I'll Protect You (Re-Edit #2, 2016)

Introducing Logan Cross, Golden Boy by day, prodigy agent by night

dedicated to LifeisLimitlessXD for the cover she made!

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The bus rolled up in front of the quaint little neighborhood my cousin lived in. Blocks of pastel-colored homes with perfectly cropped lawns and garden decorations bathing in the sun met my glance when I looked out the dust-stained window. 

It surprised me when Cross got off the bus after I did, but my expression had nothing on the confusion etched onto his features. "You live here?" he asked, pointing to the neighborhood as the bus drove away. 

"Uh..." 

"Aren't you...financially unstable?" he pressed, his eyes beginning to cloud over with suspicion. I wanted to smack myself in the face--I had completely forgotten about that part of my alias. 

When I arrived at Cross Academy, a presumption had spread (courtesy of myself) that I was incredibly poor. The only reason I could afford to attend such a fancy school was the fact that I was an "outstanding student" with a "brilliant mind." Supposedly, the headmistress had offered a full scholarship that would pay for all seven years of my courses. 

According to supposed "facts," I lived downtown in some run-down apartment with my father, who happened to be a traveling archaeologist. Logan, king of the academy, would've known all about my position. Which was why it probably struck him as odd that I, poor little Alex Finch, was getting off in front of one of the pricier neighborhoods in Paradise. 

"A friend of my father's lives here," I lied quickly. "I need to drop off a package from my father to him, so that's why I'm here." It wasn't too much of a lie--a friend of my father's did live here. Elijah, my cousin, was a dear friend and relative to the Sparrow clan. 

Thankfully, Cross nodded as though he believed what I said. "Your father's an archaeologist, right?" he asked as the two of us began walking, though we maintained a healthy amount of distance. As in, I was walking in the bike lane and he kept treading onto the lawns. 

No, he's the future king of Cimeria, I almost answered before I caught myself. "Yeah. He's in...Egypt again," I said instead. Did Egypt sound believable? It sounded like a generic lie. Crap. 

"Is it hard?" Cross turned to look at me. "Having him gone a lot?"

"Yeah," I nodded, but this answer was completely true. "I've gotten used to it by now, though. It's a job that he can't control, and as long as I get to see him from time to time, I manage myself pretty well."

"Yeah, I know how you feel," he sighed. I snuck a look at him, remembering that his father was not only the owner of a big business, but also the head of an undercover agency called XYZ. A job like that must keep his father away from the family apart for long periods of time. 

Now that I thought about it, my bodyguard was an agent of XYZ, and was rumored to be one of the best in the field. I wondered if Cross was in that sort of business, or did his father forbid him from mingling in such dangerous waters?

"I'm going to guess your father came back today," I assumed. Cross' head snapped towards me, astonishment plain on his face. 

"How did you know?" 

"You're in a good mood," I shrugged. "I figured it was because your father's home."

Instead of lashing out on me and my observation skills and 'nosiness,' Cross smiled and nodded. "You're pretty observant, Finch. It's hard to believe that you're the same girl that zones out in classes."

"Believe me, Cross, I'm a very different girl from the one that you know," I asserted with a half-smile, thinking about the princess that I would become again soon.