Page 49 of Delilah In Discretion

I smiled at her joke, and she returned the gesture, pulling me into a hug.

“We can’t trust him. I still seem to be naive about that fact. I tried to get them to be friends about a million times already, but sadly, Calvin will always have something up his sleeve.”

I nodded, and she pulled away with another smile that I knew would bother me.

“So, I noticed Archer and Luca getting a bit territorial over who will get tobitetheforbidden fruit.”

I rolled my eyes as I turned away from her and walked away. “Oh my gosh, Mom,” I said, forcing the blush trying to climb up my face away, and she giggled mischievously.

“Oh, come on, I know they both like you. Whose side are you on? Archer gives me Team Edward vibes, and Luca gives me Team Jacob… but it could also be vice versa—”

I turned around and balled my fists by my side. “Mom, stop. I am not some forbidden fruit, and Luca and Archer will neverbiteme, okay? That would be a disaster just waiting to happen.”

“All right, sweetie. Just be careful and make sure you use protection.”

I groaned loudly and walked away from her again, to which she laughed at my embarrassment.

Surely she didn’t know about myencounterswith Archer. Well, I could only hope she didn’t know. Hopefully, she had only seen their “harmless” gestures toward me.

I walked to my room and saw Kimi petting Marshmallow as she sat at my desk. She looked over at me and groaned.

“How bad is it?” she asked, and I scoffed.

“Terrible. Dad is literally going crazy at just the thought of Calvin being a part of his business, and it isn’t helping the people in that office who are encouraging his beliefs. If this is how it will be constantly, Zach can have the business. I’ll work on the sidelines.”

“You and I both know Uncle Killian would never do such a thing. He’s been planning for you to take over his business since you were a child.”

“Calvin has also been feuding with him for over twenty years, and I don’t want that kind of lifestyle, ever.”

“I don’t think you’ll have that problem with Archer—”

“Please, let’s not even go there. My mother is already trying to connect the imaginary dots in her head, and I just want to ignore both him and Luca for as long as possible.”

“Which only lasts about a day before you see one of them, and the cycle repeats itself.”

I gave Kimiko a look, and she rolled her eyes and continued, “Fine. I’ll stop for now. I just hope this all blows over soon. The dean already approved the trip to Paris, and it will be impossible for you to go if Uncle Killian doesn’t agree.”

“Oh gosh, he’s never going to let me go. A week or two away from him with Archer and Luca in the same city? Yeah, never going to happen.”

“Well, we better find a way to make it happen, because there is no way I’m going to Paris without my best friend/home assistant.”

I giggled at her choice of words and nodded. My father being angry was something that honestly frightened me from time to time, and I could only pray that he would at least let me go on the trip to support Kimi.

It was the next day, and I took the free period I had to study in the library. Walking inside, I made eye contact with the boy who had been brutally tortured by Luca on my first day. He quickly averted his eyes away from me, and I shrugged helplessly as I looked through the shelves for a book.

I’ve tried to talk to him, but he just wouldn’t budge. I do enough running away from Archer and Luca, but I’ve since decided I don’t need to run after anyone.

I continued to spend my free period studying and made my way to the courtyard for lunch. I scanned the room for Kimiko but didn’t see her. After sending her a quick text, I made my way to an empty table when I heard someone speak.

“Hello, doll...”

I stopped in my tracks. I looked over my shoulder to see Luca sitting at the table with a mischievous smile on his face. I vividly remember slapping it off of him the other day, but it seems I was unsuccessful.

“Luca,” I said, merely acknowledging him.

I walked over to an empty table to wait for Kimi.

I was glancing down at my phone to see if she had texted me when I heard chairs being pulled away from my table. I lookedup to see Luca sitting across from me, and his friends on both sides of me.

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