Lunar Crest University (Forbidden Fruit)

Chapter Forty-Seven

FINLEY

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1ST, 2023

I ’ve never been more excited to go home than I am now. Between the stiff mattress, thin pillows, and hospital food, if I didn’t have to use these crutches, I’d be running out of this place. Not to mention the smell . Hospitals smell so sterile, and…I don’t like it. It only reminds me of wounds and stitches and everything I don’t want to think about.

So, watching Luca pack up our things as I wait on the sofa bed with my crutches propped up next to me, I can’t help my knee from bouncing in anticipation.

We’re finally going back to my apartment, my warm and cozy apartment with one too many throw pillows and my favorite plush blankets I can’t wait to wrap myself in. Luca is staying with me, which is more than I could ever want, even though the fact that he doesn’t even have a house to go home to dampens the mood a little bit.

My parents left to go back home, two hours away, this morning, and Levi started classes again, gathering everything he missed the past week and even my curriculum so I don’t fall too far behind while I’m out. An argument ensued when I tried to assure everyone it would be okay if I didn’t graduate in the spring with everyone else, so I eventually gave up.

“You’ll probably be so behind in class, huh?” I ask Luca as he shoves some clothes into a bag. “I hate that you’re missing so much because of me.”

Lifting his head and cocking it slightly, he gives me a pointed look. I half expect him to scold me again for worrying so much, but he doesn’t.

“I told the dean about my house, so I kind of got a pass. I’ve been doing everything remotely, and I’ll start back next week,” he tells me. “I won’t be able to stay at home with you the whole time, but I thought Levi could come over when he can, and I could ask mi mamá to come check on you sometimes too.”

“I feel like such a burden?—”

“ No .” He stops what he’s doing as he approaches me, putting his large hand on my shoulders. “You’re far from being a burden, Finley.”

“Then why do I feel like one?” I whisper.

Luca’s hands slide up my neck as he leans down to press a kiss to my forehead. With a teasing smirk, he says, “Because you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t feel like that.”

With a meek pout, I lean into his hand against my cheek before he walks over to grab our bags. He’s annoyingly patient with me as I use my crutches to make my way out into the hallway and toward the nurse's station to check out—his hand hovering against my lower back the entire time, his pace matching mine without a word, and his fingers combing through the tresses of my long, dark waves as they sway with my movement.

He’s quiet as I check out, but I feel his touch every so often, like he’s letting me know he’s here if I need him.

I thought I’d be okay using crutches, but by the time we make it into the elevator, I have to lean against the cold metal wall as my chest heaves in exhausted pants. My body has been through a lot, I know that, but it’s hard not to feel discouraged anyway.

“I had a thought,” Luca says, standing next to me so I can rest my head on his shoulder.

“Oh, yeah?”

“I’m going to be staying with you for a while,” he prompts, and out of the corner of my eye, I see him fidgeting with the strap of the bags. “And I don’t technically have a house anymore, so I thought I…I could move in. With you. If you’ll have me?”

I lift my head to look up at him. “You want to move in with me?”

He nods, but his eyebrows cinch.

“Even though…we haven’t labeled anything?”

The elevator makes small little dings with each floor we pass on the way down, but I can barely hear it over the beating of my heart. He has already been staying with me almost every day anyway, even before everything happened, so of course, I want him to move in. The thought of having him there every morning and night, having his toothbrush next to my own, makes a warmth spread through my chest.

“Would you like to label us?” His voice is soft as he gazes down at me, his eyes studying every twitch in my features, like he’s waiting for me to still run away.

Pursing my lips to hide my smile, I laugh faintly when it fails miserably, and a wide smile appears on my face. “You know I would. I guess it would have to be a secret for now, until I graduate in the spring.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I breathe.

He hums, lowering his head until he presses his lips to my neck. Kissing and nipping at the skin, he chuckles as I swat at him playfully. “ Princesa , you want to be my secret girlfriend?”

Yes. Yes. Yes.

But before I can frantically say the words out loud, the elevator doors swing open, and I have to awkwardly hobble out of the elevator as people wait for me to exit before they enter. The sound of the crutches as I make my way out in the hallway seems to echo loudly, but I keep my head down as I follow Luca far enough until he’s matching my pace next to me again.

“I can bring the car around?—”

“No, I can do it.”

And I do. I amble unsteadily all the way to the parking deck with him by my side, his hovering hand there in case I need him. I’m panting like I just ran a marathon, collapsing against the side of the car as I rest my head into the crook of my arm, but he doesn’t badger me about it. He lets me stand there for a few moments, regaining my strength as I practice calm breaths.

There was a time when he would’ve undoubtedly questioned my ability to keep going or if I was okay, but now, he just knows I can. That I will . Luca believes in me, and that’s something I didn’t realize I needed from him. It feels good .

