Page 71 of Right With You
We’d get a little more time, enjoy this a bit more. It’d be beautiful while it lasted.
Then last night… the way we all meshed; it gave me a glimpse.
She knew Kenny and Beast already, loved most of my friends’ partners, and if she got to know Stone, she’d love him, too. The vision of having this family I’d made for myself here paired with my sister, and adding Elise?
It was nearly more than I could bear, particularly paired with the overwhelming longing I felt as I woke up and didn’t get to see her next to me. A cruel hallucination of a life I couldn’t allow for myself, though I’d let myself fantasize about it a while longer. Until we were really done.
Yes, I wanted Elise. I wanted to worship her body and show her how much I cared for her. I wanted to explore everything together. But I also simply wanted to be near her. I’d wanted that for far longer than I’d been willing to admit to myself until just recently, but Kenny and Dorian had seen right through me. They’d known. Even Jude had taken one long look and huffed, like it had been a predetermined conclusion.
Yes. I loved donuts. But notthatmuch.
Since I’d been deprived of seeing her and I didn’t have to be at work for another hour, I arrived at Glazed a little after eight. Elise typically opened at seven on weekdays so she caught the breakfast crowd, and when I wandered in at five after eight, her line was nearly to the door.
One look at her face as she spoke to the customer she was helping, and I knew something was wrong. Catching her attention as I moved inside and stood to the side of the line, my heart squeezed when I saw the way her eyes glistened with tears.
“What is it?” I asked as she ducked to get donuts, low enough so others wouldn’t overhear.
She sniffed and didn’t look at me again as she loaded a box full of a dozen beautiful-looking donuts.
“One of my fridges went down so I lost a bunch of ingredients and Marisol called in sick. She was supposed to be working out here while I filled a special order, and I don’t know how I’m going to do it since all of a sudden there are tons of people coming in.” She blinked down into the box for a second, then summoned a smile. “Great problem to have but… crap day for it.”
I wanted to hug her so much, but instead, I slipped past the counter and into the kitchen toward the sink. I scrubbed my hands and found a spare apron, emerging just in time to see her holding another box made for a dozen.
“Let me take that. Give me the run down on the register when the crowd dies down and then I’ll deal with this while you get to the special order.”
Her mouth dropped open, then pressed closed, lips disappearing like she might burst. She nodded, then turned and beamed at the customer. “Luc will help you with that if you’ll step right over and tell him what you’d like.”
And so went the next fifteen minutes. When the crowd dissipated, she showed me the computer system but only after I promised her I could be late to work. Her store would only be open for another hour and a half, and I could be that late.
“I don’t know how I’ll thank you for this,” she said, wrapping her arms around me for a quick hug.
Before she pulled away, I dropped a kiss to her temple. “No need.”
She raised an unimpressed brow. “Pretty sure calling into work warrants thanks, at the very least.”
Unable to resist additional contact but knowing I shouldn’t kiss her at work, I nudged her chin up and brushed my nose against hers. “How about it’s a small form of repayment for dealing with my family?”
She chuckled and patted her hand against my chest over the logo embroidered on the apron I now wore. The sincerity in her eyes and voice rang loud and clear when she said, “Thank you.”
Slipping past me into the back, she gave me one last soft look so full of gratitude, it almost made me angry. This was simple, this helping her. Was having a supportive partner so foreign to her?
Everything I’d done in the context of that rat’s tail Callum felt even more fitting.
The bell above the door rang as Kenny pushed through the door and, to my surprise, Dorian followed.
“Well, well, well, look at the new sexy donut man! Had I known they hired former model Euro-princes, I would’ve been in here sooner!” Kenny winked in his obnoxious way.
Behind him, Dorian’s face held mild amusement and almost none of the nerves I’d come to expect from him when he came to town. He’d made his home a little farther out than the rest of us and worked part-part-time for Saint Security, primarily consulting and occasionally surveilling. He tended to exclude himself from any of the large gatherings or events, though once or twice he’d participated. I’d never figured out if it was because he’d offered or because Bruce and Wilder had begged, but we all knew they wouldn’t ask him if he wasn’t doing well.
Him wandering in so casually, even if it was with Kenny, meant good things. It didn’t exactly shock me because he’d seemed good, but it was just so… normal.
“Are we going to keep on with the prince thing?”
Kenny smirked. “Only as long as you are one.”
I rolled my eyes, then looked to Stone for help.
He shrugged, clearly enjoying the harassment.
