Page 6 (1/2)

He s to understand

4 - Wants and Fears

The s bacon rushed up her nose to taunt her olfactory senses, causing her stomach to roll in uneasy waves She followed Lucien, as being led by a waitress to a booth at the back of the roadside diner

"Here you go, hon," the young worease coveredthat if he wanted he could order her off the es ofon her jeans Of course the waitress didn’t even glance her way, let alone give her a ry, huh

"What are you having?" Lucien asked, as he e frame into the too-small-for-him booth

"I’ry"

"At least have some coffee and a sandwich"

"I don’t think I could keep it down"

"I’h Hope you can afford new upholstery in the truck"

He grimaced "Maybe just the coffee then"

As his eyes wandered over theacross his face "I, on the other hand, aer with a hunk ofcheese, reen "Stop, I beg of you"

The portal to the Center was just over a five hours drive away They’d left at sunrise and would be there in a few hours’ ti Marita and Vanne, of actually taking a real part in the as causing not only the sickening butterflies in the pit of her stoh the top of her skin, sending the hairs up on her ar ht with tension The cab in his truck seemed smaller somehow She could hear and feel everyhands and sinewy forearh her each ti profile (or when he turned to s to smoke the way they only seemed to do around the people he really cared about), and momentarily her nerves over the Center were obliterated and replaced with new nerves, sad achy nerves over Lucien, over the stupidthings from her In the end it had turned out there were rievances And as it turned out her grievances had been petty in comparison to what happened to Jaeden and to Sebastian

Hindsight sucked

In fact hindsight should be assassinated

Lucien was frowning over having being stopped in his meat salivation "You sure you’re OK?"

She nodded mutely

His eyes narrowed perceptively "Last tihed Olympus forbade anyone considered him sensitive or considerate "Some coffee will be fine I’m just a little nervous, that’s all"

The waitress returned and Lucien gave her their order When he was done she gave hiet-me smile and then turned unexpectedly to Caia "He your boyfriend?" she asked loudly

Her mouth fell open at the worinning s in amusement for Caia’s answer He quirked an eyebrow at her as if to say, ‘See I’lared at him and turned back to the expectant waitress She s "Oh no He’s all yours Melissa, is it?"

Melissa grinned "You’re not dating?"

"No Never Not gonna happen" She turned that sweet slower "I would have to be paid-"

"OK, she gets the picture," he snapped and turned to Melissa "Can we just get our order please?"

Melissa nodded absent to France"

She giggled "Yeah, right Seriously, you want to, like, do sorin, straightened up froo out with irl flounced off, Caia chuckled "You’re so getting a loogie in your coffee"

"I don’t get it, I was telling the truth" He shrugged, looking confused and irritated, clearly annoyed that she had gotten the better of hiht would annoy the crap out of her The thing was Caia was pretty used to people ogling Lucien She had since learned to turn the whole jealousy thing off

"Well she’s huymnasiums I didn’t realize there were portals to anywhere - let alone Europe - until last week and I’m a half-breed half-breed"

"A half-breed half-breed?"