Page 6 of The Breeding Cave
The screen finally lit back up, and I quickly typed in his total.
“Okay, you can tap your card now.”
“Are you sure?”
My eyes widened because those were the first words that I had heard him speak in a long time. I had almost forgotten the sound of his deep voice drifting through my ears. Except right now, there was a bit of mischief accompanying it.
Was he cracking a joke?
“Yes,” I said, tucking some more hair behind my ear and playing with the end of my sleeve, which had a small hole in it. Maybe later, I could visit some shops downtown and pick out some new clothes with the card that beast had given me. “It’s working now.”
When Luciano tapped the card on the card reader, a loading circle popped up on my screen. I chewed on the inside of my cheek and nervously drew my fingers across the counter, just wanting this interaction with him to be over already.
The circle swirled and swirled and swirled and swirled until the screen finally turned off.
“No. No. No. No. No. No. No,” I mumbled.
God, out of all customers that this could happen to, it had to be Luciano!
“I’m sorry,” I said, forgoing the machine entirely and running to grab him a black coffee so I didn’t piss him off any more. I didn’t want him to hate me more than he did.
It was bad enough that Henry had left me during rush hour. There was already a line forming behind Luciano.
After grabbing a cup, I filled it to the top and hurriedly clasped on the lid.
This would have to do. I’d take it out of my paycheck if I needed to. I mean, I had the money now. Well, sorta. I still didn’t have the cash to pay back the Dragon Clan, but I had enough for coffee. It was cheap here anyway.
Just as I was about to hand it to him, some hot coffee sloshed over the side of the cup and burned my hand. Pain shot up and down my fingers, making them shake. I set the coffee cup on the counter in front of him and grabbed a rag to my right, placing it over the wound and grinding my teeth.
“Fuck!” I hissed, squeezing my eyes shut. “That stings.”
Almost immediately, Luciano reached for my burned palm, but I pulled it back.
“No, no. It’s okay,” I reassured him, biting back all the pain. “I’m fine. I’m fine!”
Even though I wanted to literally burst out into tears …
Once my hand stopped shaking uncontrollably, I grabbed the coffee cup, refilled it, and made sure the cap was on tight so it wouldn’t spill on me again. I balled my burned hand into a fist, holding it behind my back while handing him the cup.
“Have a great day,” I said with a trying smile.
Because his day sure had to be better than mine.
Luciano stared at me for a couple of moments, lingering longer than he normally did. Then he clenched his sharp jaw, his eyes blazing the way they did when he was angry, and he walked to his usual table.
What is wrong with him now?! Is it because I spilled his coffee? Did I stain his suit?
The next customer walked up to the register, and I pulled my gaze away from Mr. Grumpy to see my favorite regular here to save the day. Brent Haines, a brilliant software engineer who worked at Midnight Security Headquarters down the block, and he wasn’t too bad on the eyes either.
“Don’t let him freak you out,” Brent said. “He can be a big ole softy.”
“Who?”
Brent nodded over to Luciano.
“Luciano?” I asked, my brows shooting up. “A softy?”
Brent leaned in close and lowered his voice. “Just kidding. He scares me too.”
