Page 8 of Under Your Care

He spun around with a blinding smile on his face, until he remembered he was supposed to be mad at me and gave me a pout. “Hello, traitor.” I rolled my eyes at him. “No, I was waiting for you so we could use your suspiciously acquired gift card,” he glared.

Laughing, I said, “Stop being so dramatic. Order and I’ll explain.”

I gestured to the menu hanging on the wall behind Josh. Oliver said something under his breath, presumably cursing at me, before putting in his drink order and grabbing a blueberry muffin. After ordering for myself and using my stalker’s gift card to pay for Oliver and I’s breakfast, I brought our drinks over to the table Oliver had sat down at.

“Alright then, explain.” He rolled his eyes and took a sip of his iced latte. Rolling my eyes back, I stole a bite out of his muffin. He glared harder at me, causing me to laugh.

I started, “Okay, okay. And for the record, I wasn’t trying to hide this from you, I just kind of forgot to tell you about it?” Oliver huffed and gestured for me to continue. “Like I said over the phone, it’s been less than a week and nothing terrible has happened so it just slipped my mind. I mean… I was scared when it started but I’m just used to it now.”

“Oh great, you’ve been stockholmed by a stalker,” he mocked, a scowl on his face.

“It’s not like that. Do you want me to tell you about it or not?” I glowered, taking a few sips of my own drink. Oliver gritted his teeth but nodded for me to go on. “Ugh, don’t be mad at me for not mentioning this either, but I started seeing a therapist.” His eyebrows raised. “So, a few days after my first appointment, I woke up and found some stuff on my nightstand that I didn’t put there. A flower and a book. Long story short, it was a very oddly curated love confession. Left by someone who broke into my apartment while I was sleeping - no biggie. But nothing was damaged or stolen and I wasn’t hurt. Then a few days later I started having more flowers left on mycar. That brings us to this morning when there was a flower plus this gift card.”

Oliver blinked a few times, before saying, “So… Like a secret admirer that doesn’t believe in laws?”

Almost spitting out the sip of coffee I had taken, a loud laugh punched out of me.

“Uh… yeah,” I snickered, “I guess that’s it. But, I don’t know who would like me enough to do all this. I mean, I hardly leave my apartment.”

“Could it be someone from school? I know you aren’t super sociable or anything, but it could even be a past member of a group project.” He shrugged, pausing before saying, “Maybe a professor?”

I snorted, “Sure, because I’m such a friendly and interesting person in class.”

“I’m just trying to brainstorm here! What have the police said about everything? Are they helping?” Oliver asked, raising one eyebrow while shoving the last piece of his muffin in his mouth.

I closed my eyes and took a breath, bracing myself to be yelled at.

I sighed, “Well… I haven’t reported it. And can you just zip it with the judgement? I know it’s probably a colossally stupid choice in the event that the person ends up hurting me, but I just don’t want to deal with the police on top of everything else.”

The bell on the cafe’s door chimed, signalling that another customer had entered. Oliver, who was sitting facing the door, began looking over my shoulder.

He said, “I get it, Lane, but yeah I think it’s a stupid decision.” He sucked in a breath, “Sorry, butJesus. Try to be casual, but look at the total hotties that just walked in - Damn.”

“Great attention span, Oliver,” I teased, rolling my eyes as I looked over my shoulder to see.

My brows raised in surprise as I laid eyes on Dr. Cohen and two equallyattractive men standing next to him at the counter. The men looked to be identical twins - same blonde hair, same dark blue eyes, same ridiculous height as they both had several inches on Dr. Cohen, who was already a tall guy. If those men were his type, there was an even smaller chance of Dr. Cohen ever being interested in me. Like he had heard my thoughts, Dr. Cohen turned and met my eye contact. He beamed at me, whispered something to the twins, and began walking towards our table.

“Lane! Lane! Why is he coming over here? Oh my god, he’s going to hate-crime us because we were checking him out. I’m too young to die, Lane!” Oliver dramatically sputtered, reaching over the table to shake me by my shoulder.

I didn’t respond to him, too entranced by Dr. Cohen’s honey eyes and confident walk. His smile briefly faltered when he saw Oliver’s hand on my shoulder, but by the time his smile was perfectly back in place, I was already wondering if I had seen things wrong.

Stopping to stand over our table, Dr. Cohen addressed me, “Mr. Bennett - Such a coincidence seeing you here! My brothers and I just stopped in for a quick breakfast.” He gestured to the men still standing near the counter, who now seemed honed in on our table. “And this is?” He questioned, turning to face Oliver. Oliver glanced over to me in confusion.

“Hi, Dr. Cohen. This is my friend - Oliver,” I said, smiling over at him.

“Ah! Yes, Oliver! It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Lane’s therapist,” he said, offering an outstretched hand to my friend. Oliver frowned slightly, staring at Dr. Cohen’s hand but not raising his own for a handshake.

“Hi… Aren’t you breaking client confidentiality by introducing yourself like that? I mean, Lane already mentioned that he was seeing a therapist, but I don’t think you’re supposed to approach him in public like that, right?” Oliver looked him over suspiciously.

Dr. Cohen’s smile tightened as he dropped his hand. By this point, his brothers had collected their orders from Josh and were heading towards us.

The twin wearing teardrop earrings spoke just as Dr. Cohen’s mouth began to open. “Well, doesn’t this little puppy have a big bark,” he grinned, his twin sharing his predatory look.

Oliver slid further back in his seat, appearing to cower. As the earring-wearing twin set their orders on our table, the other pulled up a nearby chair directly to the left of Oliver. The man sat with his legs far apart, hands clasped between them, far too close for Oliver’s liking. Much to his dismay, the earring twin mimicked his brother’s actions on the right side of Oliver’s chair.

Oliver swallowed nervously as the twin on the left smirked and said, “I like this one, brother. Can we have him?” Both twins smiled menacingly at Oliver.

I jumped to Oliver’s rescue as I spoke to the twins, “You’re too close, he’ll probably start screaming if you don’t back thefuckup.” I glared at them as it was crystal clear they were entertained by Oliver’s uncomfortability. I suddenly felt a large hand on my shoulder. Looking up, Dr. Cohen gave me an empathetic look before turning to scold his brothers.

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