One Chapter A Day - Re-Read Of Bared and Entwined

[Kirsten]

So I got a little ahead of myself and read into Chapter 11... Eva sums up Gideon for me:

 

"You're ridiculously dense for such a smart guy."

[LN Cronan]

Chapter 9 of Reflected in You - The Readers Guide

 

This chapter unfolds Friday (day 25)

 

Key plot developments

• One of the pivotal chapters in the series thus far, Eva unexpectedly meets her ex-boyfriend, Brett, seeing him for the first time in four years. Their talking leads to kissing - and in the cliffhanger ending to the chapter, Gideon attacks Brett.
• When Eva had known Brett in San Diego, he was the lead singer of an indie band. Unknown to her -- until she walked into a concert with Gideon and two friends -- Brett's band had changed its name, and had recently become famous.
• Earlier in the day, Eva went out to lunch with Cary, their first chance to talk in a couple of days. Cary learned she was going to the concert -- and deliberately decided to not warn her it was Brett's band she'd be seeing.

 

New characters

Brett Kline - mentioned in passing and not by name in chapter 5, he emerges as an important character in this chapter

Arnoldo Ricci - Gideon's friend

Robert Phillips, band manager (minor)

 

Eva's past history with Brett

From what goes on in Eva's mind when she sees Brett perform in concert Friday night and from talking about him very briefly with Cary at lunch hours before, we readers learn:

• Eva had been involved with Brett for six months four years ago when she lived in San Diego.
• Desperate to hold on to him, she had sex with him every opportunity she could. This was in a period in her life before Dr. Travis began working with her on her sexual trauma issues. Before she got help, her love life had been a series of poor choices with men who were bad for her -- and a time when using her body to connect with men was the only way she knew how.
• However, she ultimately came to recognize she was debasing herself sexually with Brett. The relationship ended when she pulled one of her runners, suddenly vanishing from his life. The reason was Eva finally decided she deserved better than to be one of the many groupies he f**** in bathrooms between song sets at concerts.
• Brett didn't seek her out after she disappeared. But in hindsight he recognized she had been special and he regretted losing her. He never forgot about her, and years later he wrote a love song, Golden, about having lost her and hoping to find her again.
• The song propelled the band into mainstream stardom, including landing the band a contract with a major label - Vidal Records. Somewhere along the way, the band's name had changed from Captive Soul to Six-Ninths.
• Years ago, Eva had shoved Brett to the back of her mind and thus quit following news about band (much like she quit following news about Gideon once she left him) so she was unaware of even the name change, not to mention the recent rise in fame.
• Brett however continued to think about Eva in all the years since she left him --  and he hoped that some day she would approach him again at a concert. 

 

Series of events that led up to the kiss

1. Eva's new friend, Shawna, is a huge fan of Six-Ninths and had managed to score four tickets for a show the band was playing in a New York club concert venue on Friday night . Earlier in the week, she invited Eva and left open the possibility Eva could take her boyfriend and someone else along. Shawna's own boyfriend was in abroad studying in Europe.
2. Gideon essentially invited himself along, refusing to let Eva be in a concert crowd without him by her side. The natural other choice would have been Cary, but Eva, always careful to shield female friends from her complicated best friend, asked Gideon to invite one of his own friends as the fourth person.
3. Cary happened to find out Friday lunchtime about Eva's plans for that night -- and quickly figured out she had no clue Six-Ninths was Brett's band. Cary carefully avoided telling her this, but he did bring up Brett's name and say he (Cary) thought Brett was a "decent guy."
4. Gideon's choice of fourth person for the concert was an old friend of his, Arnoldo Ricci, a celebrity chef and part owner (along with Gideon) of a successful New York City restaurant, Tableau One.
5. Over dinner, Eva saw an unexpected side of Gideon she's never seen before in a social setting -- relaxing with friends, very happy.
6. During the concert itself, Gideon surreptitiously made love to Eva, bringing her to climax manually. But near the end is when Brett, as the concert's last song, performed "Golden."
7. Afterward, Gideon proposed they use his access to get backstage so that Shawna (and Arnoldo) could meet the band. While the others did end up going backstage, Eva begged off and instead went outside to the private parking area, near where Angus was waiting with the parked limo.
8. Brett was smoking in the parking area, and that's when he spotted Eva. She tried to bolt for the limo, but he caught up with her and got her to talk with him. Then he started kissing her.
9. "I even kissed him back, because the attraction was still there and it soothed something hurting inside me to think I might've been more than a convenient piece of a**." (page 162)

But then Eva regained control of herself, remembering she was madly in love with Gideon. She broke off the kiss and pushed Brett away .... and saw Gideon charging toward them.

