Beyond Bloodline - Unbreakable Bonds

nineteen

"We should head back," Nigel finally said after a while. The peaking daylight that had been slowly ebbing had now been completely vanquished by the darkened sky. When she just tilted her neck up to blankly stare, he urged with, "it's getting pretty windy. Come on, I'll walk you back."

She acquiesced and stood, smoothening some wrinkles in her skirt before falling in step with him. The silence brewed between them but Nigel thought it was already so much work for her struggling to hold down her skirt fiercely whipping in the wind and also keep on the scarf coming apart from her neck without adding talking into the equation.

Nigel was amused and just watched her go at it, only lending a hand when the scarf finally loosened upon her giving that up in favor of her holding down her skirt. He caught it easily before it could become one with the wind and held it out to her, gaze lighting on her neck littered with red and purple love bites when she turned to accept it.

He arched a brow when she snatched the scarf and wrapped it around her neck, cheeks a fierce scarlet.

"Don't ask," she managed to force out.

"So long as it's not the hedonistic rich son," he said, a touch of worry in his eyes. He hadn't really thought the scarf out of place with the recent highs and lows their weather reached.

"It's not," she muttered. "Just some guy."

So Nigel didn't say anything else.

"How are you and Hays?" she asked, cheeks calmed back to their wind stung pink as she cupped her palms and blew into it.

"We're. . ." Nigel searched for the right word before lapsing helplessly on, "good."

Cassandra just snorted.

"I'm going to ask her out," He said, half to fill the silence, half to spur himself on.

"Good luck, Nigel," she said, eyes encompassing all of the good wishes that sincerely spilled from them. "Thanks for coming out. I'll see you in school tomorrow."

"See you." He waited until she had disappeared past the greenery and into her house, that now just seemed eerily dark with the lights off in lieu of what she'd just shared with him, before turning on his heel to find his own way back.

He ran a hand messily through his hair when he failed to catch a cab. Was it that late? Not really. There were still countless vehicles breezing and honking their way through the streets but perhaps they didn't want to risk stopping. It was slowly crossing ten. He couldn't even understand how so much time had passed when they were just sitting around.

In the end, he just called for one with the drive app on his phone, heart wincing. He was running on the last of his allowance at this point. Two grand might feel like much but by the time so much went into maintaining his motorcycle, feeding himself when there wasn't much else to fall on, finding some other means to transport himself when his motorcycle failed him, personal spending on some junk and his own savings, there was hardly much else left over.

The lights in the kitchen were on when he got back and at first he brushed it off as Saxon being hungry and making himself a late night snack. Then he actually got into the house and heard the familiar laughter that had never been directed at him and that just made his blood run cold and whip his neck around find the calendar just near the door.

It had already been over two weeks and it hardly felt like it.

With feet that felt like they'd been injected with lead, he dragged himself over to the kitchen, putting a halt to the happy interaction going on in there. "Mom," he greeted, trying for a slight smile that ended up so stiff he let his lips even out on their own.