I soaked up her love and confidence then took a deep breath and nodded to Luke. He took my hand and led me up on the porch. He started to open the door when I pulled back. Suddenly this seemed like the stupidest idea I had ever had. What could I have been thinking? This was idiotic.
Luke’s brow furrowed for a second as he quietly asked me if I wanted to go on.
“Can you ask her to come out here? Maybe that would be better.”
He shrugged his shoulders as he went inside, leaving me out in the cold, literally. An empty feeling filled me. A feeling of weakness, vulnerability.
Surprisingly, Jenny stepped out. I had expected her to yell at him and refuse. But she actually came out. Luke started to follow her but I shook my head at him, telling him to leave us alone.
He smiled a little then pulled a jacket off the coat rack just inside the door and tossed it to Jenny.
She caught it then shot him an angry look that could carve out a person’s heart. He laughed and shut the door.
After she slipped into her jacket, she folded her arms and stared at me, waiting.
I gulped. I hadn’t expected to get this far. I was empty with absolutely no idea of what I should say. What could possibly make things better?
Jenny continued to stare at me then huffed with exasperation and said, “I’ve got to feed Bailey.” With that, she stomped past me and headed towards the barn.
My heart soared. She had at least acknowledged my existence. A huge step in the right direction.
Scurrying after her I fell into step with her long strides and said, “I’m sorry.”
She rolled her eyes and continued walking.
“What can I do?” I demanded. “How can I fix this? Please.”
She slammed to halt and turned on me, her eyes focused as she scowled, “You can’t fix this. Don’t you understand? It’s too late. We can’t go back to the way it was before. Not without breaking Luke’s heart and I’d hate you forever if you did that.”
“So, are we just going to go through life with you hating me. For what? For falling in love with your brother?”
“I don’t know,” she said through gritted teeth as she returned to walking towards the barn. I followed closely as I tried to figure out what to say. What would unlock this dilemma?
“You were my best friend,” she said with a heavy sigh.
“I still am,” I demanded.
“How? How can you be? You’re Luke’s girlfriend.”
“So? Why can’t I be both? Where is it written that we can’t be both?”
She paused for a long second, “but the things we talk about, the stuff we think.”
“So, I don’t have to share that stuff with Luke. Believe me. The last thing he wants to think about is what his sister and his girlfriend gossip about. Let’s be honest. The boy is not really social.”
She laughed a little as she broke off a flake of hay and slipped it into Bailey’s feed box.
“But what if you guys break up?”
My stomach fell a thousand miles at the thought. No, that could never happen. But she was right. I could see where it would be a concern.
“I don’t know. I guess it could happen. But I know I would never do anything to hurt Luke and I think he feels the same way. So, if we did break up. I’d bet we would remain friends and so you and I could as well.”
Again, she paused as she scratched Bailey’s forehead. Then grabbing a brush from the tack bucket, she stepped into the pen and started pulling the brush over Bailey’s back.
My heart continued to race as I followed her into the pen. I got a comb and started working on Bailey’s mane. The two of us worked silently for a minute. Each second the tension rose. It was one of those turning points. Would she come over to seeing things my way?
“I miss you,” I said, “and I am so sorry this happened. Please forgive me.”
She paused mid brush as she stared at the ground for a long moment then at last her shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I missed you too.”
That was all I needed as a tear slowly worked down my cheek. She saw the tear and pulled me into a hug.
The two of us held on and let the pain wash away.
“One rule,” she said as she pulled away. “If you start telling me how great Luke is all the time, I will throw up all over you.”
I laughed. “Sure, but you know as well as I do, he is pretty great. You just don’t want to admit it.”
She laughed as we both returned to work on Bailey and just like that, it was behind us. I knew it would never be as simple as before. But then we weren’t the same people. Life had become more complicated and we had to adjust and grow to keep up.
“So where did you guys go today?” she asked.
I told her all about our day while trying really hard to not make it sound too great. But just laying out the facts made it sound great enough.
Jenny slowly shook her head. “Luke must have it pretty bad. I didn’t think he had a romantic bone in his body.”
My insides tensed up as I prepared to defend him. The boy was a born romantic, couldn’t she see that. Then I realized the potential trap and bit the inside of my mouth. It wasn’t that important and the last thing I needed was to get into a fight with Luke’s sister about how romantic and sexy her brother is.
“What about you and Chip?” I asked trying to shift things over to a safer topic.
Her cheeks grew very pink as she stared down at her feet. Interesting. She was embarrassed about something.
“Come on, give.”
She shook her head. “It’s too early. I don’t know what I think.”
My heart went out to her. But this was Jenny. She had always been hesitant about other people. That was one of the reasons she had been so mad at me. She had trusted me and I had failed her.
As the two of us started back to the house, I saw Luke up on the porch watching us. Jenny followed my gaze. Her smile dropped as her eyes focused on him. Leaving me, she walked up to him and punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could.
