Shifting Lines

by Abigail Lee

  “What in the hell happened?” He sounded scared.

  Another pair of arms wrapped around me as Adam explained to Luke what he saw and what happened afterward.

  “That fucker is lucky that I let him live,” I heard Adam say.

  Everything was fading to black, and a soft cushion consumed me. My thoughts drifted through everything that just happened and a familiar scent and pair of arms wrapped around me as I finally let the sleep take over.

  “Are you sure that’s his truck?” I watched the emptying parking lot and the few people who were trying to find their cars.

  “Yeah.” Adam’s voice was low. “I know that fucker from campus. That’s his truck.”

  “You’re going to have to stop me from killing him.” My body was so tense I was surprised the door handle hadn’t snapped under my grip.

  We sat in silence in Adam’s truck. It was almost two o’clock in the morning, and the bar was about to close. The last few patrons were pulling out of the parking lot when I saw him. He was walking alone to his truck.

  Before any thoughts of reason could process through my brain, my truck door was open, and I was within feet of my prey. He didn’t see me coming in his drunken state. My hands found the material of shirt and without giving him time to yell for help, he was pressed against the side of his truck.

  “Give me one reason to let you live.” I growled.

  “What the fuck, man?” He slurred. “Get off of me.”

  “Not a chance.” My fist found the side of his jaw causing his head to slam against the driver’s side window. “You shouldn’t have touched my girl.”

  He grabbed back at my shirt and attempted to push back. One fist made contact with the side of my head before I smashed my fist into the other side of his face. My vision blurred to a furious red, and I was aware that my hands were making contact with his face over and over. He began to slump against the side of the truck when I felt arms start to pull me back.

  “That’s enough,” Adam ordered. “It’s enough.”

  I stared down at the slumped form as my chest heaved in and out.

  “Let’s get out of here before the cops come.” He was pushing me back to his truck. “There are a few people walking this way.”

  We rode back to my apartment in a tense silence. As soon as we were parked, I jumped from the truck and began pacing back and forth on the sidewalk. Adam stood and watched as I attempted to let my heartbeat slow down.

  “Fuck!” I slammed my fist into the parking meter next to the street and immediately started shaking my hand out.

  “You beat the shit out of him. It’s done.” Adam pulled me by the shoulders and pointed me toward my apartment door. “Let’s get inside.”

  We walked up the stairs, and he followed me until we were in the doorway of my bedroom.

  “She’s safe.” Adam pointed at Riley who was still asleep in my bed. “Now take a shower, calm the fuck down, and go hold your girl.”

  I took a deep breath and turned to him. “Thanks for taking care of her tonight. And for taking care of me.”

  He nodded his head and without another word made his way to the couch in the living room. I wasn’t sure if he was staying here because it was so late or because he wanted to keep an eye on me. It was probably a little of both.

  Riley was still asleep when I crawled into the bed next to her. I gently pulled her into my arms and kissed the top of her head.

  “I love you, baby,” I whispered. “I’ll always protect you.”

  I woke up, and the room was still dark. My head was pounding, and I desperately needed to pee. I struggled to stand up without waking Luke and made my way down the hall to the bathroom. I caught my reflection in the mirror when I was washing my hands. I looked like hell. My mascara was smeared down my face and a slight red mark marred my right cheek. What the heck…

  I slowly washed my face and brushed my teeth trying to piece together the last part of the night. I remembered everything, but the fear and adrenaline sent me into overdrive and probably a state of shock. Who was that Mike guy, and why was I his target for the night? What an asshole.

  The reality of what could have happened came crashing down on me, and I looked up to see tears streaming down my face again. My chest began rising and falling, and seconds later I was hugging the toilet, releasing every bit of fear that I still felt.

  I sat back against the bathtub and cried into my knees. He had no right to touch me. I wished I could have been the one to make him look lifeless on the ground. Two hands ran up my arms sending me into another state of panic.

  “No!” I jumped up and started swinging at whoever was in front of me. “Don’t touch me.”

  “Baby, it’s me.” I heard Luke’s voice. “Look at me. Open your eyes, baby. It’s me.”

  I looked up to see fear and hurt in his eyes before I crashed into his arms and let a new floodgate of tears open. He held me tight until my breathing slowed to normal.

  “I’m sorry,” I choked out. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t you dare apologize for that asshole.” He ran his hands lightly through my hair. “This wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

  “Where’s Adam?” I asked.

