Page 41 of Miles's Pact
Fourteen
Miles
Since Duckie was insistent he didn't want any 'fancy' clothes, we went to Threads & Needles instead ofWish For It,since it was a more suitable choice for everyday clothes.
Threads & Needles was nothing like Wish For It. It was full of rows upon rows of similar-looking t-shirts, hoodies, shirts, sweatpants, and jeans in various but comparable shades of colors.
At first, Duckie seemed a little overwhelmed by all the choices, but once he got the hang of it, he quickly found clothes he liked, including some colorful graphic tees, some sweatpants, jeans, and a soft brown leather jacket that made him look hot as fuck.
He also got some socks, underwear, as well as shoes, and after we'd paid for our purchases—which would be delivered home,thankfully—I decided to take Duckie to my favorite bakery in TOSS for an early lunch.
TOSS, short for The One Stop Shops, was Mistvale's version of a strip mall, only ours was full of locally owned stores and had no chain stores. We walked past Mama's Kitchen, All You Need—the small supermarket, which was kind of an oxymoron in itself—and Bean Time, before coming to a stop at our destination.
"Hey, Miles. Who's this?" Brittany, part-owner ofShe Bakes, She Brewsasked as we approached the counter, and I smiled at her, then gestured toward Duckie. I wondered what he thought about the fact that I knew practically everyone we'd met today. It was the way things were in a town this small, but Brittany and her mate were also a part of the Mistvale clan.
"Hey. This is Duckie, my mate. Duckie, this is Brittany. She's a part of our clan, and makes amazing tea."
"Flattery, huh? I'll allow it. It's nice to meet you, Duckie," Brittany greeted, her blue eyes sparkling as she beamed at Duckie. "What can I get for you?"
After looking over today's offerings—while they had a base menu, Iris, Brittany's mate and the baker, rotated through a few specials that I could never resist—we ordered a few sandwiches, two pieces of brownies, and some cinnamon tea.
We claimed a table in the corner that looked out through the glass storefront into the rest of the mall, and I placed our bag of books on the empty chair as Duckie took the one across from me.
"Are you having fun?"
Duckie's smile was instant, and it was comforting. While I'd hoped today would be fun for him, I'd been worried I might be trying too hard, or pushing him too far outside his comfort zone.
"I am. The more I see of this town, the more I like it. And the people here are so nice."
I couldn't argue with that. A large part of the credit for that went to Raiden and his dragon magic. His shield over this townprotected it from people with ill intentions, and while some managed to slip through every once in a while—like the asshole who'd attacked Finn and Levi two months ago—Mistvale was safer than most towns in the country, maybe even the world.
"They are. It took me a while to accept that when I first moved here, to trust that people were as nice as they seemed."
Duckie turned thoughtful, and he seemed hesitant about saying whatever was on his mind. I offered him a nod of encouragement, and he bit his lower lip, pulling my attention to his lips for a moment before I dragged my gaze back to his.
"Can I ask about your past? Mateo told me a little bit, but..."
I hadn't intentionally avoided talking about my past—or maybe I had. Despite all the time that had passed and all the healing I'd done, talking about my early childhood was still a sore spot for me. But I knew all about Duckie's past, and he deserved to know about mine.
"Of course. You can ask anything you want."
Duckie nodded, his fingers tapping away at the table for a beat before he asked, "Your birth parents?"
"Never knew them. I think they died soon after we were born. At least, that was what we were told at the group home. We ended up in a few foster homes over the years, but it never stuck."
Before Duckie could speak, Brittany appeared with our order, but she sensed we were in the middle of a conversation and didn't linger.
"But then you were kidnapped?" Duckie asked once Brittany was gone, and I nodded, my right hand reaching for my left wrist without a conscious thought. I rubbed at the smooth skin, the scars long gone thanks to Uncle Raph, and Duckie's eyes dropped to my hand.
"Yeah." I cleared my throat, taking a sip of the sweet tea before elaborating. "By dark witches. They used our blood for blackmagic. Mateo and I were held with a bunch of other kids. We were there for a while before we were rescued. Maximus, the leader of the people who rescued us, brought us here because he knew Raiden could keep us safe, and that's when our dads adopted us."
I still remembered the day I'd first seen Maximus. With his blood-soaked sword, he'd looked like a knight, and he'd been as noble. He'd freed us from hell, and brought us to the closest thing to heaven that existed in this world.
"That sounds terrifying. I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Duckie murmured, and I nodded. I wanted to say that he'd had it worse, that at least I hadn't had to go through any of it alone. I hadn't had to watch my parents get murdered. But I didn't say that, because I knew our experiences were different. It would be crazy to try to compare the two.
"It's in the past now," I said with a smile, shaking away the memories that I'd happily forget. The only good thing that had come from getting kidnapped was that Mateo and I had ended up here. That I got to be Miles Romanov-Baudelaire. That I had a family, and a place to belong. Sometimes, I thought it was a fair trade.
Duckie nodded, but I could tell from his expression that he understood perfectly that it was never truly in the past. My early childhood had shaped the person I was today, like Duckie's had shaped him. But that didn't mean I was going to let my past affect my present, or my future with him.
