Gabriel’s POV
I was driving behind Mike and Jacob. Nick was sitting beside me. Aria and Annie were in the back seat. We left my house early and we should be getting to Mike’s cabin pretty soon.
With all the moving around we have done in the past couple of days, none of us had to pack much. Most of our stuff was already packed, so we managed to leave the house quickly.
Aria was angry at me and Nick. She was sitting with her arms crossed over her chest, and she was hardly speaking to us.
“Will you please talk to me?” I said angrily.
I watched Aria through the rearview mirror. She had barely spoken to me the whole morning.
“I am talking to you,” she said quietly.
“That’s the longest sentence I’ve heard from you since yesterday,” I said, frowning.
“What happened?” Annie interrupted. “Why are you fighting?”
“We are not fighting,” Aria said, turning to look at Annie.
“We found out about Ian,” Nick said, growling.
Annie’s eyes snapped to Aria, but she didn’t seem surprised.
I narrowed my eyes. “Did you know?”
“I did,” Annie said quietly and looked away from me.
“What?!” Nick growled and turned around to look at her. “And you didn’t tell us?!”
“It wasn’t my place to tell,” she shrugged.
Nick growled and turned back around.
“She has been talking to a human,” I said angrily. “He could have hurt her. He could be working for Victor. You should have told us, Annie.”
“He is not working for Victor,” Aria sighed.
“You don’t know that,” I said, looking at her through the rearview mirror.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, does it?” she said, looking at me. “You pushed him out of my life. He is not a threat anymore.”
“Aria…,” I started speaking, but she interrupted me.
“I don’t want to hear it, Gabriel,” she said, turning to look through the car window. “I understand why you did what you did, but I think you could have at least let me explain to him. He’s been a good friend. I didn’t want it to end like that.”
Nick growled and clenched his fists.
“What did he do?” Annie asked Aria.
“He blocked him from my phone and refused to let me call him and explain,” Aria answered.
Annie chuckled quietly and shook her head.
“Wow, Gabe,” she said. “You could have at least let her call him.”
“No,” Nick growled. “She is not talking to other men. I am barely holding on now that there will be two males living with us who want her. I do not need a third.”
I saw Aria rolling her eyes, and I had to bite back my laugh.
“Are we close?” Annie asked, leaning in between our seats.
“About half an hour, I think,” Nick responded.
The rest of the drive was quiet. I focused on the road, and the others were just looking out the window at the forest that surrounded us.
About 20 minutes later, we arrived at Mike’s cabin.
The place was huge. It was a three-story house with a tall fence surrounding it. Out front, there was a huge lawn. On the side of the house, there were two garages. This was not a cabin. It was a mansion.
As soon as we got out of the car, Annie gasped in admiration.
“Wow, Mike. This is awesome,” she said excitedly, her eyes roaming around this huge place.
“There is a pool in the backyard,” Mike said with a smile on his face.
“No way!” Cassie exclaimed. “That is so cool.”
“Yeah,” Mike chuckled. “Come on, let’s get you inside.”
We grabbed our bags from the car and followed Mike inside the house.
The first floor had a large open living room, kitchen, and dining room. At the back, there were glass doors leading outside. I could see the pool from over here.
“There are enough bedrooms for all of us,” Mike said and pulled my attention away from the house. “But I know some of you will want to sleep together. You can go upstairs and choose a room you like.”
Nick grabbed Aria’s hand and pulled her behind him. She sighed but followed him without saying a word. I guess she knew she would not win an argument with him.
Nick chose a room at the end of the hall. I chose the one across from them. I wanted to be close to Aria in case something happens.
The rooms were cozy. There was a big bed in the middle of the room. On my left, there was a door that led to a small bathroom. Next to the door, there was a closet. There was a window on my right that overlooked the backyard.
I quickly unpacked and folded my clothes in the closet. I wanted to talk to Aria about starting to practice her magic.
I knocked on their door and walked inside.
Nick was unpacking his bag, and Aria was sitting on the bed with her arms crossed over her chest. Both of them looked pissed off.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Your sister is stubborn,” Nick growled.
“Why?” I asked and sat down beside Aria.
“She doesn’t want me to stay in this room with her,” Nick explained.
I looked at Aria and she rolled her eyes but stayed quiet.
“It is safer this way,” I told her. “You can’t be left alone.”
“Fine,” she sighed.
“You can stay with me if you don’t want to be with Nick,” I told her.
Nick growled so loudly that I had to cover my ears. Aria flinched and gulped. He turned to look at me, and if looks could kill, I would be long gone.
“She is not going anywhere,” he said quietly, staring at me.
“Okay, Nick,” I said and raised my hands in surrender. “I am sorry.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by a phone ringing.
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out Calvin’s phone. My eyes widened.
“Shit,” Nick muttered and ran his hand through his hair.
Aria’s POV
I had been in a bad mood all day.
Nick’s and Gabriel’s possessive behavior was getting to me. I thought it was only a matter of time before they would tell me I couldn’t talk to anyone other than them. The only place I could go by myself is the bathroom. For now. I was sure they would take that freedom away from me as well.
