Page 27 of His Gentle Omega
“Maria and Albert got it for us,” he told me, matter-of-factly, like it wasn’t strange that someone his age had never been inside a grocery store before. “Daddy and I were only allowed to go to the library. And my doctor appointments. Sometimes we went to my Granddad’s for dinner or a holiday.”
Closing my eyes for a second, I took a small, steadying breath, pushing the weird ache in my chest aside.
“Did you go to school?”
He shook his head, moving beside me as we turned down another aisle. “Papa Edward wanted to send me to some school far away, but daddy wouldn’t let him. They had a really bad fight about it. They were really loud so I heard them, even in my room. The next day, daddy had a bruise on his face, like now but not as bad. And he said he would be homeschooling me. He taught me to read, and I was learning my numbers and stuff. I told you, he’s a really good teacher.”
Smiling wanly at him, I whispered around the lump in my throat, “I’m sure he is.”
My heart hurt for this sweet little boy and his alpha dad. Shay had protected this child at the cost of so much to himself. I had so many questions about Edward and their life. But Lucas did not need to see how his innocent words affected me. Or just how much he was telling me, without saying hardly anything at all. Blinking my eyes rapidly to stop the tears I could feel there from falling, I changed the subject back to getting our groceries. Making a game of having Lucas gather the items from the shelves and putting them in the cart. It added time to how long it would normally take me, but it was a small price to pay to see the joy on his face from this tiny thing.
Showing him how to put his feet on the front of the bottom of the cart, and to hold on with his hands, I pushed us over to the toy section. Because if anyone deserved a new toy, Lucas did. Seeing all the toys around us, he jumped down when I stopped the cart.
“You’ve been a great helper today, so as a reward you can pick one toy.” Though I knew if his eyes lit up on more than one toy, I would without a doubt, toss it in the cart.
I’d seen the contents of his small backpack when Becks had dropped it off, after retrieving it from the truck Shay had beendriving. Lucas had given us a great description of the vehicle, and Shay’s keys had been in his personal effects from the hospital.
The truck was sitting in my driveway right now, having been driven over by Brendan Sinclair, Asher’s best friend. It had been Brendan, his brother, Jamie, and Becks who had helped get Shay into my car, and then my house.
Asher had called Brendan to help me, and he had brought backup in the form of his brother. Becks, being Jamie’s best friend, had gotten roped into helping too, and I would be eternally grateful for that. Though I was sure Becks was also looking for any clues he could find out about Shay and his situation.
Lucas had some clothes, two well-worn books, some coloring books, and his stuffed rabbit. Shay didn’t have much more with him.
“What can I get?” Lucas ran a finger over a superhero figurine, then moved onto a dinosaur.
“Whatever you want. There’s a couple of aisles to choose from.”
We wandered through the rows of toys, and I enjoyed watching Lucas look over everything. He wasn’t someone who made snap decisions. He seemed to weigh the pros and cons of each thing that caught his eye, before moving along.
Finally, he halted in front of the play doh display, staring with excited eyes. “Do you like play doh? I always loved it as a kid. There was something about the way it squished in my hands I liked. That and all the different things you can make with it.”
“There’s so many to choose from,” he whispered, reaching out to touch one set then another. “Papa Edward said I couldn’t have it, because it’s too messy. Though he didn’t have to clean, Maria did that, so Daddy said he didn’t see what itmattered to him.”
Something told me there might have been a fight about play doh that Lucas had heard, by the way his voice sounded, and the way he was softly touching each set, then drawing his fingers back.
“I think if we keep it at the kitchen table it will be fine,” I told him, and he turned to look at me with large eyes. “It’s pretty easy to clean up. Do you want to try it out?”
He nodded so quickly, I almost laughed. “Pick a set, and we’ll get a starter of the dough.”
Placing an eighteen pack of different colored tubes of dough in the cart, I waited patiently while he decided on his choice. Finally, he picked an ice cream set that came with all kinds of various tools and different molds.
“This one, please.” He handed it to me, and I looked it over.
“This looks like it has lots of things you can make.” Putting it in the cart, I nodded for him to climb back on so I could push us to the check out.
“Thank you,” he told me, a huge smile on his face. “This was fun.”
“You’re welcome. Would you like to help make the soup for your dad?”
“Can I? Maria sometimes let me help her do stuff in the kitchen. She always let me dump the chocolate chips in the dough and lick the brownie spoon.”
“I think you’d be a big help to me. I’ll chop and you can put them in the pot. How does that sound?”
“I can do that.”
He seemed to enjoy helping me unload the cart, and the entire check out process fascinated him, his eyes watching sharply as the checker ran each item over the scanner. I winced at the total, but I had bought extra stuff for lunches, since I was going to behome. And if I had thrown in stuff for Lucas I wouldn’t normally buy, fruit snacks and some juices, that was my business.
Pulling into my driveway, I popped the trunk, then handed Lucas the bag with his toys inside. Loading my arms down, because I liked to play the how-many-bags-can-I-carry-at-once-game, I managed to get the front door unlocked without losing my grip on any of the bags.
