“I’m so sorry, Ellie,” Aurora whispered. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble for you.”
Who was the parent and who was the child here? What was with that reaction? I started moving in front of Aurora protectively before I even realized it… And it was immediately noted by Ms. Reed.
Fuck.
So off to her office we went. Great. Just fucking great.
Chicks were always trouble.
2
Aurora
I’d come to the hospital to drop off food to Ha-joon in thanks for letting me stay at his condo for so long before Ellie had set me up in a condo in a different building she owned. Theresa had asked her for that because the security was good and she would feel better since they both wanted to go after my former family for holding me prisoner for so long.
I realized it wasn’t the right thing to do given the place and his position, especially since they were now a public couple. People were whispering and giving me pointed stares as if I’d crossed some sort of line. He even looked a bit uncomfortable, so I’d hurried to apologize, explaining that I thought he could share with his staff instead of stopping by his condo.
But then I hurried to leave, down on myself for not understanding that was how society was now… And upset that was how society was now. It was so ridiculously harmless that I dropped off food to thank him and people were wagging their tongues over that.
I wanted to take a moment in the atrium garden to catch my breath and recenter myself before I met up with my driver. He was really a bodyguard and he didn’t hide that, but Theresa and Ellie referred to him as my driver since everything in Atlanta needed to be driven to.
Even I knew that was a lie since the public transit system was fantastic. Ellie made sure of that, but it was overwhelming for someone who had never used it—used any sort of public transit. I wasn’t even used to vehicles and they were still scary to me.
So yes, I understood the guard and appreciated him. He was very nice and I felt safe with him, so they did a good job choosing Xavier. He was a Belgian Malinois shifter, so they were perfect for protecting people and always keeping an eye on their surroundings.
But that was also why I needed a minute because he noticedeverythingand I knew he reported back to Ellie and Theresa.
And that was how I met Creed.
I was upset and tired of feeling like no one ever understood me or gave me the chance to explain, but he did. I was tired of people picking on the wrong people and he appreciated it.
But his warning to stay away from ASH haunted me. Was there something more going on at Ellie’s hospital that she didn’t know about? She had worked so hard to make this amazing place, and again to clean it of corruption and toxicity… I couldn’t just ignore what he’d said.
Plus, I wanted to see him again.
I was hundreds of years old and free to live my life now. It was time to be honest even if it was just with myself.
He was rough around the edges, and I’d never met someone who used so much profanity when not upset, but he was… Real. He was calm and not uptight when I’d lived in a world full of anxiety and my entire life had been judged by an array of hypercritical people.
I found myself mostly forgetting about why I’d wanted to get to know him originally and simply wanting to spend time with him. But then I felt guilty, deciding to go see Mark who was one of Ellie’s executive admins and the person she said to talk with if I needed anything.
“Hi, I was hoping to get some information on an employee,” I told him, swallowing my nerves because he treated me like an annoying bug he didn’t want to deal with.
He slowly blinked at me as if I’d asked him for the time or something simple I could find out myself. “Oh, you’re serious.” He let out a fake, mocking chuckle. “Um, no, we can’t do that. It’s extremely,extremelyagainst the law since you don’t work here or have any reason at all to ever see private hospital personnel information.”
“Oh, yes, it is silly to ask when you put it like that,” I quickly replied. “I apologize for bothering you.”
He gave a noncommittal grunt and picked up his phone that didn’t ring giving me a look to leave him alone. He wasn’t wrong that I’d asked for something over the line and yes, I was an idiot for not having realized that, but… Did he have to make me feel so small for asking?
He knew about my circumstances, and instead of being understanding, seemed to enjoy making me feel stupid at every turn.
You are stupid, and he has every right to point out when you act a fool so you don’t keep embarrassing Ellie.
Xavier noticed a difference in me and asked if anything was wrong. I gave him the same answer as always and adjusting to the way society was now was difficult for me. I’d watched it pass me by and learned as much as I could once the internet came about, but… It wasn’t the same as living in it.
I felt as if I’d spent my life looking out the window for centuries after I left the Reed coven and never experienced anything. I’d basically been in a time capsule waiting to be opened and completely behind.
And as Mark pointed out, I needed to “wash the privilege off of me” since I wasn’t a coven leader’s wife anymore nor a covenleader’s daughter with power. True but… Again, he could explain it to me without acting as if I was being rude.
