Five minutes later, Luckner found himself sitting at the patio of a ritzy cafe that was way above what he could afford. It was the type of place that didn’t sell anything below ten dollars. The bare minimum for tips was twenty-five percent.

The servers looked like they would take their sweet time to come to you, and the people wore clothes that racked up in the thousands. Luckner stuck out like a sore thumb, and he was pretty sure he smelled like trash.

Luckner sniffed at his shirt. Yeah. He was trashy.

Across from him, Boots sat looking absolutely thrilled.

She handled all the socializing needed to get them in, get them seated, and get them drinks pronto. When he watched her, he had a feeling she was putting on a performance that enthralled almost everyone to do what she wanted. Immediately.

He was only sitting for three minutes before a server placed down two Irish Coffees topped with whip cream, caramel drizzles, and dark chocolate flakes. A cherry topped it, and the straws were solid cinnamon cookies.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve tapped into my [Seductress] skill, but I couldn’t wait for this.” Boots was the definition of giddy now.

“You’ve been here often?” he asked. Maybe she had seen him walk by a lot and grown familiar with him from a distance.

“Nope. First time!” she chirped. “A bartender told me about this place last night. Now, hurry before the straw melts. I hear it’s lovely to drink through it.”

He watched her take the first sip. Her cherub-like face brightened, the eyes fluttering, the corners of her lips curling upward, as she gulped down some of her drink. She then crunched half the straw, humming with delight.

It was at that moment Luckner felt a little more attracted to her. And that was dangerous. This situation was bad. He shouldn’t have come here; it felt like he was rebounding into more heartache. But the other option was… depressing.

Luckner nervously slurped at his straw. The drink struggled to come up. He had waited too long. So he settled with eating the cinnamon treat and taking a traditional sip. The earthy-sweet flavors washed over his tongue and perked him up a little.

“This is way too nice,” Luckner said. “What’s the deal? What do you want?”

“To help you get what you want. Then I’ll take my reward.”

“People who talk like that leave the other person worse off.”

“It isn’t always that way.”

“But it usually is.”

She leaned back and crossed her legs. Her shimmering eyes looked off to the side as a loud hoopla burst out from a party of young professionals behind her. Framed like this, she looked like a leading woman in a world that couldn’t satisfy her.

He was starting to imagine that she was a rich girl looking for an excuse to feel altruistic. Help out some random guy down on his luck and share the experience with her fake-ass friends. A real charitable socialite getting down with those below her.

It would be easy for him to hate her.

But Luckner couldn’t bring himself to do it. He read plenty of books where the morale was not to judge someone by their cover. Books raised him more than his parents had, even before the divorce and all the ugliness that followed.

“Can we start by telling each other our names?” he asked. “I’m Luckner.”

“Lylyth, but with y’s rather than i’s.” She reached out with her little hand; he took it. “It’s a pleasure, Luckner.”

He held onto her hand longer than he should’ve. He couldn’t help it. There was a current passing through them that he didn’t want to break. Not right away. It was warm, inviting, and strong. The scent of lilacs intensified.

Then he forced himself to pull away.

Luckner took a quick gulp of his drink.

The party occupying most of the patio grew even louder. It was starting to bug him. How obnoxious could you get?

“Mm,” Lylyth hummed.

“Mm?” Luckner quirked an eyebrow.

“I’m wondering how to proceed forward. This is strange territory.”

“Um, how so?”

“You’re resisting my [Seductress] skill. I could dial it up above 1st Circle, but that shouldn’t be necessary at your level.” Lylyth swayed her head from side to side. Her platinum hair fashioned in a shoulder-length bob swished with her. “You aren’t so easily influenced, are you?”

Luckner blinked. Was that flirt-lingo? “Well, if you haven’t noticed, I’m heartbroken. So, whatever charm you’re using can only work so much.”

“I deal in hearts, especially the broken ones. And If I wanted to, I could influence you to grovel at my feet if I apply a 4th Circle [Seductress], if not 3rd nor 2nd.” She touched her fingers together, frowning. “But I would dislike myself if I abuse you in such a way, child.”

Luckner opened and closed his mouth. There was a thread in this super weird conversation he wanted her to clear.

“1st Circle, 2nd Circle, 3rd Circle? What does any of that mean?”

“Things you shouldn’t trouble yourself with right now, I suppose.” Lylyth sighed. “It will all end soon. Just like how a good song ends.”

“Which sucks. You never want the song that holds your heart to end. So you restart it from the top,” Luckner said, deciding to flow with the bend in the conversation. “That’s what’s nice about good songs. You can always restart them.”

“Yes… this is true. You sound as if you know the way of music.”

“I’m⁠—was⁠—a musician.” Luckner’s cheeks heated up. “I got a set for my bass guitar back at my apartment. I hadn’t touched it in a month since she left.”

  Luckner looked down, feeling glum. When he looked up, he flinched and scraped his chair back. The little woman across from him stared with a raptured glee so intense it made him sweat. Was it getting hot around here, or was it him?

“You’re a bard!” she squealed. “Oh, how amazing. Can you sing, too?”

Luckner nodded.

“Can… can you dance?”

“I can move with the beat and get a little creative.”

“So, no two left feet?”

“No two left feet. I move my feet just right.”

She nodded her head rapidly, swishing her hair hard. It was a funny enough sight to make him laugh. She might’ve grown up a very sheltered girl if she was acting like this. Maybe she needed just as much help in her own life as he did.

“Luckner, you’re making this hard on me.”

“How?”

“I don’t want to fall in love again.” She pouted. “I really have to kill you, child.”

Luckner chuckled. “Yeah, well, you’ll be doing me a favor. I don’t want to fall in love again, either. If you can take me out without me feeling it, go for it.”

He was joshing, of course.

She looked contemplative, though.

A creepy shiver ran up his spine. He rubbed behind his neck. He started to wonder if Lylyth was joking.

Lylyth studied him, furrowing her brow. Something important was happening in her head. Luckner was a little scared to find out what she had on her mind.

When she opened her mouth to speak, finally, one of the assholes from the obnoxious party backed into her chair. He bumped her around and didn’t bother to say sorry.

That irked Luckner considerably. He put a lot of himself into being considerate, and he hated how people wouldn’t show a modicum of the same hospitality.

“Hey, man, loosen your tie up so you can get some air to your head,” Luckner said. “You clearly aren’t getting enough if you can’t say sorry.”

“Beat it, street-rat, before I knock the air out of you.” The well-suited man was not as tall as Luckner. But he had fifty to sixty pounds on the teen. The man was bulging out of his outfit with strength.

To rise to the challenge would lead to unnecessary trouble. Luckner knew he shouldn’t engage in that since he couldn’t afford the medical bills. His roiled emotions said otherwise as he stood, the chair scraping behind him.

“Stand fast, child.” Lylyth held her palm to him. “Something’s coming along.”

“What?” Luckner blinked. “I can⁠—”

“Stand fast.”

The suited man snorted and shook his head at them. He turned his back on Luckner, which was quite the burn. It would be dangerously out of line, but Luckner wanted to chase the guy down and pull him back into a potential fight regardless of Lylyth’s wishes. Yeah, that was going overboard, but he wanted to go overboard right now.

A flying dinosaur changed his plans.