Page 106 of Omega's Secret Guardian
Linus didn’t even look at him. He made a beeline for the tomatoes, picking them up with both hands. “I really want some tomatoes.”
“Okay, I’ll hold a bag open for you. Fill it up.”
Storm didn’t expect Linus to fill it to the brim, but Linus did.
“Wait, let’s start another bag,” Storm said. “This one can’t close. It’s going to spill all over the conveyor belt.”
Linus filled up the second bag, too.
“I need to eat them,” he whispered, staring at the tomatoes. “Need.”
Had he... been possessed? By aliens or a ghost?
“Okay, we’ll grab the other ingredients, and we’ll be out of here in minutes,” Storm said. “Thenyou can eat your tomatoes.”
Linus didn’t once look up from his tomatoes.
“You’re starting to feel like a zombie,” Storm teased. “A tomato-guzzling zombie.”
He pulled up a cheesecake recipe on his phone to make sure they had all the ingredients. Then he paid at the checkout stand, and headed them over to the Jeep. Linus held a bag of tomatoes on his lap for the drive home. As though he thought someone might steal them away from him.
“Wash them first,” Storm protested when Linus began to open the bag at a stoplight.
“Oh. That’s right.” Linus blinked as though he was seeing the tomatoes for the first time.
Storm confiscated his tomatoes.
When they returned to Linus’apartment, Storm washed the tomatoes in batches. He deposited the first batch on a clean towel and turned to the sink to deal with the rest.
Only to find the towel empty when he turned back.
Storm stared. “Uh, sweetheart?”
“Mm?” Linus blinked up at him.
“Did you... finish the tomatoes already?”
Linus stared at the towel and shrugged.
Storm set down the second batch of tomatoes and turned back to the sink. Twice more, the tomatoes on the towel were gone by the time he returned.
“They’re gone,” Linus said, glaring at the towel like it had offended him.
Storm snorted a laugh. “Maybe save some for tomorrow. Don’t eat so much that you get sick.”
Linus frowned. “Did I really eat all of those?”
“Dunno. Maybe they grew legs and escaped while I wasn’t looking.”
“Maybe.”
This had to be Linus’ cravings.
Because he waspregnant.
Oh, fuck, he’s pregnant.The realization hit Storm all over again, and he reeled with it.
He finished washing the rest of the tomatoes, bracing himself as he turned to face the kitchen table.
