Shackled Hearts (Chained Hearts Duet 4)

“You are amazing,” she states, then kisses my cheek.

“I haven’t been sleeping,” I tell her. “Until Chanel stayed with me last night.”

“She puts your restless soul at ease, that’s all that is. You and her may not realize it, but your bodies and souls do. They are meant to be. And I can’t wait to see where your story goes.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chanel

“Who does that?” I ask her, and she pulls her brows together as I go on. “Like, seriously, in the middle of going down on him, he throws that out there like it has no meaning. And you want to know the funny thing?”

“Not really,” she replies.

“I would have said yes. I wanted to say yes. But I’m trying to use my brain more when I am around him.”

“Okay, then,” the poor barista says, handing me my coffee. I take it and smile sadly at her.

“I won’t come back again,” I say, realizing I just let all that out on a stranger and in public.

Whoops! My bad.

The lady behind me gives me a sympathetic smile before she says, “Maybe you should just marry him if he bothers you that much. Because, girl, I’ve been married twenty years, and he still to this day bothers the hell out of me, but I love him.”

I give her some sort of awkward smile before I walk out, coffee in hand.

“Chanel.” I turn to Lucas standing there, even though he messaged me yesterday and agreed to give me space.

“This does not look like space,” I bite out. “Did you just hear all that?”

He can’t help the quirk of his lips. “Every word.”

My face feels hot as I look away from him. “Why are you here?”

“Because you are.”

I shake my head. It’s night, and I’m tired. I came for a coffee to try to get out of my head because walking helps me from catastrophizing everything. Thankfully, just down the road from my apartment is a really nice coffee place.

“Let me walk you back to your place, this area can be dangerous.” He smirks.

“It’s only dangerous when you’re here. Look at how those people are looking at you.” I nod to the couple we just passed to see them look the other way.

He chuckles next to me. “Maybe it’s you?”

“Ha, no. It’s definitely you,” I assure him as he walks next to me.

“Did you miss me?” he asks, and I look at him and find a new look on his face. I can’t quite read it. Is he shy? No, no way, not Lucas. “Clearly, I’ve been on your mind if you’re bitching about me to the barista.”

I roll my eyes and keep walking until I get to my door and pull out the keys, unlocking it before I step inside. When I turn around, he’s still at the door. “Can I come in?”

“If you must.” I sigh and sit on the couch. “You feeling better now?”

“I slept, thanks to you. Though, last night was hard without you there.” Lucas looks around before he stops at my kitchen counter. His arms are crossed over his chest, and his ankles are over one another.

“And you would have gotten a really good happy morning if you didn’t blurt out ridiculous words.”

“I haven’t asked you to call me daddy the last two times we fucked.” He smirks.

“Argh… do not remind me.”