Door Fifteen

Chapter 17

There was no doubt about it, about what they were fighting about. Even though I went against the king, he still wanted Phoenix to treat me right. He wouldn’t be the only one trying. Asher, who had a hood over his head, gave me a head nod. He was still that shy boy I first met.

“Are you done being busy, Phoenix?” I snapped at him, flared up from the stupid clone.

He jerked his head towards me and clenched his jaw. The last thing he wanted was to see me; I could see it in his face. This time, I didn’t care. 

“I have a few seconds,” he muttered.

I turned around and walked back out the door, knowing he would follow me. Where was the boy who said he would catch me if I fall? I stood in the same spot that the clone had taken me.

“What do you want? To tease me about my feelings?”

“No, that’s not why. You said you wanted to feel, Phoenix. I’m doing you a favor. I thought that we could get coffee in the city, that is, if you let me take you.”

Stunned, he furrowed his eyebrows and looked confused. “You want to take me out to coffee?”

I sighed. “I’m trying to help; if you don’t want that, I’ll just leave.”

For some reason, I hoped that he would say that he wanted to get better. My eyes found his before I started walking away. Before I could get away, he reached out and spun me around. He held my wrist gently and looked defeated.

“When were you thinking?”

The king still didn’t trust me, or Phoenix, so he had a body guard come with us.  Thankfully it wasn't Thorin, because that would have been a nightmare itself. The body guard was under strict orders to not come in contact with either of us, unless there was an emergency. We were in line for drinks, and it was getting uncomfortable with all these inhuman people around me.

"What are you getting?" I asked him while looking over the menu that was scribbled on a board with chalk. It was a cute cafe, but it was over packed.

"Why does it matter?"

I jerked my head to glare at him. He threw his hands up and looked over the menu again. It was a nice change, to be in the city again. I missed being able to shop and sit in a café for a few hours to read a book or to study.

“Black coffee.”

I cast a glance at him “Huh?”

“I’m getting black coffee.” He shrugged.

That was a crime itself. That had always confused me, why do men like black coffee? Was it because they had never tried other kinds or was it because it was too sweet? When I was living with my parents, my dad had loved black coffee. While I, on the other hand, hated it.

“Try something different,” I encouraged him.

“I’ve never had anything else before…”

I pushed him aside and smiled at the cashier. Phoenix rolled his eyes and nudged my shoulder harshly. I ignored him and picked a random coffee off the menu for him to try.

“We’ll have two iced mocha lattes please.” I snuck a peak at Phoenix and inwardly smiled at his annoyed expression.

After we had paid and waited for our drinks to be finished, I led him to a secret back corner so we wouldn’t be stared at. He was the prince after all, and it was hard to hide that tiny detail. Girls fawned over him as we passed the table, but I just ignored it. He did the same.

The body guard that came with us was in the front of the café, so we couldn’t see him from where we were. I took a sip of my drink and hummed in pleasure. Ice cold coffee. One of my favorite things. I watched as Phoenix did the same thing as me, but had a better reaction. His eyes widened and he spit it out with his nose scrunched up.