It feels good when the person you love thinks you’re capable of hard things, of impossible things. When they know that no matter the situation, you’ll be able to handle it because you are strong.

He thinks I’m strong, but he doesn’t realize he made me strong.

“You know I think you deserve more than being a secret, don’t you?” Luca says, garnering my attention. “I don’t want you to think?—”

I cut him off by standing on the tiptoe of my good leg, smashing my lips into his. It has been too long since we’ve kissed like this, and it has my head spinning as he groans into my mouth. His fingers grasp my sweater as he pulls me closer, eager but gentle at the same time. As I fall back on the ball of my foot, our kiss breaks, and I smile up at him.

“Of course, I know that,” I reassure him sweetly. “Guess we’re not technically free after all, huh?”

His laugh falters as he opens the passenger door for me, and as I slowly lower myself into the seat, I look up at his thin-lipped smile before he bends down to help me shift my legs into the car. There’s something obviously bothering him, but he doesn’t say anything as he closes the door and loads the bags and my crutches into the car.

As he opens the driver’s side door and slides down in the seat next to me, I listen to the shaky inhale of his breath before he clears his throat.

“Finley.”

I peek over at him hesitantly. “Yeah?”

“I could quit.”

My mouth pops open as I frown at him. “You what?”

“I’ve been thinking about it. I could quit…or transfer.” He rubs his palms on his slacks as he finally meets my eyes. “Or…there’s money. When I blew up Javier’s compound, my clean-up crew discovered a safe. One of my guys got it open, and there’s more money than you would believe inside it.”

I want to speak, but words fail me as I gape over at him. Of course, my first inkling is skepticism about that information, because I’d rather not touch anything that has anything to do with that horrid man. My gut tells me nothing good could possibly come from it, but I’m always so inclined to believe the worst all the time.

“I could just quit,” he continues when I don’t respond. “You can finish school. Graduate. Do anything you want.”

“That’s…”

“Crazy, I know.” His hand finds mine, pulling me gently until my palm is pressed against his chest. “I don’t have to, but this is your call, Finley. I’m at your mercy. I have been since the moment I met you. I’ll do anything for you. Follow you anywhere you go.”

Luca’s heart thumps erratically under my hand, but even without this tell that I’ve always turned to for my answers when it comes to him, I know he means it.

“What about your dreams?” I whisper. “Your career?”

“This is the dream. I want you to have everything you want. I can get a job anywhere. I don’t give a fuck about that. I give a fuck about you.”

A breathless laugh escapes me. “You’re crazy, Luca.”

His smile almost depletes the oxygen in my lungs. The corners of his mouth crinkle along with his eyes as he beams at me, his dark eyes honing on my lips just before he leans forward to press his against them. I can feel his quick breathing through his nose as he kisses me with fervor, and my hand still resting on his chest grips his shirt.

“You move fast,” I tease, pulling back slightly to look at him. “You just asked to move in with me and be my secret boyfriend only five minutes ago.”

“No time to waste,” he breathes, kissing me again. “You don’t have to be a secret. We don’t have to be a secret.”

I tug my bottom lip between my teeth as I search his eyes, and I see nothing but excitement flashing in his irises.

“We could have everything we want.”

“And no one will miss this money?” I ask tentatively, furrowing my brow.

His lips trail down to my jawline, his beard tickling me as he slowly kisses my sensitive skin. “I killed everyone, baby,” he murmurs. “There’s no one left to miss it.”

My eyes flutter closed as he pecks underneath my earlobe, his large nose brushing against me softly and making me shudder underneath his lips. Reaching up to swipe my hair back over my shoulder, he trails down my neck, chuckling as my thighs press together.

“I’ll build you a house,” he rasps into my neck. “Anywhere you want it.”

Leaning away from him, shattering the euphoric spell he almost had me under for a second, I grip his sweater in both of my hands as I shake him meekly. “And you’re sure you want that with me ?”

“I should be asking you that. I don’t deserve you, Finley, but dammit, I want you anyway.”

Cocking my head softly, I slide my hand up his chest until it’s cupping his scruffy cheek. “Don’t say things like that. You deserve good things, Luca. Always.”

“ You’re good.”

“And I’m not leaving,” I breathe, sweeping my thumb along his cheekbone. “I’ve always wanted this. Even when I tried not to, I did.”

He twists his head into my palm until it’s over his mouth, kissing my hand before leaning his face back into my touch. “Is that a yes, then?”

I nod simply. “Yes.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.” I smile. “I’m yours.”

Since the moment he snapped at me in that alley, bloody and wounded, I was his. His blood hadn’t only stained my carpet that night—it stained me . I was marked forever after cleaning him up as he sat on my toilet, no matter how hard I tried to rid him from my thoughts. We were always destined to meet—if I’d never stumbled down that alley that night, he was still going to be my professor. The tension was always going to be there.

Luca Serrano was always meant to be mine.