Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 60342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
“Fuck you,” Tom says, giving up and letting the blood flow down his face. “Fuck you both.”
He grabs his door handle and yanks it open.
“One last thing,” Troy says, grinning. “I have this all on camera from my car. If you want to pull any shit, take it up with Landry Security’s attorneys.”
Tom gives me one final glare before getting into the truck. My dad starts it up, revving the engine in some childish display of aggression, and then rips it down Luke’s driveway.
I exhale, my shoulders falling forward. Luke is at my side in a second. His arms go around me, holding me tight.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“I am now.”
He squeezes me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
“If anyone asks, I headbutted Tom,” Troy says, heading back to his car.
Luke releases me. “What do you mean?”
“Weren’t you recording it?” I ask, confused. “Wouldn’t they see that it was Luke?”
Troy opens his door and leans against it. “Seems like my camera wasn’t on.” He winks at us and then takes his seat. “I’ll sit up here for a while. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Troy,” I say.
He pauses, leaning his head out of the car. “Do me a favor, Laina.”
“Anything.”
“Stop being so damn stubborn. The next time the people who love you decide you need protection, fucking just take it.”
I laugh as Luke nudges me from the side.
“Lesson learned,” I say.
Troy mutters something before shutting the door.
Luke spins me around to face him, holding my face in his hands. “We have a lot to talk about.”
“Wanna go inside?”
He chuckles.
“What?” I ask.
“We’re off to a good start.”
“Why is that?”
He kisses me gently. “Because you just asked me if I wanted to go inside my house like you’re the one who lives here.”
Hope blossoms in my chest, and I’m not scared to grab ahold of it.
“Because I do,” I say, tugging his hand. “Let’s go talk.”
He gives me his sweetest, most crooked smile and follows me into our house.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Laina
“What the hell happened?” Luke asks, pouring us a glass of tea. I think it’s out of habit more than anything. “I was just gone for a couple of hours.”
I collapse in a chair at the table. I can feel the adrenaline ease, and the aftereffects make me shiver.
“I was just folding laundry and preparing my speech to give you when you got home,” I say. “And I heard a truck and thought it was you. Obviously, it wasn’t.”
He hands me a glass and then scoots his chair closer to me. As expected, he sets his tea on the table and doesn’t even take a drink.
“What kind of speech were you preparing?” he asks.
“I don’t know. It was kind of like the State of the Union but with fewer politics and more promise of sex.”
“You know, that’s a good analogy. Because whether you were going to fuck me over or promise me illicit things to get what you want, it works.”
I laugh.
He lays a hand on my thigh as if he can’t bear not touching me.
“I never want to do last night again,” I say, touching the side of his handsome face.
“Me either. I resorted to texting my siblings in the middle of the night just for a distraction. It was that bad.”
“You could’ve come to bed with me.”
“I know. But I thought you needed some space. I probably did, too.”
“This is so hard for me because it’s like looking in the mirror and seeing a huge zit on your forehead the day you have a date with your crush.”
“I better be the crush in this scenario.”
I giggle. And this is why I love you, Luke Marshall.
“You’re the crush in every scenario,” I say.
He presses a sweet kiss to my lips. I want to lean into him and have him hold me, to forget the past eighteen hours and get back to being us. But last night proved that we have some things to clear up if we’re going to go forward.
And we must go forward. He’s the other half of my heart.
“I’m not making excuses for myself,” I say, “but I truly never realized until last night how scared I am. Admitting that makes me squirm because it’s being so vulnerable, so exposed. It’s like I’m opening myself up all the way to my soul. I walk around with a shield half-cocked all the time.”
“Of course, you do. You don’t have to explain that. I don’t know anyone in the world who could navigate your life without being on edge at least a little.”
I smile at him. “I want you to know that I love you, Luke, with all my heart. And I know you love me, too. I can see it in how you look at me, touch me, and are willing to sacrifice for me. Even though you didn’t see me in Cleveland, it was a selfless act. I see that now. I think I was so upset and angry—mostly at my father—that it got all muddy, and I just drowned in the depths of it all.”