United Assassins

c h a p t e r / t w o

A few of the stairs creak loudly beneath me, but I ignore them, continuing on my trek down the stairs until I touch the front door handle. I begin to turn it when I hear a voice behind me that makes me jump.

"Adelaide, I told you Eli would bring your stuff in."

I turn around and take in my Grams. She has a floral apron on and is standing with a hand holding a spatula on her hip. She looks at me with a raised brow, before turning around to walk back into the kitchen.

"My stuff isn't up in my room," I reply, following after her.

"Well he hasn't gotten here yet," she says while going back to the oven. I look over her shoulder and realize she's making chocolate chip pancakes, my favorite.

I turn to my left and open the white fridge's door, a sudden stream of cold air hitting me.

Shivering, I reach out to grab the spreadable butter, then reply to Grams. "I can just walk out there myself, it's probably a fifty-meter walk, Grams."

She turns around to look at me, all the while, still flipping her pancakes. "Just let him do it, Adelaide. He's looking forward to seeing you again."

"Really?" I ask, excitement coating my voice.

She smirks then turns back to her pancakes. "Didn't you two-"

"Hey, Grams." A deep voice interrupts before she can go any further. Grams turns around and a big smile appears on her face. I turn around as well and take in the enchanting stranger.

His strawberry blonde hair is the first thing I notice. It isn't long, but not too short either. He lets it lay naturally, not needing any products.

Next, I look down at his face. His grey eyes and perfectly symmetrical nose seem to scream the word, "familiar," but I ignore it.

While taking in his perfect jawline, I realize how achingly familiar his face seems. It's like I've seen it so many times before. His face remains expressionless, but even from where I'm standing, I can see that his eyes seem to give away a little happiness.

"Good! You're finally here!" My Grams points out. She runs up to him with open arms while he bends down to hug her, and he smiles in delight. I notice how he basically engulfs her with his height. And I thought I was tall.

After he and Grams stop hugging, he averts his gaze to me, and I swear I see his eyes widen. He looks from my face to my hair, to my chest, stomach, and then down to my legs. This time I'm absolutely sure his eyes widen even more. Not only that, but I hear him gasp.

"Eli, surely you remember Adelaide," my Grams says with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Holy shit!" As soon as the words leave my lips, I raise my hands to the front of my mouth in both shock and embarrassment.

The handsome man standing in front of me was Eli Bennix. My childhood best friend. Hell, he was basically my brother.

And I didn't even recognize him.

I look over to Eli who has his brows raised with a small grin playing on his lips. He did another once over on me, this time lasting a lot longer than the last, while I stare at my Grams with a look of disbelief in my eyes.

"Elaide, you've... upgraded." I look over to Eli and give him a death stare, both embarrassed and pissed at his statement, but I notice how a burst of warmth seemed to explode in my chest as he called me by my old nickname.

"Wish I could say the same about you," I say. Obviously, I was lying, but let's hope that training and working with the UA means I'm a good liar.

A glint in Eli's eyes told me otherwise, though. I could tell that he could see right through my mask.

"Oh, will the both of you stop being so mean to each other? You haven't seen each other in seven years!" My Grams exclaims, interrupting our staring contest.

At her words, Eli's face breaks out onto a huge grin that shows off his pearly whites, and he walks over to me.

Smiling looks really good on him.

Shut up, Adelaide, he's basically your long lost brother.

Before I know it, I'm being engulfed in a hug, and the sudden smell of cologne and after-shave hits me. Dang, he smells so good.

I hug back without hesitation and smile against his chest. Man, how I've missed him.

When we pull away, I look up at him, disbelief still clouding my eyes. I cannot believe this was Eli Bennix. He's grown so much I didn't even recognize him. Did he recognize me?

"Why don't you two catch up?" My Grams suggests, turning back to her pancakes. "After you eat, of course."

I glance at the clock on the wall and gasp. "Oh gods, I'm going to be late." I shoot Grams a sympathetic smile, and turn to Eli, noticing the grim look he has on his face. "Sorry. I have work," I say, quickly jogging out of the kitchen and back up into my room.

I throw on tight black leggings, a low cut black shirt, my black trench coat, and my tall high heeled black boots.

I glance at myself in the full-length mirror by the door, coming to the conclusion that I look creepy. Like, I'm going to kill someone creepy. I mean, I probably am going to be killing someone, but still.

Eli is downstairs.

Oh well, he's going to have to deal.

Without another thought, I grab my phone and descend down the wooden stairs.

"What time will you be home, Adelaide?" I turn around to my Grams' voice and hesitantly look back and forth between her and Eli's stare. He looks me up and down, eyes glittering with interest.

"I don't know Grams, love you, bye!"

I turn around and quickly open the door, slipping outside, but not before I hear my Grams say, "That girl just never stops moving."

I chuckle quietly to myself, then start walking to my car to drive to the office.

I wonder what job Hermione has for me today.

|/|/\|\|

Apologies if there are a few rough patches. I didn't really have time to edit this, but I needed to update, so here you go.

What do we think of Eli so far?

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