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The next evening,April sought Phantom out at the same time again. He was playing cards in the bar with Rita and Rafe. Chase was screaming. April tentatively looked at Phantom and raised her eyebrows. Would he take him again? Phantom wordlessly stood up and without a backward glance, he brought baby Chase into his chest.
On the third day, April brought Phantom a sling, too, so he could clip baby Chase in and move around more easily.
Phantom felt warm inside to be trusted with something so precious. One day, he wanted kids. No one would believe him if he said this out loud. People would scoff and laugh. The killer from hell wants to have children? But it was true. He wanted them with Sophie. He held the little baby and made a silent promise to give him a cousin or two, one day.
He had messaged her. “I’m coming over.”
She pinged back almost immediately. “I’m just about to leave, I’ve already cleaned up the shop.”
“I’m outside,” he had said.
She messaged back with a smiley face emoji. “Well, you might as well come in then,” and a moment later he’d tapped on the window.
And that was how she found herself sitting opposite him, at the small table, in Sophie’s Soft Scoops. No one else was around, it was well past closing time. He had produced a paper bag with two boxes of Chinese noodles in it, and set it in the middle of the table. He grabbed a handful of cutlery, too, a knife, a jug of water, and two glasses. He even grabbed a candle, and put it in the middle of the table. He found a lighter from behind the counter, sat down at the table with her and flicked the candle. Sophie stood and smiled. She had tried to help but he had shooed her away. He watched her face as he did so, his dark brown eyes were like coffee. Candle light glowed against his face, throwing shadows, making his chiseled features look even more stark.
She realized what this was.
“It’s our dinner date,” she said smiling. “You’ve brought me to a lovely restaurant, Eli. Thank you!” She giggled, immediately playing along. She looked up at him and thought she saw the flicker of a smile curl up one side of his lips.
“So this is our entrée…” She peered at the plate in front of her. “Chow mein, delicious! Oh, we didn’t need the cutlery then, here are chopsticks. I love noodles, have you tried ramen? I love the thick noodles in the sauce, when you get an egg in the bowl, too, really like that. I also love these noodles of course, what is it, shrimp? I love shrimp…”
He got out his phone, put it on the table in front of him. He opened their text message chat. He dipped his head and rested his chin on his hands, looking up at her, fixed his eyes on her. They looked like scoops of double chocolate ice cream drenched with toffee sauce dripping off them in the candlelight.
“Sorry, you must be fed up with me chattering on-” she said, dismayed at him hovering over his phone. Maybe he was bored already? She had butterflies all over her body.
Her phone pinged. She got it out. A text from him. She looked at her phone.
“I like hearing you talk. Don’t stop.” He had typed.
She smiled. “Why? You’re hardly responding…” she said out loud. His fingers flew across the little keyboard on his phone.
“Sorry, I have nothing to say.” His text read. Her heart melted for him.
He kept typing. “It’s relaxing for me, hearing you talk. It makes me feel…” He paused, his fingers hovering over the keypad, he took a deep breath, not breaking eye contact with her. “Human.” He finished in a separate message.
She hadn’t expected him to say that. Well, write that.
“Is it the food that we would talk about, if we went on a date?” He wrote and hit send.
She sighed with pleasure at his simple question. “I... yes I think so,” she said out loud.
“I’d buy you a drink in a fancy bar somewhere, you’d be dressed to the nines, in something sexy... a little dress and heels?” He typed, with the cocktail emoji at the end. His ability to type without looking was impressing her. He kept his gaze on her, flicking an eyebrow up.
“I’d wear trousers to a first date, I think, and a cute top, no, I know, I’ve got a black jumpsuit, silky, backless, it’s really nice…” she said, closing her eyes, indulging in his fantasy, their shared fantasy.
He purred.
“You’d wear jeans, black jeans, and a shirt, maybe black, too, or white... something simple but something that you’d look delicious in…” she said letting her thoughts take her.
He pushed his head back a bit. “Me... delicious?” He typed, she heard the incredulity in his words he’d written.
“You are, Phantom, delicious,” she whispered back boldly.
He snorted, unconvinced. But let it lie. “Go on. Tell me more about this... date.” He texted.
She licked her lips and continued. “You’d be sipping whiskey on the rocks. I’d have a cocktail in front of me, maybe a cosmopolitan or a French martini…” she trailed off.
“Would you get tipsy?” He messaged. She wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear, a yes or a no? Yes might be fun, was he used to girls having drunk too much? Probably, with this MC lifestyle. His eyes roved her body now, up and down, as if she was wearing a jumpsuit.
