LN Cronan

 We do know Gideon likes sex toys. Page 139 of Bared, when Eva starts finding stuff in the hotel room and it dawns on her it's actually a f*** pad.  "The top one on the left side held sex toys still in their packages. I didn't look at the drawers below that one. I'd seen enough."  What could the kinky Mr. Cross have stocked inside the drawers Eva didn't dare open?

OK, favorite part of today's re-read chapter, which is Eighteen of Bared To You. Â For the first time, Eva says "I love you" to Gideon (page 266). He doesn't say anything in return, but his body language does all the talking about just how overwhelmed (in an incredibly good way) he feels at that moment. It's a wish come true. At the time, Eva was sitting in his lap in the back of the car. This is what he did: Â One of his hands gripped my nape; the other dug almost painfully into my waist. Gideon held me there, immobile, locked against him as if I might blow away. His breathing was ragged, his heartbeat pounding. he didn't say another word the rest of the ride to work, but he didn't let me go either. Â Later in the day, when he's regained the ability to speak, he says (page 270) Â "I'll make you say it again," he threatened in a seductive purr. "You'll scream it by the time I'm done with you."

 AGH, Julie! You're right. ::: head desk :::  Alternate explanation, though - when we suddenly see something that terrifies us, often we'll blurt something out - "oh my God" being probably the most common. But some of us will react with "stunned silence" instead, too shocked for words. And regardless of whether or not we say something, all of us usually will make some sort of gesture when suddenly frightened too. Throwing up a hand is common - some of us touch our mouths. Others, especially if we feel like we can't breathe, will raise a hand to our throat or our chest, like we were literally choking.  I think when Monica threw her hand up to her throat, it was because she almost felt she couldn't breathe, so scared was she at that very moment.  Corrine stroking her throat, when talking to Eva about Gideon, was a little weird - enough of a nervous gesture that Eva thought it was strange. What jumped to Eva's mind was Corrine was imaging wearing something on her throat, something no longer there but probably something she used to wear back when she was Gideon's girlfriend/fiancee. Eva's pretty intuitive at times, especially to body language. I think Eva's guess was right that the nervous gesture involved something that used to be around Corrine's throat. We know Gideon is a sexual dominant. A collar is something some doms would get a submissive to wear.

For all I know, though, the story will play out much differently. I certainly got my guess of Snapshot #1 wrong. I'd guessed it meant Gideon and Eva would talk about his continuing to manipulate the media. Instead, a terrible new danger came up: a reporter with some sort of grudge looking to nail Gideon -- and attempting to use Eva to help do it, guessing (wrongly) Eva's got her own serious grudge against Gideon.

What is possible here is that the prosecution has forever lost certain evidence. The permanent loss of such evidence could mean chances are slim to none the prosecution could win. Thus, the move would be to hold off on charging him, hoping that some day, they might be able to get new evidence. If that day never comes, well, the day won't ever come when they'd arrest Gideon and put him on trial. Because they just can't win. Â In real life, this does happen. Police do figure out who murdered someone. But they just can't prove it, because there's not enough evidence to get a conviction. So the suspect walks free. The cops hope that some day, new evidence might make it possible to be able to bring the case to trial. But more often than not in situations like this, an arrest and trial never happen. Â This is what it literally means to "get away with murder." This was Gideon's whole goal, too - to kill Nathan but to be able to get away with it by fooling the police into thinking no way did he commit the killing. Let the investigation remain "unsolved" forever. Or even if the cops did try to go after him, have enough defense ammunition in place to be able to get a not-guilty verdict at the trial.

