleasuring you all next weekend.
Me: I never thought I’d say this, but would you both shut the fuck up and have sex already.
![[Matthew says: Except, like everything in Crossfire, it's been changed to be about sex.]](http://badbooksgoodtimes.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/big-bang-you-hang-up-first.gif?resize=500%2C282)
Here’s a cringy assortment of Gideon and Eva’s flirting for your consideration.
-
“I’m good, thanks,” he shot back, clearly amused.
“But we haven’t played with the girls yet.”
He bent down and buried his face in my cleavage. “Hello, girls.” -
“You’re my lucky charm,” he said. I squeezed his biceps.
“Really?”
“Yep.” He licked the upper swell of my breast.
“You’re magically delicious.” [Matthew says: This is more nauseatingly saccharine than Lucky Charms themselves.] -
“You lied. You’re the most romantic guy I’ve ever dated. I can’t believe you hung those CrossTrainer towels in your bathroom.”
“How could I not? And I wasn’t kidding about you being lucky.” He kissed me. “I’ve been working on offloading my share of a casino in Milan. Those black magic roses arrived just as a bidder threw in a small winery in Bordeaux that I’ve had my eye on. Guess what it’s called … La Rose Noir.
“A winery for a casino, huh? So you remain the god of sex, vice, and recreation.”
“Endeavors that help me satisfy you, my goddess of desire, pleasure, and corny one-liners.”
He then tries to again convince her to come work for him because he wants her brain in addition to her sexy body and heart.
Gideon seriously needs to cut this shit out. First he’s telling Eva they need to keep their relationship a secret so they don’t arouse any suspicions, but then he wants her to come work for him…subtly? Not to mention he moved in next door to her…subtly.
Even if he’s only talking about her working for him in the future when they’re in the clear – which in Entwined with You time is probably only a week away – it still raises the question of why they need to also work in the same place, why he needs that kind of control and access to her? You can be completely and insanely in love and still work at separate places. Eva and Gideon’s love is not so fucking true and special and unique that they can’t handle working for different companies. No, just no.
Although, you know what, in their defence I did start having my boyfriend write for this blog because I was like, “Baby, if we can’t work for the same company, then we can at least write for the same blog.” Because obviously that was my logic.
Eva calls Cary to check in. He lets Eva know her mother finally left (because I guess she was waiting around hoping Eva would come back to talk to her) and also that he’s still looking up dirt on Dr. Terrance Lucas. You guys, I know you may not remember who he is, but just remember he is A Bad Man, a man who was largely to blame for Gideon’s childhood traumas. [Matthew says: It was implied that these traumas are molestation-related, because everything in this book is always about sex. I’m not saying this isn’t a perfectly valid and tragic backstory, but this would be like if every single character in Batman‘s parents were dead.]
I just have no fucking idea why Cary is “still” looking into him. Cary isn’t even aware of the backstory here. Only in this scene does Eva even paint part of a picture for him, but she leaves all the important bits out because it’s Gideon’s story to tell. Is Cary supposed to be some sort of super sleuth, like why has he been charged with this responsibility? Is it like when you give someone a really super important job like, “You have to go clean these toilets, Mark, because you are soooo good at it,” but it’s just to keep them occupied and away from doing something more important like handling money?
Cary doesn’t even come up with valuable or even semi-interesting information. He’s just like, “Can’t find anything, but he’s married to a psychologist.” Keep up the good work, Cary. Hopefully next you’ll be able to reveal what Dr. Lucas’ favourite beverage is. [Matthew says: This is all he was able to find? Did Cary try anything other than look him up on Wikipedia?]
Cary also lets Eva know that Deanna called with news for her. Allegedly, anyway. I seriously bet that Deanna’s going to be like, “Gideon definitely has a new gf!” And Eva will be like, “Oh my. Whoever could that be? Thank you for the valuable information, Deanna.” Or “Fuck off, Deanna.”
Eva calls Deanna, so she and Gideon can both hear what kind of dirt she supposedly has on Gideon. And the thing is? All of her dirt is fucking true. He is getting sued for punching a guy Cary was sleeping with, and he did beat the shit out of Brett. Deanna asks Eva if she’s in a relationship with an abusive man, and even though I know for a fact Slyvia Day would never write a scene where Gideon intentionally physically hurt Eva, in real life that was out of the control of an author, Gideon would probably fit the bill. [Matthew says: Even if he’s not physically abusive, let’s keep in mind that there’s also emotional abuse. Because the authors of these books never remember that that’s a thing.]
“Fuck you, Deanna,” I bit out. “You’re going to rip an innocent man’s reputation apart because you can’t deal with casual sex? Way to represent the sophisticated modern woman.” [Matthew adds: Christ on a bicycle, Sylvia Day should really never attempt dabbling in feminism.]
“He answered the phone,” she hissed, “before he was done. He answered the fucking phone and started talking about an inspection at one of his properties. Midconversation he looked at me lying there waiting for him and he said, ‘You can go.’ Just like that. He treated me like a whore, only I didn’t get paid. He didn’t even offer me a drink.”
Deanna has to be discredited because she can’t handle casual sex. She’s just a bitter lunatic who needs to be put in her place. Even though she is actually right.
Is this Day’s message to her critics? If you don’t believe in Eva and Gideon’s love, if you see it as something not quite right, you’re probably just a bitter, lonely woman who’s been hurt by assholes?
[Matthew says: I guess this is nothing new, since we’ve long known that in Sylvia Day-land, everything revolves around sexytimes, but it’s still pretty unsettling that “modern” apparently means “totally cool with casual sex”. Are you not particularly interested in casual sex for whatever reason? WELL, GO BACK TO THE VICTORIAN ERA WHERE YOU BELONG. ]
The chapter ends with this phone call and Eva telling Deanna she’s completely wrong. I get why Eva lies to protect Gideon, but a lot of what he’s done is pretty scary (Deanna doesn’t even know about the murder), and you can explain it away with “love” all you want, but it’s still fifty shades of grey. See what I did there?
What do you guys think of all this? Is Deanna sort of our new Kara or Aphrodite? Or should she just fuck off even though her accusations are completely founded?