Jewel's POV
Eric's girlfriend?
The words don't seem to process in my mind. All I can do is stare at her in complete shock. My eyes drift to the little boy again and a bottomless pit grows inside me.
Is that Eric's son?
"Are we going to stand out here all night or are you going to take me inside?" Her voice is impatient and snotty. I glance back up at her for another second before turning on my heel and walking back into the compound.
She has to practically jog just to keep up with me.
As we walk inside, I see Four standing off in the corner, arms crossed, looking at me closely. He knows. He has a shadow of a bruise under his right eye and it reminds me that he had to hold Eric back when I ran off to Amity. I cringe at the sight. Feeling bad that he got hurt in the process. But he doesn't seem in pain.
Max comes in from the other side suddenly, stopping right in front of me.
"Thank you, Jewel for escorting Natalie in. I'll see to it from here." He seems very on edge and I have to wonder why he would even take this kind of risk. He's above Eric in leadership. He doesn't owe him any favors. I send him a tight smile before turning to walk in Four's direction. I give the Erudite girl one last look of repulsion before walking away completely.
I grab Four's sleeve and pull him away from the pit so no one can see us. Once we are in another hallway, I punch him in the shoulder.
"You could have told me!" Trying to yell while whispering is very hard but I have no choice. If I have an outburst right here, people are bound to hear.
Four crosses his arms and looks down at me with a sarcastic expression.
"Obviously, if I knew she was coming, I would have warned you. This was very last minute."
I tap my foot against the concrete, glaring at him. "Well, care to enlighten me on exactly who she is and why she is here?"
He grabs my arm roughly pulling farther into the darkness. Four pushes me into a small room. Flipping the switch, I see that it is a small sitting room. Funny, I never noticed it before.
He takes a seat on a small couch and rests his elbows on the tops of his knees.
"That's Ryan's sister." He says, simply. Really? I want to punch him for being so vague.
I set in a chair, opposite him and roll my eyes. "No shit. I knew that already."
He leans back, resting his head against the backboard of the couch. His eyes close momentarily. "As to why she is here, well I guess you would have to ask Eric that." Now he sounds amused.
