CHAPTER SEVEN
Luka
Sitting on the dock, Luka stares down at his feet. Just a few feet below his converse, the water is clear and blue. It comes in in soft waves. He finds himself fixated on it quite completely, staring down. The wind ruffles his hair.
It's kind of nice how he tastes salt when he breathes in. He didn't live in Charlottetown when Nathan's mate killed herself—Naomi called him there. He bussed from Toronto and met her on the mainland. She'd caught his scent already. Raine showed up, too—of course she did. She'd wanted a chance to try to get back together with Luka for months.
Footsteps creak on the wood of the dock. He doesn't move, continuing to stare down into the turquoise waves. Eventually, the figure stops next to him. He glances at her black combat boots.
"What do you want me to say to you?"
He shrugs. "I don't want you to say anything. I'm just here to wish you off." Turning, he looks up at Naomi.
She's got her hair pulled back into a low, messy bun. There's a frustrated look on her face that he can't place. She bites her lip. "Well, thank you for that."
Luka tilts his head. "Are you going to be mad at me forever?"
Snorting, Naomi drops her head to avoid eye contact. She sits down next to him, setting her messenger bag down behind her as she does. "No. I think I just hoped for something different." She pauses. "Raine's hurt. You should try to at least make things up with her."
When she says that, Luka can't help bitterly smiling. "You wouldn't be saying that if you'd heard all the vitriol she was slinging. About Nathan, too. I know things are confusing between the two of you right now, but I know you care about him."
With that, Naomi stands up again. Waving him off, she smiles. "Yeah." Letting out a long exhale, she looks out toward the ferry. "Looks like they're boarding. I have to be going."
"OK." Luka breathes out through his nose, standing up. "Just try not to forget that things aren't as clear cut as you think."
Rolling her eyes, Naomi evades a hug. "I'll try to take the advice, but don't count on it. Call me oppositional-defiant, but I'm not interested in it." She waves and dances a few steps back before jogging back down the dock toward the other side of the bay, where the boats are boarding.
He stands, feeling strange about the entire interaction. Naomi's always been unlikely to take the advice of others. She has to come to her own conclusions. He supposes he can't fault her for that—after all, he's done a lot of the same.
He watches people pass by with their bags. Naomi will be returning to the mainland, or at least that's what she told him in a voicemail. Things didn't work out with Nathan and Clara the way she'd hoped, but the situation is solved with the police. Luka wasn't really involved in it—she didn't want him to be. At the time, Naomi was still spitting mad about him betraying the clan roots by letting go of his values and dating Alice.
Sighing, he runs fingers through his hair.
Luka walks into town with his hands in his pockets. He drove Alice's car here with her permission—there aren't really any big harbors in Port Murmure, so Naomi had to get her ticket a town over.
On the way back to the car, Luka passes a jewelry store. He steps closer to the windows and looks through them to the rows of rings.
He's not ready for that. Not today and not tomorrow and not in the next month. Luka's always been a wanderer, just like Naomi—this sort of tie-down is a unique situation for him, and old habits die hard. It's not just that, however, that keeps him from making the next move.
He hasn't been with Alice that long. It feels like they've just started off on a path he can only begin to predict. There's something sort of valuable in waiting until the right time. Luka's sure there will be a right time, and when he takes that chance it'll be worth it.
That is, if she doesn't take the next step first. With the way her confidence has surged recently, it wouldn't surprise him at all.
Getting to the car, he drives home alone. By himself with his thoughts, he considers the situation and what he wants from this. He cares for Alice more than he's cared for anyone in a very, very long time.
Alice doesn't need his money, not with her writing-related wealth. Still, Luka doesn't like the idea of taking advantage of that. He's never liked being stuck with a long-term job that makes him stuck, so beyond his degree he doesn't have a lot of options. He'll continue helping her with housework, but the second order of business is to find some other way to help with Alice's financial situation.
Once he gets home, he finds her asleep in her bed, right where he left her when he climbed out of the sheets this morning. A soft smile crosses his face. Luka leans in and leaves a soft kiss on her forehead. She doesn't wake from that, but her lips part slightly.
Her laptop's open on the bed. She must have gotten up while he was gone. He grabs it to put it away so that it doesn't fall off of the bed, but peeks at the screen as he does.
When he sees the subject matter, he has to bite his tongue to keep from snorting out loud. It's a shifter romance—looks like a jaguar shifter of some kind. Interesting.
He supposes it doesn't really come as a surprise. People always tell you to write what you know, right? This is something she knows.
Luka's not really as exotic as people make shifters seem, or at least he thinks he isn't. It isn't ever as straightforward as people make it seem in romance books, and this is probably a good case of that. He knows he's been a jerk, but the most important thing is that he's trying to change for the better, long term. With every day, he feels that's more of a permanent possibility.
Pulling off his jacket, he hangs it in his section of her closet before sliding into bed with her. He carefully wraps his arms around her body, trying not to wake her up. The warmth of her body seems to seep into his core.
Luka's heart swells. Being close to her often makes him feel like this. He feels like a lovesick fool a lot of the time.
It's a nice change. Being able to feel something for someone and express strong emotion is a liberating feeling and one he wishes he'd embraced before. Nathan knows more than anyone really gives him credit for, and he's more credible than people believe. If Luka had to pick one thing that Nathan knows better than others do, it's the importance of connecting with others and letting them care about you.
That's something Luka's still learning, but he's sure that he'll get there eventually. He has to. Relationships take work, and he's determined to be the empathetic, kind person Alice needs to support her. She's an amazing woman who doesn't need someone to lead her. He just wants to help be her scaffolding.
Leaning in, he presses another soft kiss just behind her. At that, Clara stirs and murmurs. "Hm?"
He breathes out quietly, leaning his head into her body. "I love you."
He can't see it from here, but Luka can feel the change in her face when she smiles. She relaxes into the sheets again. "You're a lovesick fool, you know that, right?" Her tone is completely content. "We're still in the honeymoon phase of this. Don't get too attached."
"Mm." There's a small pause while Luka thinks what to say. "I think we'll last, though."
"We'll see," Alice teases, then breathes out. He thinks she's fallen asleep again, at first. After a moment, though, she quietly whispers. "I think so, too."