Elite (Eagle Elite #1)(48)

Grandpa’s nostrils flared. Without warning he reeled back and punched Nixon in the face.

I groaned into my hands. “Grandpa, he saved me. He—”

“He…” Grandpa pointed at Nixon. Blood was gushing from his nose. “Is bad news, Tracey! I don’t want you seeing that boy anymore!”

“No!” I yelled. “Why are you being like this? Grandpa, I miss you. I haven’t seen you in weeks, and you just punched my boyfriend in the face! Are you insane?” Whoops. I may have dropped the boyfriend word too soon. Nixon probably thought I was so stupid. One date did not mean we were boyfriend and girlfriend.

“Boyfriend!” Grandpa wound up his arm to punch Nixon again, but this time I stepped in front of my bleeding date, making Grandpa drop his hand. “Trace?”

“I like him.” I leaned back into Nixon’s frame and sighed as his arm came around me and held me against him. “He even beat up a guy that bullied me. He’s good. And I was going to tell you all about him over dinner tomorrow. Actually, I was going to invite him, but now that you’ve punched him in the face—”

“Trace.” Nixon’s voice was raspy. “It’s fine. You should spend some time alone with your grandpa tomorrow. Don’t go to class. Take a day off. Really, it’s probably best that you do, all things considering. You had a rough night.”

Perplexed, I turned in his arms and stared at him. His eyes were ice cold. No emotion was behind them. It was like staring at a statue. “Why are you doing this? Come with us tomorrow, it will be—”

“It will be best if you do as your grandfather says,” Nixon finished and licked his lips. Blood was still slowly trickling over them. “It was… interesting meeting you again, Mr. Rooks. Be sure to keep an eye out for the shadows tomorrow evening. They’ve been lurking.”

I didn’t turn around in time to see Grandpa’s face, but he suddenly seemed very old to me as if his wrinkles had taken on enough lifetimes. He looked away. Tears welling in his eyes. “And tonight?”

Nixon released me. As he walked away he said, “The dove’s existence is not yet known.”

“What?” I yelled. But Nixon was already jumping into his car and driving off. Grandpa wrapped his arm around me.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Trace?” he whispered as his hug tightened around my shoulders.

“Yes, but…” I looked back at Nixon. “I don’t understand.”

Grandpa chuckled. “He’s an interesting boy, that Nixon. But you cannot see him anymore. It isn’t… smart. You’re such a young girl and—”

“Gramps.” I pulled out of his embrace. “Did you really come all this way to do insurance stuff and talk me out of dating my boyfriend? Or did you want to spend some time with me?”

His worried face broke out into a smile. “I wanted to spend time with you, of course.” He walked me to the door of my dorm. “Why don’t you skip tomorrow? I’ll pick you up around eight for breakfast?”

I nodded. “Grandpa.” I licked my lips. “Things are weird here. They… I don’t know, sometimes I feel like everyone knows me better than I know me. Does that make sense?”

“Yes. And I promise I’ll do what I can to clear things up. But not tonight. Now, off you go. It’s late.” He shooed me inside. I watched him walk away into the darkness and pile into a waiting black Mercedes. Weird. He must have been upgraded or something.

****

Two hours later Nixon still hadn’t texted me back. Monroe had gone out with Tex and decided to stay over at his place, whatever that meant. So I was alone and still a bit freaked out. Didn’t help that it was around eleven and I still couldn’t sleep.

I tried Nixon again.

YOU GONNA TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TONIGHT?

I threw my phone onto the bed and groaned. Finally, two minutes later he responded.

SURE! YOU OFFERED ME YOUR BODY — I’M FREE IF U R?

I laughed.

U R AN ASS AND THAT’S NOT WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!

If evasiveness was a sport, Nixon would be an Olympian, seriously. Now that I really thought about it, even in the car he had changed the subject to my embarrassment and then kissed me.

Well, either I was really easy, which could be true considering Nixon does crazy things to me, or he didn’t want me asking questions.

My phone went off again.

I’M AN ASS? THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU WERE SAYING WHEN WE WERE KISSING. WANT ME TO COME OVER?

I stared at the text message. Did I? Grandpa would be ticked, but he didn’t have to know. And I was lonely.

WILL YOU ANSWER MY QUESTIONS?

He responded immediately.

MAYBE.

I smiled and typed, BRING POPCORN.





Chapter Twenty-two


I tried to get into the latest zombie novel I’d bought on my e-reader but every time the author described the hero’s eyes, I thought of Nixon. Every time the couple kissed, I thought of his lips.

Really, it was pathetic.

A half-hour after Nixon’s last text, I heard swooning women in my hallway. Okay, so maybe I couldn’t hear them, but I did hear Nixon. He was laughing.

I sighed held my e-reader close to my heart. I loved his laugh.

Seriously, someone needed to come in here and smack me with my e-reader. I was acting crazy. I’d known him for what, two weeks? Not even.