It’s looking like a perfect application, but I have another set of eyes I need to run it past before I press submit.
I look up as Shayne walks back into the room, freshly showered and changed into jeans and a T-shirt. He gives me a wry smile from the doorway.
“Still need me to make a call?”
“Actually, no. I need you to check this application over.”
Chapter Seven
Robin
Asecurity guard is my escort on my walk through the academy’s gardens. He’s dressed in black, head-to-toe, and he has a gun in the holster on his waistband. It feels vaguely familiar and oddly comforting to walk around looking at flowers and plants with a dangerous man nearby.
There were always guards wandering around the property where I lived for most of my life, and they were usually armed with bigger weapons than a handgun.
They never paid me much attention.
I wasn’t what they were there for.
This guy is kind of the same.
He keeps a little bit back and doesn’t look at me directly.
His gaze is constantly flitting around, examining our surroundings.
I don’t pay him too much attention. There are better things to observe out here, like the birds singing in the trees behind the back fence.
The forest beyond the gardens looks expansive.
I can close my eyes and imagine myself climbing that fence.
It would be heaven to wander through the woods and feel completely surrounded by nature.
I let out a sigh as I open my eyes.
The gardens are lovely, but everything about this area has been planned out.
From the pretty mix of evenly spaced-out roses in alternating colors of pink, yellow and red, to the circular path that leads me toward the forest before pulling me back again toward the academy.
I walk back slowly and take a seat on the only bench in the area.
It’s too nice out here to go straight back inside.
The thought of going back to my windowless room in the medical unit makes me cringe.
I guess at least it’s not going to be my room for too much longer.
It won’t matter if my new room has a window or not if I’m allowed to come and go freely.
I can spend some of my spare time outside, every day, like I always used to before my world was turned upside down and inside out.
When I get up, I look at the roses by the side of the bench.
I immediately see a pink one that would be perfect to press.
My hands curl as I realize I don’t have access to shears.
It’s not like the garden back home.
