Chapter 8

With a heavy sigh, Nicholas dropped his head on my shoulder. I hadn’t really realized how close we were standing until then.

“Yes, Jenna. She’s why I wouldn’t fuck you,” Nicholas said clearly. I could feel his warm breath against my neck and shoulder as he spoke, while I stood stalk still in the middle of the elevator doubling as a lame decorative statue.

“A little scrawny, isn’t she?” Jenna remarked, grabbing my arm, roughly turning me to face her.

She was absolutely gorgeous in an evil model kind of way, perfectly smooth long dark brown hair, deep sapphire eyes that were looking me up and down like a fish that was too small to even be considered eating. She wore a black belted coat that went to about mid thigh, with matching black heels and a very elitist expression.

“I thought you liked your women with a little more meat,” she said, leaning closer to take a look at my backside. “You know, more to grab on to,” she finished smugly, looking down at me with a slight smirk, declaring she’d proudly found me not at all worthy of her. Or was it Nicholas she was happy to find I wasn’t worthy of?

Either way, the look she was giving me was more then belittling; it was down right hurtful. I knew I wasn’t in his league. Hell, it was a miracle in and of itself that he even recognized me as being worth talking to, let alone befriending. She didn’t have to remind me of the difference between us. I’d been reminding myself constantly.

“Well, considering Justice and I are just friends, I don’t see how that really matters,” he replied with a casual smile as he took my arm and pulled me out of the elevator as it began to close.

It was the look on Jenna’s face at the mention of me and Nicholas being friends that wiped that smug little smirk right off her flawless face, leaving her standing in the elevator with her mouth hanging wide open.

“Friends! What do you mean friends?” I heard her say before the doors closed completely and the elevator went down.

Why did everyone find Nicholas’ having friends a thing worth being surprised about? His brother, Aiden, (well not Aiden. He’d seem more pissed off than surprised), but Jenna had seemed utterly shocked at the mention of me being Nicholas’ friend. Wasn’t she his friend? She’d called him Nico after all.

“Why is everyone so surprised when they find out we’re friends?” I asked when we got inside his apartment and the door was closed.

“Are we?” he asked, looking back at me, his face a blank of emotion.

His question was so unexpected, I had to pause a moment and run it back through my head.

Were we still friends? I’d left him hanging for a month, waiting for me to figure this out. Up until today, I hadn’t even been trying to figure it out, I’d just been driving myself into work, into Sebastian, into anything that would distract me from thinking about what he had terrified me into seeing. And after that month I just walk in on him. Him and his ‘whatever she was’ Jenna, and he let me, like any good friend would. He’d even told Jenna we were friends. So, I guess the question he was asking was ‘Are you still my friend?”

“Yes,” I replied with a slight nod, smiling at the gentle little smile that appeared on his lips.

“Why everyone’s so surprised about us being friends, is…”

“Complicated?” I offered, when he’d lingered on the words long enough to show he really didn’t have a quick and easy way to answer my question.

“Unfortunately, my relationships with the opposite sex never turn out to be as exclusive as they might like.” he replied with a weak shrug. “If you want something to eat, go ahead and help yourself. I’m going to get dressed,” he finished, throwing a thumb to his room before heading to it.

Oh, now that wasn’t vague at all. What the hell did that mean ‘never turn out to be as exclusive’? Did he not like women? No, that’s not right. Exclusive means limited, select, restricted to. And he was applying as if it was the women he was seeing were the ones who wanted their relationship that way. Just the two of them.

Did that mean he was some sort of horrible womanizer? Nah, no way. Nicholas in no way seemed like the type to just go cating around. Not that he’d ever really have a problem in that department if he did. But still, I had a hard time picturing him leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake. However, that would explain Luke’s remark about Nicholas’ not having any female friends, but Nicholas as an unabashed womanizer seemed about as likely as him being gay. And he was neither of the two…I hoped.

How could I judge him based only on what I’d seen of him, when he’d had some four hundred years to perfect his acting skills? The Nicholas I’d seen was protective, charming and at first a little crazy. Not once had I ever seen him be anything other than friendly towards me or any other woman. But then I wasn’t his type, and if the utterly beautiful Jenna was any indication of his type of woman, maybe he was a womanizer or he liked to keep to his own kind. Either way, it was very clear I was out of my league, or rather, he was of mine.

