Chapter Ten
Luca
Iwas unsettled for days after my brain glitched in the kitchen.
Funnily enough, it was Kye and Ben who realized I was still dwelling.
Nobody else seemed to be looking at me with that worry in their eyes.
They weren’t worried about me snapping again, they worried about how I was feeling, and wasn’t that weirdly nice?
I stayed well fed and worked out with Brodie daily, and within a week I felt more stable.
Then, it was almost time to go to New York.
One morning, Rian and I sat reading in the living room. Suddenly his head snapped up, and he gave me this weird look.
“What?” I frowned at him.
“I just realized you haven’t left this house since you got here.”
I opened my mouth to challenge his statement, but then my jaw dropped because he was right. I’d spent months in this house, on this property, without even wanting to go anywhere outside of the days surrounding my turning when we’d been at Holden’s place.
“Well… shit.”
Rian chuckled. “We need to figure this out. You’re not exactly a regular person out there.”
Right. I was a celebrity. My face had been on the covers of the biggest music and entertainment magazines. Hell, some fashion ones, too.
The hubbub around Kaiju’s potential demise had largely died down outside random speculation.
I was literally days away from setting that nuke off with my statement and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
What I was looking forward to was for it all being over, which meant having to be a puppet for the label one last time.
“How about this: you text Ben and ask if he wants to go get lunch at the diner? We’ll meet him there. Take whoever wants to join us,” Rian suggested when I got lost in my head for too long.
“Do you think….” I licked my lips and fidgeted a little. “I mean, if anyone recognizes me…?”
Rian’s expression turned thoughtful. “They might. But people are pretty respectful here. Plus the brothers who run the diner won’t let anyone be assholey to their clients. Even other patrons.”
“Okay… okay.” Taking a deep breath, I took my phone out and texted Ben.
Since he was at work, I wasn’t expecting an immediate answer. Instead, I got off the couch and went to find the other studious Douglas brother. I knocked on the door, because he and Carys were sprawled on our bed, talking about something school related.
“Hey!” Carys said brightly. “What’s up?”
“Well turns out we’re heading to New York in two days and I haven’t actually left the house at all since I came here after being turned at Holden’s.”
Max frowned. “What?”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. So, solution: we go to the diner to hang out. I texted Ben to see if he wants to come on his lunch break, but what about you two?” I went to sit on the edge of the bed next to Max and tugged on a string hanging from the hole on the knee of his jeans.
Carys smiled. “That sounds good! I have been out a bit more, but I could use the outing too.”
Right, because she’d been a prisoner in this house before Brodie had arrived, and her trauma was a valid reason for taking things slowly.
“Well now it’s gonna be a party. There’s no way I’m missing this,” Max said in that easy tone of his, then leaned up to kiss me.
Carys made an “aww” face at us.
“Maybe you should call Kye and Brodie? Aren’t they… somewhere?” I frowned, trying to think where they were going this morning.
“They’re at the Ramirez pack for lunch. Holden’s gonna drop by there, too, as the enforcer beta.”
“Oh, right. Well it’s still gonna be a party.” I smiled at them both.
My phone vibrated and I pulled it from my pocket, smiling as I read the message. “Okay, Ben’s in. If we leave in about an hour, we’ll hit the tail end of the lunch rush. He’s finishing a job before that,” I relayed the gist of the message.
“Yay!” Carys got off the bed and grabbed her laptop. “We’ll continue this later,” she told Max and left the room.
Max moved his laptop to the side and made room for me, then waited for me to get on the bed for a cuddle.
“You feeling okay about going?” he asked as I settled against his side, my head on his chest.
“Yeah. It might be tense at first, but I need to get used to people other than the pack. And the sensory stuff will be hard.”
He nodded and kissed the top of my head. “I’m glad Rian had the epiphany. There’s going to be so many more things in New York to overwhelm our senses.”
Our. I kept forgetting that he and Ben hadn’t really been anywhere other than their home town and a couple of airports on their way to rehab and back.
“What are your thoughts about New York?” I asked quietly as I slipped my hand under his T-shirt.
He sucked his stomach in, then relaxed again. He was such a sensitive, sensual man, as was Ben. Now that I was getting more intimately familiar with their bodies, I couldn’t get enough.
“A bit nervous,” he said as I scraped my nails on his sparse chest hair, then down the line on his lower stomach. “You got to stop that.”
