Chapter 12
????
The chocolate is tucked into the snack stash in her nightstand.
I slip between the walls before she returns, traveling through the station undetected. I pause when I hear her sweet voice coming from the room on the other side of the wall.
“…you sure? I’m familiar with Starsfalls now, you don’t need to spend your day off babysitting me,” she says.
“It’s not like that. We want Starsfalls to feel like home. We can show you the local spots, catch you up on town gossip,” a deep voice replies.
“Especially this time of year. You don’t want to overlook the best seasonal coffee spots, do you?” a different voice says.
She laughs, the sound warm and bright, like lying in front of the fireplace.
“Alright, let’s go. Just don’t feel like you need to spend the whole break with me. I can find things to entertain myself,” she says, sentence fading as she leaves the room.
Other voices filter through the wall, but I ignore them. Now that she left, I’m no longer interested in the conversation.
I continue on, leaving the voices behind.
Chapter 13
Hestia
It’s our first day on leave, and the guys convinced me they wanted to take me into town and show me around. For some reason I agreed, even though I really should have protested that they ought to go spend time with their omega.
It’s too late now, we’re almost to the coffee shop, but maybe after our drinks I can convince them I don’t need supervision off the clock.
I’ve never had this much downtime before. Even when we had breaks at the academy, I was studying or training.
Except for a few hobbies, it’s shocking to realize I don’t have much of a life outside of work. I was so focused on my goal of becoming a rescuer for so long, and now that I’m almost there, I don’t know what else to do.
It’s about time I figure that out. If I pass my training period, this will be my schedule going forward, several weeks on and several weeks off.
Charm looks over at my sigh, and I quickly paste a smile on my face. His smile grows in response.
“Quickie Coffee is my favorite coffee shop. They have several chocolate flavors that you’ll like,” he says.
I look away to hide my blush, pleased he remembered how much I love chocolate with my caffeine. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, they’ve seen how I take my coffee plenty of times now. Henri or one of the others make me one every morning.
Still, it gets me all tingly that Charm paid attention to things I like. I ride that high for the rest of the walk, not even feeling the icy wind on my face or hair whipping around me.
Orion opens the door to the café, and the warm, coffee-scented air flows out.
I follow the scent to the counter and gaze in awe at the menu.
I sense my teammates join me while I’m engrossed in deciding what to order. Charm was right, they havemanychocolate options—chocolate sauce, chocolate shavings, cocoa powder, spiced hot chocolate, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate cream, basically chocolate in every state of matter imaginable.
When I go to new restaurants, I like to try something on the menu before requesting a custom drink, which is why it’s taking me so long to decide instead of simply ordering the most chocolatey coffee they can make.
There are a lot of seasonal drinks to look through. They have the classics along with some I’ve never heard of, a sugar plum iced latte, spiced coconut coffee, a toasted marshmallow latte with marshmallow fluff rimming the cup, and a spiced molasses cappuccino.
“Do you need help deciding?” The blonde omega behind the counter asks.
“Everything sounds so good. Are there any seasonal coffees that are a must-try?” I say.
That was the right question apparently, because the barista launches into a thorough explanation of their menu. She tells me about the tasting notes for each drink, and I listen carefully so I can make a fully informed decision.
