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She turned around, opened the door and let herself out. Her footsteps echoed through the hallway, as her room was close, but we were still separated by the hallway. Just as I was about to close the door, I saw Adrian was standing to my right side, leaning against the door. There was a cigarette hanging from the corner of his lips. But strangely, it was not lit.
I walked out, amused. “I didn’t know you smoked.” I stopped right in front of him, as my heart slid all the way down into my heels, making me lose balance. Fortunately, I regained it quickly.
“I don’t,” he replied, taking out the cigarette. “I stopped ages ago. But I miss the feeling of doing something when I’m not doing anything.”
“What?” I chuckled. “Doing something when you’re not doing anything?”
“Yeah,” he smiled. “I know it doesn’t make any sense, but yeah.”
“Force of habit?”
“That, too,” he nodded. “But it’s mostly when stress takes over.”
“Are you stressed?” I asked, concern etched in my voice.
He didn’t say anything at first. He looked around. I knew that he wanted to make sure we were alone, but we were in a hallway, and it wasn’t that late at all. This was neither the time nor the place to have the conversation which I’d been dying to have. A part of me was glad that he was stressed. That meant that he was thinking about it almost as much as I was. Maybe he was even thinking in the same direction. I dared not hope for that yet, not until I knew more. But for that, we needed privacy. Not the open-ended hallway, where even the walls had ears.
“Lack of sleep mostly,” he revealed.
“You don’t sleep well?” I asked again.
“I’ve trained myself to have a very light sleep. Anything and everything wakes me up. That is the only way I can do my job well. And here, I barely sleep at all. Your safety is of the utmost importance.”
“You mean mine and Cass’?”
He hesitated before replying.
“Is there something I should know?” I pushed him.
He was reluctant to speak, but I think he knew me well enough by now to know that I wouldn’t let this go. So, he told me.
“When I spoke to the witch last night, she told me that your life is in danger more than anyone else’s,” he spoke slowly accentuating every word. “She told me not to take my eyes off of you for a single second.”
“Otherwise, something terrible might happen?” I finished his thought. He just nodded to this.
I thought about it for a moment, then smiled. “Well, that’s good. At least you know who you need to focus on. I’m glad to hear that, to be honest.”
“How could you be glad to hear you’re the target?” he wondered, incredulously.
“Because that means those I love are safe,” I explained. “Cass and Father are the most important people in the world for me. They and…” I started, but I couldn’t finish.
“Luke, of course,” he finished in a way he believed I wanted to finish, but that was not nearly true. I cared more about him than Luke. Much more.
“Luke,” I said, trying to evade a direct answer. By echoing what he said, I felt like I didn’t agree or disagree. Besides, Luke was the last person I wanted to talk about right now.
“Don’t worry,” he told me, his voice down to a whisper. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
There was something about the way he said it, a deeply set longing which didn’t escape my attention.
“Knowing you are here, makes me feel safer,” I replied, trying not to cross that boundary.
He nodded, pocketing the cigarette, which was in his hand the whole time, then entering his room, the door to which remained open. I did the same with mine. I left the door ajar. I didn’t know if that was an invitation or just a need to know that I could be by his side in three steps if I woke up in the middle of the night.
I got ready for bed and covered myself. I closed my eyes, but sleep did not come. My mind was too awake for my body to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Adrian
