Samuel's POV
With a snarl, Lucien lowers his armâthe one with which he only a second ago threatened to punch me. We're still inside the side alley beside the café, and while Lucien slumps onto the asphalt, I lift my upper body into a sitting position.
"Can you remember the café owner's grandson?" I ask.
"What are you talking about?" Lucien shakes his head and then stands.
"I think the three of usâyou, the boy's past self, and meâused to be friends."
"I don't know what you're up to, but stop." Lucien dusts his pants. "Nothing you say is going to change my mind. You're going to pay for what you did to me in our past life."
I'm about to explain what I just remembered when he curses.
"Damn charges," he hisses and then glares at me. "This isn't over." He closes his eyes and a second later vanishes into the morning air.
I continue to sit in the alley, trying to wrap my head around what I just remembered. Seconds pass, but because I'm unable to reach a conclusion, I rise into a standing position and close my eyes.
A second later, I'm standing beside my usual stool at the counter. In her usual spot across the counter stands Olivia, who almost drops the tray she's holding when our eyes meet. She slams the tray down, somehow managing not to spill any coffee in the two cups on the tray, and then leans across the counter.
"Are you okay?" She scans me from the top of my head to the underside of my chest as I sit on my usual stool.
"Fine," I mutter and scan the café. No Guardians are present, but I notice Nick monitoring Olivia from where he's sitting at a table across the room. With one single look, he is back to being more annoying than useful.
"Put your headphones in." I turn back to Olivia.
She glances at Nick as well, pulls out the wireless earbuds from the pocket in her pants, and stuffs them into her ears.
"What happened? Did Lucien threaten to tell the Head Guardian about us?"
"Don't worry about it."
Despite Lucien not saying so, I'm certain he isn't going to tell the Head Guardian about us. His claim about me being the one who killed him and his promise to make me suffer tell me that he's not going to want the Head Guardian involved.
"What else can I do but worry about it?" Olivia's knuckles turn paler as she leans further across the counter. "Tell me what happened."
"It's nothing. I remembered something else about my human life, which makes me certain that Lucien, Hugo's past self, and I were friends."
"Lucien?" Olivia gasps. "Didn't you say that Lucien killed you? How can the two of you be friends?"
"I don't know." I rest my elbows on top of the counter and lean my head against my open palms. "It doesn't make sense, yet I still feel that both memories are true. Lucien and I were friends, but he's also the one who killed me."
"What a caring friend," Olivia scoffs.
As she lifts her hands off the counter, I notice a red patch staining her right palmâa patch that doesn't match the rest of her pale skin.
"What happened?" I ask.
She follows my gaze and shakes her head when her eyes land on her hand. "It's nothing. I was distracted thinking about what the two of you were doing in that alley, and I accidentally touched a boiling pitch of water."
Without a second to waste I get off my stool and stride around the counter until I reach her side. Once there I grab her hand and pull her to the nearby sink.
"That's not necessary."
I ignore her protests and guide her hand under the cold water. The moment the water hits her skin she sighs and relaxes against me. Her back brushes against my chest and I wrap my free arm around her waist to keep her steady.
Yet even with her delicious frame propped against me, I can't help but wonder what the hell happened in my past human life that got me stuck as a Guardian.
*
Olivia's POV
"You ready to leave?" Nick strides to the counter and stops two stools away from Samuel, who glares at him.
I begin to undo the apron wrapped around my waist but then stop. "Should I wait for Hugo to arrive?"
Ramona, who is preparing a cup of coffee beside me, waves me off. "He isn't coming today. Even lazy asses like him get a day off."
"Should I stay and help out?"
"What for?" Ramona motions at the rest of the café.
Only five people, apart from us, are inside the café, and I'm pretty sure that the dark-haired woman, who is rolling her eyes at everything a younger woman across the table from her says into the phone pressed to her ear, is a Guardian. The rest of the place is filled with empty and already cleaned tables.
"Don't forget that you and Hugo aren't my only employees. So, shoo. I've got this."
"Okay then." I undo the knot on my lower back and remove the apron. "But call me if it gets too crowded."
"Sure I will," Ramona drawls. "Now, get out of here. Both of you."
"Thanks." Nick smiles at her, while I hurry to the staff room to grab my backpack.
When I come back, I ignore Samuel's and Nick's awaiting figures and stop at the counter one last time. Before I can open my mouth, Ramona wordlessly points to the door.
"I'll see you tomorrow." I wave at her and make my way toward the front entrance.
"I don't get why you'd agree to do something so pointless," Samuel grumbles as we exit the café and step onto the afternoon crowd-filled street. "Who cares about Nick's brother."
Opposite to his dark mood, he softly brushes his hand against mine, which is as much physical contact as we can allow ourselves on a human and Guardian infested street.
"You don't have to come with me if you don't want to," I say, but keep my eyes focused on the back of the head of the middle-aged man walking a couple of steps in front of me.
"What?" Nick asks from where he's walking on my left side.
"I said you don't need to come with me if you already have something better planned for the rest of the day."
"Wouldn't it be weird you visiting my brother on your own? You don't even know what he looks like."
"I'm just saying." I shrug but send a pointed look at Samuel to let him know that all of this is his fault.
Ten minutes later, we reach the bus stop and the bus luckily arrives before me standing between two guys can get too awkward. Nick is the first one to get on, and he pays for both his and my fare.
"You don't have to do that." I follow him down the bus's length. "I can pay for my own ride."
"I know." Nick shrugs.
He sits onto a pair of empty seats on the left side of the bus and scoots all the way over to the window. Before I can take the empty seat beside him, Samuel grabs my hand and tugs me to the double seat on our right. He sits onto the seat next to the window, while I'm forced to sit on the one beside him.
Nick glances from the empty seat beside him to me, at which I reply with a quick smile. After all, there's no way I can explain to him that I'm already sitting beside our grumpy Guardian.
After a second, Nick scoots over to the seat I was supposed to take and turns until he's facing toward me.
"Why is your brother in the hospital again?" I ask.
"He broke his arm doing... I don't really know what."
"What's his name?"
"Charlie. He's thirteen. He's one of those good guys; unlike me."
"Don't sell yourself short. You're a good guy, too."
"Not if you ask my old man." Nick turns his eyes to the front of the bus.
"Officer Wright? Why? Did something happen?"
"He knows I'm the one to blame for Charlie's first stay in the hospital."
"First stay? What happened?"
From the corner of my eye, I catch Samuel turning in Nick's direction as well, which tells me that he doesn't know about this either.
"I was supposed to watch him, but I went out to meet my friends." Nick tightens his hands into pale fists. "Charlie followed me, but then lost me somewhere along the way and instead ran into a group of drunk men."
At the mention of a group of drunk men, my thoughts jump to the night of my own accident. I remind myself that I still need to find himâthe boy or small guy I saw getting beaten up. Somehow I need to find him and make things right.
"Don't worry." Nick shoots me a bitter smile. "Our old man already tracked down the men involved. They're behind bars now."
"Good." I swallow the lump in my throat and follow Nick off the bus when we reach the bus stop near the hospital.
I don't know why, but I'm suddenly nervous about meeting Nick's younger brother.
***
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- E