He takes what he wants

"What was that?" Hazel demanded sitting again on her bed and raised an eyebrow. Leaving one leg on the floor and another on the bed She looked at her friend with a questioning expression, waiting for an explanation for the sudden interruption.

"What was what?" Lauren didn't know what to say to her because she didn't understand which part of her question was about her snapping at him, him humiliating her at her most vulnerable point, or him stepping on her personal space.

"Girl, you were fighting with Elliott? Elliott! Rodriguez!" She empathised with each word in a very funny way that Lauren virtually laughed but controlled seeing the situation she was in.

"You look fine now. Let's go," she implied. Thankfully, the nurse wasn't present in the infirmary; otherwise, what would she think about them fighting like enemies? Have they really become one?

"Wait."

"Are you in pain?" Lauren asked a question after being stopped by Hazel. She wondered if she was in pain and needed her help.

"I am not okay. Tell me what is going on between you two." Hazel mandated in a serious tone.

"I don't know. We have met a couple of times."

"You've met Elliott Rodriguez a couple of times? How exactly did you meet, considering I've been with you almost all the time since you got here?"

"I don't know; I was just walking around. It was only a few times or maybe one or two." Lauren said, but if she'd been capable of making her believe that, she'd have believed it already.

"A few times?" Her eyes almost bugged out of her head. "That's more than a couple. Where? When? How?"

"Why are you being so weird about this?" Lauren was seriously beginning to regret bringing Elliott up.

Hazel was freaked out over Avel. When Lauren talked about whom she liked and then suggested two boys from their batch. She shouted, That's ridiculous; you are gone mad, etc., but it was a fun kind of freakout. Right now, it looked more like she was going to blow a gasket.

"He was in the cafeteria; I was in the cafeteria. I was in the library; he was in the library. It just kind of happened."

"In the cafeteria? Things don't just happen with Elliott. He's not exactly known for being talkative with anyone outside of-" She was eradicated abruptly.

"Outside of what?" Lauren prompted.

"I don't know. Just…"

"Just?" Lauren asked. She smiled a little sickly but did not say anything else, and it annoyed her even more. Like, seriously? "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?" Hazel asked confusedly with a scowl.

"You start sentences and then never finish them. Or you start to say something and halfway through change what you were saying to something entirely else."

"I don't-"

"Yes, you do. All the time. And honestly, it's beginning to feel a little weird. Like there's some kind of secret I'm not supposed to know. What's going on?"

Even if Lauren knew about Elliott's secret, she would like to force the issue and see if Hazel knows about it from the way she is reacting. It confirms that she figured it out and just wanted to protect Lauren. But he is not dangerous, Lauren thought.

Having nothing more to say, Hazel thought of a backup plan. "That's ridiculous. I was going to ask if he would talk with you in front of everyone... Especially in front of his friends?"

"His friends? You mean a girl and two boys?" Lauren sniffed angrily. Hazel nodded.

Based on her recollections, Hazel's explanation was reasonable. Still, there was something about the way she said it and the way she was looking everywhere but in her eyes that made her think there was more to the story than she was letting on.

Although standing in the middle of the infirmary didn't seem like the best place to keep pushing at her.

Lauren gave her a weird look, wondering what she was up to, at least until she asked in a kind of stage whisper, "Have you met the others, too?"

"The other guys?" Lauren asked. "No. I've only met Elliott and Zaiden; he is the one who picked me up from the station."

"Only? You mean he was alone?" Now she didn't just look worried; she looked downright sick.

"Yeah. So?" She stared and gaped at Lauren, her face impassive.

"Oh, God! What did he do? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

She cleared her throat. "Elliot?" Lauren couldn't keep the surprise from her voice.

"Of course, Elliott! That is who we're talking about, right?"

"No, he didn't hurt me. Why would you even think that?" Lauren was shocked. "He is the one who saved me that day; have you forgotten this easily?"

She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Lauren here and towards the open door, as though hoping she was going to tell her something, but she didn't, so she went on.

"Yeah… He did, but he kept meeting you." She grabbed her hands and squeezed them tightly. "You know you don't have to lie, right? You can tell me what happened. I swear, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. I am here to listen and support you, and I respect your privacy. You can trust me to keep our conversation confidential if that's what you need right now."

"You won't tell anyone what?" Lauren was thoroughly confused now. Because while it might have been a stretch to call Elliott interesting. She couldn't imagine why the fact that she met him was eliciting this kind of response from her cousin. Was she asking if he had bitten her or something? Then no, she was completely fine.

"He didn't do anything, Haz." A little impatient now, she pulled her hands from hers. "I mean, he helped me out when I needed it, and he sure as hell didn't hurt me. He protected me. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"The first thing you need to know," she said, as earnestly as anyone wearing a chunky knit sweater had ever said anything, "that Elliott isn't helpful to anyone. Ever."

"I don't believe that."

"He is dangerous. He is very dangerous, and you should stay as far away from him as you possibly can." Hazel sounds like half exasperated, half admiring.

"But what does that even mean? I need to know what I'm dealing with here." Lauren blinked and said twice, "More dangerous than demons?"

This made Hazel take aback, and somehow now, she was out of words — coming to her senses.

"I'm ...serious... You need to be careful of him. If he really was helpful to you, it's only because he wants something. And even that seems strange because Elliott takes what he wants. Always has, always will." Hazel shuddered at first but kept on explaining the unknown truth and warnings.

"He's not the one who tried to kill me, the demon-"

Hazel snorted. "Yeah, well, you've only been here a few days. Give it time. You will get to know the truth."

"Truth…" Lauren struggled for several seconds to find a retort that would demonstrate how ridiculous she sounded. She finally spoke precisely what she meant to say, but she couldn't get over the annoyance her words had created.

"A really awful thing to say. Hazel, why can't you give me a valid reason to stop seeing Elliott? I mean, if he's that dangerous, I need to know why."

"Just because it's awful doesn't make it any less true." She gave her a no-nonsense look that seemed incongruous with her normally effervescent personality. "You need to trust me on this. And don't worry about Elliott. He will not force you to leave this university. Unless you're trying to figure out how to stay as far away from him as possible."

"I..I." Lauren didn't know what to say more, so Hazel began again.

"You know, I think he have to go-"

"No, I'm not going anywhere." Elliott's sudden, low, and amused voice cuts through her cousin's umbrage, her eyes going wide and her skin drained of colour. "And neither is Lorrie."