I Have an Invisible Stalker (Guardians #1)

Chapter 21

"Beats you. She's not my charge."

"If you're not her Guardian," Lucien asks, "who is?"

"Me."

The familiar voice causes me to snap my head around. Samuel is standing at the edge of our lawn and when my eyes meet his, he begins to make his way closer to us. Though, what I'm more focused on is the fact that he isn't supposed to be here for another half an hour.

Because of Lucien's presence, all I can do is watch the way Samuel's muscles flex when his eyes land on Anya's Guardian. I expect Lucien to start with his questions again, but all he does is motionlessly stare back at Samuel.

With the side of my eye, I catch Eliza as she motions for me to follow her, so I turn away from the two male Guardians and head toward the front door.

"What's going on?" I ask Eliza when I reach her side.

"How am I supposed to know?" She glances back at the two Guardians. "Maybe it's love at first sight."

I'm about to respond when Mom's voice catches my attention.

"Be more careful," she says, and it sounds like her voice is coming from the kitchen. "It's dangerous for a woman alone at night, especially in clothes like yours."

"Don't worry about me." Anya's voice follows. "I've been taking self-defense classes since I was a child."

Instead of following their voices, I make a beeline for my bedroom. I leave the door wide open for Eliza to join me, however, the female Guardian walks right past my room and heads in the direction of the kitchen. She obviously finds Mom and Anya's conversation more interesting than me.

I throw my bag onto the bed and plop my butt onto the mattress when Samuel enters the room. He stops at the open doorway and eyes Lucien while he walks past my room. Only once the other Guardian is out of sight does Samuel close the door.

"What's going on?" I ask. "Why were the two of you looking at each other like that?"

"Don't know." Samuel runs his fingers through his hair. "But I feel like I know him."

"He's a Guardian. Surely you've run across each other before."

"No." Samuel turns his eyes to the only window inside my room. "I feel like I'm supposed to know him. Just like with that boy Hugo."

"Hugo? What do you mean?"

"I remembered an older version of the boy walking into the sea. And it didn't feel made-up. It felt like a real memory."

"You said Guardians don't remember their past lives." I sit up.

"I know." He digs his fingers deeper into his hair. "This isn't supposed to be possible."

Without another second to waste I march over to my desk and lift the Encyclopedia. The thing is staggeringly heavy, but that doesn't stop me from carrying it over to Samuel and then shoving it into his hands. He barely manages to grab a hold of it before I let go.

"I need you to whack me over the head with the book," I tell him.

"What?" Samuel glances at the book now in his hands and then back at me. "You insane?"

"It's been a week since my promise to the Head Guardian and I still don't remember much. Now even you're starting to remember things you're not supposed to remember. This means I'm obviously not doing enough."

"You've lost your mind." Samuel pushes the book back to me, and this time I'm the one who barely has enough time to grab it.

"No, I haven't. We're running out of time, and we both know that me getting hurt has helped before."

"It didn't work the last time you tried." He points at my forehead, where a small bump is still hiding underneath my bangs.

"That's because I didn't hurt myself enough. I tried running straight into the door but then flinched at the last moment. It's why the injury wasn't bad enough. So, the only way for me to really hurt myself is for you to do it."

I shove the book back to him, but this time he isn't quick enough. He doesn't have a good enough grip when I already let go of the book. This causes the book to fall to the ground and land there with a loud thud. Instead of only hitting the wooden floor, it also lands on Samuel's toes.

"Ah!" He groans and leans to the side to take the weight off his injured foot.

"You said you aren't human." I accuse him.

"I'm not," he hisses and hops over to my bed where he sits on its edge. "Guardians might not be able to get physically hurt, but we still feel pain."

"Oh." I pause for a moment. "Then you should have caught the book before you hurt yourself. All I asked you to do is a simple favor. We could've been done by now."

"I'm not hurting you."

"Please." I move away from the book and closer to him. "I promise you won't regret it."

"No." Samuel shakes his head.

"You have nothing to lose. Please." I move even closer to him and crouch, so we're on the same eye level. This makes it impossible for him to look away from what I hope are my pleading eyes. "If it doesn't work, I promise not to hold you responsible. You'll walk away blame-free."

"I'm not going to hurt you."

We are close enough for his breath to tickle my skin when he speaks, but I push the sensation out of my mind. Right now getting my memories back is more important.

"We both know I can keep bothering you until you're angry enough to hit me with the book. So, why don't we skip me being annoying and you just whack me with the book?"

I search his eyes for any sign of defeat when suddenly he sneaks his hand behind my head. With one swift push, he nudges my head forward, which causes my lips to land against his. I try to pull away, but this only causes him to pull me closer. The action is enough for me to lose my balance and I go falling forward.

We land on my bed, with me right on top of him. I'm finally able to pull away from the kiss, but the moment I prop myself onto my arms I find myself staring into his dark eyes.

And for some reason, I'm unable to look away.

***

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Much love

                - E