The Hidden Gemstone

Chapter: 15

Cody’s POV:

A long silence stretched on after Xander walked out of the room. I’d never met any of Alex’s family except her sister but I knew that her ties with her family were different from my connection with my family. Her concern for them was different from her concern for anyone else. It was evident on her face whenever she looked at them or talked about them. Those moments were rare, given the circumstances but it was still hard to miss.

Alex threw her head back and sighed exasperatedly, exhaustion written all over her face. She walked back to her bed and sat down at the edge of it, slightly wincing, before rubbing her temples with her fingers. There were shadows under her eyes and strands of hair escaped her braid. She needed sleep. All of us needed sleep.

“We need at least one lead on Eamon Barre,” she said, trying to change the subject.

“I’ve searched every last corner of the internet,” Zoe responded. “Trust me, that guy did not want to be found.”

“What if it was an alias?” I asked. “I mean, if anyone was trusted to protect something as important as that gemstone, they’d probably change their whole identity.”

“Eamon is an Irish name,” Zoe spoke after a while. “It means wealthy protector.”

I drew my eyebrows in confusion. “You know Irish?”

“You’d be surprised if you found out about half the things she knows,” Alex muttered.

Zoe ignored her and continued, “No one in the French army was named Eamon because no one was Irish.” Her face lit up like a light bulb. “Can I borrow your laptop?”

Alex raised her eyebrows before picking up a black laptop from her nightstand and handing it to Zoe who opened it and began typing away.

Alex watched her for a while before taking off her shoes and straightening her legs on the bed, wincing with every move. I didn’t know how bad she’d gotten hurt during the fight and the thought bugged me constantly.

“Did you get your wounds treated?” I asked and she nodded. “What about your cheek?”

She hesitated before saying, “I didn’t want strangers touching my cheek.” That puzzled me at first but then I remembered how close her sister was to becoming a doctor. She’d probably never had anyone other than Emma treat her wounds.

“So, you just left it like that? Untouched?” I asked

“The bleeding stopped,” she said like it was a real plus point. I rolled my eyes.

“It could get infected,” I said. “Do you have a first-aid kit?” she looked at me with a deadpanned expression and I raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t reject a hot guy when he offers to clean your cut, Alex,” Zoe said, her eyes still fixed on the screen of the laptop. It was like the woman had multi-focus or something since it didn’t seem you could snap her attention away from the screen even with an explosion yet she also seemed to have been listening to the entire conversation.

Alex rolled her eyes before reaching out and opening her nightstand drawer. She took out a small white box and sat back, wincing as she crossed her legs underneath her. As I moved to sit in front of her, Zoe’s phone started ringing. Alex hissed in pain before covering her ears. The sound wasn’t that loud but it was sharp enough to pierce her ear.

Zoe cursed. “Sorry.” She took her phone out to check the ID. Her eyes widened and she cursed again. “My mom’s calling. I have to go.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her email everything she’d found to herself. She shut the laptop and got up before running out of the room, shutting the door behind her.