Page 67 of Caleb
Wetting my lips, I glance at Aaron, asking him nicely (telepathically) to agree to this. She needs help.Myhelp. How am I to refuse her?
“Aaron.” Red widens her eyes at him—a silent plea.
“Okay, Miss Murphy.” He caves in with a sigh. “Just this once,” he says, hesitation hanging heavily from his words. “I’ll park the car, and Caleb will walk you to class.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Aaron tells me in Hebrew. “And don’t talk to her classmates.”
I nod instead of rolling my eyes at him and follow Red toward the university’s main building. Noelle studies here too. And we’ve crossed paths more than a few times in the hallways. But she’d been quiet, behaving. Until I recently started getting texts from her again. She must’ve broken up with Lucas, her boyfriend, because she’s insisting on wanting to see me. And I want to see her too, but only to say goodbye.
I’ve decided not to accept the job with Ambassador Bailey, but I haven’t informed Ambassador Murphy yet. Taking anything from him means I’ll always owe him, so fuck that. I’m going back to Israel. Aaron’s been making some calls, and he might be able to help me find a job there. The four years I’ve been working here look good on my resume. At least I can bank on that.
Red leans in and whispers, “Could you at least take your earpiece off once we’re in the classroom?”
“Sure.” I wink at her, trying to be my usual self and avoid her detecting anything weird in our interactions. Besides,acting normalis stipulated in the contract. So it’s not like I have a choice. “Aaron won’t like the idea, but I don’t feel like arguing with you when you always get your way.” She always does.
A small group of girls stare and giggle as we walk down the corridor with haste. One of them gestures with her thumb and pinky, putting it close to her ear like a phone and mouthing, “Call me.”
Shaking my head, I snort, and a small smile draws on my face. These girls are anything but subtle. And as awkward as it always is, I can’t help but love the annoyed little gestures that appear on Red’s face anytime something like this happens. She hates how we make her “too visible,” or so she’s told me in the past. I’m sure she wished she could get lost among the crowded halls of the university, but that’s hard to imagine. She’s the type of girl who can’t go unnoticed, but it could be that she doesn’t understand that simple but very true fact.
We walk into Red’s classroom and take a seat at a tall work table while the rest of her classmates file in and her instructor finishes setting up the lighting equipment for the photoshoot.
I feel out of place here.
Everyone arrives a couple of minutes later, and the class begins after the teacher explains the assignment. I think. She’s speaking French, fast, so it’s hard for me to follow.
One by one, her classmates take turns photographing their models in the different stages their teacher set up for them.
“I’m next after he’s done,” Red whispers. “I need you to take your jacket off.” She pauses her camera prep to look up at me.
I raise a playful brow at her.
“Please?”
Red doesn’t need to beg, that’s what she doesn’t know. I’m more than willing to do her bidding. Now and always. But teasing her is always fun.
“That’s not possible, and you know why.” I lean casually against the table, crossing my arms at my chest, my gaze fixed on her. She keeps forgetting I always carry a concealed weapon under my jacket.
“Um, right.” She presses her lips together as if thinking about what to do or say next. “Take your earpiece off, then.”
“Aaron’s gonna be pissed,” I say, not doing a thing to remove it. I don’t think Aaron would notice if I did, but I can tell she’s enjoying this interaction. She seems a little nervous too, which has been happening more lately whenever we talk. But I’ve been trying not to give much thought to what any of these new reactions mean. I’m just enjoying her company and being able to help out.
It’s nice to be “alone” with her while Aaron waits outside. I’m sure he’s having a blast.
“Good. That way, you’ll have a real reason to argue instead of the usual UFC fight nights and such.” She stands on tiptoe to pull the earpiece out of my ear. Fuck. I can smell her perfume’s warm, spicy, floral notes emanating off her neck and wrists, which are right in front of me.
Breathe. Or rather,hold your breath.
“This looks really uncomfortable,” she says, “and not at all inconspicuous, by the way.”
“That’s the point, actually.” I look away from her lips and clear my throat to force myself to detach from my inappropriate thoughts. “Security should be obvious.” I grab the earpiece from her hand, our fingers grazing and sending an electromagnetic wave of … something I need to ignore.
“Wait.” I put the earpiece back on for a second to let Aaron know I’ll be offline for a few minutes. After that, I take it off again and she grabs it and hides it inside my shirt right behind my neck with comfortable familiarity like that’s just something she does every day.
A nostalgic ache hits me in the chest while I watch her move and prepare her camera for the photoshoot, knowing our time is almost up, wishing I could tell her the truth about that and many other things.
“We agreed you wouldn’t wear it during the photoshoot.” She glances at me from the corner of her eye. “So don’t look at me like that.”
There’s nothing left for me to do but smile, so that’s what I do. “Okay, what else?”