I was so pissed off that I couldn’t even admire Mike’s cabin. If it can be called that. It was more of a mansion than a cabin. It was really modern, but wood was a big part of the design. There were huge wooden beams on the ceiling, and the floorboards were made of wood. The walls were white with a few framed paintings on them. There were a lot of windows, and the place looked bright and open. I liked it a lot, and I would be able to enjoy it even more if my mood wasn’t this bad.
I really wanted to have a bedroom to myself, but Nick’s plan was different. He didn’t even ask me if he could stay with me. He just pulled me to a room and started to unpack our bags.
That made me even more angry.
I tried talking to him, but he didn’t want to hear it. So, I just gave up. I knew I would not win.
When Gabriel suggested I stay with him, I thought Nick would rip his head off. Not that I would stay with Gabriel. He was getting on my nerves as much as Nick did.
I was glad when Nick’s phone rang. At least they stopped fighting. I was sure everybody heard Nick’s growl and they knew something was going on.
But when I saw Nick’s and Gabriel’s worried faces, my body tensed up.
“Shit,” Nick muttered and ran his hand through his hair.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Who is it?” Gabriel asked Nick, ignoring my question.
“The boss,” Nick said as he stared at the phone.
“Fuck,” Gabriel said and stood up. “Let it ring.”
Gabriel walked over to Nick and looked down at the phone screen.
“What is wrong?” I asked again. “Who is this boss?”
They didn’t answer me and kept staring at the phone. A few moments later, it stopped ringing.
Nick put the phone back in his pocket and looked up at me.
“It is Victor,” he said. “This is Calvin’s phone.”
My eyes widened and I could feel the blood leaving my face. What the hell is he talking about?
“What?” I mumbled in shock. “Why do you have his phone?”
“I took it after we killed him,” Nick sighed. “This way we can stall Victor.”
“If he couldn’t reach Calvin, he would send somebody to find him,” Gabriel said.
“He would know something was wrong and he would send somebody else after you. Or he would come by himself. This way, we can pretend to be Calvin and stall him.”
“Pretend?” I asked, confused. “How?”
“We will send him messages,” Nick said. “Make up a reason why we can’t talk. It will buy us a couple of days.”
I stared at him not knowing what to say. The plan made sense, but somehow, I had a feeling it wouldn’t work.
“Come on, let’s go downstairs and let the guys know he called,” Gabriel said and started walking out of the room.
When we came downstairs, everybody was sitting in the living room, chatting.
“Is everything okay?” Jake asked as soon as he saw us.
“Victor called,” Nick said, pulling the phone out of his pocket.
“Fuck,” Jake mumbled.
“Did you send him a message?” Blake asked.
“Wait, what do you mean Victor called?” Cassie asked, surprised.
“We took Calvin’s phone when we killed him,” Jake explained. “We are going to pretend to be Calvin and stall Victor.”
“That is a great idea,” Annie said. “That way, he won’t send anybody else to take Aria.”
“Yeah,” Blake nodded. “We had that same thought.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. I guess I was the only one who thought this wouldn’t work.
“What will you tell him?” Mike asked Nick.
“I don’t know,” Nick said and sat down on the couch.
“Tell him there are no changes,” Jake said. “You are still following her, but nothing important is going on.”
“And tell him you can’t talk because you are afraid that we will hear you,” Gabriel added.
Nick nodded and started typing. When he finished, he raised his head and put the phone on the coffee table.
“Done,” he said and leaned back on the couch.
“Good,” Mike said. “Gabriel, can you place a magic shield around this place? Like the one at your house?”
“Yes,” Gabriel nodded.
“Great,” Mike smiled. “Jack and I will go to town to buy groceries. The locals know us already, so we will go alone. It will be less suspicious that way.”
“Do we leave our cars parked in the driveway?” Jake asked.
“No,” Mike said and walked over to the cabinet near the front door.
He opened a drawer and took out a small remote.
“Park them in the garage,” he said, tossing the remote to Jake.
“Great,” Jake said and started walking toward the front door.
Gabriel followed him.
“Do you need anything from the store?” Mike asked us.
“Don’t forget to buy snacks,” Annie said. “Salty and sweet.”
“And ice cream,” Cassie added.
Mike chuckled and nodded.
“Okay,” he said and put his jacket on. “Anything else?”
We shook our heads, and the guys started walking out the front door.
“We will be back in two hours,” Jack said. “It is a long drive.”
We said our goodbyes and as they walked outside, Gabriel and Jake came back.
“Tomorrow we start practice,” Gabriel said and walked over to me. “You have to learn to control your magic.”
“Okay,” I said quietly and looked at Cassie.
She was sitting on the sofa, chatting with Annie.
“Cass?” I called her. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
She looked up at me and smiled. “Sure, Ari.”
She walked over to me and took my hand. I could feel Nick’s and Gabriel’s eyes on me as we walked away. Cassie took me to her room.
“Talk,” she said with a smile and closed the door.
I didn’t want to talk. I wrapped my arms around her neck and sobbed.
“Aria?” she said, worried. “What’s wrong?”
She wrapped her arms around me and rubbed my back.
“Everything,” I managed to say through my sobs.
She hugged me tighter and let me cry on her shoulder. I didn’t even realize how much I missed and needed her.
