She just stood there. Not speaking, not even trying to sign a greeting. Max told me that his mom was the one to first teach him ASL, so I knew she would at least know how to tell me “Hi.” The longer she didn’t move, only continued to look at me like I didn’t belong there, the more my chest began to tighten.
And then she shifted, giving me her back. I was so discouraged and hurt by the action that it took me a moment to realize she was using her body as a shield against the woman who was marching toward us with her eyes blazing.
I stepped closer to Max, who put his hand at my waist and tucked me against him as he said something, but he wasn’t signing and his mouth was moving too quickly for me to understand what he was saying. Around us, others were stepping toward us, as if they were enjoying the show we were putting on for them, or maybe they wanted me to leave.
Maybe they knew I was homeless, and they didn’t like that I was with Max. He was so sweet, so kind, and they probably thought I was taking advantage of him. It wasn’t true, but I would understand if they didn’t believe it.
Pressed so close to Max, I could feel the vibrations in his chest and knew he was shouting. That only made me feel worse, and tears began to sting my eyes. I pressed my face into his side, trying to hide them.
A small, soft hand on my arm made me jerk. Curious, I lifted my head enough to see who was touching me and found Nova standing there with a reassuring smile on her beautiful face.
“It’s okay,” she signed. “It isn’t what you think.”
I frowned at her. “They hate me,” I signed back, and she started shaking her head before I’d even finished.
Max was still vibrating, his mouth moving fast, making it impossible to make out a single word. I glanced at his mom, still standing like a human shield between us and the woman in the pretty dress who seemed both angry and desperate to get to me. From how red her face was and how quickly her lips moved, I thought maybe she was shouting too.
The blonde in the wedding dress appeared beside the screaming woman, tears in her eyes as she tried to help Raven, tugging on the brunette’s arm in an attempt to pull her back. The man she’d been dancing with stood off to the side, not helping, just watching with wide eyes, and I wanted to know what everyone was saying.
The bride was crying, and it was all my fault.
Not wanting to ruin the wedding reception any more than I already had, I jerked out of Max’s hold, ready to make a run for the door. But before I could take more than a step, someone blocked my path. I looked up into a pair of brown eyes and gulped. He wasn’t as tall as Max, nor as wide, but there was something about this guy that made me take a step back.
Max was beautiful, but this guy…he was something else entirely. I didn’t know if I wanted to stop and just take in everything about him, or run as far and as fast as possible in the opposite direction.
He screamed danger, but I wasn’t sure if that danger was good for me or not.
Nova moved so that she was standing between us, her smile still soft and reassuring. “This is Ryan. Don’t worry, he’s harmless. For the moment…” My eyes widened at her introduction. She had told me all about her “best friend,” and now I understood their relationship a little more…yet I was beyond confused.
When she’d told me about Ryan, I’d pictured a guy not much older than she was. Admittedly, five years wasn’t much of an age gap at all, but with Nova thirteen and him almost nineteen, that gap looked more like the Grand Canyon. I got the feeling Nova might be crushing on Ryan, but as I watched Ryan look down at her, there was no heat in his eyes, only what seemed like pure adoration.
Max’s comment about Ryan imprinting on Nova at first sight came back to me, joking about the Twilight books and how Jacob had imprinted on Bella’s daughter. I could see exactly what he meant by it now, and I decided to trust Nova’s Ryan.
“I just want to leave,” I signed. “I’m ruining this for River.”
Nova glanced over my shoulder then up at Ryan. The two of them seemed to have a telepathic conversation before he shrugged and she stepped forward. “Max will kill me if I let you leave,” she signed. “But let’s get you out of the line of fire.”
She guided me away from Max and toward where the tables were set up. Ryan pulled out two chairs, and Nova urged me down in one as she took the other. I glanced around, noticing that people were practically giving themselves whiplash from how they kept looking from me to where Max was still yelling at the woman on the other side of his mother.
Ryan positioned himself in front of me, making it impossible for anyone to see me and effectively forcing the others to stop trying to look at me.
“Your aunt hates me,” I told Nova, my shoulders drooping as I sat back in my chair.
“No, she doesn’t,” Nova dismissed. “I think she was just surprised. And then Aunt Kelli started getting hysterical—which, by the way, never happens—and things became a little clearer.”
Her answer only confused me more. “Who is Kelli?”
“You know, the crying crazy woman Aunt Raven was holding back. Trust me, if Aunt Raven didn’t already like you, she wouldn’t have gotten in the way of that hurricane.”
Someone in a dark suit placed two glasses of something fizzy in front of us, but before I could get a look at their face or even tell them “thank you,” they were gone. Nova picked up her drink and took a sip, and I did the same. The lemon-lime soda felt good on my throat, and I took another thirsty swallow before putting the glass back on the table. Moments later, another guy in a suit placed two plates in front of us.
I blinked down at the food then up at the guy who moved to stand only a few feet behind Nova, as if he were guarding her or something. It was weird, but she didn’t even seem to notice the other guy. Picking up one of the little sandwiches on her plate, she offered it to Ryan, who only gave her a hard look.
She pouted up at him, and he rolled his eyes before taking the sandwich from her and eating it in two bites.
But as adorable as the two of them were, my gaze kept going back to the guy in the suit. The way he was dressed, the stoic, completely emotionless look on his face, even the slight bulge of his jacket that suggested he was carrying a gun, reminded me of the men I’d seen all too often from my bedroom window back at my aunt’s house.
Maybe I shouldn’t have decided to trust Nova’s Ryan so quickly after all.