It was like hitting a tree stump, the guy hardly moved. He frowned at her then slowly started to smile as he realized it was her way of forgiving him. Laughing, he pulled her into a quick hug.
“If you hurt her, I will kill you in your sleep. Just so you know,” she said.
“I know,” he said. “I would expect nothing less.”
Jenny nodded, obviously satisfied that everyone understood the new ground rules.
Taking a deep breath, I sent up a silent prayer of thanks. My world was fixed. Things were different, but they worked.
Looking over Jenny’s head, Luke smiled at me and I realized that he was thinking the same thing. We could move on from this spot.
As I basked in his love a hidden spark of worry continued to eat at me. What next? What would ruin us? What great tragedy would devour our love and destroy us?
No, I thought. NO, I would not allow that to happen. Instead, I would enjoy every moment with him and build something unbreakable. Together we could do it.
As we drove back to my house Luke kept glancing at me with a silly grin. Finally, he said, “See, I told you she’d come around.”
I sighed heavily as I hugged his arm. He was right and I was perfectly okay with that.
After a long, long goodnight kiss I stepped into the house and was pleased to see that neither of my parents were waiting up or me. Maybe they were finally coming to accept that I was grown up enough to handle my own life.
I made sure to be extra quiet as I snuck past the guest room as I held my breath. The last thing I needed was my mom coming out and grilling me about my love life.
I’d just started to turn the doorknob of my door when my dad’s bedroom door opened and my mom stepped out wearing one of his dress shirts and nothing else. Our eyes locked as my stomach fell.
“Amy? she said as her eyes grew as big as coffee cups.
“Wow,” I said as I shook my head. I was unable to wrap my mind a
round what I was seeing. What did this mean? How could my dad be this idiotic? Hadn’t he learned?
“It’s not what you think,” she said as she hurried towards me.
I scoffed and shook my head. “Actually, I think it is what I think.”
Her shoulder slumped as she stopped halfway down the hall. We looked at each other as her eyes begged me to understand.
All I could do was shrug my shoulders as I realized the only thing worse than my mother discussing my love life was me discussing hers. Maybe it was better if we all pretended it didn’t exist.
“Goodnight Mother,” I said as I started to go into my room. “I will see you in the morning.”
She relaxed just a little. I could see that she wanted to explain, wanted to talk. But I just didn’t want to know. They had their life, I had mine. It would be better if we just kept it that way.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Luke
You know things are going good with your life when you wake up and can’t wait to get to school. The holidays had been fun. I’d worked my butt off but Amy and I got to spend some time together.
We exchanged gifts sitting in my truck on Council Bluff overlooking the river. We went to a party at Tammy Johnson’s on New Year’s Eve, but were both bored out of our minds and snuck away well before midnight.
My life had become one of those sappy Hallmark commercials. The air felt crisper. The birds sounded sweeter. Even the stupidity of every teenager I knew didn’t bother me. It was like I was living in a bubble full of happiness.
Of course, I wasn’t so far gone I couldn’t see reality. My time inside Juvie had taught me that if nothing else. Never lose focus on reality. It had also taught me how to keep my head on a swivel.
I couldn’t walk down the hall with Amy and not map out a dozen ways to escape. I evaluated every moment by a risk-reward scenario. Always weighing, judging. Was this guy a threat? Would that option lead to disaster?
There were times when I would catch Amy looking at me with a quizzical glance. As if she didn’t understand where my mind was at. But I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t just bask in the happiness that was our shared world.
So, of course, when they came for me. I wasn’t expecting it. All that keen awareness had been wasted. Instead, I was walking alone to my last course of the day, my mind was wandering. Focusing on Amy. The curve of her waist, the smell of her shampoo, the way her body fitted next to mine in a perfect symmetry.
In other words. I was lost in the clouds and beyond the point of no return.
They hit me with a mad rush. Three of them. Willie and two of his cousins. They came together in one group to tackle me and take me down. As we fell in a heap my mind snapped to a red rage.
One moment I was calm Luke loving life, the next I was an out of control monster determined to end their existence.
A boot caught me in the ribs, lifting me up off from the ground. A sudden fear filled me. If they kept me down, they’d pound me into a bag of broken glass. I needed to get up. Nothing was more important.
As I pushed up another boot caught me a glancing blow off my forehead. Stars erupted around me but I used the momentum to roll into an attacker’s legs and trip him into Willie. It was just enough room for me to jump up and face them.
They untangled themselves and charged again. But this time I was ready. I knew I was going to take my licks but I was going to get in as many as I could before they took me down again.
As they rushed me, I charged them, catching them by surprise. I smash a nose and kicked out, catching a knee enough to bend it backward.
Cousin number one screamed and fell in a heap. A fist caught me in the eye and another smashed my mouth. I staggered back as I tried to get my bearings. My vision was becoming cloudy as blood started to drip into my eyes.
A calmness came over me as the red rage was replaced with a fierce determination. I was going to end this once and for all. Lashing out I hooked a foot behind cousin number two and tripped him then followed him down to land my knee square in his gut.
