Page 87 of Hiding Secrets

“Here,” is all he says as he gestures to the bag.

“For me?” I look skeptically from the bag to him.

“Yeah.” He looks away, shifting on his feet as I pull the bag towards me.

I look inside to see a bunch of random objects and I start to pull them out one by one. A pocket knife that looked similar to the one he has latched on to his jeans pocket, two books that look like they are in the romance genre, a box of hair dye–black, and four bags of gummy bears.

I stare at the items for a moment and I see him shuffling closer in my peripherals.

He points to the knife, “I’ve seen you eyeing mine and thought maybe you’d want one. Maybe it will help you feel safer, I don’t know.” He picks it up and pulls it out of the case to hand it to me. The handle is designed with a swirl of dark green with inlaid black and gray marbling. “You press here, and it unlocks the blade...” He points to a button on the side. I press it and flick the blade out just like I’ve watched him do. “Yeah, just like that.” I look at him and see a small curve at the corners of his mouth, his eyes lighting as he looks at the blade in my hand.

I close the knife, putting it back in its case, “It’s beautiful…thanks.” I say with trepidation in my voice. “And these?” I gesture to the other items as I put the knife in my pocket. The slight smile in his eyes indicating his approval.

“Well, Kameron wouldn’t shut up about you when he first met you and all. He mentioned you had a thing for gummy bears. You haven’t asked for them since being here and that’s not something we usually have stocked in the pantry so…I got you some.”

I look at him, still hesitant as to why he was presenting me with all of this. Marcus was talking to me willingly and politely outside of the gym, outside of a conversation with Hunter or Kameron.

He sees my confusion but continues, “These,” he picks up the two books, “Well, Hunter was saying how you’ve read all the ones on his shelves, so I got you some that were kind of the same. You might hate them, I don't know, but here.” he shoves themmy way. I take them as he continues, grabbing the box dye, “And the hair dye–” he tosses it in his hand a couple of times. “Yousaid you saw Samuel everywhere. I can’t take away the visions or memories, but I can try to help you see only you, when you look at yourself.”

My chest rises and falls as I take in his words. The fact that he wanted to ease that part of the pain for me. That he took the time to collect things that would help me feel better…or that he even tried to.

“Why?”

His eyes squint at me, “Why what?”

“Why did you do all of this?” I clarified.

“Because.”

“Because?” I drag out, needing more than that.

“Someone told me that I was trying to help you in the wayIwould have wanted someone to helpme.” He briefly looks away, “You aren’t me. So I’m trying to give you things that you might need.” He takes a deep breath, his shoulders sagging as he shakes his head, “It was stupid. Sor–” I jump from my chair and wrap my arms around him for only a moment before taking a step back. His body tenses.

“It wasn’t stupid. Thank you, Marcus.”

“Oh. Okay.” He scans my face and I watch as his eyes soften. “You're welcome.” He clears his throat, straightening his posture.

I lift to my tippy toes without thinking, and bring my lips to his cheek. He takes a step back, startled.

“It means a lot.” I lower my voice, embarrassed that I just did that.

We keep our eyes locked and Hunter enters the kitchen behind Marcus. I dart my eyes to him and Marcus whips his head in Hunter’s direction.

“Hey,” Marcus blurts out, “I was giving Elliott some stuff. You know, yeah–ahem.” He looks back at me before darting out of the kitchen.

“What was that about?” Hunter comes closer, curiosity in his eyes.

“He got me this, said he was trying to help me in the way I need.”

“So he finally heard what I was saying.” He steps closer to bring his lips to mine, “About time.”

“So you told him to do this?”

That makes more sense.

“No, I told him to stop trying to do what he would want. That’s it.” he gestures to the items, “This was all him.”

I look at the items and for just a moment my heart pings, and I’m thankful for Marcus Flores.

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