9. Lucien
LUCIEN
The pink rising on Sparkle’s cheeks is adorable.
I know the song was ridiculous. Probably unforgivable in such a setting as his favorite breakfast place, but I want him to know I’m serious.
The man has a giving spirit. I saw it on Halloween in how he was with his new friends at The Rot.
He lets others be seen. It’s his turn to shine.
Sparkle sighs once we make it to the grocery store. His mother texted him a list even longer than what she told him on the phone.
“What can possibly be the surprise she has for us? This is going to take forever to grab everything on this list.”
“We’ll breeze through it, just you watch.” I bump his hip with mine. “I love grocery shopping and I’ve never been to Hex Grocer.” I grab a shopping cart with my tail and whip it around.
Sparkle’s eyes go wide.
“Sweetie, there are so many fun things I can do with this tail.” I blow him a kiss, which makes him pinker, and his tail sways a little more. Maybe there’s more sway in his hips.
“I need some strawberries.” Sparkle leads the way, getting sidetracked by half a dozen other ingredients before we make it to the sweet treat. His tail is so cute when he finds something he’s excited about.
I lean in close to examine the pint box in his hand. “Are you purring, pretty kitty?”
His mouth opens and closes as his hand lands on his chest. “That’s never happened to me before.”
I don’t think he’s ever going to lose the blush. It reaches his ears now.
His hand stays on his chest as he leads us to a new aisle. I follow behind him with the shopping cart and rearrange things so everything fits well.
“What’s your favorite dessert?” I ask. We might as well get to know each other a little while we’re here.
“I like a lot of boring things. Like butterscotch pudding. Or there’s a really yummy apple cake that’s been passed down for generations.
There’s a special syrup you make right before you serve it.
So good! I don’t have a major sweet tooth like Beau and Lark.
I prefer savory flavors. And meat.” My pretty kitty nibbles his bottom lip while looking me over.
Oh, he likes to flirt.
“I enjoy meat as well.”
Sparkle swallows, and his eyes flit over his list. “Pasta,” he croaks out.
Maybe he’s more shy than he lets on.
Once he grabs what he needs, he turns to me. “Why The Rot? I love the club when I get to go. But the paint job kind of freaked me out the first time I saw it.”
The Rot is an inconspicuous warehouse painted in green and gray, with red paint blobs that drip like blood from the roof. The awning over the door is black. Zombie enthusiasts love it there.
“It was the nineties? I had weird taste, but I still think it looks cool.”
“It does, but I was not expecting the upscale club inside. Maybe you should consider updating the exterior.”
“You’re not wrong.” I steer the cart around an elderly witch inspecting jars of sauce.
“It’s something I’ve considered, but it takes a backseat to making sure the inside gives the best experience every time.
I get the most premier alcohol from humans and supes alike.
I have the best blood possible. I even run blood drives with supes to bolster the supply and get some variety. Then there’s—”
Sparkle raises a hand. “I’m not trying to change your entire business. It was just a thought.”
“But it’s a good one.” I grab the sauce he points to and drop it into the cart. “There’s just a lot to do. I run the place on my own, but Lars and Ryan step up when I need help. Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming.”
I don’t know why the hell I’m admitting that out loud. I could hire any number of supes or demons. It’d be no problem at all, but I like having all the control.
“Beau’s the one with all the ideas. If you ever want real insight, he’s the guy to ask.” Sparkle’s shoulders drop as he studies the shelves. “I’m not a thinky kind of person. No one comes to me for ideas unless it has to do with mixing drinks or dancing.”
“I’m sure you’re not giving yourself enough credit.”
“I don’t know. I’m not the smartest cat on the block.”
I grab him by the arm with my tail and turn him toward me. The cart bumps softly against my hip before rolling to a stop.
“Sparkle, you don’t give yourself enough credit.”
“All I’m good for is babysitting, mixing drinks, and dancing on a pole or in someone’s lap. No one thinks Sparkle is smart.”
I tip his chin up. His ears twitch beneath my attention, but he doesn’t pull away. “I think you are.”
Sparkle looks away and reaches for something on the shelf that he clearly doesn’t need. He puts it back after checking his list.
“Oh, darling Sparkle, I’m going to show you what it means to relax and let someone take care of you for once.”
“I don’t have time for that.” He steps around me and resumes walking. “I don’t have time for romance. I have too much to do.”
“I think you’re important too, you know.”
His fingers tighten around his phone. “I really don’t want to talk about any of that right now.”
Sparkle turns on his heel and rushes from the aisle.
