“Are you sure you got the time right?” Ari questioned as she turned to face me.
I frowned at her. “Yes! I even searched his desk to check if he wrote it down somewhere which he did. His plane landed an hour ago.”
“Then we should have found him already.”
She turned around and stood on tip toes to glance around the airport, not that she could see much. The place was buzzing with activity. It was the worst time of year to be flying. For a moment my eyes locked on Ariana’s face to make sure that she was still doing okay. Although she didn’t say it, I knew that felt uncomfortable.
Two years of therapy and Ariana had managed to get over most things, but being surrounded by humans—especially such big crowds—was still something she struggled with.
“You definitely missed something,” she muttered. “Either you heard them wrong or Uncle Ethan got the time and date wrong.”
“He’s not that old,” I growled. “I heard them repeating the time and date a few times. His flight could’ve have been delayed.”
Ariana crossed her arms over her chest and turned to face me. “Then we might as well go home.”
“He’s at work remember?” I glanced towards the escalators again. “His friend is supposed to pick Lucas up from the airport because he’s not going to make it himself. Might I point out that during that conversation he mentioned the time again.”
She rolled her eyes.
I wasn’t sure whether I should listen to her or stick around in hopes that Lucas’s flight was a bit late. Things weren’t going as I had planned at all, not that it ever did.
We were visiting Uncle Ethan for Christmas since we spend last year with Dad. As far as I knew it was only going to be the three of us but I overheard a conversation between Uncle Ethan and Lucas. He was coming home and he wanted to surprise us.
We’ve been keeping in touch through late night calls, letters, and messages and sometimes when we’re lucky, video calls. Messages were the easiest because the time difference sucked. Through all of it, we had gotten to know each other all over again. There was no longer a doubt in my mind that the three of us were meant to be together.
Now if we could only get past the whole distance thing. . .
“Do you think that we might have missed him?”
It was on the tip of my tong to deny it but then again we were stuck in traffic for nearly an hour and when we finally reached the airport we had to wait for a parking to open. So yes, there was a possibility that we might have missed Lucas.
He was finally returning, after two fucking years of separation and we didn’t make it to the airport in time to surprise him.
“Oh.”
Ariana’s soft exclamation made my eyes snap to her and then over in the direction she was looking in.
The crowd was parting for the man who was walking towards the door with purpose. He was tall and muscular with tattoos curling around both his forearms. His shoulder length hair was tied back in a man-bun but a few strands framed his face. The black shirt he word clung to his chest like a second skin and the jeans drew eyes to his firm backside.
“I’m not sure what I should make of my mates ogling a stranger.”
Everything inside me froze. That voice!
“Lucas!” Ariana exclaimed.
I swallowed a few times before I turned around to face the man we had been waiting for. It wasn’t really a surprise to find Ariana wrapped around him like her life depended on it. Lucas was hugging her back just as tightly but he had his head buried in the crook of her neck like he was breathing her in, and maybe he was.
My stomach twisted with nerves when he raised his head to look at me. I wasn’t prepared for the vividness of his eyes or the changes of his body. He was no longer the pale, skinny boy I had gotten used to seeing around. Of course I had noticed the changes whenever we had a video call, but seeing him through the screen was so different than having him standing in front of me.
Lucas’s skin had a golden glow. His hair was shorted and his eyes held a. . .sparkle that hadn’t been there before. He had built a lot more muscle and somehow he had gotten taller too.
He looked great!
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me all day or are you going to come close so I can squeeze the shit out of you just to show you how much I fucking missed you?” he asked me with twitching lips.
I smiled and took the few steps forward to close the distance between us. Ariana stepped aside and watched with a wide smile as Lucas pulled me against his chest.
“We thought that we missed your flight,” I told him a moment later as I pulled back from the tight hug.
He smirked. “The plane landed an hour earlier actually. I know you have a bad habit of eavesdropping on private conversations so I used it to my advantage.”
Colour flooded my cheek which only seemed to amuse him more. Reaching out, Lucas slipped and arm around my waist and pulled me against his side. He did the same with Ariana and the surprise us both when he pecked our cheeks.
“As much as I would love to kiss you both senseless, I would like to introduce you to someone first.” He cleared his throat. “Besides, it would be better if we wait until we get home for that to happen. I might just embarrass all of us in public.”
Lucas led us out of the airport and towards a man who stood with his back to us. My cheeks heated even more when I recognized him as the man we had been staring at earlier.
“Erik,” Lucas said when we came to a stop. “I’d like to introduce you to my mates.”
Erik turned around and stared down at us. His eyes darted from me over to Ariana and then back to me.
I swallowed. “H-hi.”
“Eva,” he greeted. “Ariana. It’s nice to meet you.” His eyes darted up to Lucas. “He wouldn’t stop talking about you and to be honest I was getting a little sick of hearing about it.”
I looked at Lucas with a raised eyebrow. His cheeks were flooded with colour but he didn’t deny it. It made me wonder what exactly he had said about us. My eyes locked with Ariana’s for a few seconds before darting over to Erik.
