The Hunter's Daughter

Chapter 13

Ruby

When I woke up to my alarm I knew that he was gone, I felt his absence as soon as my thoughts became coherent, I missed his warmth, his arms around me. I turned over in my bed and proved myself right on seeing the empty space, but then it wasn’t completely empty.

My cell and a piece of paper were laying on the other pillow, I picked up the note and scanned it quickly. ‘Sorry I had to leave, believe me I wanted to stay. You should be happy to know that even in sleep you kept your promise to me; check your cell wallpaper. See you soon, Nick’

Kept my promise? I picked up my cell and flipped it open and smiled. My background was a picture of Nick pecking me on the lips while I was still asleep, the weird thing was that it looked like I was awake, it looked so natural...

I shook my head with my smile and got up to get ready for school. Once I had a shower and got dressed I headed down stairs and had a glass of water and a granola bar at the table. It was nice to have some time to myself for once, it let me think about stuff, although stuff mainly consists of Nick nowadays. Not that I mind but last night was something new.

The thing is, I’m not sure if I should be happy about what passed between us or not. I’ve never had a boyfriend before Nick and I’ve let anyone so close to me like that before, I’ve never let anyone touch me and Nick, well I guess he’s my only exception. I’m not saying that it didn’t feel good I just, I’m wondering if I was too easy, if I should have let him do that. I know nothing major happened but for me that was a big step in a new direction; was it the right one?

I really like Nick, and I care about him a lot, I know that I do but that doesn’t mean that I don’t need to tread carefully now; it’s not in my nature to trust and the closer someone is to me the less I trust them – look at me and my Dad for crying out loud! I want to trust Nick but I stop myself on the edge every time... I just wish I knew what to do now – am I over thinking it? Do I need to think more? I’ll just see where Nick is when I see him at school, he hasn’t exactly steered me wrong yet.

I looked up at the kitchen door when I heard footsteps and was surprised when my Dad came in, I hardly ever see him in the morning since he keeps his work as priority, normally I take him down something to eat in his study, so this is odd and anything out of routine with my Dad is a bad sign, so naturally, I investigate.

I scrunched up my granola bar wrapper, looking up at him in confusion. “What are you doing out of your office”?

He sighed. “Oh, just felt like having a little something to eat” he mumbled, looking around the room lost.

“Are you alright? The troop getting you down”? I knew I’d got a hole in one then by his grimace. Dad came and sat down then, head in his hands.

“They’re Neanderthals, all of them – getting out witted by a pack of mutts! They’re losing their touch... something is going on that I’m not seeing, something is different. They out smart us at every turn, it’s like they know what we’re going to do before we’ve even done it... maybe they’re better connected than we thought, they must share intel with each other – that has to be it... we’ll just have to come up with some new tricks... thanks sweetie”.

I narrowed my eyes sceptically. “For what”?

Dad smiled. “You’ve just helped me a great deal, have fun at school”.

“I’ll try”. I rolled my eyes for his benefit and watched him leave the kitchen and head downstairs to his office. I guess I’m going to be paying Mr Bronze a visit this morning and we both just love spending time together, not.