I chuckled, but did as I was told. As much as I wanted to escalate, I also knew it wasn’t the time and the door was wide open.
As if to remind us of that, Cindy waltzed in, jumped on the bed, and went to curl up on Max’s other side. I reached over his stomach to pet her silky head.
As soon as we stepped into the diner, I knew there was a possibility that Ben had chosen the time he did just to make sure it would be less overwhelming for me. There were still plenty of occupied booths, but a cheerful looking human noticed Ben and gave him a little wave.
“Hey, just grab any booth you want and take an extra chair from somewhere if you need it, I’ll be right with you!”
“Thanks, Tadeo,” Ben called out, then pointed toward a family booth near the back by the kitchen doors. “Let’s sit there.”
As we trailed after him, I felt Rian’s hand at the small of my back. He was taking care of me as the one who’d turned me, and I appreciated that. In this situation, it was as comforting as knowing Ben and Max were here with me.
The booth was U-shaped, so I slid into the middle. Ben and Max took either side, and then Rian and Carys bookended them, respectively.
The waiter walked past us with a tray of dirty dishes and ducked into the kitchen. I could hear him talk to someone—the cook, probably—and then he was back, with a notepad in his hand.
“All right, folks. What can I get you?” he asked, smiling in a friendly way.
“I’d just like an espresso,” Rian said.
“Me, too,” I added quickly.
Tadeo’s gaze met mine, and he did a small double-take. “Oh. Yeah. I can do that.” Then he blushed a little, making us all grin. “Sorry about that.”
“That’s okay,” I assured him. “This is my first time being out and about after….” I gestured at my mouth.
He nodded, immediately serious. “I was there for my brother.” He nodded toward the kitchen door. “He’s in the kitchen. Just let me know if you need anything at all.”
The door swung open and a vampire with almost identical coloring to Tadeo’s stepped out. “We got a baby vamp in the house?” he asked, then looked marginally less surprised than his brother when he recognized me. “Well, that’s not common news yet,” he stated.
I chuckled. “No, it’s not. Give me a few days.”
He held his hand out for a shake. “I’m Reyes. I hope you’re doing fine now.”
Ah. He knew I’d been ill.
“I’m great. The new diet seems to be working.” I winked at him.
He laughed and shook his head. “Right. I remember that. It’s been about a decade for me, but it was a similar situation to yours, I assume.”
“We’re fortunate to have this now,” I said, then leaned into Ben’s shoulder while Max reached for my hand.
Both Tadeo and Reyes noticed the movements, and to my relief, they seemed okay with it.
“We really are. I have a wife and this place. My brother lives next door. Couldn’t ask for more, really,” Reyes replied, then clapped Tadeo’s shoulder. “Let me know their order when you have it.”
Then he nodded politely and went back into the kitchen.
Tadeo wrote down what the wolves and Carys wanted to eat, and then brought us our drinks.
I liked the whole espresso thing. I’d liked coffee as a human, and now that I couldn’t really eat anything—well, I could’ve, but I didn’t want the literal pain that apparently came from that sort of thing—I still liked sipping my espresso while others ate around me.
I closed my eyes as I took in the diner around us. There was a couple arguing on the other side. Something about what wallpaper to buy for the nursery. I smiled.
There was someone with blatantly too strong cologne sitting a few booths over. My nose wrinkled.
A mom with a toddler sat at the other end of the space, yet the kid’s happy squeals were a lot. I winced, then did what Rian had told me to do: I started to systematically listen to other things nearby, and my hearing began to ignore the baby.
Rian chuckled.
I opened my eyes and realized they were all looking at me. “What?”
“Nothing. Just looked fun.” Ben kissed my cheek.
“You were concentrating very hard,” Carys piped up, grinning.
I felt like blushing for some reason. “Oh.”
Rian reached over Ben to squeeze my arm. “Well done.”
I ducked my head and smiled, wondering how I got here. In a middle of nowhere town’s diner, swimming in gratitude and pride from the slightest compliment, when I’d commanded the stage in front of tens of thousands of people less than a year ago.
I took a sip of my espresso to ground myself. Max’s shoe knocked against mine under the table.
Carys and he continued their conversation from before, the topic seemed to be what they might want to study now that they had their GEDs.
Ben kept drawing circles on my thigh, while he and Rian talked about Ben’s workday so far.
