The Descendent Protectors

Chapter Thirty-Five

The right hand? As in second in command? As in directly underneath the boss in rank?

My mind was in a whirlwind, suddenly every single piece of the puzzle was magnetically being attracted to the next and giving sense to every loose end.

It suddenly made sense to me why he went completely mad that night when he found out I followed him and watched his private dealings. He thought I knew he worked and dealt illegally, and feared that I might rat him out.

But of course that didn't do him justice. Nothing ever would.

"Don't worry about Xavier, Nora. He'll be fine." Elliot assured me softly, which took me by surprise. I snapped out of the haze my thoughts had formed around my mind, my eyes finding Elliot's promising gaze.

I forced out a tight smile. I wasn't entirely sure that he would be fine, my anxiety was eating me up from the inside, churning my intestines. I felt like I might throw up.

I pushed away the bowl of berries, feeling repulsed by the mere thought of any food entering my mouth.

"I hope so," I whispered a prayer.

A short silence overtook us, until Elliot spoke up. "I have an idea." His eyes lit up in excitement. "How about a movie marathon for a distraction?"

Noah jumped up from his seat on the stool beside me. "Yeah, that sounds great." He turned to me with a wide grin. "What do you say? Harry Potter? The Hunger Games?" He listed some of my favorite movie franchises. "I'm even willing to put up with Twilight if it would serve you."

I shook my head, but couldn't hide the smile that grazed my lips.

"I'll go inform the rest, I'm sure they'll love the distraction." Elliot prepared to leave the kitchen.

"Yeah, and don't forget to drag Seth away from those Star Wars movies. He's been watching them for three days straight. We can't risk him losing the single brain cell he's got up there." 

Poor Seth, always the subject of their bullying, I thought to myself while trying hard to hide my smile.

But my friends were right, no matter how bad I didn't want to admit it out loud. I needed a distraction, desperately. If I sat back and got absorbed back into my paranoid thoughts about Xavier and what is going on, I'd go completely mad.

Noah's eyes remained on me, watching me expectantly. Reluctantly, I nodded. His lips curved up into a wide grin, and he instantly turned around and started rummaging through the cabinets in the kitchen.

"Well, we definitely need popcorn. Please tell me they have popcorn." He mumbled the last part as he continued searching through the pantry and cabinets.

The sudden hop I took down from the stool I was seated on made the blood rush down my wounded leg, and I grasped the counter for a couple seconds until the displeasing sensation faded away.

"Aha!" Noah exclaimed, which made me flinch back in surprise. He shifted around with a look of triumph, a bag of kernels clutched in his fist.

I chuckled and shook my head. "Well, I'll be down in the living room."

"Nora, wait." Noah's sudden exclamation stopped me in my tracks, and I turned to stare at him expectantly. He set the bag of kernels on the counter, taking various steps forward until he reached me and stopped a mere foot away. His eyes left mine as he stared at the floor, biting the inside of his cheek nervously.

"What is it?" I encouraged.

He lifted his head and his eyes found mine, full of unspoken words. "I want to talk to you about something."