Echo in Her Mind

Thirty-Five.

Bethany proudly sauntered back to her seat with Aaron's arm placed delicately around her shoulders. She knew that Ruben was pissed that she was hanging out with his brother, but in her defense, she had no idea who he was until now. That didn't mean she was going to listen to his atrocious orders when she wasn't doing anything wrong.

She would like to believe that Ruben was actually jealous that she was having a good time with Aaron, but it was probably more that she was hanging out with him in the first place. If it were anyone else, he probably wouldn't have even acknowledged her in the bar, and went about his own business with the girl he came with.

Bethany watched Ruben out of the corner of her eye as he walked past her and sat down at the table that his lady friend was sitting at. Smugly, she turned to Aaron, whose smile brightly lit up his face, and continued their conversation.

If Ruben didn't want her, at least she could have the next best thing.

"So, how do you know my brother?" Aaron asked as another round of drinks were placed in front of them.

Bethany didn't know what she should tell him, since she wasn't sure how much he knew, if anything, about Ruben's job as an advocate of The Watcher.

"There's no reason to lie anymore now that you know who I am." He chuckled, which caused Bethany's face to turn red. "I knew who you were all along, and what you are to him."

She wasn't sure what he meant by that, and she was honestly a little afraid to ask.

"You weren't the only one lying, so no hard feelings?" Aaron asked her, when she didn't say anything. She nodded in confirmation.

"I knew you were from the same world, I just didn't expect you to be Ruben's brother."

He laughed at that, of course.

"Most don't, and I think he prefers it that way, especially now that I've finally met you. I'm sure he thinks I'm going to succeed in stealing you away from him."

Bethany watched as Aaron brought his glass to his lips, and chugged down his beer as if it were water.

"Steal me away from him? What?" She couldn't stop herself from asking. Since when was she ever Ruben's?

He looked at her, and something flashed in his eyes, but just like that, it was gone in a split second.

"You're his friend, right? Travel buddy, if you must. I always used to steal his friends when we were younger." Bethany could tell by the way Aaron stumbled over his words that he was lying, and he refused to meet her eyes again.

"Is there something I should know about Ruben?" Bethany dared to ask him, even though she was sure she wasn't going to get a straight answer.

"Just that he's hard to read, and very protective of you, if you couldn't already tell."

Of course, she already knew that, seeing as Ruben's eyes have been glaring into her back for the past 10 minutes.

"He's just doing his job," Bethany countered. Ruben had proven last night that he didn't care about her any more than he had to, under The Watcher's orders.

"Darling, if you are that naïve, then you have a lot of toughening up to do if you're going to survive in this world." Aaron smiled, slightly, and met Bethany's eyes. The words that he spoke were even worse than the ones Ruben usually threw her way: "You have a lot to learn about this world." What did Aaron mean by it though?

"If my brother is too hard-headed not to see how beautiful you are, and is willing to let you go, then he certainly didn't deserve to ever be yours in the first place."