Bind Me To You

Chapter Twenty Seven

After Sadie had left, Avery spent the next twenty minutes clearing her desk and floor of the pallets, brushes and hair products, putting them away neatly in Sadie's suitcase.

While Avery liked to have a clean room, that wasn't her motivation for packing everything away. Instead, it was that with each minute that ticked by in the silence of her room, she became more and more anxious as she anticipated Azrael's arrival.

Cleaning up the mess only distracted her thoughts for so long and Avery found herself sitting on her desk chair by the window. The cool afternoon breeze blew through the fly screen and raised goosebumps on Avery's exposed arms but she was too deep in thought to notice.

So much had happened within the last few days, and she hadn't had the chance to sit down and think about any of it. Each time there was something new to think about, she would suddenly be distracted by something else.

Azrael had only been in her life for six days, yet it already felt like much longer than that. He had already done so much for her.

If he hadn't appeared in the locker room on Tuesday, who knows what would have happened with Aiden.

If she hadn't signed the contract that night, she wouldn't have stood up to Paige the next morning and perhaps if she hadn't, Paige wouldn't have stopped attacking her.

If Avery hadn't have been saved by Azrael that morning, she wouldn't have had the nerve to go to the cafeteria that day. And if she hadn't been in the cafeteria, she wouldn't have been approached by Ethan, and she wouldn't have met Sadie.

Avery had to wonder exactly where she would be now if he hadn't have shown up when he did.

Would her innocence have been stripped away against the cold metal lockers? Would Paige have done even worse things to her? Would she have missed the chance to make her first friend in Sadie?

Avery had almost forgotten that she was waiting for Azrael when she saw a pair of bright lights turn the corner onto her street. Suddenly, Avery's heart began to pound and she leant towards the window, her eyes glued to the vehicle as it drew closer to her house. Then, just as quickly as the lights appeared, she felt her heart drop into her stomach. It wasn't Azrael's fancy red car, but instead a dirty white pick-up truck.

Avery felt her cheeks begin to heat as she caught her heart pumping in her chest. Every time that she thought she was about to see him, even when he was simply mentioned by Sadie, Avery's cheeks would heat and her heart would begin to thunder in her chest.

She was becoming increasingly aware of this, and she didn't understand why her heart and body would always react that way. She had thought before, that perhaps it was her instinctual response to nearby danger, to a demon, but she was beginning to believe that wasn't the case.

Avery leant forward, tucking her arms underneath her head on the window seal as she gazed out of the window. The street was dimly lit by the final rays of sunlight peering from behind the houses across the street, orange and pink hues highlighting the pointed rooftops.

Avery's heart was beginning to slow now and she cast her mind back to the previous night, to Azrael's profile as he dropped his hand from in front of his eyes and turned to her. His stunning blue eyes.

As much as Avery buried the thought, she wished, although selfish of her, that instead of seeing his glowing red eyes as a demon she could instead see his piercing cyan eyes as a human. Perhaps, if his eyes appeared normal, she would be able to forget that he was a demon altogether.

She had only seen them for a moment, but she could tell by the pained gaze that struggled to look her in the eye; she couldn't ask him to keep them.