"I thought you would be able to help me help them."
"Help them? There is no helping them. They need to stay away from each other, it"s wrong and against the law."
"I can"t force them to stay away from each other, it"s not right ... I"m going to find a way out of this."
"Ruby, don"t go off on one of your little missions again. It doesn"t help; you only make things worse for yourself and others."
I flinched at his words but I didn"t bite back at them. I needed Eli on my side, not against me.
"Eli, I -"
"No. Leave it to me. I"ll deal with it." He stepped away from me and began walking away.
"This is why I never told you anything the first time," I admitted.
He stopped in his tracks, turning abruptly to face me, his hard stare burning into mine.
"I knew you would leave me out of it and handle things yourself. I don"t want it to add to your stress. I"ve done enough damage to you. It was a mistake coming to you for help or advice, forget I said anything."
I didn"t think I would regret telling Eli about Mila and Gabriel, but I did. Would he tell Mr Aleksandrov? Or report Gabriel to higher authorities? All this time I was scared of telling Mila my secrets in case she told someone, perhaps she should be more worried about me telling her secrets. It hasn"t been half a day and I"ve already told someone. Does it make it okay if I thought he could help?
I pushed past Eli but he stopped me by wrapping his warm hand around my waist. His touch electrified me and my heart raced. I used all the muscles in my body to keep myself where I was and not hurl my body at him.
"You did the right thing by telling me. I"ll do some research about G.o.ddess and guardian angel student relations. I"m sure I can find a loop hole. It won"t be easy, but at least it"s something. Keep them away from each other until I get back to you with more information."
I nodded. He retracted his hand from my waist and attached it to my wrist, giving it a quick rub with his thumb.
"Thank you for telling me. I shouldn"t make you feel like you can"t tell me anything. I may not be your guardian angel anymore or bonded by a tattoo, but I"ll always be here for you."
"Thank you."
I never thought a guy could affect me the way Eli does. When I"m away from him, I tell myself I"m exaggerating, that I"m building his looks and his personality up too high, but then I see him again, hear him again, and he"s even more perfect than I imagined before.
I hadn"t realized my thoughts had brought me all the way back to my dorm door, unnoticed. The door screeched loudly as I opened it and stepped in.
"What the -?" I gasped.
So far, so bad. Mila and Gabriel were lying on her bed; Gabriel pulled his face away from hers. His lips glistened in the light that poured in from the door; lip gloss covered most of his mouth and the surrounding skin.
"You need to get out of here now," I warned.
"Ruby!" Mila snapped.
"Mila, you know the rules."
I sounded like Eli. When I first arrived at SS and Rylan brought my text book back to my dorm, I invited him in, not knowing the boy/girl policy. If it was up to me, I"d leave and let them finish whatever it was they were doing or were going to do, but it wasn"t. I told Eli I"d keep them away from each other and that was something I was going to do.
Gabriel kissed Mila"s forehead and left the room, sparing an apologetic glance in my direction.
"What are you thinking? Are you crazy?" I said, closing the door.
"You didn"t have to be rude."
"Mila, I"m risking our a.s.ses here trying to help you. Pulling stupid stunts like this is going to ruin everything. What if it was Mrs Ploit at the door? What if it was your uncle? Think, Mila! Don"t ruin Gabriel"s life or your own. Give me time to figure something out. Eli -"
"You told Eli? Ruby, what were you thinking?"
Mila jumped off the bed and began pacing the room, biting nervously at her fingernails.
"It"s okay, Mila, we can trust him," I a.s.sured her.
"Trust him? He works for my uncle; he recently spent a few months with the higher power, he -"
"Your uncle was the one who started this. He gave you clearance to go on a date with Gabriel. He made no effort to prevent this situation, so relax," I interrupted, frustration lacing my tone.
"What if Eli rats us out?"
"He won"t."
"How do you know?"
"Eli brought me back from being a vampire when he could have killed me; he saved me when Hank attacked our cabin, he risked his own life to save mine, he killed a fellow guardian angel for me ... He wouldn"t rat us out, I know him."
"That was when you guys were bonded, when he was your guardian angel. That was his duty, what"s stopping him now?"
I knew what was stopping him; he cared about me. If he reported it, I would get in trouble for knowing and not reporting it. If anything happened to Gabriel, it would destroy Mila, and in turn, destroy me. No matter what he did, it would link back to me and I know he didn"t want that. I wanted to tell her all of this, but I couldn"t. The timing was too risky.
"... Nothing."
The Best Laid Plans....
"You look fine." Mila sighed whilst flicking through a Vogue magazine, not sparing a glance in my direction.
I was standing in front of the mirror a.n.a.lyzing my outfit. The short red dress I got from Camilla and Aunt Jen for my birthday looked fantastic against my finally tan skin. The heels I chose to wear were much smaller, only an inch or two off the ground. I didn"t want to roll my ankle again.
"Why are you getting so dressed up? I thought you didn"t care about dinner."
"I do care."