The chapter ended with Gideon ramming into Brett.

[Sheens263]

Do you have to be 50 to be classified as a COUGAR??

I hope not but not sure what age a cougar is?

[sscrph]

So I got a little ahead of myself and read into Chapter 11... Eva sums up Gideon for me:

 

"You're ridiculously dense for such a smart guy."

She really does always know just the right thing to say!! :)

[LN Cronan]

Cougars can be as young as in their 30s -- it's the behavior of hunting down young men for sex, rather than a particular age, that makes a woman a cougar. We cougars are hotties that seek out young men for our pleasure (and theirs').

 

Urbandictionary.com is one of several excellent sites for finding definitions of slang expressions. Here's the definition page for the slang expression cougar as it applies to women who like younger men:

 

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=urban%20cougar

[LN Cronan]

So I got a little ahead of myself and read into Chapter 11... Eva sums up Gideon for me:

 

"You're ridiculously dense for such a smart guy."

 

Gideon may be a genius when it comes to numbers, but raw IQ and emotional intelligence are two different things. He struggles to keep his own emotions under control and thus doesn't often understand women who act on their emotions.

[insideofclouds]

Or you could say " A domani... which means until tomorrow. 

 

Yea you could but I was so used to saying ci vediamo domani every time I left class that it was just an automatic response!  

[julie54]

Do you have to be 50 to be classified as a COUGAR??

Oh yes! Purrrrrrrr

I'm a matured cougar. lol

[julie54]

Well here we are. Chapter 10.

This was quite a disturbing chapter. I cannot believe Gideon did what he did to Eva, to get her to admit why she kissed Brett. It was a wonder he didn't trigger her big time. The way he controlled Eva, was cold, calculated, and too detached. Yes he was hurting, but so had Eva. Treating her like a w*ore, making her strip-was that so she couldn't escape?

I'm surprised Angus didn't pull over saying enough! Yes he reminded her about her safe word, but she refused to use it, because she knew he had an ulterior motive.

This was a very dark Gideon. One that you wouldn't want to cross. No pun intended!

[Kirsten]

Well here we are. Chapter 10.

This was quite a disturbing chapter. I cannot believe Gideon did what he did to Eva, to get her to admit why she kissed Brett. It was a wonder he didn't trigger her big time. The way he controlled Eva, was cold, calculated, and too detached. Yes he was hurting, but so had Eva. Treating her like a w*ore, making her strip-was that so she couldn't escape?

I'm surprised Angus didn't pull over saying enough! Yes he reminded her about her safe word, but she refused to use it, because she knew he had an ulterior motive.

This was a very dark Gideon. One that you wouldn't want to cross. No pun intended!

I agree Julie. This scene made me so uncomfortable. I was screaming at Eva when she kissed Brett but this aftermath had me really wondering about Gideon. He was so detached, it was awful.

[gabri]

Here's what     in Chap.10

 

1) The exchange between Eva and Arnoldo taking place while Brett and Gedeon are still fighting.

     "What the h**l are you doing?"... "He's your friend! You're just going to leave him like that?"

     "He's your boyfriend".... "And YOU are the one who left him like that."

 

2)  Arnoldo's speaking as a true friend

     "Be gentle with him".... "I have never seen him the way he is with you. I can't say you are worth of him, but you make him  

     happy. I saw that myself. Do it or walk. Don't f**k with his head."

 

3) The whole s*x scene in the limo riding towards North Carolina. The pacing of Gedeon's "WHY?"s, the feel of his pent-up 

     anger, the cruelty of his "This isn't for you." always leave me breathless and weeping for both of them.

[insideofclouds]

Well here we are. Chapter 10.

This was quite a disturbing chapter. I cannot believe Gideon did what he did to Eva, to get her to admit why she kissed Brett. It was a wonder he didn't trigger her big time. The way he controlled Eva, was cold, calculated, and too detached. Yes he was hurting, but so had Eva. Treating her like a w*ore, making her strip-was that so she couldn't escape?

I'm surprised Angus didn't pull over saying enough! Yes he reminded her about her safe word, but she refused to use it, because she knew he had an ulterior motive.

This was a very dark Gideon. One that you wouldn't want to cross. No pun intended!

 

You know when I re-read RIY the second time I skipped that part because I just couldn't read it again. It made me very uncomfortable. 

[julie54]

Favourite passage.

"If you wanted him, it wouldn't be enough to let you go. I want you too much. I want you with me, in my life, in my bed. If I can have that, nothing else matters. I'm not to proud to take what I can get."