Once I knew he was out I turned on Willie and smiled.
“Now what?” I asked as I took a step towards him. His eyes grew worried then the fear was quickly replaced by anger. He dipped his head and rushed into me. I caught his shoulder with my ribs and we both went down.
We rolled in the mud, punching, and kicking until I brought my head up into his jaw and heard a loud crack.
He rolled off of me and into a fetal position. Moaning in pain.
That was how Officer Stewart, the school's security officer found me. Standing over the three of them, fists clenched. Fighting with myself to hold back the animal inside of me that wanted to literally kill them. In all honesty, I still don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t shown up.
Before I knew it, I was handcuffed and being led back through school by two other cops. Each of them firmly holding my arms.
No big deal except for the fact that Amy saw me as they marched me through the hall towards the school entrance. I swear they were using me as an example of what could happen to you if you didn’t conform to society. That is how cops think. I swear.
Her face drained of all color and her eyes opened in shock. I tried to smile through busted lips and give her a shrug. But my vision was all blurry. I think she frowned as she rushed towards me.
“What happened?” she demanded as she tried to stop them from taking me.
One of the cops moved to push her aside and my anger returned with full force. The monster inside of me threatened to explode. I twisted to get out of their grip but they both clenched down tighter and pulled me towards the front door.
“Noooo,” I heard Amy yell from behind me.
Suddenly, a sick feeling filled me as I realized what I could lose.
.o0o.
Amy
I stood there in shock, unable to believe what I was seeing.
He was covered in blood and they wouldn’t let me go to him. My mind shot off in a thousand different directions. Should I find Jenny? Should I follow them? Where were they taking him? Obviously, he hadn’t done anything wrong. I knew Luke, he must have been attacked.
This was ridiculous. Why couldn’t they see the truth?
As the door shut behind them, my mind clicked over to action mode. I grabbed Tammy and told her to find Jenny and let her know what happened. Then I raced down the hall and out the front door to see them putting Luke in the back of a cop car.
While that was going on. An ambulance with its lights flashing was pulling into the spot right behind the line of police cars.
What had happened? How had my world suddenly ended? Had Luke hurt someone? Was that why the ambulance was here?
The cops said something to the ambulance driver and then drove away as Luke looked back out the rear window at me with a sadness that twisted me into a knot. My mind finally found a reason for existing. I raced for my car to follow them. No way was I letting them take Luke.
I hugged their bumper all the way to the hospital. Why hadn’t they let the ambulance take him? I wondered? How hurt was he? My heart ached.
Grabbing my phone, I called my dad.
“Daddy,” I cried. “Luke’s been hurt. The police are taking him to the ER.”
“Where are you at?” he asked. As if that was what was important.
“I’m right behind them. We’re pulling in now.”
“I’ll be right there,” he said and hung up. I sighed a little. My father would know what to do. He’d fix all of this.
As I raced across the parking lot, I saw them lead Luke into the ER. Each cop holding onto his arms like he was a wild animal. They were already into the back before I got there. I started to rush past the admitting nurse when she put out a hand and held me back.
“Sorry, Amy,” she said. “You can’t go in there.”
My stomach clenched up with fear. Didn’t she understand? This was Luke.
“Amy?” my father said from behind me as he hu
rried towards me.
“Dad, they put him in handcuffs. He’s covered in blood. Please!”
He pulled me into a quick hug then pushed me away so he could look at me.
“Stay here. I’ll go find out what is going on. You have to stay here. Do you understand?”
I nodded slightly. I so didn’t want to listen but I had to. For Luke’s sake. I needed my father to go in and make sure he was alright and he wouldn’t do that as long as I continued to make an issue of things.
“Come right back,” I told him. “Let me know what is going on.”
He nodded, then glanced at the nurse, silently letting her know to make sure I didn’t go in.
As the door closed behind him, I began to pace. Determined not to leave that spot until someone told me what was going on.
.o0o.
Luke
I knew it was bad when they shifted the handcuffs to shackle me to the bed. Crap, they thought I was going to lose it and attack everyone and their mother. I could see it in their eyes. Both the cops and the nurses.
Animal. Monster. Criminal.
A nurse came in and shook her head as the curtain was pulled back and Amy’s dad stepped in.
Crap, things had just gone from bad to worse.
He glanced at the two cops standing there, arms folded across their chest like they’d just captured a decade-long serial killer. Then he glanced down at the handcuffs and shook his head. My guts twisted up as a look of disappointment crossed his face.
I could read his every thought. I’d just proven his worse fears to be correct. Then, he shifted into doctor mode. Examining my face, shining a light in my eyes as he asked me where I hurt.
“My ribs feel like they are barely being held together,” I told him. “And I can barely see.”
He scoffed as he lifted my shirt and poked at my side. I winced and drew back as a sharp pain shot through me.
He slowly shook his head and told the nurse that I would need x-rays.
My Best Friend's Brother (Hometown Heroes Book 3) Page 16