AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They’re usually a little more involved as far as I’m aware,” I said. “But we should totally talk to the study doctors about promoting completely platonic support for heats. I bet that would be pretty useful even for packs to not have to worry about someone getting up to get food.”
“I would be so good at that job.” Auggie preened. “You definitely can’t have modesty for a job like that. I can’t decide if I saw more nakedness during this compared to how much I usually see at the club on a shift.”
“Let me know if you need a testimonial.”
“Don’t encourage me. I have my hands full with the club and my classes. I’d have to do a full switch over to babysit. Not like I can schedule classes with a chaos heat.”
“Well, stick to the classes for now. I imagine a heat babysitting program would take a while to implement and offer anyway.”
When Auggie yawned wide enough I heard his jaw crack, I sent him back to his apartment to rest and settled with Luca in the nest.
“So, hypothetically, how would it work if we were together?” I asked. “Like…out about it.”
“Wouldn’t it work the same as it does now, except people would know?”
“Sort of, but there’s a lot more obligations that come when you’re a recognized partner.”
“Like what?” Luca asked.
“Like the Marino family dinners,” I pointed out. “Those are basically every Sunday, right?”
Luca nodded.
“That’s also my day with Stella and the girls. I don’t think it’s fair for either of us to change, and as lovely as your family is, I don’t want to cut down my time with the girls.”
I could see the wheels turning in Luca’s head, and when he opened his mouth I cut him off.
“Your mom is going to have expectations. We both know that.”
He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “You’re right. You don’t have to come to most of them. Nicky certainly doesn’t.”
“But you do.”
“Let’s take Mom out of the equation right now.”
If only it were that easy. “Luca, your mom is a giant part of the equation. We can’t just take her out. Mama Marino is a woman of big feelings and it would be ridiculous for either of us to forget that.”
“I wish she were more chill about this. She still cries half the time she sees me since I moved out.”
“Exactly. I’m doing good with Auggie knowing. I don’t know if I can handle your mom yet.”
“Nova knows too. I told her not to say anything, and since you haven’t mentioned anything about Stella, I’m going to assume she kept quiet.”
That girl was too observant for her own good. She was a little gossip and a snoop, characteristics I knew well, but I couldn’t be upset with her for figuring it out.
“I’m worried about telling Stella since there was that whole her having a crush on you thing and I was too chicken to say you were spoken for after I told her to go for it.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Stella seems pretty reasonable and I feel like we’re kind of friends now.”
“She can be reasonable, for sure. Doesn’t mean she will be.”
Luca shifted around in the nest, bringing me closer. “But Rodney knows about us and I feel like it would cause you way more stress for Stella to find out from him than from you.”
Fucking Rodney. I had almost been able to forget about him during the heat. “I still don’t know what to do about him. It feels like he holds a lot of power over Stella and me, and I don’t know how to get that back for us.”
“Short of going to the police, I don’t know. What would Auggie tell you to do?”
“Oh, that’s a good question.”