“I hope it was only good things,” I said.
His lips curled up into a half smile. “Yes, only good things.”
“Would you like to join us for lunch?” Aria asked.
“Thank you, but unfortunately I have some place I need to be. Maybe another time?”
“Of course.”
Erik nodded at Lucas which was apparently our dismissal because Lucas led us away. As we walked toward the car, I slipped my arm around his back and shared a smile with my sister.
Maybe we weren’t as unlucky as we always thought we were.
***
“How long have you been planning this?” I asked Lucas a few minutes later when we finally left the airport behind.
“A while.” He glanced at me.
“How long is a while?” Ari questioned.
“A few months,” he sighed. “I was planning on coming here sooner but the flight I booked got cancelled due to bad weather. It was either get book a new flight or wait until the time was right.”
“Uncle Ethan told you that we were staying with him for the holidays,” Ari stated, making Lucas nod. “What would you have done if your plan failed? For all you know Eva’s bad habit could’ve changed.”
He laughed. “I doubt that but if it didn’t work out then I would have made another plan.”
My eyes dropped to his hand that was resting on Ariana’s thigh. They had already gone from first base to third while Lucas and I hadn’t even shared a kiss. To be honest, I was a little jealous but I wasn’t going to let it ruin things.
“Are you here to stay or are you only visiting?”
Lucas cleared his throat. “It all depends on you,” he muttered. “We haven’t really talked about it. If you want me to stay then I’m staying but if you want me to leave then I’ll leave.”
Ariana reached out to grip my hand. I kept my eyes focused on the passing scenery.
“You don’t have to make a decision right this moment,” he muttered. “I want to show you something before you decide.”
***
It was not what I expected at all.
I thought it would be something he had gotten for us. My eyes darted to Ariana but she was too focused on everything around us. I glanced around again before I looked at Lucas.
He was leaning against the wall, watching us.
“Lucas?”
Licking his lips, he hesitated. “Before you say anything, why don’t you look around first?”
My lips parted but I gave him a nod instead. Slipping my hand into Ariana’s, together we moved through the apartment.
It was bare, but spacious. The first floor consisted out of three bedrooms, a large bathroom an open space that could be used as a living room or something else. We took the steps to the top floor. A gasp fell from my lips when my eyes locked onto the big glass doors that led out onto a balcony that had a great view of the ocean.
The kitchen, living room and dining room was all connected with an open floor plan. Off to the side were a laundry room and another small bathroom.
Ariana walked over to one of the doors and pulled it open. The sound of crashing waves instantly filled my ears and a deep breath made the sea air fill my lungs. I followed her out onto the balcony.
“Do you like it?”
Turning, I leaned back against the railing and silently watched him for a few seconds before I nodded at him. “It’s very beautiful.”
“Ariana?” Lucas questioned.
“I agree.”
His eyes darted to his shoes and then back up to us in the next second. Straightening, he ran a hand through his hair and took a step towards us.
“It’s ours.” My eyes widened in shock but before I could speak, he continued. “I’ve thought about this a lot and this is the only solution I came up with. Living amongst the pack isn’t going to work because of what I am. There will be too much tension and it would cause trouble.” His eyes darted over to Ariana. “I know that you still have trouble being surrounded by human which was why I chose I place when few live. Most of our neighbours are like me or like you.”
“You want us to move in together?” I asked him.
Lucas nodded. “I considered staying with Ethan but then we wouldn’t really have our own privacy.”
“What if you stay here and we stay with him?”
His eyes dropped but not before I had seen the pain flashing through them. “That could work too.”
“We’re supposed to be taking things slow,” Ari said softly as she closed the space between them to place a palm against his cheek. “Moving in together is a big step.”
“I know.” He sighed. “We’ve been apart for two years. I don’t want to have to drive for hours to see you because then we would barely have time to spend together. With us all living under one roof things would be easier.”
“He had a point,” I told my sister. “We don’t have a curfew or anything but it kinda takes the fun out of things when we need to be home early because Uncle Ethan does things a certain way.”
“You want to move in here?”
I shrugged. “Why not? We’d be free to do what we want. Plus how can you not want to wake up to that every morning.” I waved a hand at the ocean. “There’s only one problem with this.”
“And that is?” Lucas questioned.
“We don’t have a way of paying rent. It’ll take months before we can find a job that pays enough for—”
“We’re not renting,” he interrupted me, “and you don’t have to work if you don’t want too. I have enough money saved to keep us afloat for a few years.” His lips slowly curled up into a smile when I couldn’t think of anything else. “It’s all taken care of Eva. All you have to do is say yes.”
Ariana’s eyes caught mine. We stared at each other for a few minutes. I blinked at her when she gave Lucas a nodded and muttered that she wanted to move into the apartment. I shifted from foot to foot as they stared at me.
It was a perfect opportunity to do things normal people our age did. Dad wasn’t going to be happy about it but we were adults and Lucas was our mate not some stranger.
“Okay, but you’re going to do all the laundry.”
He laughed and reached out to pull me closer. “Deal.”