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Kira was already seated next to Mica and, based on the look of her, she had heard about Bastian's return. My gaze met Mica’sand we shared a smile. After what she had done for me, clearly I had been wrong about her, but the same could not be said of Kira. The idea that she had been complacent with the Rosses' attempt to manipulate Bastian, particularly when she had feelings for him, stirred my temper. My voice was loud enough to carry,“Yes, he's back, and yes, he's still with me.”I leaned over so we were nearly touching noses.“So go ahead and run to the Rosses and tell them.”
Maybe it was wrong to find joy in her discomfort, but I did. Bastian spoke up from behind me.“Is it any wonder why I'm so crazy in love with her?”
He pressed a kiss to the side of my head before we took our seats, and for the first time in almost three months, I really enjoyed English class.
After school we were heading to Bastian's bike when he looked over at me and asked,“Do you mind if we detour to the garage?”
“Not at all. You want to talk with Caden?”
“Yeah.”Bastian stopped walking and turned to me. The look in his eyes surprised me, it was a combination of tenderness and pain.“Do you know about Caden's family?”
“He mentioned that they had died, but he didn't say more and I didn't want to pry.”
Bastian inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly, before he began.“Caden lost his family in a car wreck when he was younger. He was at a friend's house and his family was coming to get him so they could all go out for ice cream. A truck was going too fast to stop in time for a red light and hit them. His dad and mom were killed instantly, but his younger brother held on for a few days before he died. Caden believes it's his fault—if he hadn't been at his friend's or if he had said no to ice cream, his family wouldn't have been at that intersection at the exact time as the truck. And if that wasn't bad enough, he was placed in the system and moved in and out of foster homes.”
My heart constricted in pain just thinking of Caden taking responsibility for something he had no control over.
“I met him four years later, hanging at a field I used to sneak off to to practice soccer. I thought my life was bad, but he had bruises on him. Apparently his foster father liked taking out his frustrations on Caden. I sneaked him home, and with a house as big as the one I grew up in, and the fact that my parents never paid me any attention, no one ever knew. Well, our cook did, she started making larger portions of meals that Caden and I would eat in my room. We figured his foster father kept taking the money from the state and didn’t turn him in.”
“For a year Caden lived at my house, and when he turned sixteen, I asked Dominic to help emancipate him. We both got jobs with Cal, another former foster child.”
“Most people who meet Caden see a hard guy, and in many respects he is that now, but there's still that damaged fifteen-year-old kid in there. You saw that and even without realizing it you gave him the one thing he's still starved for, friendship and family. You did it for me too, Lark, you gave me what I've always been starved for: love.”
I wiped at my face with the back of my hand.“And you gave it right back to me.”
He kissed my forehead, his lips lingering a minute.“I didn't mean to make you cry, but I thought you should know about Caden. He doesn't talk about it, but I know he'd want you to know. He took to you from the very beginning—kindred spirits and all.”
“He lives alone in that little apartment.”I said.
“I know. Dominic offered him a room, but he's too proud to take it.”
“Dr. Wright adores him.”
Bastian's eyebrow rose in question,“Meaning?”
“I'll let her work on him. She's just as unhappy as me that he lives in that little hovel and as she's always saying, they've got more rooms than they could ever possibly hope to fill.”
Bastian laughed out loud. Then he reached for my hand and planted a kiss in my palm. His eyes were twinkling with humor.“Certainly not for a lack of trying.”
We stopped off at the garage and Bastian and Caden had a heart-to-heart which ended in a hug, and not a guy hug, but a real hug. When asked to come to dinner, Caden jumped at the opportunity.
We detoured to the grocery store. Shopping with Bastian and Caden, when they were both hungry, turned out to be dangerous. Watching the two of them going up and down the aisles of the store, dropping things into the cart, reminded me of the old eighties video game Pac-Man. Something I noticed about both of them, something I think was completely unconsciously done, was they were adding things to the cart for the family: a tub of Dr. Wright’s favorite ice cream, Poppy's favorite chocolate, several canisters of mixed nuts for Mr. Wright, Diet Coke for me.
I wish I had known them at fifteen, wished I had been the third musketeer, but I was so happy that I knew them now. Bastian's touch to my back pulled me from my thoughts.
“Did we get everything for dinner?”
I looked at the overflowing cart and grinned, because I had meant to come here for the fixings for chicken parmigiana, and instead we bought out the place.
“And then some.”
His grin was completely unrepentant. “We're growing boys.”
“Eating like that, it's a wonder you aren't growing out as well as up.”
He lowered his mouth to mine and whispered, “Jealous?”
“Hellyes, I'm jealous.”I looked over at a smiling Caden.“Good thing you've got your car.”