 Yes, that is true. Unless and until the investigation results in an arrest, the case remains officially "unsolved"  And because there is no time limit for an unsolved murder case to expire, technically it could hang over Gideon's head the rest of his life. The only way to permanently settle the matter one way or another would be a trial.  BUT ....  The prosecution has the whole burden of winning the trial. If there's little or no chance they could win -- because they don't have enough sure-fire evidence to convince a jury -- then it's just as likely the prosecution would drop the case instead of arresting Gideon and taking him to trial. The risk of bringing him to trial with insufficient evidence is too great, because if the prosecution loses, it's OH-VER forever.  If Gideon were put on trial and found not guilty by the jury, then yes, the case would be over forever. The U.S. Constitution forbids what's known as "double jeopardy." The government cannot keep charging a person with the same crime over and over and over again -- not if that person is brought to trial and the government (the prosecution) loses. If the defense loses, the defense can appeal. The prosecution cannot appeal if it loses the trial. The notorious OJ Simpson murder case is a prime example. The prosecution lost the trial -- the jury came back with "not guilty" verdicts to the murder charges. So OJ cannot ever again be charged with those two murders.

Detective Graves ambushed Eva at the Krav Maga studio, and Graves had her spill-the-beans talk with Eva while they sat in the bleachers. A "talking to" session that ended up slipping over the line into "questioning a witness without her lawyer" session. Â Oh please, is Chapter Sixteen where my big theory plays out - that Graves screwed up so badly the prosecution forever lost the ability to use certain evidence against Gideon in court. That this is how the murder case will go away -- almost guaranteed forever go away -- very quickly. So quickly that the DA's office doesn't dare even seek to indict and arrest Gideon. Drop the case in other words. Â Fingers crossed for Cross!

Some names have two different pronounciations -- names of places, names of people. Â AY-va is the way "Eva" would be pronounced in German. Trammell is a German surname. Based on Monica and Eva's blonde coloring, it's likely on her mother's side of the family, she's of German descent (or something similar, like Austrian). Â Which reminds me of something I really got a kick out of during the scene in which Magdalene ambushes Eva in the ladies room. Magdalene Perez -- in looks and in name, Hispanic. Magdalene essentially tells the bathroom attendant to get lost, telling the woman in Spanish. Probably figuring Eva didn't know exactly what Magdalene said to the woman. Magdalene's first power play, in other words. But Eva understood every last word, and very politely asked the woman -- in Spanish herself -- "please." That earned Eva a raised eyebrow from Ms. Perez, who had underestimated her adversary. Go Eva!

They're definitely steps, not bleachers. They're not tall enough to be bleachers. Â We've been given a tough one today. The detective shield we got had been too easy.

 Or maybe some school in Gideon's past: Columbia University -- more honesty about his history with Corrine (i.e. being forthcoming with Eva, not just telling her the bare minimum he thinks Eva should know. Gideon's middle-school and high-school years - Angus used to drive Gideon to and from school. It's part of what Angus originally was hired to do. Maybe this is where we find out what Angus did to earn Gideon's trust?

How can we love Gideon for being so mean at times? Â Because he's not the cruel, evil person Dr. Lucas thinks he is. Gideon is a loving man badly damaged by other people when he was just a boy. A man in love for the first time in his life and struggling to do something he never ever got the skill set for -- how to function in a healthy way in a relationship. Â He told Eva, the day she became his girlfriend, he'd never done this (a relationship) before, and so he had a learning curve. He sure does! Â As for his period of actually deliberately being cruel -- his motivations were pure (to save Eva's life). But he seriously screwed up -- and he's paying the price now. Eva doesn't trust him now, not emotionally, and he's figured that out. He's got a lot of work to do now -- work on himself, work on their relationship. Â They'll get there -- eventually.

 Snapshot 16, set of metal steps. No idea. Police station, maybe? Not a courthouse -- those buildings tend to have very grand sets of stairs, marble and granite, to show how important societal buildings they are. Police stations are, for lack of a better word, kinda grubby places, cops (and sometimes prisoners) coming and going.  Sylvia, Sylvia, Sylvia ..... you really got us all confused with that picture. My compliments on especially intriguing the lot of us.

 Since when has Gideon ever been 100% forthcoming about anything in his past, including Corrine, to Eva? Gideon has told Eva only what he's absolutely had to about a lot of stuff. Usually, Eva gets absolutely nowhere when she demands honesty out of him, Mr. Closed Off.  He's always wanted total honesty out of Eva, but he's yet to give that in return. He's always wanted total trust from Eva, but he's all-but-incapable of trusting her (trusting anyone) in return.  Gideon really is a virgin when it comes to the open communication that is part of any healthy relationship. He's Mr. Dysfunction.

