Luca Chessman has been longing for love his entire life. The only problem is-he can't seem to find a guy that likes him the same way.
With his family cafe, Chessman's, struggling to keep afloat and no help from the bank, he's slowly accepting the d...
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Ever since Declan visited the cafe, I still haven't been the same. Why do I have to ruin everything for myself by being so damn insecure? I wish I could push all my thoughts and feelings away so I don't ruin this.
Declan loves me. He loves me.
Those three words have been running around my head for a couple of days. He's acting as if nothing has changed but for me it has. Everything will be different now. He even said he wants to spend the rest of his life with me... how can he already know that?
He's the sort of man that you settle down with because he is the ultimate caregiver, he goes above and beyond for anyone that he cares about and that's obvious with Elodie and Nick, even my mother.
I'm sitting around a circle table with Alex, River, Demi and Troy as we meet up for our monthly dinners that never happen monthly because we're all too busy. Lately we've all been having a lot of life shit going on–I haven't even seen Alex in a long time.
I find myself staring down at my drink, dragging my straw through the liquid as their voices float through the restaurant. Today just doesn't feel like my day but I forced myself to make the effort to see my friends because it's been a while and I know I would have regretted not coming.
"Luca?" Demi's voice is quiet because I'm drowning everything out. "Luca?"
My eyes snap to hers to find everyone staring at me. I open my lips but end up swallowing my dry throat instead. "Sorry, what did you say?"
Concern flashes across her face. She's always been animated with her expressions but it's obvious that she's worried about me. I wish I could stay invisible because I don't really want to talk about anything right now.
"Is everything okay? You're being very quiet."
"Mmm," I nod. "Yeah, sorry. Long day."
Demi purses her lips and I make the mistake of glancing at Alex because he's not believing my bullshit for a second. I flash him a fake smile which only adds to my cause because he tilts his head.
"You sure?" Alex quirks a brow.
I chew on the inside of my mouth. "Just things with the cafe. It's been chaotic."
"Like what?" Demi sits up.
She hasn't been to the cafe recently, not since we hired Aris and she has decided to start looking at other stable jobs. She's always been a lifesaver for us and my mother will adore her forever. We owe her a lot.
"The mortgage lenders came for us again," I draw back, crossing my arms over my chest. "Basically said we had to pay the rest of the mortgage off in a lump sum or they'd take everything away from us."
Troy's brows scrunch up as River's mouth opens, "Why? Are they even allowed to do that? It sounds illegal."
I nod slowly. "I thought so too but it's not like we have the money to hire a decent lawyer to help us out. Instead Declan paid it off for us and the last few weeks have just been busy. It's been a lot to deal with and trying to keep positive around my mother."
