Beast Beloved

Chapter Twenty Seven

"Here is perfect." Eli directed his dad to the café. Marcus made a face like he wanted to come in too to which Eli loudly told him goodbye. He walked into the café only because his dad stayed waiting on the street. He cursed under his breath when Marcus put the car in park. He was dialling his number in less than a second. "Stop being overbearing."

"I'm only parking the car."

"And waiting in it. And spying on me"

"Eli" Marcus sighed, and he could see his annoyed expression from across the street. "Okay, okay fine. I'm going to pick up a few things, so just call me when you're ready to go."

Eli didn't want to seem overly suspicious, so he approached the counter. It was tattoo girl. "Hi" He didn't remember her name.

"Hi" She greeted back, and looked past him to the doorway. "Table for two? Someone special joining you?"

"I'm sorry about the other day" Eli cringed, "He was in a bad mood and took it out on Alex."

She just shrugged. "What can I get you?"

"Hot chocolate." Eli checked, and found that his dad was gone. "Takeaway."

"Alex" She called across the store, "Pass me a lid."

Alex materialised out of nowhere. The lids were on the counter, and Alex had to reach around Eli to get one.

"You could have just asked me" Eli pointed out, guessing that her reason for making Alex do it was to do with what Cameron had gotten mad about.

"Or gotten it yourself" Alex added, flicking the plastic at her. They exchanged a few seconds of intense eye contact; both scowling at the other, before Alex's face softened as he turned to Eli. "Were you okay after that? I hope you didn't eat."

"There was no chance I was keeping anything down" Eli answered, turning sideways to him. He was met with a concerned gaze, and all Eli could think about was what Cameron had said about Alex being attracted to him. "I'm sorry about Cameron, he gets kind of ..."

"Possessive?" Alex finished for him.

"Protective." Eli corrected, and from the flicker in Alex's gaze he knew that he picked up on the meaning behind defending him.

"I don't usually get protective when someone's helping my sick friend" Alex said, with a touch of the unfriendliness that Eli had seen at the amusement park, "But everyone's different I suppose."

"One hot chocolate." The tattoo girl leaned across the counter, "We bitchin about your boyfriend? He's hot, but kind of a dick."

"We're not 'bitchin' about my boyfriend" Eli rolled his eyes at her tone, and dug the change from his pockets. He scanned the booth that he'd sat with V and Ben the other day. "Have you see the girl I was sitting with here since the other day? With the –"

"Crazy hair? She was here yesterday." Tattoo girl confirmed.

Eli soaked in that snippet of information. She hadn't responded to his messages. Not even once.

*

Richard's apartment was a short walk from the café. The gate code into the building had been given to him by his co-worker. The stairwell was a dark grey shade that had paint peeling off it. There was a slick wet substance on the bannister at the bottom, so Eli kept his hands away from it. He crinkled his nose as he took in the musty stench.

It was terrible. Dirty. Disgusting. It wasn't like the last place they'd lived in.

He was doubting whether Richard did in fact live here when the door he'd been knocking at opened. Sleepy eyes that quickly widened to surprise took him in. He faltered for a moment, then stepped out of the way for Eli to come in.