Chapter Ten
Caleb
I’m sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall near Raven and Sophie’s room.
Addie is inside, working on homework. I can hear them laughing and chatting, and that makes me smile.
It’s nice to hear Addie laugh. And it sure as heck was nice to see her having fun in the rec room.
She just lost both her parents a month ago, yet she still has it in her to smile.
That takes a lot of strength. I’m glad she found friends she can get close to, but at the same time, I need to be vigilant.
My thoughts focus on her smile and laugh when she and Carly danced while playing the game. I know she spotted me watching her, but I just couldn’t look away. Her smile is very electrifying, drawing me in a way I’ve never been drawn in before. By anyone.
I don’t understand it one bit, and I remind myself not to linger on it too much because I can’t let myself slip .
I also think about her telling me that she doesn’t think it’s fair that she’s having fun while I have to “babysit” her.
But she doesn’t get it. I’ve sworn my life to protect people.
This is what I want to do. It’s my mission.
Having fun playing games or dancing is nice and all, but at the end of the day, ensuring her safety is what matters.
A few girls wave or smile at me as they pass. Some try to engage me in conversation, but I pay no attention to them. Hopefully, they’ll eventually learn I have no interest in them.
I wonder if I would try to have a girlfriend if I wasn’t born into the bodyguard family business. If I didn’t dedicate my life to protecting people. Would I be like the other kids here and only think about dating and cars? Or whatever it is these kids are into.
The door opens and Addie walks out. She stops short as her eyes pin on me. “Have you been here this whole time?”
I get to my feet. “Like I said, wherever you go, I go.”
“And you just sat there doing nothing?”
I dip my head.
“How could you do that and not go out of your mind?” she wonders as we make our way down the hall to her room. The entire hallway is adorned with many portraits of people who graduated from here, as well as large plants and statues. Perfect for bodyguards to hide behind.
“Your safety is the only thing on my mind,” I tell her.
She turns to me, looks like she wants to say something, then faces the spot in front of her.
We continue walking in silence until I say, “Did studying go well?”
“Yeah. This school is a million times harder than my previous one, but I’m sure I can handle it. I just need to study a lot.”
“Good,” I say as she unlocks the door to her room and we enter. “You should focus on your studies and less on boys.”
She lifts a brow. “Excuse me?”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I hold her gaze. “Did I say something that displeases you?”
“You bet your butt you did. What’s wrong if I talk to boys?”
“You know what’s wrong. They’ll distract you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Oh my gosh. So now you won’t let me talk to boys? Who the heck put you in charge anyway?”
I step closer to her, causing her to back away. I continue moving until she reaches the wall. Her eyes widen as I place my hands on either side of her head, my face only inches from hers.
Before I can stop them, my gaze flicks to her lips. She licks them, which makes me stare even harder. She has really pretty lips, the kind most guys would dream of kissing.
“So now you’re holding me against my will?” she demands, breaking me from my thoughts.
I blink and look into her eyes. “What did I say about testing my patience?”
She raises her head. “What did I say about keeping me prisoner here?”
I bend my head even closer to her, so close that I can hear a soft gasp escape her lips. “Do you want to know who put me in charge?” I whisper. “Your grandfather. The person who loves you more than anyone else in the world.”
She snorts, placing her hands on my chest and shoving me back. But she doesn’t succeed in pushing me even a centimeter. “He doesn’t love me.”
“He does.”
She narrows her eyes. “What do you know? You think you can just enter my life and make up all these lies—”
She stops talking when I place my hand on her cheek, pushing some hair away. “You’ve only known him for a few hours. I’ve known him practically all my life. Do you think he’s happy he didn’t have a relationship with you? You think he’s happy he has to keep his distance from you? It kills him.”
She glares at me. “Stop painting him as this perfect person who only wants people to be happy. He’s not that.”
I study her for a bit, noting the pain in her eyes. She’s probably thinking about her parents. “I know he doesn’t show it,” I tell her. “But he cares about you.”
“Or he just wants an heir. Can you get out of my face now? I still have some homework to do.”