We readers all are on Team Gideon-Eva - always will be. But even we readers have been furious with the guy sometimes for the ways he has hurt Eva, by accident or on purpose, and most of us at one point or another have hoped Gideon would get a taste of his own medicine by being hurt in return.  It's all too easy to think that because Cary is always pulling for Eva, that Cary absolutely must be on Team Gideon-Eva. Always. But the truth of the matter is Cary is captain of Team Eva - period. He wants what's best for Eva. There are times when he has turned anti-Gideon, like the night Gideon nearly raped Eva in her own bed while in the midst of an especially bad nightmare.  As things now stand, all Cary knows is what the rest of the world knows, what Gideon made everyone, even Eva herself, believe. And that is that Gideon threw Eva onto the reject pile. He wasn't even kind about it either -- Gideon was deliberately cruel (yes, he was - and most of us are still mad at him for it!) Gideon broke Eva's heart.  So Cary would jump at an opportunity to hurt Gideon. Unfortunately, right now there is an investigative reporter planning to expose dirt on Gideon, a reporter who knows Cary Taylor is Eva Trammell's roommate and could be a treasure trove of dirt. Which is true -- Cary knows some pretty bad stuff about Gideon. Stuff he could leak without Eva ever finding out he was the source of the leak. Because Deanna Johnson would keep his name out of it -- and everything Cary could tell her, Deanna could have found out about elsewhere.  Examples of possible other sources for dirt that in fact Cary would have been the source of:  Gideon's sexually violent nightmares? Gideon has f****** a lot of women, many of whom ended up bitter when he was done with them. What if one or more of them somehow knew about his nightmares? Or even somehow someone broke into Dr. Petersen's patient files. Copies of that stuff would be worth huge $$$$ if the thief wanted to sell them to the highest tabloid bidder.  Gideon being cruel to Eva, whom he'd already "dumped" in the middle of an important meeting at Cross Industries (and he was deliberately cruel that time.) There were people at that meeting who could have later gossiped. Mark most certainly wouldn't have. But what about the others? Or insiders in Gideon's office too? Maybe that redheaded receptionist who now has a secret axe to grind, fed up with the parade of women going into Gideon's office in recent weeks - Eva, Magdalene, Corrine.  Gideon being cruel to Eva, while she still was his actual girlfriend,  in front of a dinner crowd by ignoring her and instead focusing all his attention on his ex, Corrine. (This wasn't on purpose, but it still was a very rotten thing he did) There were all kinds of witnesses present. Lots of high society people -- and those types of people know lots of reporters. Any one of a number of people could have talked to Deanna, starting with her possible evil source, Dr. Lucas.  Gideon being cold as ice to Eva, his date, in front of a dinner crowd the night of the advocacy center fundraiser. (Yet another way Gideon screwed up in front of a lot of people) Just like the Corrine incident, there was a crowd of people who would have seen how miserable Eva was and how chilly Gideon was.)  Imagine how much damage stuff like that could do -- especially because unfortunately, it's pretty much the truth. Every one of these incidents hurt Eva badly -- even though Gideon didn't mean to hurt her in three out of the four. But he is actually guilty of publicly mistreating her through part of Reflected. Cary could jump at a chance for some payback.

 The first time I read that scene, too, I thought Corrine possibly was recalling a necklace she always used to wear, maybe something  beautiful Gideon gave her as a gift and so she wore while they were together.  But yet again, this careful re-reading of a chapter at a time is making me pick up on possible patterns of one clue after another. Maybe Gideon had sexually collared Corrine as part of his early sexual experimentation, exploring ways in which he could learn to feel sexually in control.  If this is true, he could have been kicking himself when Eva jumped to the conclusion Gideon might want to collar her -- something that most certainly would have been a "hard limit" for her, given her history. (Hard limits are the list of things doms and especially subs agree to beforehand that won't ever be a part of their consensual sexually play -- the sexual activities they refuse to do, in other words.)

