“Anyone ever told you you’ve got a pretty sweet rack?” Kirk asked. The boys behind him sniggered.
“Excuse me?” I didn’t understand what he meant.
“I’d like to get to know you better—if you know what I mean.” Kirk took a step toward me. I immediately darted away from him. “Don’t be shy, honey,” he said.
“I have to get to class.”
“Sure you can’t spare a few minutes?” He said in a leering drawl. “I’m only after a quickie.” He took hold of my shoulder.
“Don’t touch me!”
“Ooh, feistier than she looks.” Kirk laughed and tightened his grip.
“Take your hands off her.” I breathed a sigh of relief as Xavier stepped in front of me, tall and reassuring. I drew instinctively closer to him, relishing the safety of his presence. His hair was pushed away from his face. His familiar turquoise eyes were narrowed with anger.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” said Kirk, dropping his hand. “This isn’t any of your business.”
“Her business is my business.”
“Oh, yeah? You think you can stop me?”
“Touch her again and see what happens,” Xavier warned.
“You wanna make something of this?”
“That’s your call.” Xavier pulled off his blazer and rolled up his sleeves. His school tie hung loose, and I saw the crucifix sitting just in the hollow of his throat. The fabric of his school shirt strained against the sculpted muscles in his arms. He was significantly broader in the chest than Kirk, and I saw the other boy do a quick evaluation of his strength.
“Let it go, man,” one of his friends advised and then lowered his voice. “That’s Xavier
Woods.”
This seemed to act as a deterrent for Kirk.
“Whatever.” He spit on the ground, threw me a filthy look, and stalked away.
Xavier wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and I drew close to him, breathing in his clean, crisp scent.
“Some people really need to be taught some manners,” he said disdainfully. I stared up at him.
“Would you really have gotten into a fight for me?”
“Of course.” He didn’t hesitate.
“But there were four of them.”
“Beth, I’d take on Megatron’s army to protect you.”
“Who?”
Xavier shook his head and laughed.
“I keep forgetting we have different reference points. Let’s just say, I’m not scared of four little punks.”
Xavier didn’t know much about angels, but he knew about people. He knew what they wanted far better than I did and therefore could better judge who to trust and who to keep at a safe distance. I knew that Ivy and Gabriel still worried about the ramifications of our relationship, but I felt that Xavier supplied me with a strength and belief in myself that made me stronger for whatever my role in our mission was meant to be. Although he didn’t really understand the nature of our job on earth, he was suddenly conscious of not distracting me from it. At the same time, his concern for my well-being bordered on obsession as he worried about even the littlest things, like my energy level.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I reminded him one day in the cafeteria. “Despite what Gabriel thinks, I can take care of myself.”
“I’m just doing my job,” he replied. “By the way, have you had lunch today?”
“I’m not hungry. Gabriel always cooks a big breakfast.”
“Here, eat this,” he commanded and pushed a health bar across the table. As an athlete, he always seemed to have an endless supply at any given time. The label told me this one contained cashews, coconut, apricots, and seeds.
“I can’t eat this; it’s got birdseed in it!”
“Those are sesame seeds and they’re full of energy. I don’t want you burning out.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because your blood sugar is probably low—so don’t argue.”
Sometimes it was easier not to argue with Xavier when his objective was taking care of me.
“All right, Mother,” I said, biting into the chewy bar. “By the way, this tastes like cardboard.”
I rested my head on his strong tanned arms, reassured as always by his solidity.
“Sleepy?” he asked.
“Phantom snored right through the night, and I didn’t have the heart to kick him out.”
Xavier sighed and patted my head. “You’re too nice for your own good sometimes. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you’ve only taken one bite out of that bar. Now eat up.”
“Xavier, please, someone might hear you!”
He picked up the bar and waved it through the air making a whistling noise with his mouth. “It’ll be a lot more embarrassing if we have to start playing airplanes.”
“What’s airplanes?”
“A game mothers play to get stubborn children to eat.”
I laughed, and he seized the opportunity of flying the health bar straight into my mouth.
Xavier loved to tell stories about his family and I loved to listen. Whenever he spoke, I found myself enormously distracted by him. Lately his anecdotes revolved around his eldest sister’s upcoming wedding. I often interrupted with questions, hungry for the details he omitted.
What color were the bridesmaids’ dresses? What was the name of the young cousin who had been recruited as ring bearer? Who was in favor of a band over a string quartet? Would the bride’s shoes be white satin? Whenever he couldn’t answer, he would promise to find out for me.