Compounding Traumas (Artemis University Book 6), стр. 53
“How about we all have dinner?” Darby asked, giving me a hesitant glance. “Something calm before the madness starts tomorrow?”
I nodded, seeing Lucca did as well. “Yeah, that sounds perfect. I’ll text Irma that we’re coming home for dinner. There’s a bunch of stuff they’re thinking of adding to the bakery for fall treats they want me to sample and give my opinion on.” I smiled when they simply blinked at me. “Yes, I’m spoiled. Get ready for it as well.”
“I’ve honestly missed it,” Darby muttered, wincing when he realized how that sounded. “Not—I missed the hobgoblins. They weren’t mean to me, but even the children immediately shut me out when we were—and it hurt. I wanted to cry that they basically hated me now.”
“Yeah, I feel that way whenever Irma gives me a disappointed look,” I grumbled.
Darby snuck a kiss before heading out, leaving Lucca and I alone… With the large box he’d brought. Okay then.
I pointedly stared at it as if making it clear I wanted an explanation.
He simply chuckled and dragged it over to the two super bean bag chairs we had, and then brought me over there too, pushing me to sit in one. He pulled the second much closer and knelt by the box. “Hi.”
“Hi?” I chuckled.
He cleared his throat and leaned in, brushing his lips over mine. “Hi.”
I swallowed a giggle. “Hi, Lucca. What are you up to?”
“So first, for the record, I’m glad you made up with Darby.”
“Okay.”
“Izzy told me you—he gave you flowers, and you had other issues and well; that’s common, and you’re not a common woman. And I don’t mean that because of what you are. You’re special, and I wanted to do something fun.”
“I like fun,” I offered, unsure of how to help or what to do, but he was acting so adorable, it was hard not to laugh. He was uncomfortable though, so I was trying to make this easier.
He gave me a full grin. “I know, and I really like that about you. You’re so real and just who you are. So many women worry about how people will see what they do and judge them, so they hide who they are. You’re just you and know it’s not about doing something wrong, simply finding the people who fit with the type of person you are. And not just men, but friends.”
“Yeah. It took me a while to get there.” I squirmed a bit. There was more to it than that. There was a lot of heartache to it as well, and finally finding someone who accepted a fucked up kid. Mel had been the first person to really accept me and say she liked who I was, and that mattered.
“I know, and I honestly want to be more like that but, well, you know our society so right now, I just want to be more like that with you.” He stole another kiss as if each one gave him a power-up to keep going. “Don’t laugh, okay? I want to share one of my secrets with you. It’s part of my courting present, or not present, but like I would give flowers, but yeah, a part of me.”
Now I was supremely interested in the box’s contents. “I won’t laugh.” I reached for the flap, but he moved his hand to cup mine.
“You’ll keep my secrets too, right, kitten?”
“Yeah, always,” I promised, knowing we were talking about more than whatever he was about to show me. What we had learned was terrifying, and he was trying to lay some groundwork. Not only that, but because of my situation, everything tended to be about me all the time, and I was pretty sure this was his way of saying… He mattered? No, Lucca wasn’t like that.
Maybe he had needs too. Yeah, that seemed more like him. He wanted to share parts of himself with me so I could appreciate the person he was. I thought it was cool but not in my face.
I really thought it was adorable when I saw what was inside.
“So I’m completely addicted to Pop-Tarts,” he confessed as he pulled out the first box… Of the mountain of them in the larger box. “There are always some in my room, even at home I sneak them, and I hide extras in my closet. I even follow them on social media, and anytime there’s a new flavor, I have to try them. They have some new ones I’ve not gotten to yet, and I wanted to with you. Have you taste my faves.”
“I love Pop-Tarts,” I told him, biting back a giggle. “They were super cheap, and most of the assholes I stayed with when I was a kid considered that a real breakfast, but they were good. I’ve never really tried more than strawberry or cherry.” I shook my head. “No, Mel and I had s’mores a few times. Those are awesome.”
He beamed at me and dug in the box, pulling out a double pack of the s’mores flavor. “They’re one of my favorites too.”
“What else?”
I listened as he talked about the watermelon ones that they no longer sold and how he loved them, but they wouldn’t bring them back and it was a shame. It was so friggin adorable that I couldn’t keep the goofy grin off my face. This big guy, a college junior and bear shifter, was gushing about Watermelon Pop-Tarts.
What woman wouldn’t find that totes adorbs?
“You don’t have a toaster,” he muttered, glancing around the room.
“Yeah, Izzy does, or I can use a rune,” I told him, pointing to where it was. The goof jumped up and went over to her side, unplugging it and