 Unfortunately, Cary is in all likelihood going to be thinking the worse about Gideon in Chapter Four. Because we clearly saw in Chapter One, Eva has already decided Cary cannot ever know the truth about what Gideon did -- and so Cary cannot even know that Eva and Gideon are back together. Because being back together again is part of the secret.  So based on what Gideon did earlier in the week (the week Reflected ended and Entwined started) Cary could misinterpret things as Gideon playing more awful mind games with Eva. Gideon gave Eva back her ring on Monday, and Eva came home from work terribly confused. Then Gideon showed up late at night on Wednesday to f*** Eva.  I'm afraid that early in Entwined, Cary might be furious inside, thinking something along the lines of this:  That cold-hearted cheating coward, Cross, at least had the decency to leave Eva alone for a little while after she dumped him. But Cross just can't stand the fact Eva's showing the first signs now of starting to get over him and move on with her life. So he's playing mind games again -- giving her back that promise ring even though he's probably going to put an engagement ring on Corrine Giroux's hand soon. What's worse, two days later, he went and did the exact same thing he'd done to her (Eva) the week he went back to Corrine - treating  Eva like s*** in public but continuing to lead her on. Once again, he sneaked in to Eva's bedroom late at night to to screw Eva's brains. Used her and then threw her away the minute he walked out the door the next morning. The next day, he was back with right back with Corrine -- and that very next night, he screwed Corrine's brains out at that hotel. It almost killed Eva when she found out about that -- found out because Gideon even had the press taking pictures of him with Corrine at a party earlier that night. Cross doesn't want Eva -- but he doesn't want anyone to have Eva either. Brett Kline does want Eva, and Cross wants to try to screw that up if he can by leading Eva on again.  The night Gideon took Eva out on a date for the first time, Cary had a private talk with Gideon beforehand, a talk in which Cary, in his role as Eva's brother-in-all-but-blood, warned Gideon that if Gideon hurt Eva, Gideon would answer to him.

As far as Brett goes, Eva is guilty of sending the guy mixed signals. And yes, she did "use" him very briefly to get even with Gideon. It was pure nasty impulse she took Brett to lunch. He'd gotten lucky by showing up at the right time -- right when she was furious about having just found out Gideon took Corrine out behind her (Eva's) back the night before. Â By contrast, Gideon is guilty of weeks of coldly using Corrine. In Chapter One of Entwined, Eva recognizes what Gideon did to she herself (Eva). " .... emotionally, my love had been used against me with meticulous precision." Â Gideon did (still is as Entwined opens) doing the exact same thing to Corrine. But far worse, because all along Gideon's plan involved throwing Corrine out of his life as soon as he was able.

 Eva already "discarded" Brett, gently and honestly when they had lunch together, turning him down when he asked her for another shot. He just wouldn't take "no" for her final answer then. Why would he? She'd kissed him. She's taken him out to lunch. And it was 100% clear at the time her relationship with Gideon was on the rocks (which it actually was -- all Gideon's fault.)  Brett's not desperate like Corrine, who has tried everything humanly possible to get Gideon back and who obviously is clinging to delusions she actually succeeded in getting him. Brett, I believe, is going to try his best shot as winning Eva, and he'll fight fair doing so. Once he figures out his efforts failed, he'll bow out gracefully.

 Not that Eva would take Brett back -- there's zero chance of that happening. In fact, there's zero chance of even another kiss.  But Gideon's nagging insecurities (Eva can have any man she wants, so Gideon cannot understand why Eva wants him) will be running rampant. Plus Gideon would have the real fear of knowing the truth - Eva does still find Brett sexually attractive. Doesn't matter that Eva once again is in a sexual relationship with Gideon. He was Eva's boyfriend when she'd gone ahead anyway, weeks ago, to act on physical desire for Brett.  Gideon had begged Eva "trust me" when the whole awful plot to kill Nathan was set in motion. Now Gideon is forced into the position of having to "trust" Eva in return -- and Gideon doesn't do trust well. His own biggest issue is very serious trust problems, the consequence of his mother failing to trust him over the "professionals" who got her to believe Gideon's sex abuse claims were a lie. That shattered young Gideon's ability to trust people he loved. As a grown man, he still struggles with that.