I closed my eyes again, the small cup in my hands as I inhaled the fragrant steam, soaking in everything around me once more.
By the time the others were done eating and we’d paid, I was starting to feel overwhelmed.
We stepped onto the snowy street and I sighed with relief. Rian, Max, and Carys went toward Rian’s SUV, while I stayed a few steps behind with Ben.
“Better?” Ben asked, smiling at me.
“Definitely.”
He pulled me close and kissed me gently. “I don’t want to go back to work.”
“Mm, but you promised your boss to replace the transmission on that Explorer before we leave the day after tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah.” He made a face, then ran the backs of his fingers along my cheek. I could smell the engine oil on him, but it didn’t bother me, because it was so… Ben to me by now.
“Oh, hi Ben!”
We turned to look, and a pretty, young human man beamed at him.
“Hi, Ethan,” Ben said, giving him a bland, pleasant smile.
“I was about to head to the garage. I went to put more air in my tires at the gas station, but the pump there was broken.”
“Well ours definitely works.” Ben’s tone was polite. “I’m going to head there in a bit.”
That was when Ethan seemed to realize Ben wasn’t alone. His eyes caught on the way Ben’s hand was holding mine, then he followed my arm up to my face and—“Holy shit!”
Ah.
I raised a brow at him, unable to help the small smirk curling my lip.
Ben snorted softly. “Ethan, this is my, and Max’s, partner, Luca.”
Ethan looked at Ben as if he was seeing him for the first time. “What the fuck?”
“What?”
“Hi,” I said helpfully. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“I just… can’t,” Ethan blurted out, flustered as hell, his shock still evident on his face.
“Fair.” I grinned. “This is the first time I’m in town, so nobody knows I’m here. I would like to keep it that way.”
He blinked a couple of times, then shook his head and I could see the moment his brain connected what I was saying. “Uh, yes. Of course. I won’t….” Then he looked at Ben accusingly. “Christ, Ben!”
Ben smirked. “See you at the garage?”
“Huh?”
“The air. For your tires.”
“Uh… yeah, I’m just gonna….” Ethan turned around and started to walk away.
I hid my face in Ben’s neck as I shook with laughter. “I’m almost sorry for him.”
“He’s a fan. Obviously.”
“Of yours?” I teased, nipping at his neck.
“Of yours.” He leaned away from me, then pecked my lips. “See you at home. I have a workday to finish.”
“See you later.” I kissed him again, before letting go and walking to the SUV where the others had clearly been keeping an eye on the situation.
I climbed in the passenger’s seat and Rian started the engine.
“Don’t even—”
I was cut off by raucous laughter.
Sighing, I hoped poor Ethan wouldn’t feel too bad. I didn’t want him hurt, but his heart eyes for Ben were now affected by the fact that he knew Ben was with me. And based on Ethan’s expression and Ben’s words… well, he was a fan.
I decided that if I came across Ethan again, I’d be kind. Once the statement was out, everyone would know what had happened to me and the rest of the band. I had a feeling that if he was a true fan, he’d see what I was trying to do with my life.
The next day, Max and Carys took me to the library, and then to the bookstore in the next town over. They grabbed food from a fast food place, and ate it in the car so I didn’t have to go inside. I appreciated it, as it was… a lot.
“Do you think it’ll be easier in New York?” Carys asked as she reached for her fries.
“Probably in the way that I know that place so well. There shouldn’t be surprises.”
“It’s just going to be more intense,” she mused, humming thoughtfully. “Well, I’m confident it’ll go fine and you’ll have your hotel room and everything ready, right? And a private plane must help.”
I chuckled. “Yes, those things help.”
“Are you going to visit any family while you’re there?” she asked innocently.
Max turned his head minutely, watching me from the corner of his eye.
I put my hand on his shoulder from the back seat and squeezed. “I’m not sure the boys are ready for that.”
Carys realized that she’d kind of put her foot in it and went quiet, taking a big bite of her chicken burger.
Max took a sip of his soda, then cleared his throat and said, “If you wanted to visit your grandma, I’m sure Ben would be fine with it, too. She sounds like a great lady, and I know she’s important to you.”
Yeah, I melted into a puddle. “I… uh… I’ll give her a call tonight.”
Max smiled at me, tilted his head to kiss the back of my hand, then went back to his meal.
I was so fucking in love with him and with Ben. They were such good people. I just hoped I could take care of them on my turf while also taking care of myself.