Okay, Saffie. There he is. You can do this. It’s a simple question and you need to know.
I dodged oncoming traffic of students and crossed the hall just as he slipped out the side door and walked outside. This is good. No audience. I pushed through the same door he’d used then sprinted toward him. But the chunky block heel of my boots sank in the dirt and I wobbled. I tried to catch myself only to step onto patches of ice. WHOA. Once I caught my balance, I gripped the straps of my backpack tight and hurried across the lawn as quickly as I could without slipping.
Okay, I definitely am not the kind of girl who wears heels.
This is ridiculous.
How am I supposed to run in these?
“Those are hardly winter boots.”
I gasped and slid to a stop. I knew that voice. Then I saw him.
Riah stood a few feet in front of me with his hands in his pockets. He smirked and shook his head. “Thought I felt something chasing me.” Then he turned and marched through the grass-less, icy lawn.
I groaned and hurried after him. “Wait, I wanted to talk to you—”
“For fashion advice, right? Well, personally I’d stick to flat footwear during the winter months.” He stopped and spun around, then leaned back against the three-foot-tall stone ledge that ran along the backside of campus. “Something with rubber soles, perhaps.”
I stomped up to him and put my hands on my hips. Then frowned and looked down at my feet. “Wait? You don’t like my shoes?”
His deep chuckle brought my gaze back up to his. “Oh, I like them. And now today you actually do look tall. Are those supposed to go that far up your thighs or are you that tiny?”
“I…what?” I reached down and tugged on the tops of my suede thigh-high boots. The tan material was a few shades darker than my actual skin, though you could only see an inch or two of it between my boots and skirt. I stuck one leg out to inspect the height then glanced up to find his gaze lingering over my now exposed thigh. Heat rushed to my face. “Well…they’re my size, so…both?”
He licked his lips as his gaze crept back up to my face very slowly. “I like the look today. Your skirt is…cute.”
I frowned. “Yesterday my skirt was dangerous.”
He grinned. “I’m afraid this outfit is far less dangerous for my health and yet I’m disappointed by that.”
“So…I look…cute?” I couldn’t decide why, but I didn’t like that.
He cocked his head to the side and his golden eyes flashed. “Like a fairy from another realm.”
“Shouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“Perhaps, though quite different.” He pursed his lips and eyed my skirt like it was a meal. “Yesterday’s garments of choice would make even the strongest of men crumble and do your bidding willingly. But this…this is charming and delicate, and would lure men to their deaths without even knowing they were going.”
I narrowed my eyes and tried not to smile. “That sounds more dangerous.”
He shrugged and gave me the sexiest smirk I’d ever seen. “I’d rather not know when my death was coming, should I have the choice.”
I opened my mouth then closed it. I had no idea what to say to that. Or what it meant. I had no idea what he meant by all this. But it was distracting as hell. The lines I’d rehearsed the whole way over here were gone. Vanished.
“I’m sorry.” He chuckled and rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip. “You looked like you had something important to say to me and I derailed you, though I place the blame entirely on those boots.”
“Um. Yes. I…uh…right.” I licked my lips then took a deep breath. I balled my hands into fists to give me the courage to do what I was about to do. “A week ago I woke up on the Derby Wharf in the middle of the night. Alone. Then I saw you…and I just…I just needed…were you following me?”
I expected him to be surprised or confused, yet he was the picture of calm. Without even a beat of hesitation, he said, “yes but no—”
“What—”
“Please,” he said softly and pressed his finger to my lips, silencing me. Then he pulled his finger back. “I’m a bit of an insomniac so I take the casual evening stroll once the town has gone to sleep. I was sitting on those steps for the view of the water and the boats. It’s a peaceful spot. Then I saw you come running toward me wearing far too little clothing and I knew something was off.”
“You followed me.”
He nodded and shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “You were barefoot, Saraphina. Visibly confused and scared. I watched as you changed directions and ran toward town but something in your eyes told me you needed help, so I followed you. To try and help you. But I didn’t want to spook you by approaching too quickly, so I hung back. It wasn’t until you turned to look at me outside the liquor store that I realized you were running from me. So I went inside to give you space.”
My breath left me in a rush. He hadn’t been following me. My mind replayed those moments, the way I’d turned and looked at him outside the store. I’d known he’d seen me and I’d known he’d gone in that store. But now I was seeing it in a whole new light.
“But then I couldn’t just leave you on your own out there like that, so I came out to help except you were gone,” Riah continued in that deep, strong voice of his that somehow sounded like music. “I decided to call the cops but my phone had died so I walked to the church around the corner because I know the Pastor there, and he’s always home and awake late at night. I went inside and called the police, reported a young girl alone and distressed. When I came back out…there you were.”
“In the middle of the street…” I heard myself whisper.
That’s when you pulled out the sword.
But he wasn’t following me. He hadn’t chased me through the shops on the wharf. That was how he’d gotten to the church so fast, because he hadn’t followed me. Which means he probably didn’t even HAVE a sword. I must’ve imagined it. Of course I did.
“I started to approach you, to see if I could help, but I scared you and you ran.” He smiled and shrugged one shoulder. “Not that I blame you, I’m not the smallest of guys. It was a wise decision on your part given the circumstances. Then I saw Landreia stop you and I knew you’d be okay, that she’d tend to your needs. So I went home.”
“You weren’t following me to kill me.”
His eyes widened. “You thought I was going to hurt you?”
I bit my lip and nodded. “Well…”
“I am so sorry I frightened you, it was not my intention.” Then he frowned. “Curious though, when did you decide I wasn’t going to hurt you?”
“When I saw you at school Friday.” A gust of wind ruffled the tulle layers of my skirt so I held them down. “Everyone at lunch seemed to know and like you. Then my friends Savannah and Gigi, who are the top of the class and highly regarded by the school staff, knew your name and that you were also new in town. It made me realize I might’ve misjudged the situation, that if you were a student at my school then you probably weren’t trying to kill me.”
He narrowed those golden eyes on me. “I didn’t realize students couldn’t be murderers.”