I can't wait to read what happens in Chapter Four. Brett hovering around Eva, Gideon nearby and powerless to do anything about it, and Cary thrown into the mix to boot, probably pro-Brett-anti-Gideon at that moment. Â Oooooooo that scene could be a lot of fun. Especially because Gideon will deserve every last pang of raging jealousy and possessiveness he'd be feeling. Yet another unintended consequence of his miserably-failed handling of Eva when he had distanced Eva and started taking Corrine out again for all the world to see. Â Now Gideon is painted into a corner where he is powerless to declare to the world he and Eva are a couple very much in love with one another. What's worse, Gideon's public rejection of Eva in favor of Corrine fooled Brett into thinking Eva is very much available, and Brett doesn't really have to worry about Gideon anymore.

In Chapter Seventeen, when Gideon gave her the promise ring, at first Eva was uneasy. Already freaked out over false assumptions about what Gideon meant about dom-sub, she was envisioning being asked to wear a "collar" -- a sexual fetish prop that some submissives wear in the BDSM lifestyle. Â Gideon was talking about something completely different than BDSM (which involves bondage and sadism along with dominance and submission) but Eva was confused, and being asked to wear a ring made her equate it with being asked to wear a collar in the figurative sense. For all she knew (and feared) Gideon would soon introduce a real collar into their sex life next along with all sorts of other kinky accessories - whips and chains, restraints ..... who knows. Â But I wonder whether Gideon actually did engage in BDSM in the past with -- of all people -- Corrine. In Chapter Twenty, when Corrine is talking to Eva about her (Corrine's) past with Gideon, at one point Corrine described how possessive Gideon was and how much that frightened her at times. She claimed that's the reason she left him (when we all know in fact, the real reason she left is they were stuck in a dead-end sexual situation - his refusal to spend the night with her, including sleeping over in one another's dorms/apartments.) Â When Corrine started talking about Gideon's frightening possessiveness, here's what she was doing at the time (page 313) "Her hand went to her throat, her slender fingers restlessly stroking, as if toying with a necklace she'd normally find there." Â Was she actually recalling being collared by Gideon? Nervous at the time talking to Eva, was this throat stroking Corrine doing an unconscious nervous gesture. Literally, she was talking to Eva about Gideon's jealous nature, but perhaps underneath, Corrine was thinking about his sexual control of their past relationship. Â Thoughts, ladies?

Chapter A Day Re-Read Project - Today is Chapter Eighteen of Bared  This chapter covers Monday (day 15) - two weeks to the day since they first met in the lobby of the Crossfire.  Key plot developments: For the first time, Eva says "I love you" to Gideon. Eva gives Gideon a promise ring Eva makes a regular Monday one of the happiest he's ever had at work. Eva learns how creepy his half-brother is, as she and Gideon see secretly shot video of Christopher sexually using Magdalene.  Once each of us has read Chapter Eighteen, our homework assignment from Sylvia herself is for each of us to pick our favorite quote or paragraph.  The chapter re-reads also have been the springboard here for lots of discussion. We're continuing to touch upon the chapter of the day, but even more, discussion has been jumping backward into the earlier chapters and forward in the story (even into Reflected and into what we've got for Entwined - Chapter One of it, part of Chapter Two, the snippets and the snapshot clues.) The re-read of one chapter daily is leading us to analyze how different parts of the Crossfire saga have been connecting.

