House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(16)
“I’ll make sure the helicopter is ready,” Xander said, closing off the conversation.
Holy crap. They have a plane and a helicopter?
Then I remembered they were royalty in their land, and it all made sense.
Everyone focused on the food then, grabbing a paper plate each. I waited my turn, perusing the large selection. It consisted mostly of salads, sandwiches, fruit, and very little meat. Which was fine with me. On occasion I would eat raw seafood, but other than that, I wasn’t a huge fan of land-dwelling animals. Not for food anyway.
I grabbed a garden salad with a creamy mustard dressing, two salad sandwiches, and a fruit cup and small tub of yogurt. Pretty much all of my favorite foods. Fresh salmon would have topped my salad off, but I was definitely not going to complain.
This place seemed to be only partially set up for living; there was no table to eat at, so I just slid down against a nearby wall and put my plate beside me. Everyone sat on the floor, spreading out across the wall, and ate with me. I tried not to get excited about something that was not a big deal. Probably not to anyone else, anyway.
While I was eating, I took some time to observe them all.
Emma and Lexen sat close together. She picked at his food and he just shook his head with a brooding but indulgent expression on his face. Eventually he handed her his entire pasta, and she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. Callie and Daniel were a little different; they sat close as well, but each ate their own food quickly and without fuss. Maya and Chase were so sweet. She had her legs draped across his and he had an arm wrapped around her. They seemed far more interested in each other than food. Actually, all three couples were far more interested in each other. Food appeared to be a secondary need.
I tried really hard not to look at Xander, even though there was a bit of a third-wheel feel in the group, and it would make sense for me to gravitate toward him. Thankfully, there were four people between us, so I didn’t even appear rude by not talking to him.
Why do I keep thinking about Xander?
I forced myself not to do anything except focus on each bite and enjoy the fact that I wasn’t alone. Outside of eating with Doc last night, I hadn’t had dinner with people for days, so this was a huge deal for me. I wouldn’t let any guy, even one who pretty much looked like a water god, ruin it for me.
6
“Tell us about your life, Ava?” Emma asked, leaning over Lexen to see me. “Have you always lived in Hawaii?”
I swallowed the last of my sandwich, pushing the plate to the side. “Yep.” I nodded. “Pretty much. For as long as I can remember, anyway.”
“What happened with your parents?” Callie asked.
I pursed my lips together, trying to think of a way to explain my family’s dynamics without making myself sound utterly pathetic. “They’re not terrible people, just … uninterested. In me, mostly. They’re scientists, all about the stars and way less about their kid here on Earth. Seemed the moment their responsibility to keep me alive was over, they decided to head out on a long holiday. Some sort of expedition cruise that will take them stargazing across the world. I have no idea if they’re planning on coming back or not. All they said was the full circumnavigation would take a year.”
“How long have you been on your own?” Callie’s eyes were dark, her expression filled with understanding.
“Since June, so almost six months.”
It felt longer, and yet at the same time I could barely even remember my parents. They’d checked out long before they actually left me.
“How did you survive on your own?”
That question came from the end of the row. I turned toward him because I just had to look. No matter how much I tried to ignore Xander, something kept tugging me back in his direction. “They left me a little money, and I have two jobs. When they first took off I ended up living with a few friends, but then we had a falling out. So, from then I’ve just been sleeping on the beach. You know ... surfer life.”
Homeless surfer life. His eyes narrowed on the “falling out” part and I prayed he wouldn’t ask me to elaborate. There was no way I wanted to go into the almost rape I’d experienced at the hands of one very drunk roommate. Joseph had given me the creeps from the start with the way he stared and brushed against me. At the time I decided it was fine to put up with, because at least I had a roof over my head. I just went out of my way to avoid him as much as I could. Unfortunately, one night he got wasted, and the lock on my door had not been enough to keep him out.
I’d bailed that night and never looked back.
“You’ll never be alone again,” Emma promised me, and with relief I turned away from the intense, probing gaze of the blond Daelighter at the end. “Despite everything Laous has taken from us, and the loss of ... Marsil….” She choked on his name before recovering. “There is one good thing to come from all of the bad. Us. The eight of us are a team.”
Maya and Chase had touched briefly on Lexen’s brother, who had been killed in a battle with the resistance. The catch in their voices told me it was a very hard loss. It scared me to think that maybe one of the people in this room could be hurt while we tried to wrap this entire Laous mess up. I’d only known them for a short time, but already I knew I would mourn their loss.
“I’m really overwhelmed,” I admitted, unable to keep the truth inside any longer. “Despite the Laous situation, meeting the rest of you feels like one of those ‘too good to be true’ situations, and that makes me want to keep pushing you all away. But ... I’m tired of always having to fight.”