Moving Objects

Chapter 3

The gifts I got were a little over the top from Lissa, but I did get some cool stuff from Adrian and Christian. Overall, they were all extremely thoughtful and I loved them. I thanked them and compiled it all into one bag, which was difficult but I made it work. I was excited to wear the new jeans Lissa bought me and I was so thankful for the muscle gel that Eddie bought me. Adrian was less than practical with his gift, gifting me a purse that was worth more money than I would make in a month and probably would never use, but it was nonetheless pretty.

"Did you hear from your mom?" Christian asked and I shook my head. As far as I knew, Mom was in Nepal with her charge. I wouldn't expect a card or anything from her. I hadn't in the past. "Oh, that's no good. Did Guardian Belikov get you anything?"

I swallowed and shrugged. What was with everyone asking about Dimitri today? "Why would he?" I asked nonchalantly.

Lissa laughed and flipped her platinum hair over her shoulder. "You two seem close," she said, but left the topic there. I could feel Eddie's eyes on me the longer we sat at the table, and I did everything I could to not fidget in my seat. I looked up to the clock on the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. It was late enough now that I could bag off to go train, and nobody could say anything.

I picked up my stuff and practically sprinted for my dorm to switch it with my gym bag, tucking the new hand wraps into the pouch and dashing for the gym. I pulled my hair up as I walked into the change room and set about getting changed and walked out. I was met with a mouth-watering sight.

I was usually met with Dimitri laying on the mat with a book in his hand, but I never got to see him work out without me. At the far end of the gym was something that almost looked like a massive pegboard and we used it for climbing. It wasn't used often, but I didn't mind watching Dimitri do it. I took for granted how muscular he was and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the muscles in his shoulder and back move as he moved the handholds from one hole to another.

Dimitri reached the top and jumped down to the couch, landing with a quiet thud and spinning around to face me. I straightened up and gave him a small smile as he walked towards me and he returned the smile with one of his own.

"Ready? I thought we could do some cross country laps today. It's beautiful out," Dimitri said as he bent down to tighten his shoelaces. I nodded and propped my foot up on the bench to do the same. Dimitri held the door open for me as we headed out to the track. We started out with some stretching and a warm-up lap before we headed off for the ward lines, doing our laps there.

We ran in silence for the first two kilometres and my thoughts kept falling back to Eddie. Could I outright lie to him?

"...And I am secretly a leprechaun here to steal your gold."

I shook my head and looked at Dimitri. "What?" I laughed.

Dimitri looked out of the corner of his eye at me. "I've been talking to you for five minutes. What's on your mind?"

I huffed and stopped in my place which made him double back. I bent down at the waist and rested my hands on my knees, taking in a few deep breaths. "Eddie said something to me earlier and I don't know how to respond to it."

Dimitri stood in front of me and folded his arms over his chest as he waited for me to catch my breath.

"He overheard us talking in the car last night about what I bought," I said as I straightened up. I chewed at my lip as I waited for his response. That damn mask. I hated it when he had his Guardian face on with me.

"Dimitri?"

Dimitri was silent as he looked at me and panic really started to set in. "Dimitri?" I asked, feeling pitiful when my voice cracked. The small amount of vulnerability broke him out of his train of thought and he stepped towards me and pulled me into his embrace. I pressed my face against his chest and twisted my fingers into his shirt and practically moulded myself to him. It was moments like this where his size made me feel small, but at the same time, it made me feel so safe. Like nothing in the world could touch me.

Dimitri's hand weaved its way into my hair despite the ponytail and he held me against him, his head dipping down to rest against mine. I pulled away enough to look up at him and I could see a small twinge of worry in his eyes.

"Did he say anything else?"

I shook my head and bit down on my bottom lip again, my thoughts wandering. Dimitri brought his hand up and gently pulled my lip from my teeth. "You've made yourself bleed," he said softly and I licked my lip out of habit.

Dimitri pulled me back to him and rubbed my back in small circles. "We'll be ok," he whispered.

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I tossed my bag onto the floor and flicked on the light and groaned. I looked up from the ground to find an unexpected visitor sitting on my bed.

"Jesus!"

Eddie sat up from where he was laying on my bed and rolled his eyes at me. "You keep your spare key above the door. I figured this was a conversation we shouldn't have in public," Eddie said as he stood up. "Nice shirt, by the way," Eddie said sarcastically, picking up the men's shirt in a heap on my bed.

I crossed my arms over my stomach as I bounced the tip of my shoe on the carpet. "What is it that you want to know, Eddie?"

Eddie stood up from his place and walked towards me, his face pinched. "Are you screwing your mentor?"

I sighed and rubbed my nose with the side of my hand. "I wouldn't say screwing," I whispered and Eddie groaned.

"It's not what you think, Eddie," I started by Eddie cut me off.

"Then please, by all means, explain. Because from the way it looks, it looks like you and him are doing something illegal. So I want to know if my best friend is a hussy."

I pulled my chair out from my desk and sat down, twisting my fingers. "It's kind of a long story," I said and he sat down on my bed again. He gave me a gesture to go on and I took a deep breath and started from the beginning. He sat quietly and listened and didn't interrupt once. He narrowed his eyes when I got to the lust charm and he frowned when I told him about the night on the roof at the ski lodge. I finally got around to what happened before the attack and gave the cliff notes.

He sat there for a few minutes without saying anything. "Look, if you're going to turn us in, just give me a few minutes to say goodbye to him," I whispered, looking down at my lap. The tightness in my chest was becoming hard to deal with and I could hear my shampoo and conditioner start to rattle on my dresser and the bottle of body spray rolled right off the top of it, clattering to the floor loudly.

Eddie looked over at it and furrowed his brow before standing up and heading for the door. Oh God, he was going to turn us in. I pressed my lips together and tilted my head down, forcing the sob that was working its way up to stop. I could literally feel my heart breaking in my chest as the tears that burned my eyes escaped. I lifted my hand up to my chest and wrapped my fingers around the gold token of Dimitri's love and rubbed my thumb against the back of it.

"I need to think this over," Eddie said as he pulled my door open, and closed it firmly behind him. The moment the door latched shut I let the floodgates go and I pressed my hands against my face, muffling the sound of my tears.

I had maybe two minutes of self-pity before there was a knock at the door. I huffed and stood up to answer the door to find the dorm matron.

"I saw Novice Castile leave a few moments ago. Why was he in your room?" he asked. I wiped my face and sniffled.

"We were having a conversation about Mason. Is it a crime for him to be up here? It's not curfew yet," I said as I placed my hand on my hip. I knew that my face was blotchy and my eyes were red, but there were no rules about male Novices not being allowed in dorms as long as it wasn't past curfew.

The matron raised a brow at me before shaking his head and heading down the hall. I shook my head and shut the door, latching the lock before changing for bed. I curled up under the covers before I let my tears fall again.

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Don't hate me! I promise to make it up to all of you.

Let me know what you think!!