I take a second or two to gaze into her eyes before stepping back. She slides away from me, giving me a look before dropping down at her desk.
Lowering myself on the chair nearby, I keep my attention on her.
“So how does this work?” she asks after a bit. “Do you have homework or do you magically pass all your classes? ”
“My homework is already completed.”
“So you’re a genius?”
“No. Efficient.”
She shrugs. “Well, you don’t have to get good grades, right? You just have to pass.”
I nod.
She returns to her studying, and about five minutes pass before she looks up at me. “Are you really just going to sit there watching me all evening?”
“Yes.”
She taps her pencil on her lips. “That’s very annoying.”
“I don’t really care what annoys you, Addilyn.”
Her mouth opens to retort, but I bend forward and say, “The boy you were with today—”
“Warner.”
“I don’t care for his name. What are his motivations?”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Motivations? Like, his agenda ?”
“Yes.”
She throws her hands up. “To talk to the new student? I don’t know. Maybe he was trying to be nice and welcoming.”
I narrow my eyes as I ponder her words. “The guy does not have innocent intentions.”
“I can’t believe you. When my grandfather hired you to protect me, I’m sure that didn’t include denying me friends.”
“You can have friends. I just don’t trust that boy.”
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, well, you can’t exactly tell me what to do or who to hang out with. So if I want to hang out with ‘that boy,’ then I will.”
I cross my arms over my chest, the corner of my lips twitching. “No, you’re right. I can’t tell you who to hang out with.”
“Good.”
“But if that boy harms you, he’ll regret the day he was born.”
“Well, he won’t harm me. So can you please stop acting like an overprotective dad?”
I hesitate as I once again see the pain in her eyes. As much as she misses her parents and old life, she wants to be happy. And didn’t I tell her during lunch that I want her to live a normal life here?
“I apologize.”
Her eyes widen a little. She tucks some hair behind her ear. “Oh, I didn’t expect you to say that.”
I sigh. “I’m not trying to be cruel, Addilyn. I’m just doing my job.”
“I get it. This place is huge and you don’t know who you can trust. But Warner is a good guy. He’s been going to this school since freshman year. My new friends think he’s nice. So you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Yes, I do.”
“What is it about him that you don’t trust?”
I don’t say anything, just keep my gaze on her.
“Is it just him or any guy that might flirt with me?”
“Anyone who gets close to you, be it male, female, teacher, student, or staff, they will instantly be suspicious to me.”
She grunts, crossing her arms over her chest .
I sigh again. “Like I said, you can hang out with whoever you want, but they’ll constantly be on my radar. And you need to be careful, too. The best defense is your brain and your instincts. It’s just temporary, Addilyn. Until the threat is gone.”
“What if they never find the people who want me dead? Am I going to live like this for the rest of my life? In hiding? Not knowing who to trust?”
“They’ll find them.”
She lifts a brow. “How are you so sure?”
“Because your grandfather hired the best of the best.”
She doesn’t say anything.
“It probably won’t be long,” I continue. “And then you can live your life and flirt with whoever you want without any worries.”
She squints at me. “Are you making fun of me? Maybe Mr. Big Muscles like you flirts with girls left and right, but I’ve never gotten much attention from guys, okay? So excuse me for getting a little excited that a guy might possibly be interested in me.”
“I’ve never flirted with a girl in my life, and as you’ve witnessed today, I didn’t flirt with the girls here. Seems like a waste of time.”
Her jaw nearly drops. “You’ve never flirted with anyone?”
“No, and I don’t plan to.”
She looks like she has many questions, but decides to drop them. “Yet, arguing with me isn’t a waste of your time?”
I bend close to her. “If you wouldn’t be so difficult, I wouldn’t have to argue with you. ”
“Right. I’m the difficult one.”
We eye each other for what feels like hours. Then she tears her gaze away and focuses on her homework.
Honestly, I’m a little disappointed. I like our arguing. I like seeing the fire in her eyes. I like how she challenges me.
I think about what she said about flirting. Is it really as big of a deal as she made it seem? She looked like she was having fun when she talked to that guy…Warner.
I have no reason to suspect him, but there’s something about him that I just don’t like.