A New Enemy (Enemies 1)

I had an hour and a half off after taking a handful of kids home from their day care activity center, and I used it to sleep. Then when it was time to get ready for my shift at the Quad, I donned a pair of cargo shorts that’d seen better days, a tee, my shades, and flip-flops. It represented the fucks I had left to give.

Which were zero.

I drove my ATV today so I could give an old classmate from high school a quick visit where she worked at a donut shop.

She gave me a sweet deal on yesterday’s donuts, and I helped her grandmother with groceries sometimes.

“Oh, you look…um.” She trailed off.

“Yeah, I…” I shook my head and waved it off. I didn’t wanna get into it. “Can you spare three dozen?”

“Sure, hon. Just a sec.” She disappeared into the back.

I blew out a breath and touched my neck. The shades hopefully covered the shadows under my eyes, but I couldn’t hide the marks from Lily’s razor-sharp tantrum.

My phone buzzed with a text, and it was the first real smile I’d gotten all day.

After spending three nights with you, a night back on my sister’s couch didn’t hold the same appeal. We still on for tonight?

Christ yes, we were.

I responded to him.

I’ll be home by 9:30. At 9:31, I’d like to be balls deep in your ass.

His reply popped up right away.

You love to make me wait. I’ll be there.

I grinned a little and pocketed my phone.

So far, so good. As long as we kept things about sex, I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

“It accidentally became four dozen. I’m assuming it’s for the Quad.”

I glanced up and smiled. “You’re a fucking angel. How much do I owe you?”

“Not a dime. Just don’t tell anyone. We’re not allowed to give away even the stuff we’re gonna throw out. Gotta love corporate waste, huh?”

Indeed. “Well, the kids and I appreciate your vigilantism.” I reached for my wallet in my back pocket. “Mind ringing up a large coffee for me too?”

“Comin’ right up. Black, right?”

“Like my soul.”

That made her laugh. “Oh, honey, in that case, I’ll give you a glass of milk.”

I chuckled and mock-scowled at her.

About ten minutes later, I lifted four donut boxes out of the cargo box on my ATV and was greeted by the biggest grins from a group of kids hanging outside the Quad.

The grins had very little to do with me and a whole lot to do with the donuts.

“Are those for us, Sebastian?” one of the boys exclaimed.

“Adrian and I sure won’t eat them all ourselves. Come inside, kiddos.” I nodded toward the entrance and headed in. I noticed the crates of fruit I brought here were almost empty, so I made a mental note to bring new ones tomorrow.

I knew it was just gonna be Adrian and me the first couple of hours. Dominic was taking their daughter to some appointment—she had the same counselor as Teddy—and Marcela, the counselor on staff here at the Quad, had taken a personal day.

It was why Adrian and I had texted earlier and decided to host a movie night this sunny afternoon. They tended to be quieter events.

“Sebastian is here, Mr. C!” Myah yelled as I reached the main area.

Safe to say, the kids were looking forward to a movie with snacks. I noticed Adrian had already brought out the leftover bottles of soda and lemonade from the storage room. We had a bunch of stuff that people had donated, making it a lot easier to plan these little afternoons.

Adrian appeared from the kitchen, and he brought with him a strong scent of popcorn. “Perfect, you’re here.” He smiled. “Dominic and I went to Costco earlier to get the sprinkler like we discussed…?” Yeah, for our picnic next week. I remembered. “We happened to see they had a special on popcorn.”

I eyed one of the tables in the café area where I set down the boxes, and I smirked. They must’ve filled a damn cart. But that was good. It was why we maintained our pool of in-house donations, so we could act quick when there was a sale. Popcorn was always great for special occasions, and it lasted forever.

“Sweet.”

The kids gathered around quickly, and I counted about twenty of them. Myah was the youngest at twelve, if I wasn’t mistaken.

Adrian took charge and directed everyone to find a pillow or blanket and get seated in the gaming nook where the first Avengers movie was gonna play. Of course, this led to a mass rush toward the area to snatch a seat on one of the three couches. Then Adrian raised his voice and said no more than one donut at first. After supper, we could divide the rest equally.

And: “No throwing popcorn!”