“Well maybe if your life depended on it, they’d behave this time,” Evan replied and James was starting to get a little irritated that he had no idea what was going on. “Well I should go back to base to make sure I don’t miss anything,” Evan said.
“That is if you can figure out how to work basic communications,” Lily mumbled under her breath, but the blonde apparently didn’t hear her as she disappeared back into the forest like she was never there in the first place. Lily turned to James with a huff and crossed her arms, looking more like the old Lily now.
“So,” James started. “I’m listening,” he added and she shook her head. He almost swore she was going to tell him to stick his nose in his own business like she used to do when she didn’t want to tell him something, but instead she uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips then started to speak.
“My visit home isn’t exactly purely recreational… about two weeks ago Silvano and Bianca had escaped from the detention center. It’s still unclear as to how they managed it, but one thing is for sure. Getting them back there is the Aequivalere’s top priority right now. The major problem is that they’ve pretty much disappeared. Queen Hazar devised a plan to get them to come out into the light, symbolically speaking of course,” Lily explained.
“Using you as bait since it’s well known he hates hybrids plus he could blame you for being imprisoned,” James stated and she nodded.
“Right on the nose… so I really need you to keep your mouth shut about it, no one else should know about it, especially Tony. Silvano may be scared off if Tony suddenly changes the way he normally does business,” she added.
“I get it, but I don’t like it. This seems really dangerous since you apparently can’t fight. How exactly are you going to defend yourself when he comes after you,” James asked, really curious as to why she said she couldn’t fight.
“I’m not supposed to be defending myself that’s why two guardians were supposed to be watching the house and me twenty-four seven. I’m not going to do a thing but play bait,” Lily explained and James gave her a look of disbelief. Was she actually not going to do anything? Frankly, the idea of being bait didn’t seem much more appealing then when she rushed into the heat of it in James’ opinion.
The whole idea made his instincts to protect her go crazy, but he managed to reign himself in. Lily was actually talking to him and he didn’t want to ruin that. “You’re plan is to sit by while someone else gets the bad guy?” He asked with a small smirk. The amount of how much she had changed was astounding and unsettling at the same time. Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms once more.
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I really don’t see why people act so surprised,” She replied tartly then uncrossed her arms again. “Well yeah actually I do,” she added with a shrug.
“Why do you say that you can’t fight?” James asked, decided to take advantage of the fact that she was actually talking.
“Because I can’t… I told you that’s a subject I really don’t want to talk about,” She argued.
“But it sounded like you physically can’t fight,” James insisted.
“Well it’s not my fault what my words sound like you,” she snapped bitterly and James nearly smiled, apparently the old Lily wasn’t completely gone. Lily sighed and seemed to deflate. “Sorry James, I didn’t mean to snap like that. I just really don’t want to talk about that okay,” she apologized and part of him was a little disappointed to see her apologize. The old bristly Lily wasn’t all bad.
“Don’t worry about it and until that leech is caught, I got your back,” He replied. He couldn’t explain it, but he needed to be a part of this, to help keep her safe.
“That’s what I’m worried about,” she told him and he looked at her confused. “That all your attention will be on my backside that you won’t see him or anything else coming,” she added with what looked like a flirty smile and James’s jaw dropped, completely taken by surprise. Did she just flirt with him? Lily started to laugh as she pointed at his face. “My God your face is priceless,” she teased and James started to laugh as well.
“Don’t you just think you’re cute don’t you,” he shot with a mocked offended look.
“No, I don’t think I’m cute. I know I am,” she stated as a matter of fact and gave him a little shove that made him take a step back. He scoffed exaggeratedly with an equally exaggerated look of disbelief.
“And you say I’m the one that’s got the cocky oversized ego,” He shot back. “I think you need to take a look in the mirror,” he added and gave her a little push.
“I’m not cocky I just know my strengths,” Lily replied back as she raised her chin then turned on her heel and walked off towards the house. James smiled as he watched her; maybe getting her to give them a chance wasn’t going to be so hard after all. “And quit checking out my ass,” Lily demanded after a few steps and James laughed again. He shook his head and caught up with her.
“Well if you didn’t flaunt it I wouldn’t be looking,” he shot back and she turned to look at him with narrowed eyes but he saw the hint of a smile she was trying to hide.
“That’s not very gentlemanly Mr. Lacrosse,” she lectured him, the hint of a smile starting to grow into a real smile.
“Well, I don’t remember claiming to be one Ms. Nawassa. In fact my reputation very clearly states that I’m more of a badass not to be messed with kind of guy,” James answered and she was definitely smiling now, it took his breath away to see it.
“I think that reputation is much exaggerated. I haven’t really seen you be a badass,” she told him and poked him on the shoulder, sending little shocks throughout his body.
“That’s because I like you,” he told her, suddenly aware of how close they were standing next to each other, it made his whole body tense in anticipation. Could this really be happening?