Chosen Fool (Forever Evermore #5)(14)
My lips twitched a smidgen, and I nodded silently before placing my napkin on my lap when the waitress placed my breakfast plate in front of me. The food didn’t appear wholly appetizing but I ate it anyway, knowing I would need my strength for Leric’s mom.
Chapter Seven
“Do you like that?” Leric purred quietly over my shoulder, startling me.
Glancing quickly back at him, I nodded once while catching my breath. I turned back to the hot pink, white, and black handmade bracelet I had been eyeing. The baubles on it were gaudy, almost like costume jewelry, but the piece was still small and dainty enough that it would probably look decent on my wrist. But this shop only took cash, not credit cards. “Yes, but I’m only looking.”
Leric took a step closer to my back, his front barely touching mine as he peered over my shoulder at it. “You’ve been looking at it for ten straight minutes.”
“It’s been that long?” I asked in shock, glancing around to see that our group had pulled farther away on this second shopping trip. The Rulers were more than thrilled to have their activities back in their own hands after my little spiel with Mrs Damon this morning. This shopping area they had picked was filled with little booths of homemade goods and an overabundance of flowers for sale. It was damned chocolate-box pleasantness for everyone.
“Actually, it would be eleven minutes now,” Leric mumbled, reaching an arm around me and pressing closer against my back to lift the bracelet from the cloth-covered table. He raised it above my head to inspect it closer. “At least it has some white.” He lowered it as his other palm engulfed my left wrist. I stared and stood perfectly still as he carefully worked the itsy-bitsy clasp, his large hands not fumbling with it as he put the bracelet on me. “Now you can stare at it while you move.” He handed two twenties to the lady behind the table, who more than gawked at us and our hair, before he placed his large, warm hand on the small of my back, guiding me away from the table without waiting for his change.
“I…um…” I stared in shock at my wrist where my new gifted bracelet dangled. I tried to keep up with his long strides as he kept a firm grip on my back, leading us closer to our group. “You didn’t have to do that.” I stared at it a bit more, grasping it was one of the first gifts not from Sin I had ever received. “Thank you.” That was what you said when you received gifts so I made sure to say it quickly, comprehending I was being incredibly rude.
He glanced down at me with his mouth open to say something…and did a double-take, his eyes perusing my face quickly, before he stopped in his tracks so quickly I almost banged into him. Silver eyes stared down into mine and he lifted his free hand, the one that hadn’t easily slid to my hip. He caressed the backs of his fingers over my cheek, making my skin tingle, before he gently brushed a strand of my white hair off my forehead. “You’re acting surprised someone bought you something.” His head cocked, his eyes darting between mine. Half his hair was pulled back today, showing his tanned, harsh features exotically under the sun. “Surely someone’s bought you gifts other than Sin. Birthdays or Christmas, perhaps?”
My lips lifted cynically. “No. My childhood wasn’t exactly what you would call traditional. Sin and I were bounced around between foster homes, normally each worse than the previous until a specific * took us in—which I don’t care to speak of—and then it was even worse. Gifts are not something I’m used to. Nor money. Your mother had the right of it. Right now I am broke except for the credit card I’m allowed to use as pay for my training as a Prodigy until I’m Queen, and then I get paid a regular wage. So yes, your kindness in buying the bracelet for me is surprising.” I smiled, a real one, even as he gazed at me with a clenched jaw, the muscles working on either side—apparently he hadn’t known that about my past. “Really, thank you, Leric.” I held up a finger. “But don’t think I’m a charity case. I don’t accept assistance from anyone, not even Sin. I work for my living. I’m not helpless.”
His nostrils flared and his jaw ticked for an extended amount of time. He was obviously thinking about everything I had said, his mind really working behind his now hooded gaze. “Who was the * who took you both in?”
My lips curved cruelly. “Someone who’s not worth mentioning.” I tilted my head in the direction our group had disappeared. “We should probably catch up.”
Again his jaw ticked. “I haven’t trespassed on your memories and I still won’t, but I would love to know if the f*cker should be dead.”
I patted his clenched pec. “Someone will kill him one day, that much I promise you. A man that criminal, and with that many enemies, doesn’t stay alive forever.”
Dry words. “I did have to ask, didn’t I?”
“He’ll be dead eventually.” I tapped my temple. “You don’t need to regret saying you won’t trespass.”
His lips curled as he bent to stare directly into my eyes. “I never said for how long.”
My eyebrows lifted and I spoke wryly, “You’re feeling extra sly today, aren’t you?” His lips only curved further while a definite ornery gleam illuminated his gaze, so I quickly grabbed his wrist near my hip, pulling him this time. I lifted my other wrist, shaking my bracelet. “You just generously bought me a gift, which I love, so don’t go trying any sneaky antics now.”