^^^^ O M F G !!!!!! I just spit coffee on my monitor and keyboard

Chapter Seventeen of Bared to You - The Readers Guide  This chapter starts Sunday (day 14) and goes through sometime middle of the night Sunday into Monday (day 15)  Key plot developments: Gideon yet again had a frank talk with Eva about how their sexual relationship would run. However, this time, he wasn't setting terms (like he had when they first got involved, supposedly under a friends-with-benefits deal). This time, he told Eva they were in a dominant-submission situation - they'd already naturally fallen into their own roles. Eva discovered more things he had done during the four days they had been apart to prepare for what he'd been counting on her coming back on her own. 1. He'd created a "safe room" for her in his apartment. He'd bought her a promise ring.  New characters None in this chapter  The Dom-Sub talk His reason for talking about it is he believes the power exchange will make Eva feel safe with him sexually. Given her past, where she literally had no control and was at the mercy of her rapist, as an adult she'd fallen into a surrender pattern that signified trusting a partner. Eva's first reaction, upon being called a submissive, is anger - anger at the thought of being ordered around sexually. Given what she went through as a girl, she needs a sense of control as much if not more than Gideon. Her fears are of some of the stereo-types she's heard about dom-sub arrangements, including some in group therapy, where she'd heard a fellow client discuss the lifestyle that client was in. Essentially that woman's particular set up was master-slave, and her partner (the master) got to do whatever he wanted. It's not that particular lifestyle Gideon meant, however.  Eva was jumping to the wrong conclusion he meant BDSM. "You know I don't want to beat you, punish you, hurt you, demean you or order you around like a pet .... we're not talking games that get me off." (That would be BDSM). What he meant is a willing exchange of power where she can trust him with control and he can feel in control in return, including feeling safe she can "safeword" to stop things if he ever inadvertently triggers any of her old trauma wounds. The conversation didn't reassure Eva - she came away upset, still insisting she's not a submissive and fearing he's unsatisfied with her sexually. His attempt to define things left her more confused and upset - not less. So to prove her point she wants control herself, she tries "topping" him sexually, playing the dom role as they make love. But in the middle of the night, they make love again, this time with him in control and her willingly being submissive. It works out - he was able to explain with his body what he'd done a poor job of trying to explain verbally.  What Gideon was up to those four days they were apart Eva already learned he'd made arrangements for them to start couple's therapy and for him to start individual psychotherapy too. He'd seen Dr. Petersen on Friday (the day after he'd dumped Eva) to set it up, hoping she was going to come back on her own. He also made some changes in his home: turning one of his guest rooms into a virtual recreation of Eva's own bedroom in her apartment. freaked her out a little, but Gideon explained he made it as a safe room for her. The idea was to give her a place to go, instead of running out on him yet again, if she needed to be alone. He made changes to his own living space too, his home office/study. He created a large wall mural of photos of the pair of them together, most of them the various press photos taken of them over the course of the past week, but one of them of a candid he took of Eva asleep in her own bed. Most importantly, he bought her a ring. "It's not that ring .... not yet. You're not ready." (Page 254). Instead, it was a promise ring. A combination of relief and disappointment washed over her, making her realize she actually had fallen deeply in love with him. And she also realized that during those four days they had been apart, he's thought about her constantly. All he'd done, and the gifts he'd bought, in preparation for her coming back to him proved it.

Friday - which means we're getting a snapshot today, probably at 9 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time based on when all the other ones thus far have hit the Internet. Â Today will be a glimpse into Chapter 16. Recap of the snapshots of chapters 1-15: Â 1. The word "Press" over a fuzzy shot of a newspaper page, and a fancy pen in the foreground. (And now we know this meant the new character, Deanna Johnson, a reporter out to hurt Gideon by digging up dirt from his dark past.) 2. Unwrapped Christmas present boxes 3. The word "Business" next to a cup of coffee 4. A microphone on a stand 5. A pile of neatly-folded white terrycloth towels, wrapped in a red ribbon. 6. A bathtub in a modern-style bathroom 7. An open bottle of red wine, nearly full, and in front of it, one wine glass holding some wine. Near it is a small vase holding four red roses. 8. Two different types of pills in blister packs plus a bottle of some sort of liquid medication. The meds are on a glass coffee table in front of a white couch. 9. Fuzzy shot of a crowded dance floor. One woman in the center of the shot is in semi-focus. 10. A diamond and gold women's watch. 11. An Aston Martin sports car 12. * NEW - A vase of white roses with a card that says "Happy" (can't see what) and signed xoxoxoxo. This was newly-substituted yesterday (Thursday) from the original shot, of an elevator bank. 13. Pieces of women's clothing scattered at the foot of a bed. 14. An NYPD detective shield (badge). 15. A man's hand grasping a bed sheet