“This is probably going to seem like a really idiodic question. But do you want to stay the night?” he asked when he walked back in, tugging a simple black T-shirt over his head, plaid green and brown pajama bottoms covering the lower half of his body.

“What?” I asked, surprised that he’d asked.

“You said your apartment got sacked. I figure you came here more for a place to stay then to talk about the Guardianship,” he shrugged.

Oh, shit. My apartment. That’s right. How the hell had I forgotten about that?

“Ah yeah. If you don’t mind. And we can still talk about the Guardianship too. I still have a lot of questions,” I shrugged lamely. Damn it, why was I getting all shy and flower-like? I wasn’t helpless.

Oh yeah sure, like you didn’t nearly die the last time you went against him.

Okay so I wasn’t helpless against humans.

Better.

“Well, you’re in luck. I happen to have a lot of answers.” He smiled, taking a seat at the island. “So where do you want to start?”

“How bout what the Guardianship is?” I offered tentatively, receiving an approving nod from Nicholas in return.

“All right. Did you see M.I.B.?” I nodded. “Well think Sindians in place of Aliens.”

Okay that was relatively easy.

“Are there different kinds of Sindians?” I asked, pulling a water bottle and a bag of grapes from the fridge and taking a stool opposite him.

“Ah well, there are two Casts, Animal and Elemental, each with four Orders, but only the Animal Cast has Clans. For example, my Cast is Animal, my Order Reptile, and my Clan is Draco. Dragon,”

“I thought that was just your last name? Are you like their Prince or something?”

He smiled at my question.

“Hardly. I’m a Knight? But it’s not uncommon for Sindians to use the name of their Clan as their surname. It’s kind of like you humans, with your Smiths and Jones and so on.”

Again I nodded, he was making this really easy to understand.

“So, what’s a Knight?”

“A Guardian or Sindian that serves a Royal of the Guardianship,”

“So is the Guardianship based on some sort of feudal system?”

“Yes and no. The Guardianship is…” he stopped, pausing to look around his apartment from his seat, stopping when he got to the phone sitting by the oven. “Hold on.”

He raised his hands for me to wait as he got up grabbed the pad of paper by the phone and the pen next to. Then, taking the stool next to me, he drew out four interlocking circles.

“All right, each one of these circles represents a Cast of the Guardianship. Only these upper three can move up in power. The reason this bottom circle here can’t is because they’re Sagas, Witches or Mediums, basically Guardians with no active power. No active power means no field time, no field time means no promotion,”

“What’s an active power?”

“Ah, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, anything that can be used in battle. This next circle,” he said, pointing to the circle at the upper right of the bottom, “Is for the Deporters and the Slayers. They have active powers, and what they do is enforce the laws of the Guardianship among their kind as well as mine.

“This circle here,” he explained, moving to the left, “Is for the Royals and their Knights, which can basically be thought of like this. If the Deporters and Slayers are local law enforcement, then we’re the military,”

“And what’s this one?” I pointed to the top circle.

“That would be the Gods and their Champions,”

“Gods? You guys have Gods? Like Zeus and Apollo and all that?”

“Not exactly. You see, the Gods of the Guardianship weren’t born Gods. They died and were made Gods. But they aren’t like other Gods. They aren’t the creators of this world, or the destroyers of it. They’re more like the Guardians of their Guardians. They’re the exact reason the Guardianship was created, to keep mankind from repeating the mistake of the Atlantians and destroying their home,”

“Atlantis was real?” I gawked, while Nicholas smiled with a nod.

“It’s the homeland of your Ancestors. Or was, until it sank or blew up, most likely both. Death and Water are probably the only ones left who could tell you for certain,”

“So this Guardianship does what it’s named for. It Guards us, protects us from ourselves,”

“We try,” he nodded. “Sometimes it’s not so easy,”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry about your apartment,” he said, looking at me somberly, as if he viewed it as his fault for not being there to stop its robbery.

“It’s not your fault. Besides,” I shrugged, “if you knew where I lived—“

“I do,” he cut in, receiving my stunned expression to his words. “The night you stormed off on me after your mother showed up. I followed you home. I was worried.” he shrugged lamely.

“And for all I know you could have broken into my apartment,” I stated, looking directly at him.

“I didn’t!” he said immediately, looking shocked that I would even think such a thing.

