She glances at the Beast and then quickly back to me—one of those looks she hopes I didn’t notice.
“We don’t know,” she says.“But I’m sure it won’t be long.”
“And what about university?I’ve got lectures this week and assignments due.”
I’d gone on to university after studying my A levels, even though there’s no point in any of it, as there’s no way my father will let me get a job in the real world.But he couldn’t argue with staying on in education.Uni is the only time I get to feel like a semi-normal person, despite Bastian accompanying me to every lecture.He probably knows more about human biology than I do.I swear he pays far more attention.
“Your laptop bag is here.Maybe you could email your tutors and tell them you’re ill, and they’ll send you what you need.It’ll be like distance learning, I suppose.I’m sure they won’t object, not with how much money your father pays them.”
This is one of the reasons why I love Willa.She’s so practical and always thinking ahead.Distance learning is doable.The university organised it for a girl in my chemistry class who’d had a really bad car accident in the first term and broke both her legs.And yes, as one of the university’s biggest donors, my father holds more sway than most.
But I don’t like the ease of this answer.
I don’t like that this is a solvable problem.I want a dilemma, something that can’t be fixed at the click of an email or the flash of my father’s cash.I need a reason why I can’t be here in this fucking house.If I’m ever going to destroy my father’s plans for me, it isn’t going to happen squirrelled away on a mountain with my bodyguards.
“Fuck.”I punch my fist into the sofa.“As if my life couldn’t get any fucking worse, I’m now stuck here with you two.”Willa doesn’t react, and neither does the Beast.“Come on!”I all but yell.“You guys can’t be happy about this.”
Willa waits as if testing the water before saying, “Yeah, well, this is the last place I want to be right now.”She pats my leg.“Marta’s due date is next month.”
My stomach squirms.
“Shit.I forgot about Marta.How the hell is she?”I ask, guilt swamping me that I’m not the only person here with problems, and some might argue that mine are worth shit compared to Willa.But I suppose we all think our own dilemmas are bigger than anyone else’s.
“She’s doing the best she can, but she hasn’t been sleeping lately because she’s so big.”
“You sure it’s not twins?”I joke.
“Yeah, it’s just the one ginormous baby.But I hate being this far away from her when anything could happen.”She stares at the cup in her hand.
“That sucks.”I pick my tea up and take a sip, assessing Willa as she sets her drink down and starts to pull at her fingers.“Hopefully, we won’t be here that long,” I tell her, and she smiles, but it’s not the usual Willa smile.
“What about you, big man?”I ask, turning to face the Beast.“You got some lovesick chick back home who’ll be pining for you?Or maybe some hot dude who’ll have to see to his own needs for the next few days?”
He glares at me, and I love it.It’s like poking the bear with a stick through the bars of its cage.I’ve never asked him about his love life—that would just be weird.But when your bodyguards are with you so much of the time, it’s hard not to get to know them.
Take Bastian, for instance.I know he’s divorced, has no kids, and is dating a woman called Cherry, who has two kids from her previous marriage.I know he likes to fish.When I’ve asked him if he’s had a nice weekend off, he’ll tell me that he spent it at Lake Hanover, sitting on the embankment, catching absolutely nothing at all but having the best day ever.
And Willa, I knew about her and Marta wanting a baby and how they’d ruled out adoption.She hates horror films and wants to take up gardening to grow her own vegetables but has a strange fear of worms.You get to know these things through idle chitchat and general human curiosity.
But not the Beast.I know zero about him or his life, or his scars.Nothing that isn’t written on his face.
With a stone-cold stare, he answers me.“No one.”
And I believe him.Like the dog at the pound with no tail or a sparse coat, no one would want to own him.
“I forgot, you’re married to the job.”
“Speaking of which,” Willa pipes up, “did you get the cameras working?”
“Yeah.They’re all up and running,” the Beast confirms.
Willa pivots slightly so she’s facing me.“Okay, here’s the problem.”She pouts slightly like she’s practicing how she’s going to address her toddler when she has to break bad news.“We looked over the security layout on the flight out here, and I feel it only fair to let you know that there’s a camera in your room.”
“Awhat?”I hold the cup suspended in my hands.
“It’s for your safety, I assure you.There could be any number of ways someone could try to get to you whilst you’re asleep.It’s been known for people to use drones, venomous insects, and all manner of things they could get into your room at night.So, Fenrir and I devised a plan.I’ll stay up with you during the day to make sure you’re safe, and he’ll take the night shift, watching the camera from the security room.”
I glare at the Beast.“I bet he put up a fight about that job, having to sit and watch me sleep all night.Where the hell am I meant to get changed?What if I need a little nighttime relief?”I don’t break his gaze, thrusting the stick further into the cage.I’m practically poking at his fur, but he doesn’t flinch.He doesn’t even turn a shade of pink, which has me wondering if his scarred skin can change colour like the rest of his face.
