Page 18 of Secret Gifts
I’m glad I don’t. If I did, then I’d be calling him to invite him over every time I had a moment of weakness. I’d feel like an idiot if another girl answered his phone, or if he just laughed at me like he loves to do.
Again, his lips tighten, and he seems displeased with me. Maybe it’s my attire. I do look a little… uptight, I suppose. My dark jeans are tucked into my boots very snugly, and my dark hair is wafted back in a ponytail. My casual tee wasn’t ever meant to be seen by his eyes, but then again, it’s not like he would care if I got all dolled up.
After hearing all the girls whispering and giggling all day about this guy, I don’t need to even think about him. Besides, I can’t be with a full blood anyways. It’s too risky.
“You in there?” he says through a chuckle when I seem to be lost from the world.
“Oh… yeah… silent stalk. We can’t even take our phones with us.”
He nods, and suddenly Rex is joining us.
“No silent stalk missions. You know better,” he growls, and I groan as he towers over me.
Jase leans back as he meets my brother eye to eye, but Rex disengages from him very quickly to return his glare to me.
“This is my career, big brother. I’m far too old to be getting preached to about safety. Mom and Uncle Brazen will just have to deal with it. I’m not telling anyone I can’t go because my mother would disapprove.”
“Then I’ll tell them. Mom’s name still carries enough weight to get you out of this,” he hisses before stalking off.
“If you do this, I swear I won’t talk to you for two or three centuries.”
He halts his stride, and then he slowly turns back around.
“I’d rather have you alive and silent for a few hundred years than dead and silent for the rest of eternity,” he says far too seriously, and I roll my eyes.
“It won’t matter. By the time Mom throws her weight around, I’ll already be gone, and no one will have a phone for her friend, the commander, to call.”
He growls under his breath as he dashes back to his room. I laugh lightly, but Jase’s face is very serious when I turn back to meet him.
“What?” I ask while pulling my suitcase behind me and locking my door.
“Maybe he’s right. If your mother feels so strongly about your not going on silent stalk-”
“Stop right there. I didn’t realize you were an Arayan,” I huff out while walking faster to escape him.
Of course. Now it all makes perfect sense. It's not Hale Banner he worships after all.
“A what?” he asks in bemusement as he hurries to catch back up with me.
“An Arayan. It’s what I call my mother’s groupies. I swear she has more people worshipping her than a rockstar from the old ages. If she wanted to start a cult, all she’d have to do is hang a damn sign saying, ‘Members wanted,’ and she’d have to turn people away after five hours. It's so fucking obvious now,” I hiss out while rounding the next corner even faster.
“What the hell are you talking about? You lost me at groupie. Just because I respect your mother and the work she has done, it doesn’t mean I worship her. And what is obvious?” he asks in a huff as he catches up once again.
“You. I couldn’t figure out why you kept showing up around me, but now I get it.”
I’m so stupid!
“What the hell does that mean, damn it?” he insists. “Give me something to argue here.”
“It’s nothing. This was my lapse. I can’t blame you for loving my mother like the rest of the damn United. I need to go,” I mumble while rushing down the stairs to the outside, trying to avoid any further conflict.
The fresh air slaps me in the face, and then I get sick when I see our new captain. He looks so young in so many ways. He doesn’t have the skill or the experience etched in his eyes like the seasoned full bloods. He’s so… meager, and his lack of confidence shines through like a damn neon sign.
Great. Now I’ll have a dumb jackass and a beginner jackass to deal with.
“Aria, please stop and talk to me,” Jase’s voice interjects from behind as he whirls me around to face his incredible, smooth pale eyes.
“Look, Jase, I’ll talk to you some other time. I’ve got work to do right now. My mother deserves to be praised, but I don’t hang out with people who want to use me to earn her affections,” I mumble under my breath, and he scoffs out in disbelief.