“Relax, Nicholas. I’m just joking,” I huffed, running a hand through my hair.

“You have insurance?” he asked.

“Oh yeah. Full coverage,” I waved a sarcastic hand at him, “You’re kidding me right? I lived in the slums and could barely afford the rent. What makes you think I could afford insurance too?” I asked looking at him as if he had to be joking. Did he think I worked myself into the ground because I wanted to? “Look, don’t worry about it. With the money you paid me for being your housekeeper, I should be able to cover the bare necessities,” I shrugged, rolling a grape around the counter with my finger.

“No,” he shook his head a moment after I’d finished talking. “You’ll stay here.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, looking at him as if to say ‘you didn’t just order me to stay with you.’

“It’s not an order,” he said, with his own expression saying I should know better than to assume he’d order me to do anything. “I’d just…I’d feel better knowing you were safe here, than at an apartment that’s been recently broken into,”

“Why?” I asked, finding his concern odd and highly suspicious.

Why was he being so…protective? Sure, he said we were friends, and on some level I liked the idea of it. But telling me I was going to live with him seemed more overprotective boyfriend than just simple friendly concern. Not that I would know, none of my boyfriends had ever cared enough to be concerned about me. Not even when I was seeing other guys.

“Because you’re my friend,”

“So you tell me I’m going to live with you,” I remarked skeptically. “Yeah, that’s really friendly.”

“What is it you think‘s going to happen, Justice? I’m not one of your Ex’s. I’m your friend. I’m not going to take advantage of you the way they did. I just want you to be safe,” he stated, looking down at me as if he couldn’t believe I was finding fault with his concern for my welfare.

With a huff, I looked away from him, burying my face in my hands as his words ran through my head. I was being ridiculous; I knew that. He was just looking out for me. Why did I have to read so much into it? It was already a clear point he was out of my league. I was definitely nowhere near his. Why did my mother’s skepticism always seem to creep up on me? Why did her ever-present philosophy always slide right into my mind when I thought a guy was just putting me on?

“If he’s nice, he wants something. They always want something,” I muttered softly.

“What?”

“It’s her motto,” I said, staring at the counter top. “My mother’s. Whenever she’d bring a new John home, or breakup with a boyfriend, she’d say that. I guess after a while it just rubbed off on me. I don’t mean to be so uptight or suspicious. I’m just not used to men…treating me the way you do,” I said, finally looking to him. “I’m not used to men being nice to me. I think that’s why I kept choosing assholes and losers. I never had to worry about it,”

“Justice, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I’m just offering.”

I shook my head.

“I know. It’s just weird having it be genuine. No strings attached.” I shrugged. “Look, can we talk about this tomorrow? I’m really tired,” I asked meeting his eyes.

“Yeah, no problem,” he nodded.

“Thanks,” I slid off my stool and headed for the guest room.

“That was not your mission!” A man yelled loudly from a room toward the center of a long elegant wooden hall. Sliding doors closed to the outside, barring me from seeing who was shouting within.

Then, the doors were open, and I was standing in an office with Nicholas, an older man who looked a lot like him, and another larger man standing behind me.

“Was that all it was? Your job?” I asked, fighting the tears that threatened to fall.

“Yeah. That’s all it was” he replied, cold and hard, leaving no room for me to doubt it as he looked at me with those eyes that mimicked his voice so well.

Waking up my chest was a broil of emotions, all heavy and prickly and weighing down on me like a ten-ton brick. It was only a dream, but for a dream it had seemed awfully real.

“Okay, that was weird,” I breathed, scanning my room. It didn’t take me long to remember I was at Nicholas’, to remember my apartment had been sacked, and to remember he’d said I could stay here. What did take a while to remember was that I had to work today.

“Oh crap!” I yelled, flying out of bed, grabbing my clothes from the floor as I headed for the door. I pulled it open and ran right into Nicholas, dumping the tray of food he was carrying all over the front of him and on the floor. At the sight of him drenched in cold milk, bits of cereal and quite possibly O.J., the twenty Justices’ that had been running around the room grabbing my stuff stopped, looking for my clothes, making my bed, and trying to decide whether or not I needed a shower, and slammed right back into me.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry,” the words rushed out of my mouth as I dropped to the floor, picking up bits of wet cereal and blueberries. “I didn’t mean to run into you. But I just woke up, and I’m late for work. And—“

“Doesn’t your store open at nine?” he asked, as he crouched down before me to help.

