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“Hendrix, I’ve known you a long time. Hubert, God rest his soul, longer before that. I may be old, but I’m not a fool. Does she know what you do?” she repeats.
I swipe a hand over my face. “I’m going to tell her when the time is right.”
“And when is that going to be? Before or after they’ve both fallen in love with you?”
“Daph, it’s not that simple.”
“The truth never is,” she agrees, resting her hand on mine. “But that woman deserves to know what getting involved with you means.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, knowing she’s right. Knowing my past, my present, is littered with the kind of violence Lia would run screaming from. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it is part of my life here, given I’m not just the families’ Head of Security but also their enforcer.
“What do I do?” I ask, feeling fucking helpless. “If I tell her, she’ll run.”
She gives me a sympathetic smile, squeezing my hand. “I know your heart, Drix. I know you’ll do the right thing.”
“Yeah,” I mumble, not sure that she does because right now I’ll do anything to keep Lia and Toby, even if that means hiding who I really am.
“You have so many!” Toby exclaims loudly as he looks around my office filled to the brim with Funko Pops. “There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds!”
“Two hundred and fifty-two to be exact,” I say, laughing as we both glance around the room.
“Is that Spiderman?” he asks after a beat, bouncing up and down on his feet as he points to one of the boxes that sits on the middle shelf running the entirety of the room.
“Yes, my friend, that is indeed Spiderman. Wanna look at it?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” he yells happily.
Reaching up for the box, I grab it from the shelf and pass it to him. He takes it in his hands, dropping to his bottom as he stares at it wide-eyed.
“It’s a limited edition,” I explain, pointing to the gold sticker embossed on the box saying as much.
He looks up at me, confusion in his eyes. “What does that mean?”
“It means it’s special, just like you are.”
“Like me?” he asks.
“Yeah, just like you.”
“Wow.”
“Do you want it?” I ask, crouching beside him.
“To play with?”
“To keep,” I say, taking the box from him and undoing the lid, reaching inside.
“Really, I can have it?”
I smile, handing it to him, his happiness such a fucking joy to be around. “It’s yours.”
His small hands fold around the toy as he drops his gaze.
“Thank you,” he whispers, as if I’ve just handed him the world.
My throat tightens remembering what it felt like for me when Hubert bought me my first Funko Pop. I was fourteen and a half, a bolshy teen with the weight of the world on his shoulders. We’d been living with Hubert for six months but I still didn’t trust him, despite the fact he’d been nothing but kind. Daisy had fallen in love with Hubert almost immediately, when he’d offered to take us to the movie she’d chosen after a winning coin flip. She’d dragged us to see Stardust over my request to watch some action movie out at the time.
Afterwards, when we were walking down the highstreet, she’d stopped at the toy store, staring into the window at the unicorns on display. Ten minutes later she’d walked out with her first unicorn, and Hubert had bought me my very first toy. It was a Fred Flinstone Funko Pop, and even though I pretended like it meant nothing to receive the gift, it had meant everything to me.