It was only dinner with Hunter, but I still wanted to look nice. It had been years since I"ve eaten at a restaurant and I wanted my return to be special.
"It"s just been a while since I"ve eaten at a restaurant."
"Oh, I forgot."
Hunter knocked gently.
"Are you ready?" he asked softly through the cheap wood of the door.
His voice was as sweet as honey, yet mixed with caution, as if he was expecting me to cancel. I opened the door, ready to exit, but stopped in shock and confusion. Eli and Hunter were standing in front of me. Eli (standing a meter behind Hunter) was dressed in his guardian all black army-like uniform, arms crossed, looking unbelievably s.e.xy.
"They match your dress," Hunter said as he handed me a bunch of deep red roses.
I took my eyes from Eli and placed them on Hunter.
"Thank you, they"re beautiful. Sorry. Um, what"s going on?"
"We need a guardian escort to town and the school provided us with your lovely ex-guardian angel," Hunter explained, gesturing towards Eli.
Hunter"s voice was polite and friendly but his face expressed the same awkward expression mine did. I couldn"t help but wonder if the universe was playing a sick joke on me. It was going to be even harder to convince Eli that Hunter and I weren"t together now.
"Now that I"m back, the school thinks it would be a good idea to start with small guardian tasks."
"Oh. I forgot my handbag, excuse me," I said, retreating back to the safety of my room.
"What"s wrong?" Mila asked, as the door clicked behind me.
"Eli is escorting us to dinner."
Mila"s mouth dropped open. "It"s like a cheesy sitcom."
"I don"t know why they bother with escorts. The town is under a charm, anyway," I stated, ignoring her comment.
"Yeah, but rogue G.o.ds, G.o.ddesses, guardian angels, or even humans could be working for vampires. Who knows what could happen? With rapidly decreasing numbers in both of our species, it"s better to be safe than sorry."
Her words sent chills down my spine. I thought of Tay and his secret obsession with becoming a vampire, becoming immortal. He kept it under wraps so well, who knows what the ulterior motives people have.
I found my red clutch lying on my bed. I grabbed it, and in its place, I left the roses.
"Aw, they"re beautiful," Mila cooed.
"Yeah ..." I was awed by the thought of Hunter giving me flowers but knowing that he might be keeping something terrible from me prevented me from enjoying their full beauty.
The car ride was as awkward. Eli drove whilst Hunter and I sat in the back, his hand upon my knee. No words were spoken until we reached the restaurant.
"We"re here," Eli announced.
Hunter climbed out of the car and extended his hand towards me, helping me out. The red neon lights that adorned the restaurant were pretty. My eyes followed them as they ran along the wall, curving into a rose beneath a sign that read "La Hope."
"You two have fun," Eli said as he came around to the front of the SUV and leaned against it.
I peeled my eyes off him as Hunter guided us in through the front door of the restaurant. Inside it was dark and red. The walls were adorned with beautiful paintings and green plants. From the outside, you wouldn"t think it was capable of five star quality.
Of course we had to get the table right by the wide front window, right by Eli. I glanced sideways toward the car, he was gone.
"For you," Hunter said as he pulled my chair out.
"Such a gentlemen." I smiled, sitting down on the comfortable dining chair. It was much better than the wooden ones in the dining hall that deaden your b.u.t.t muscles if you sit for too long.
A tall, skinny waiter around the age of fifteen brought us our menus. "I"ll be back soon to take your order."
Hunter opened his menu. "What do you feel like?"
I was too nervous to choose a big meal. The grilled chicken Caesar was probably the most alluring meal on the menu for someone in my shoes.
"The chicken salad," I said.
Hunter shot me a sceptical look. "Eighty precent of the school"s food is healthy. The one night you can have anything you want, you choose a healthy option?"
"I"m not feeling very well. Something light on my stomach is probably what"s best right now."
"Aw, are you nervous being here with me?" Hunter raised his eyebrow as he spoke and flashed his usual devil may care smile.
"Something like that," I replied.
The young waiter strode towards us, carrying a bottle of wine.
"Hunter, we -"
"You"re eighteen... You can drink outside of school legally."
"I know, but I don"t want to."
Hunter signalled for the waiter to go away. "Is everything okay?"
There was no use in keeping it to myself any longer. The stress it was putting on me was poisoning my body, I could feel it.
"Hunter, we need to talk. Today-"
"Wait, at least until after dinner," he suggested.
I wasn"t happy about it. I just wanted to put everything out in the open.
Dinner conversation was quiet. I was having a hard time deciphering what he was thinking. His face didn"t betray his emotions, it stayed hard and calculating. The silence was killing me, I couldn"t hold it in.
"Did you file a report against Eli?" I asked abruptly, unable to keep the anger out of my tone.
I didn"t realize how desperately I wanted it to not be true.
"Where did you hear that?"
"It doesn"t matter."
There was a long pause, Hunter thought about his next choice of words carefully before calling the waiter for a gla.s.s of wine.