“Yeah, but I’m opening today, and if I miss my bus—“

“Justice, it’s seven thirty. I have a car; I can give you a ride,” he said. Stopping what I was doing, I slowly looked to him, meeting his eyes.

“Really?” He nodded slowly.

“Didn’t any of your boyfriends ever offer to take you to work?” he asked.

“I told you: assholes and losers,” I smiled weakly.

“What about Stel?”

“She takes the bus; same as me,”

“Okay,” he shrugged, moving to sit on the floor. “Why don’t you go take a shower? I’ll clean this up and then take you to work,” he offered.

“I really have a hard time believing you have no female friends when you’re so… kind.” I said out of the blue.

Gazing at him sitting on the floor with milk, O.J. and bit of soggy cereal stuck to his gray shirt. It didn’t seem to bother him in the least that I’d just emptied breakfast onto him. Then a thought occurred to me.

“Ah, was this for me?” I asked, pointing to the mess on the floor.

Again he nodded.

“You really didn’t have to,”

“Your apartment got robbed,” he shrugged. “I thought breakfast in bed might be a nice way to wake up. Unfortunately, I have no idea what you like,” he added, off handedly.

“So you did cereal and O.J.?” I asked, pealing a corn flake off his damp shirt.

“It was the only thing in the cabinet. I haven’t exactly gotten much shopping done since you’ve been gone,” he admitted. “So, what do you like for breakfast?”

“Plain cream cheese bagel,” I replied. “Not that I wouldn’t have eaten the cereal. I just usually have a bagel in the morning. You?”

“I’m pretty traditional. Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes with lots of maple syrup and butter, maybe a bowl of fruit,”

“Sounds heart-clogging.” I smiled at his list of breakfast foods.

“No one can ever accuse us Dragons of being light eaters.” He smiled back. “Go take your shower. I’ll see what I can do about breakfast.”

Smiling, I nodded and headed for the bathroom, then froze right behind him.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any women’s clothing lying around, would you?” I asked, looking down at him uncomfortably as he looked back up at me.

“Sorry, I’m not Shateal,” he shook his head.

“Shateal?” I questioned.

“My Uncle. Notorious womanizer. I think he has half a walk-in filled with the clothes women have left behind for him,” he explained.

“Why?”

“Got me. My uncle’s not exactly the most open of people.” He shrugged.

The drive to work was quick, and to my delight, included a pit stop for hot chocolate and bagels.

“Shouldn’t I be the one buying breakfast, considering I dumped it all over you?” I asked when he handed me my drink, which felt so good in my hands all nice and warm, as did the bagel in my lap.

“I don’t do Dutch,” he said as he took his drink from the server.

“So what you think I’m going to owe you now?” I teased, cocking and eyebrow at him as I did.

“I think you should eat your bagel before I decide to,” he remarked with a smirk as he set his drink in the cup holder as he pulled out of the drive through, continuing down three blocks to park at the curb right in front of my little shop.

“Well, thanks for the ride, and food,” I said, reaching to open the door, only to have it lock right in front of me. I fought a quick rise of panic at the sight and sound as the little button that served as the lock disappeared into the upholstery of the door.

“I need to ask you something,” he said seriously, his voice and even calm, hard, like it had been in my dream.

“Yeah?” I asked, turning back around to face him, hoping he wasn’t planning a repeat of what had happened in his apartment, when he’d tried to kill me.

“What is Sebastian to you?” he asked, his eyes glued on the steering wheel in front of him.

He’d locked me in the car to ask me about Sebastian. I’m sorry; wasn’t I supposed to be out of his league.

“He’s a friend,” I stated, feeling the beginning of a very loud argument coming on, especially when I watched him shut his eyes tightly and grip the steering wheel like he was trying to choke it.

“I want you to stay away from him,” he said, still maintaining that hard calm.

“What! Why?” I snapped glaring at him. “He’s just a friend.”

“No, he a Byakko Tiger,” he breathed in response.

“And you’re a Hybrid Dragon. So what. It’s not like we’re dating. And even if we were, it’s not like it’s any of your business!” I bit. “Now unlock this damn door before I blow it off!” I demanded.

To my surprise he did.