“Dexter seems really nice.” I made my voice go extra high on that last part, waiting for a reaction.
“He is, but he ain’t for you.” Lucas pushed an errant lock of black hair out of his eyes.
“How about you and Liam let me make up my own mind about who’s right for me?”
Lucas slotted his fingers together and nodded to the paper, not even acknowledging my comment. “So, what do you think of my addendums?”
I was about to tell him I was serious when the seat cushion dipped beside me.
Chapter 20
“So let me see this love letter I’ll be carrying back.” Ness pushed up the sleeves of her red silk bomber and lifted the paper from my lap.
“Let’s not push it, Fury. It’s not a love letter; it’s a lust letter.”
“Fury?” I asked.
“After Nick Fury. The founder of the Avengers.” At my raised eyebrow, Lucas added, “Wears this super cool eyepatch?”
“So you got a nickname too?” Ness smiled, and I couldn’t help but think how strange it was to be sitting so close to someone who’d helped change the fate of our pack.
“Apparently, I qualified.”
As I forked stuffing into my mouth, Ness handed me back the note. “Did you write this, Lucas, or is it Nikki’s work?”
“All Lucas.”
“So what d’ya think, Fury?”
“It’s heartwarming.”
“Is that . . . good?” he asked.
“Yes”—she leaned forward and tapped his thigh—“that’s good.”
He sat up a little straighter, a little prouder.
As the conversations around us grew to ridiculous levels, Ness and I turned Lucas’s grocery list of heartfelt declarations into a letter that read like a poem but still sounded like it had been written by a guy. It was surprisingly fun, and more than once, we laughed at something cringily inappropriate that shot out of Lucas’s mouth. Satisfied, he held his rolled knuckles up for a fist bump, which both Ness and I delivered in turn.
“And, Lucas, she really misses you, but don’t you dare tell her I confessed this, or she’ll put hot sauce in my mascara again.”
I grimaced. “Ouch.”
“Yeah, ouch.”
Lucas’s eyes sparked at Ness’s admission. Or at his girlfriend’s antics?
“Secret’s safe.” He gave us a two-finger salute before venturing back toward the table.
I was about to get up to help clear the eco-friendly, disposable plates when Ness laid a hand on my wrist.
“Can we talk?”
My heart catapulted against my ribs. Was she going to tell me to steer clear of Liam? Or Dexter? Or maybe to butt out of Lucas and Sarah’s fight?
“Sure.” I settled back in the couch and folded one leg over the other.
“We’re moving here this summer, and I wanted to know how things work around the compound.”