"Angel" he breathed, lowering his head to press his cheek to mine. "You can't let me go, either."

[Sheens263]

I agree Julie. This scene made me so uncomfortable. I was screaming at Eva when she kissed Brett but this aftermath had me really wondering about Gideon. He was so detached, it was awful.

so was I Kirsten, I could not believe she did that, mind you I did not like the way Gideon punished her, I felt that was really cruel and unnecessary in parts, what happened to talking it out 

[Kirsten]

Favourite passage.

"If you wanted him, it wouldn't be enough to let you go. I want you too much. I want you with me, in my life, in my bed. If I can have that, nothing else matters. I'm not to proud to take what I can get."

"Angel" he breathed, lowering his head to press his cheek to mine. "You can't let me go, either."

I love this passage too.

[insideofclouds]

so was I Kirsten, I could not believe she did that, mind you I did not like the way Gideon punished her, I felt that was really cruel and unnecessary in parts, what happened to talking it out 

 

Maybe that needed to happen as uncomfortable as it was to read. He knew her limit and she could've stopped it at any time. At least in the end he finally understood how Eva felt towards Corinne.

[julie54]

What amazed me, was Gideon said to Eva, "Your all I want, Eva. There's no one else. There will never be anyone else." They have a lovely weekend, just the two of them. Romantic and s*xual.

Then bam!

Monday comes, and he goes out with Corinne.

How to screw up your girlfriend in one easy lesson. :(

[Kirsten]

so was I Kirsten, I could not believe she did that, mind you I did not like the way Gideon punished her, I felt that was really cruel and unnecessary in parts, what happened to talking it out

I guess Gideon felt this was the only way to get her to this realization, but it was cold.

I have read these books countless times and this is the one section I always skim over. It's just to much.

[insideofclouds]

I guess Gideon felt this was the only way to get her to this realization, but ###### it was cold.

I have read these books countless times and this is the one section I always skim over. It's just to much.

 

Me too! Once was enough for me. 

[Kirsten]

What amazed me, was Gideon said to Eva, "Your all I want, Eva. There's no one else. There will never be anyone else." They have a lovely weekend, just the two of them. Romantic and s*xual.

Then bam!

Monday comes, and he goes out with Corinne.

How to screw up your girlfriend in one easy lesson.

Eva must have felt like she had whiplash. I certainly did. As we have discussed many times Gideon is clueless.

[julie54]

Maybe that needed to happen as uncomfortable as it was to read. He knew her limit and she could've stopped it at any time. At least in the end he finally understood how Eva felt towards Corinne.

I wonder how uncomfortable Angus felt, hearing her crying and screaming at Gideon? Does Gideon tell Angus everything? How much does Angus know about Eva's past? Does Angus rebuke Gideon for some of his actions? Oh I could go on. I need answers.

[gabri]

Seeing what my last post looks like, someone might think I was drunk while writing it. I was not!!! Only too focused on how I was going to phrase what I wanted to say.

 

What a clear example of the S/M relationship the limo scene is!! I think Marquess De Sade would be quite proud of it.

The same cannot be said about Gedeon, though. The fact that through her debasement Eva gets a better understanding of herself is a moot point: Gedeon is being cruel to his Eva, period. I can't find any excuses for that! 

[sscrph]

Cougars can be as young as in their 30s -- it's the behavior of hunting down young men for sex, rather than a particular age, that makes a woman a cougar. We cougars are hotties that seek out young men for our pleasure (and theirs').

 

Urbandictionary.com is one of several excellent sites for finding definitions of slang expressions. Here's the definition page for the slang expression cougar as it applies to women who like younger men:

 

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=urban cougar

LUV this LN I'm sure that will come in very handy as my kids get older and then It will seem I am WITH IT. :)

[sscrph]

LUV this LN I'm sure that will come in very handy as my kids get older and then It will seem I am WITH IT.

I would also like to say it is amazing the education we are getting on this forum LOL!!

[sscrph]

Seeing what my last post looks like, someone might think I was drunk while writing it. I was not!!! Only too focused on how I was going to phrase what I wanted to say.

 

What a clear example of the S/M relationship the limo scene is!! I think Marquess De Sade would be quite proud of it.

The same cannot be said about Gedeon, though. The fact that through her debasement Eva gets a better understanding of herself is a moot point: Gedeon is being cruel to his Eva, period. I can't find any excuses for that!

Definitely Gabri it was certainly a hard part of the book to read. I have stated before on this board that the average girl with no self esteem issues would never have completed that car ride. The fact that Eva suffers low self esteem and tremendous insecurity where Gideon is concerned allowed her to complete that journey to NC.