I Have an Invisible Stalker (Guardians #1)

Chapter 26

Olivia's POV

"Killed him?" I glance from Samuel, who is still sitting on the floor in the middle of the café, to Hugo, who is making his way to one of the occupied tables. "Hugo isn't dead."

"Not him." Samuel jabs his fingers into his hair and shakes his head. "His past self. I think I'm the one responsible for his death."

"Responsible for... Your sin!" I finally connect the dots. "So the reason you're a Guardian is because you killed somebody?"

"I'm not sure. When the boy entered the café, I remembered myself saying that I'm the one to blame for his death."

"So you actually killed him?" I stare at Samuel, not believing my ears. I mean, I knew that he must have done something bad in his past human life to now be a Guardian, but a literal skeleton isn't what I expected to find.

"Killed whom?"

I snap my head to the side and find Hugo crouching beside me.

He glances from the overturned chair and then back to me while completely skipping over Samuel. "What are you doing?"

"I'm having a bizarre conversation about past lives and surprising deaths." I rise up to my feet and then lift the chair as well.

Without caring about Hugo's presence, I offer my hand to Samuel. This time he doesn't hesitate before he grabs onto it and allows me to help him up. His hand is invitingly warm, so for a second, I find myself unwilling to let go.

I want to ask him if he feels the same way, but before I can pry my eyes off our entwined hands, the entrance bell goes off. Automatically I turn to greet the customer, but the words die in my throat when I recognize her. Dr. Kate waves at me with a wide smile and makes her way over to us.

"Olivia." She stops right beside me. "Funny seeing you here."

The doctor chooses the exact same chair where the Head Guardian sat not ten minutes ago. I turn from her to Samuel, who still has his hand wrapped around mine, but he is no longer looking at me. He is focused on Hugo, who nods at Dr. Kate and then ambles to one of the other occupied tables.

"What are you doing here?" I turn back to Dr. Kate.

"It's my day off and I heard that the coffee here is delicious. How long have you been working here?"

"About a week."

"So, right after I removed the cast?" Dr. Kate cocks her head to the side. "I'm starting to see that your mother was right when she insisted on the cast."

"She likes to think so, too. What can I get you?"

"I'll have an Americano to go, please."

I pull my hand out of Samuel's hold and leave him staring at Hugo, while I move to prepare Dr. Kate's coffee. When I come back a few moments later, both the doctor and Samuel are still in the same positions—Samuel watching Hugo's every move and Dr. Kate watching my every move.

"Here you go." I set the coffee on the table.

"Thank you." Dr. Kate doesn't spare the coffee a second of attention and instead focuses her eyes on my left foot. "How's your ankle? And what about your memories? Are they back yet?"

"My ankle's fine," I assure her. "But most of my memories are still missing."

"You really should stop going back to that intersection." Dr. Kate frowns. "I don't want you to get hurt."

I'm about to assure her that I know what I'm doing when something else catches my attention. I stop glancing at Samuel's still frozen figure and focus my full attention on the doctor.