Chapter 24
The bookstore Lucas took Sabrina to on Thursday afternoon looked like something pulled directly from a romantic movie written by emotionally unstable people.
Which felt concerning immediately.
It sat tucked between narrow streets outside the city with ivy climbing the brick walls and soft golden lights glowing through fogged windows despite the rain outside.
Sabrina stopped beside Lucas on the sidewalk and stared upward.
"You absolutely bring girls here."
Lucas looked offended.
"I've literally never brought anyone here."
"That feels statistically unlikely."
"You're irritating."
"You're defensive."
His mouth twitched slightly despite himself as he opened the door for her.
Warmth hit instantly.
The smell of coffee and old books wrapped around Sabrina almost immediately while soft jazz played quietly somewhere deeper inside the shop.
And somehow Lucas visibly relaxed the second they stepped in.
It happened subtly.
His shoulders loosened.
His breathing slowed.
Like the outside world stopped clawing at him in places like this.
Sabrina noticed instantly.
Of course she did.
"You come here a lot," she said quietly.
Lucas glanced toward the shelves.
"When things get loud."
The honesty in his answer settled softly between them.
An older woman behind the counter looked up from a book and immediately smiled.
"Well," she said calmly, "there you are."
Lucas actually smiled back.
Not public Lucas smiling.
Real smiling.
Warm enough that Sabrina forgot basic human function for half a second.
"Hi, Margaret."
Margaret's eyes shifted toward Sabrina instantly with dangerous levels of interest.
"Oh," she said knowingly. "So this is Sabrina."
Sabrina blinked.
Lucas blinked.
Interesting.
"You talk about me?" Sabrina asked slowly.
Lucas looked mildly betrayed by the elderly woman already reaching for another bookmark behind the counter.
"Margaret."
"What?" she asked innocently. "You've mentioned her at least forty times."
Sabrina turned toward Lucas immediately.
"Forty?"
"That feels exaggerated."
"It isn't."
"Oh my God."
Lucas looked genuinely pained now while Margaret smiled like she personally enjoyed chaos.
Sabrina was suddenly having a fantastic time.
"What exactly does he say about me?" she asked sweetly.
Lucas sighed deeply.
"I'm leaving."
"No you're not," Margaret said calmly. "You alphabetize things when stressed."
And horrifyingly enough, Lucas immediately started fixing a crooked stack beside him.
Sabrina stared.
Then laughed so hard she nearly dropped her coffee.
Lucas looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"Don't."
"You alphabetize under emotional pressure?"
"I hate both of you."
Margaret leaned toward Sabrina confidentially.
"He also stops sleeping properly when he's anxious."
Lucas looked ready to physically vanish.
"Margaret."
"Oh relax," she said dismissively. "You bring her here after talking about her for months and suddenly privacy matters?"
Months.
Sabrina's heart skipped painfully hard.
Because she realized something terrifying in real time:
Lucas had been emotionally attached to her longer than either of them admitted.
The realization settled heavily in her chest while Lucas rubbed tiredly at his jaw.
"You enjoy humiliating me."
"Very much."
Sabrina smiled into her coffee quietly.
Because honestly?
Watching Lucas lose composure around her might've become her favorite thing.
The afternoon passed strangely easily after that.
They wandered through shelves together while rain tapped softly against the windows outside.
Lucas recommended books with suspicious emotional significance.
Sabrina mocked at least half his choices.
At one point they ended up sitting on the floor between shelves arguing over whether tragic endings were emotionally manipulative.
"They are manipulative," Sabrina insisted.
"They're realistic."
"No, they're written by authors who need therapy."
Lucas laughed softly under his breath.
"You cry during movies."
"Because I have emotional depth."
"You cried during a dog food commercial once."
"It was beautifully edited."
God.
This was bad.
Because moments like this felt so normal now.
Easy.
Comfortable.
Like they'd slipped accidentally into something real without noticing where pretending ended.
Lucas leaned back against the bookshelf beside her afterward, watching her with quiet amusement.
"What?" Sabrina asked suspiciously.
"You're happy here."
Her chest tightened slightly.
"So are you."
Something shifted in his expression then.
Softer.
Like hearing her notice that mattered more than it should.
Before he could answer, his phone buzzed.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Lucas checked the screen.
And sighed.
Sabrina noticed immediately.
"What happened?"
He locked the phone again.
"Nothing important."
"Lucas."
He hesitated briefly before answering.
"Press photos from the watch event went viral."
Ah.
Sabrina's stomach dropped automatically.
"Bad viral?"
His eyes lifted toward hers carefully.
"No."
That somehow felt worse.
"Show me."
Lucas looked unconvinced but handed her the phone anyway.
The article headline nearly made Sabrina choke.
LUCAS COOPER LOOKS READY TO FIGHT MAN FLIRTING WITH SAbrINA SANDERS
Underneath sat photos from the rooftop.
Specifically:
Lucas glaring directly at Ethan.
Lucas's hand against Sabrina's back.
Lucas staring at her like he'd forgotten cameras existed.
And unfortunately?
The comments were worse.
HE'S DOWN HORRENDOUS
THAT MAN IS IN LOVE YOUR HONOR
Sabrina has him acting insane
I've never seen Lucas jealous before???
They're not fake dating anymore and nobody can convince me otherwise
Sabrina's pulse jumped traitorously.
Because they weren't entirely wrong.
She handed the phone back carefully.
"That's... intense."
Lucas looked exhausted already.
"It's everywhere."
"You say that like you committed tax fraud."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
He looked at her then.
Really looked at her.
And suddenly Sabrina realized what actually bothered him.
Not the headlines.
The truth inside them.
"You're scared people are noticing," she said quietly.
Lucas didn't answer immediately.
Which was answer enough.
The warmth from earlier dimmed slightly between them.
Not gone.
Just shadowed now by reality again.
The outside world.
The pressure.
The terrifying possibility that this had stopped being fake publicly too.
Lucas looked away briefly before speaking quietly.
"You should know something."
Sabrina's heartbeat slowed.
"What?"
"When this eventually falls apart..." His voice stayed calm, but she heard the strain underneath it. "People won't be kind to you."
The words landed heavily.
Painfully.
Because Lucas sounded less afraid for himself than for her.
Sabrina swallowed slowly.
"You think it's going to fall apart?"
His expression tightened instantly.
And there it was again.
That fear.
That instinct to expect loss before happiness could settle properly.
Lucas looked at her for another long second before saying quietly:
"I think I don't know how to keep good things."
Her heart broke a little hearing that.
Because for the first time, Sabrina realized Lucas didn't avoid closeness because he didn't feel deeply.
He avoided it because he did.
And somewhere along the way, he'd convinced himself that made him dangerous.