Sun Kissed (The Guardian Angel Series Book 2) (5 page)

BOOK: Sun Kissed (The Guardian Angel Series Book 2)
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“Are you okay?” Mila asked, breaking my
line of thought.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m just thinking about what
we discussed earlier,” I lied.

“Shhh,” she hushed as she glanced over her
shoulder cautiously.

I rolled my eyes. I gave nothing away by
using that sentence. Who would hear what I said as ‘Mila loves Gabriel’?

“Chill out. I’m obviously not going to talk
about it in a room full of people.”

“But still … be cool.”

I rolled my eyes at her.

 

Once lunch was over I became increasingly
nervous. I knew I had to confront Hunter about it and I didn’t want to ruin
dinner, but I had to do it when there was no one around, making dinner my only
option.

Students poured from the dining hall, Mila
included, but I decided to hang back to speak to Eli. I couldn’t give Mila the
right advice but I know Eli can.

“Is everything okay?” Eli asked as we
walked out of the dining hall side by side.

“I can’t tell you here. We need to find a
quiet place.”

‘Ruby, I don’t think —”

“It’s about Mila.”

Eli’s fingers wrapped around my forearm and
he guided me to the side of the dining hall by a pretty gardenia bush. I
ignored the goosebumps his touch gave me.

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine, I think … she’s in love —”

“That’s normal.” He interrupted, slightly
frustrated with me.

“With a guardian angel.”

“Oh. Does he —”

“I guess so. They spend a lot of time
together.”

Eli brushed his hand through his hair and I
bit my lip, trying to fight back the urge to do it myself.

“Gabriel?”

I nodded.

“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 goddess 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 asses 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
assured 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 analyzing
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 sexy.

“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 gods, goddesses, 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 butt 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.

BOOK: Sun Kissed (The Guardian Angel Series Book 2)
7.03Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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