“Luca…” That anger is still there, trembling behind the surface of his gaze, and maybe it’s not the right time for me to say it, but I can’t help it. My voice breaks when I speak, and tears make the words thick when they come out, aching, drowning.
It’s almost poetic, really. Drowning, aching, overwhelming… the way this has been from the beginning.
“I love you, Maddox Levine.”
Chapter
Thirty
MADDOX
I love you,Maddox Levine.
I love you, Maddox Levine.
I love you, Maddox Levine.
The declaration rings in my head, over and over. So much so that the words have almost lost their meaning.
Almost.
But nothing will make me forget that warm, weighted feeling that came over me when Luca uttered those words. How fucking light I felt. How my heart almost leaped out of my chest.
Luca loves me.Me.
After what I went through with Seb, and after telling Luca the entire story of my past, I never thought he’d want to be with me. I thought when he’d run out of my office, he’d wanted nothing to do with me. But he came back.
He even brought sweets.
I’m not sure if I responded the right way to his confession. I was too choked up, too stuck on the words playing a constant loop in my head. I hugged him tight to my chest, wanting him to sink into my skin.
But he seemed happy with that, happy that I want him as much as he wants me.
I kept him in my bed that night, not fucking or caressing in a sexual way. Just holding him, hoping that my touch conveyed my feelings.
I’ll give him much more than that.
Hilman will fuckingdiefor what he did to Luca. My sweet, shy, innocent Luca.
He didn’t deserve for his first kiss to be stolen from him, the first time someone touched him in that way to be heavy, unwanted hands pawing at him. Luca deserved the heavens and Hilman showed him the fucking devil.
I’ll send him to meet him up close and personal.
I’d been stewing over how to make it happen for the rest of the day, Luca asking repeatedly if I was okay. I was too distracted to be one hundred percent present for him, but I made sure he knew that I didn’t see him any differently than I did before his confession.
Before we left today, I pressed a key into Luca’s palm, telling him to be at my place when I got home because I wanted him there. I told him I’d be a little late, since I’d be out with Crista, but when I got home, I wanted him in my bed.
The smile he gave me made my heart both stutter and break. He’s too sweet for words and Hilman almost broke him.
Now Luca has me and that’ll never happen again.
When the school day is over, Luca comes to give me a kiss and promises to have cookies waiting for me when I get home.
“My grandma gave me the recipe last night. I’ll go get groceries and I’ll see you at home,” he says, that shy smile on his face. I love how he says home, like he belongs there. Hedoes. He belongs anywhere I am.
I hum. “Good. I’d love to eat a pan or two. They’re delicious.”
Luca stuffed me full of his favorite cookies last night before bed, telling me they’d make me feel better. He must have known I wanted to rip Hilman’s fucking head off right then.
