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“I mean, I don’t know for absolute certain, but they seemed nice when I met them,” Luca promised. “Nicky’s omega boyfriend, Jasper, said I should come visit his bakery and check it out. His cookies were wicked good and he gave me the recipe, so expect some new treats. And her alpha, Gabe, was cool. They both made a point of talking to me so I didn’t fall to the wayside.”
“They’d better be good to Nicky. I don’t want this to be a Stella 2.0 situation.”
Luca dragged me into the hall, the other students from class already gone. “I swear, if it gets anywhere near like that, I’ll rally the forces and stage an intervention. I’m trying to be optimistic.”
“I know. I just worry.”
“You have enough people to protect. Let me worry about my sister.” Luca’s hand was soft against my cheek. “Besides, I’m pretty sure if you add another stress to your plate, you’re going to implode.”
I couldn’t fault that logic. “Okay, I’ll try not to stress about it, but I’m going to have to insist on stopping for bubble tea on the way home.”
“Meet you at the shop by your place?”
“Yep.”
We parted ways and I ruminated on the drive. I didn’t know a ton about Nicky’s history with men, but I did know that you didn’t ditch a fiancé for no reason. At least she’d been able to get out before marrying the guy and having kids. I wanted to trust that the new people in her life were good, but that wasn’t where my mind went.
I huffed, squeezing the wheel as I pulled into the parking lot of the little boba shop near my apartment. Distracting myself with a treat and sinking into Luca was much better for my well-being than stressing over an unknown situation.
He and I sat with our strawberry milk teas in the corner of the shop, out of direct view of the window, and the only ones there this late.
“Class was great tonight,” Luca said, taking a long drink. “I think I might have to take it forever.”
“Your body will thank you for that. Lots of people lose mobility over time, and it definitely doesn’t hurt to help your joints out.” I savored the sweetness on my tongue. “I have to miss next week.”
“Oh?”
“Nova has a recital and I promised I’d go. Indira is going to cover my class, so you can still go if you want to.”
“I can go, but I mostly go to see you. What the heck am I supposed to do on a Tuesday night without you?”
“Mourn and pine,” I said, completely straight-faced.
Luca snorted his milk tea out his nose and the staff gave us the death glare as I mopped up the table, laughing.
“It burns.” Luca blew his nose and gathered up the napkins to toss. “I know it was a joke, but I feel like I’ve got a Pavlovian response to Tuesdays now.”
“Guess I’d better do a little reinforcement training then.” I stood on my toes to kiss him, the sweetness of my drink mingling with the crispness of Luca.
“I do love reinforcement.” He grinned at me, and I settled down a little closer to him. “Oh, I have a weird random thing to tell you about.”
“What kind of weird and random?”
“Nicky told me a little while ago about this study she’s involved in and I finally got around to making an appointment to see if I’m a good candidate to be involved.”
“What kind of study?”
“It’s for the Dynamic Spectrum Theory, and they’re running it out of a few alpha and omega clinics. Basically trying to prove that the dynamics aren’t as separate as we believe and that they all lie on a spectrum.”
“Huh.” I twirled my straw. “I guess that makes sense considering how much other stuff is on spectrums.”
“Right?” Luca shoved his hand through his hair and I followed the compulsion to smooth the strands again.
“So where on the spectrum are you?”
“Still a beta, but far enough to the alpha end that they’re interested in keeping me for the study.”
Memories flickered. “Do you think that’s why you can growl?”
