Mica grinned, nodded and then hugged Ian tight. “Welcome to the family!”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Luca Radbourne walked into the Supernova Supermarket on a mission. It was a new mission he had assigned to himself. While he was usually confident in all of the secret and dangerous missions assigned to him, he knew this one might prove to be highly lethal to his heart and soul.
It had been almost one week since Vanthex had restored his memories. The most disturbing were those he’d made as Jake Jones, a made-up person he had created to complete a mission on Earth.
It was odd. When those memories had seeped in, Luca felt like they were someone else’s. Like having a vault full of someone else’s dreams dumped into his mind. Someone else’s memories. Certainly not his.
As he scanned through the weeks he’d spent as the Jake Jones who’d fallen instantly in love with Beryl Ashcraft and her family, he realized that if nothing else, he at least owed her a conversation, no matter what she’d told him via Wyatt Campbell regarding her regrets.
Luca needed to acknowledgeJake’sfeelings for her. Which was sort of how he felt about those weeks—like they weren’thisfeelings. They were Jake’s feelings.
They were akin to the feelings of some other personality living in his head, of this fictional character he had created to live a short-term life for a mission-critical job. Jake Jones wasnever meant to exist in the real world where real people with real emotions resided. Where real people fell in love.
The problem was, the longer he lived with those memories as Jake Jones, the more he started feeling like theywerehis feelings.
Ian had helped him realize that after they returned to Alpha-Prime and closed the case involving Vanthex, the memory thief.
“All of your memories have been fully restored, right?” Ian asked as they relaxed in Luca’s quarters—quarters that felt like they belonged to a stranger.
“Yes.”
“Then you remember when I went to Dark Matter Metal & Leather and ordered a special gift for someone?”
Luca searched his restored memories and nodded. “Yes, I remember. Wow. You spent a lot of money to haveJake Jonescreate a special necklace for your imaginary girlfriend.” He laughed.
Ian did not laugh. “And didJake Jonesfinish that project?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Because I want it. I think you should go back to Earth and get it for me.”
Luca frowned. “Why? So you can go give it to somebody that you aren’t allowed to date? Just like I’m not allowed to date.”
“We can date. Relationships in our world are just a greater challenge. And not always in the best interests of our profession. Still, I’ve discovered it might be worth any difficulties.”
Luca thought his own difficulties seemed insurmountable. “I believe you’re right. But I don’t think Berylever wants to see me again. She did leave her regrets with the sheriff to give me closure.”
“But you don’t want closure, do you?”
Luca sighed. “I don’t know what I want.”
“Listen to me. I’m your best friend. You need to do yourself a favor and go speak to Beryl.”
“Because I was a big dirtbag jerk to her and made her cry when she visited me in the hospital and I didn’t know who she was?”
“No. That’s not what I mean. You were confused, not a dirtbag jerk. You didn’t have all your memories. And what memories youdidhave told you that you would never have dated someone or brought them into your life as a girlfriend because of your occupation and the mission you were on.”
“What ifshethinks I’m a dirtbag jerk?”
“Stop calling yourself that. Listen, maybe you’re right. Maybe it won’t matter, even if you go see her, but I think that you owe it to her to explain the memories you now have. Knowing her even the little bit that I do, I believe she would understand. At the very worst, perhaps you could be good friends.”
Luca did not want to begood friendswith Beryl.
He wanted her to be his, no matter how difficult or complicated it was.
“And as her newly discovered eldest brother, I give my approval,” Ian said magnanimously. “I find you an acceptable candidate for my sister’s affections. If she’ll have you.”
