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his eye that told her that he’d gave as good as he got, maybe even better.
“So, why the pretense to get me up here?” she asked, in absolutely no mood to play anymore of these games with him.
The women that he’d dated in the past might have been okay with this hot/cold treatment that he seemed to be dishing out to her, but she wasn’t. If a man wanted to be with her then she expected him to act like it, not ignore her unless he wanted something from her. The moment that he’d decided to act like she didn’t exist was the moment that he’d lost whatever chance he might have had with her.
He watched her for a moment before he closed his eyes and dropped his head back against the couch. “I fucked this up, didn’t I?”
“Big time,” she readily agreed.
“I’m a fucking idiot,” he said and she honestly couldn’t agree more.
“You said it, not me,” she said, getting to her feet and headed for the door, deciding that it would be for the best if they just let whatever this thing was between them die a quick, merciful death. “I have to get back to work,” she said, walking towards the door.
“Before you go, could you do me a favor? Could I have a Coke?” he asked and even though she wanted to tell him exactly where he could shove that Coke, she couldn’t forget what he’d done for her.
“Sure,” she said with a sigh as she headed right back into that meticulously organized kitchen, wondering why he was bothering with her now. He knew better. At least, she thought he did, but then again-
“What the hell?” she mumbled as she opened the refrigerator door and realized that he might have a small problem with OCD, but also that he’d marked more than half the items in the refrigerator with a “Gluten Free,” label. Frowning, she shut the refrigerator door and opened the cabinet door closest to her and found the same thing had been done for all the dry goods.
Why would he do something like this?
“I wanted to make sure that you had something to eat when you were here,” he explained as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. “I fucked up and I’m sorry, Rebecca. The Fire & Brimstone has been my life for as long as I can remember. It’s always come first in my life and the fact that you make me want to forget that scares the hell out of me,” he whispered, holding her tightly as though he never wanted to let her go.
Closing her eyes and telling herself that this was probably the biggest mistake of her life, she placed her hand over the arm that held her tightly and took the biggest risk of her life.
“Don’t screw this up,” she said, knowing that next time it would be more than her pride that took a hit.
Chapter 24
“Are you on the verge of having a panic attack?” Rebecca asked teasingly as they stood in line, waiting to purchase snacks before they went into the theatre to watch the latest horror flick to appease her disturbing obsession with paranormal movies.
“No,” he said, still surprised that he hadn’t tried to sneak off so that he could check his email or called the restaurant to make sure that everything was running smoothly.
He’d never gone this long before without checking in to see how things were going back at the Fire & Brimstone, but then again, he’d never been out with a woman like Rebecca, who would happily drop kick him in the balls if he so much as touched his phone. At least, he was assuming that she would since she hadn’t actually said anything about it yet.
He was basing this assumption on the fact that he’d seriously fucked up and needed to be on his best behavior and that meant no touching his phone when he was out with her. Rebecca on the other hand didn’t seem to feel the same way since she was currently checking her phone for the tenth time since they’d arrived.
He was starting to see how people found this annoying. It was also really fucking insulting! Here he was, dotting on her and she was on the phone as though his company wasn’t good enough.
What. The. Fuck?
It didn’t matter that he’d done the same thing during every date that he’d been on since the invention of the smartphone. It was fucking rude and-
“Patrick says that everything is running smoothly. I also checked on the orders you placed this morning and they should be delivered tomorrow morning,” she said with a mischievous little smile as she slipped her phone back into her bag.
“You checked for me?” he asked, smiling as she wrapped her arm around his and leaned into him.
“Couldn’t have you crying,” she said as she slipped her hand into his.
“We wouldn’t want that,” he agreed as he entwined their hands together and stepped up in line to buy snacks for the movie.
Normally he would buy one of everything, but he couldn’t do that with Rebecca since she couldn’t have most of the stuff that they had here. He didn’t feel right about eating something that she couldn’t have in front of her. So, already knowing that he couldn’t have his customary triple order of his beloved nachos, he took out his phone and checked with the gluten free app that he’d found to see what she could have.
Just as he’d suspected, there was really nothing here that she could have. He was going to starve to death, he realized, trying not to panic, because he honestly couldn’t imagine going two whole hours without eating something. Maybe he could sneak out to use the bathroom and scarf down a few nachos and a hot dog without her knowing, he thought even as he realized that he couldn’t do that to her.
“What are you getting?” she asked as she looked at the selection before them, no doubt already realizing that she couldn’t have anything here.
“Nothing. I’m good,” he said, wondering why she was looking up at him with a frown.
“Yeah…,” she said, not really sounding like she believed him, which was actually really fucking insulting. “Sure you are.”
“I’m fine,” he lied, wishing that he’d grabbed something before they’d left, but he’d been in such a hurry to get his paperwork done so that they wouldn’t miss the movie that he’d forgot to have customary pre-date snack.
Shaking her head and mumbling something that he couldn’t quite catch, she returned her attention to the cashier waiting on them and with a smile, said, “We’ll take one of everything and could we please have two Cokes? One extra large and a small, please?”
“Sure,” the cashier said, throwing him a nervous look, no doubt well acquainted with a few of the other Bradfords in town.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said as he pulled out his wallet, praying that she didn’t listen to him and cancel the order, because honestly, he was fucking starving and wasn’t sure that he’d survive the next two hours without food.
“And risk you passing out on me during the best part of the movie?” she asked with a smile that told him everything that he needed to know.
He couldn’t risk fucking this up again and losing a woman like her.
*-*-*-*
“Are you sure that’s going to be enough?” he asked as she settled the big tub of extra buttered popcorn on her lap.
“More than enough,” she promised him, still wishing that they’d at least had some plain M&M’s, but this was better than nothing.
As soon as she’d spotted the snack selection on display she’d realized that her days of enjoying high calorie/high fat snacks at the movie theater was over. That is until the manager overheard Lucifer mention that she couldn’t have gluten and he’d suggested the popcorn. The popcorn was safe to eat so at least she had something to snack on while she watched bimbos get torn apart by zombies.
It really was the little things in life, she thought with a wistful smile as she nibbled on some semi-warm super buttery popcorn. While Lucifer systematically devoured every last morsel of junk food that she’d ordered for him, they sat there in silence as they watched all the previews. It was the first time that she’d ever been out with a man that she didn’t feel the need to fill the silence.
It was actually really nice to be able to sit here and not worry about that horrible
awkward silence setting in. She hated that, but it always seemed to happen. That didn’t seem to be the case with Lucifer.
She was actually enjoying herself, she realized as she popped another small handful of popcorn in her mouth. A few bites later she was regretting only getting a small Coke to wash away the taste. For a second, she considered stealing Lucifer’s soda, but she didn’t want to risk cross contamination or losing her hand since he did have a really unhealthy obsession with his food that occasionally turned violent.