  “He’s asleep on the couch,” he answered. “He wanted to make sure you were okay before he left.”

  I leaned my head back into Luke’s chest and took in a calming breath. “Take me back to bed.”

  He lifted me into his arms, and soon we were wrapped back in his blankets and each other.

  “Try and get some sleep, baby.”

  That was the last thing I remember before waking up to see sun sneaking in behind the dark blinds. The bed was empty, and I had no idea where my phone or purse was. I crawled out from beneath the covers and made my way to the bathroom. I was wearing a pair of Luke’s sweats and a t-shirt and assumed he had changed me into this after I’d fallen asleep the second time. I washed my face again and found the red mark was barely noticeable. I also did a quick body check and found no bruises, just a slight headache, which could have been from the amount of alcohol I drank last night.

  Note to self… Never drinking again.

  I could hear low voices coming from the living room but as soon as I walked into the room, they stopped talking. Luke jumped to my side, and Adam was watching me from the couch.

  “How are you feeling?” Luke asked, running his hand softly across the red mark.

  “I’m fine.” I forced a small smile. “What are you guys talking about?”

  “Just what happened last night,” he answered. “Do you remember everything?”

  I nodded. “I do now. Everything went kind of blurry last night. Adam…” I turned to him. “Thank you for saving me. If you hadn’t been there…”

  “I should have been there sooner.” He looked exhausted. “That douche shouldn’t have had his hands on you.”

  “But you were there,” I reassured him. “I’m safe because of you.”

  I looked back at Luke who almost looked worse than Adam. “Can we just forget about it? I’m safe. Adam took care of the guy last night.”

  “If that’s what you want,” he eventually said in a tone that only convinced me he had other thoughts.

  I kissed his lips before walking into the kitchen and pouring myself a cup of coffee. Adam stayed for most of the afternoon, but there was no more mention of what happened last night. They hadn’t told the rest of the group, either, and I made them both promise that we would keep it between ourselves. Adam had convinced Hannah that I had gotten sick last night, which was why he had taken me home. I was going to stick with that story, too.

  What happened was awful, but it could have been a lot worse. I was choosing to be grateful that I walked away mostly unharmed.

  “Let’s go for a ride.” Luke pulled me up from the couch and into his arms.

  We had come back to my apartment soon after Adam left so I could shower and change clothes. Hannah and Trey had watched TV with us for
a little while before going into her room. Luckily, neither of them asked about last night. It wasn’t something I was ready to talk about yet, and I wasn’t sure that I could lie to Hannah about it.

  “Where do you want to go?” I asked.

  “Depends.” He kissed the top of my head. “Where do you want to drive us?”

  “Shut up.” I stepped out of his arms. “You’re going to let me drive?”

  He raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Consider it part of your graduation present.”

  I ran to my room and quickly pulled on my tall brown boots over my skinny jeans and tied my hair up in a bun on the top of my head. We walked outside, and I swallowed hard as I stared at the bike that I had been begging to drive.

  “You having second thoughts?” he smirked.

  “To clarify.” I felt like I needed to make a statement. “When I said, I wanted to drive your bike, I meant only for about a second. You know, so I can say that I’ve driven a motorcycle. After that second is up, feel free to take back control.”

  He laughed as we climbed on the bike with me sitting in front of him. He showed me how to turn on the engine, where the brakes were, and how to steer. When the bike came to life beneath me, I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.

  “You ready?” He pulled me further back into his chest and rested his hands next to mine on the handlebars. “I’ll start and once we’re out on the street, you can take over.”

  I nodded as if this were a good idea. “If I completely freak out, don’t let us crash.”

  We turned out of the parking lot, and as soon as we were on a quiet street with no cars in sight, he slowly moved his hands where they were floating above the handlebars. I held on to the cool rubber as if my life depended on it and let out a long breath when I realized that maybe we weren’t going to die during this. After a few blocks, we were approaching a stop sign.

  “Okay,” I yelled back at him. “I’m done.”

  I felt his chest vibrate against my back as he placed his hands over mine and pulled the bike to a stop.

  “You don’t want to drive anymore?” he asked.

  “No.” I turned and kissed his cheek. “I’m good.”

  He laughed again before turning the corner and merging onto a busier street. We drove around for almost an hour before he pulled up in front of an abandoned bar on the other side of town. He turned the key and the engine died as I continued to stare at the old, wooden building.

