Claimed by the Devils

Chapter 33

Elliot POV

We were all wondering the same thing. What had Aria done to Lucian on their date? Since they returned, he’d been happier. I caught him smiling and Lucian with a turned-up mouth in a smile was surreal. In all the years I’d known him, I couldn’t recall a single time he’d been this happy.

Don’t get me wrong, I was so pleased they both came back in one piece, but what did she do?

Tonight was my date.

I waited outside, drawing in my sketchpad as I waited for Aria to be ready. When Lucian and Rowan had started to talk about doing these dates in an attempt to draw Aria closer, I felt it was childish.

We didn’t need to do this. Getting to know each other was overrated. Now as I thought about Lucian’s slight change of personality, I had to wonder what she did.

Aria came out after five minutes. I told her to dress casually. Jeans and a shirt. She’d pinned her hair up and some of the long lengths fell around her face. No makeup, not that she needed any.

She held a jacket over her arm and glanced down at herself.

“How do I look?”

“Stunning,” I said.

She rolled her eyes.

“You don’t have to lie. You told me to dress like I wanted to get dirty. Kind of strange.”

She gave me a spin.

“You’re fine.”

Rowan came out of the kitchen carrying a tub of ice cream. The spoon rammed into his mouth. He swallowed the mouthful and let out a whistle.

“You look nice.”

“Thanks. I don’t know where we’re going.”

“It’s Elliot, don’t get excited about it.”

I punched his arm and Rowan pretended to fall back.

“Abuse, people, abuse.”

“Do you ever know when to take s**t seriously?” I asked.

“I will be taking it seriously when it’s my date.”

He winked at her.

“I’m going to be the best of both worlds.”

“I have no doubt.”

I held out my hand and Aria placed hers in mine. It was strange, but the moment she took my hand, it felt right. I ran my thumb across her knuckles as I led her out of the dorm. Other students were milling around.

It was the weekend, so we could all come and go as we pleased. Sebastian hadn’t come back from whoever he’d gone to see to get us the information we needed.

I was worried that searching Aria’s past for answers was going to get us killed. I kept my thoughts to myself as I wanted to learn everything about her, or as much about her as possible.

“It’s nice out,” Aria said.

Glancing up at the sky, I nodded in agreement.

“It is.”

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” she asked.

“It’s a surprise.”

To be honest, I wasn’t sure she was going to like it. I pulled my car keys out, beeped the car, and went to the door to let her inside. She climbed in, putting the seatbelt on.

I got behind the wheel, put the keys into the ignition, and turned it over, hearing the engine come to life.

“Are you a car man?” she asked.

“Nah, I just love the sound of the engine. Listen to this beauty roar.”

I pressed on the accelerator. The car vibrated a little.

She chuckled.

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“You don’t dig cars?”

“They’re great for getting you from A to B, but other than that, no.”

I smiled as I pulled out of the parking lot. I had my identification, which I presented at the security gate. I was handed a pass and told to drive carefully. Nodding at the attendant, I took the car right, heading toward the city.

Aria sat quietly and looked out of the window.

“You can talk, you know,” I said.

“And so can you. I don’t know where we’re going. Can you give me any clues?”

“We’re going to be the only two people there.”

She snorted.

“That’s not a clue, and you know it.”

“It is a clue, just not a very good one.”

I glanced at her and winked.

“Are you going to tell me what you did to Lucian?”

“Why would I do that?”

“So we can all use the trick.”

She tapped her nose.

“Some secrets are meant to stay hidden.”

“Well, whatever you did, thank you.”

“Why?”

“Lucian’s been under a lot of stress.”

“Haven’t we all?”

“Yeah, we all have. Don’t get me wrong, his stress level is no different from all of us, but it’s not the same. I’m sure one day he’ll tell you all about it.”

“I’m guessing it’s what his parents or his dad wants him to do,” she said.

“He’s told you?”

“Only about his future to take over his father’s empire. Nothing else. I got the sense…”

She stopped.

“What?”

“It’s fine. I don’t want to talk about Lucian. It’s not right when he’s not here.”

“Aria, he’s going to love that on my date we talked about him.”

“It’s not like that.”

“I won’t tell,” I said.

“It doesn’t feel right.”

I wanted to pry, to find out more.

“Okay, fine. If you don’t want to share, I will respect that.”

She glanced over at me and nodded.

“Thank you. I won’t talk to anyone about our date either.”

“You can totally brag if you want to,” I said.

Before we got to the city, I made the turn off to the right, heading down a small, tight road. There were a couple of signs for the town, but the lights were dim. I only knew where we were as this was the one place I came to get away.

Another right and then a left, I came to a stop at an abandoned-looking building, only it was very much lived in.

“Do you think it’s safe to get out?” Aria asked as I put the car into park.

I laughed.

“Nothing is going to come out and bite you.”

I winked at her.

“Unless you want me to come out and chase you.”

“I thought Rowan was the playful one.”

“He is. He’s a real joker.”

I climbed out of the car, rounding to her side to help her out. She took my hand and once again, I got that tingle the moment she touched me. I liked feeling her close to me.

“Where are we?”

Still holding her hand, I closed the doors, pressing the lock on. I walked her to the doors, typed in the code, and they opened for me.

“You live here?”

“No. I don’t live here.”

We entered my building. My father got this place after I begged him to let me have some space to unload. Staying in a boarding school like All Saints had slowly been driving me mentally. I didn’t know what finally convinced him, but he purchased this piece-of-s**t building that I thought was once a small convenience store, had it completely renovated, the security fitted, and turned it into a space good enough for his son. I couldn’t complain.