Oh, I really do love chasing pretty kitties.
“Be careful, darling. You might get my instincts going, and I might have to chase you.”
There’s a small squeak from the aisle next to the one I’m in, and I chuckle softly to myself. I resist the urge to follow the sound immediately. Instead, I give Sparkle a few minutes while I inspect a display of brightly colored cereal.
When I start following again, I keep several feet between us. Sparkle drops cans into the cart, checks them off his list, then moves to the next item without looking back at me.
“You never answered my question,” I say after a few aisles.
Sparkle stops in front of a shelf full of baking supplies and pretends to examine a bag of sugar. “What question are you speaking of?”
He doesn’t meet my gaze, which makes me think he knows exactly what I’m talking about.
“The one at the end of the song.” I rest my arms across the handle of the cart. “Will you go on a date with me?”
“You were serious.” He puts the sugar back, only to pick up the exact same bag again. “Of course you were serious. Why write an entire song and not be serious about asking me out?”
It’s as if he’s talking to himself, trying to decide if I’m playing with him.
“It’s okay if the answer is no,” I say. “I mean, I’ll be sad, but I’d rather show you how a demon can romance.”
Sparkle stares at the shelf for a moment before asking, “What kind of date?”
Hope surges through me so fast my tail nearly knocks over a display of canned tomatoes. I catch the top can before it hits the floor and carefully set it back into place.
Sparkle snorts.
“See?” I gesture proudly toward myself. “I made you laugh.”
“That wasn’t the date.”
“Could be. I’m very entertaining.”
He rolls his eyes, but there’s a smile fighting to break free. “What kind of date, Lucien?”
“Dinner. Flowers. Dancing. We can go somewhere neither of us has ever been. Or somewhere you love.” I count each idea off on my fingers. “I can take you anywhere in the world.”
His eyes widen, and he grabs his tail. “Anywhere?” he whispers.
“Anywhere.”
For just a moment, Sparkle lights up. His ears stand tall as if he’s already imagining where we could go. Then it disappears. “I can’t.”
The disappointment hits immediately, but I swallow it down.
“I want to,” he adds quickly.
Oh. My tail curls behind me.
Sparkle notices and groans before walking a few steps ahead. “Don’t look so happy about that.”
“I’m trying very hard not to.”
“You’re failing.”
“Miserably.”
Sparkle smiles again, but it doesn’t last. He grabs a box of noodles and checks something off his phone before placing it in the cart.
“I just can’t, Lucien. I don’t have time.”
“You have to eat.”
He shoots me a look over his shoulder. “Are you trying to turn grocery shopping into our first date?”
“Is it working? I already thought it was.”
“No. Grocery shopping is not a date.” But his tail shows me he definitely thought it was too.
“Then I’ll keep brainstorming.”
He laughs under his breath and grabs two boxes from the shelf. I take them from him and put them in the cart before he has the chance. Sparkle stares at me.
“What?” I ask innocently.
“I can put things in the cart.”
“I’m aware, darlin’, but I like helping.”
His mouth opens, but nothing comes out. He shakes his head and keeps walking.
I don’t understand this cat. He says he has too much to do, but the moment I take one tiny thing from him, he looks at me like I’ve sprouted another set of horns.
Maybe I need to change strategy. The guide says he’s close to his family.
“How many siblings do you have?”
“Six.”
My hand slips off the cart. Holy catnip, that’s a lot.
Sparkle keeps going until he notices the cart is no longer following him.
“Six?”
“Yeah.”
I catch up. “And who usually does the groceries?”
“Me.”
“Deliveries for your mother?”
“Yep.”
We pass the frozen section, and Sparkle pauses to grab a couple bags of vegetables.
“What else?”
His ears flatten. “Why?”
“I’m curious.”
And I want to understand exactly how much he carries. Sparkle pushes open one of the freezer doors and stares inside.
“I help get everyone ready for school. Help with homework. Mama handles the older kittens most of the time, but I help, especially when she has a lot of orders. I cook. Clean. Run errands. Whatever needs done so she can focus on her craft.”
“And you work.”
He shuts the freezer. “Of course I work. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have anything all my own.”
That stops me. “What do you do for you?”
“The bakery.”
“That’s what you do with your friends.”
“I love my friends.”
“I know.” I hold up my hands. “But what do you do that’s just for you?”
“I work at Flutter and Fangs to get away. I don’t really need the money because the covens pay Mama well, but...” His words trail away. He tosses something into the cart and starts walking again.
I let the silence settle instead of pushing.