  “What is this place?” I asked as we stepped down onto the gravel parking lot.

  “This was once a bar,” he started. “A very popular bar until the owner went bankrupt.”

  We walked around and looked through the windows. Bar stools were lying on their sides and broken glass was scattered over the bar top.

  “What are we doing here?”

  “Well.” He was watching my reaction before he continued. “I was thinking about buying it.”

  “And selling The Green Room?” I didn’t like that plan.

  “No, I would own both.”

  “Oh.”

  “What do you think?” He wanted my opinion.

  “It looks like a lot of work,” I answered honestly. “But if it’s what you want to do, then you should do it.”

  “I’ve been looking over the numbers and working on the plans for over a month now.” He stepped toward me and reached for my hands. “Roger is going to take over full-time at The Green Room so I can focus more on this place.”

  “Okay.” I smiled up at him. “It sounds like you have it figured out.”

  “I do.” He ran his hand across my cheek. “But I wanted you to make the final decision with me.”

  “I’ll support whatever you want to do.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned up to kiss him.

  “Thanks, baby.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “Those are the words I needed to hear.”

  We made our way back to College Street before parking by his apartment. I had gladly sat behind him this time, leaving my motorcycle driving dreams far behind. Instead of walking into his bar, he held onto my hand as we continued down the street.

  “Wait, don’t you need to go to work?” I was confused.

  “Yeah, but first, I’m taking my girlfriend on a date.” He turned and winked at me.

  I wouldn’t argue with that. We walked into a small Mexican restaurant and sat in the waiting area until our table was ready. I watched the other couples that sat around us and smiled at the old couple next to us who was holding hands. They were cute.

  “Do you want to own a lot of bars?” I asked once we were seated.

  “If this next one goes well, I might.” He looked at me from across the table. “It’s kind of a test run, I guess.”

  “So you think you’ll always work late and sleep throughout the mornings?”

  “Does that bother you?” He narrowed his eyes. “You’ve never said anything before.”

  I felt my face turn red as I tried to explain. “No, it doesn’t bother me. I just wondered if you wanted to work hours like that as you got older.”

  He watched me for a few seconds before answering. “I’m hoping to take more of an ownership role and have people who work for me who will actually manage everything. So no, I don’t plan on sleeping our days away in the future.”

  I smiled at his answer and let my mind wander for a second of what our future might look like. A big house, small green-eyed children, maybe a dog…

  After dinner, we walked back toward the bar but again walked past the front door. Before I could ask him what we were doing, he shook his head.

  “I’m not working tonight.”

  “I should graduate more often.” I let out a small laugh.

  “Or I should take you out more often.”

  “We go out enough,” I reassured him. “Besides I like being alone with you, too.”

  “I want you to have everything you’ve ever dreamed of, baby.” He held me against his chest. “I want us to live out our dreams together.”

  I let his words continue to sink in as we rode the bike back to my apartment. When we walked in, we found Hannah and Trey had just started some manly movie that he had picked out.

  “Finally.” Luke sat down in the recliner and pulled me into his lap. “This is the first time a good movie has played in this place.”

  “I take offense to that,” Hannah argued. “We have excellent taste in movies.”

  I smiled as I watched Hannah and Luke bicker like they had from day one. These were the memories I was going to hold onto after graduation tomorrow. These were the times I was going to miss the most.

  I followed closely after Hannah as she walked across the large stage with our graduating class. They called out my name and announced I had received a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising with a minor in Marketing. My ears told me they heard my parents’ and Luke’s yells among the crowd of thousands of people.

  Hannah and I walked arm and arm back to our seats and waited until the rest of the graduates had taken their turn on the stage. At the end of the graduation ceremony, we stood and moved our tassels to the left sides of our hats.

  “We did it.” Hannah hugged me tight, and I wrapped my arms around her.

  “I’m so glad you’re here with me,” I told her. “We’ve been through everything together.”

  “I have a feeling the best is yet to come.” She winked at me.

  We found Trey and Luke, along with our parents and friends, standing by the baseball field where we had agreed to meet.

  “Congratulations, honey.” My mom and dad each hugged me. “We’re so proud of you.”

  “Congrats, baby.” Luke leaned down and kissed me as soon as I was free from my parents.

  I walked around and hugged each of the guys and Brandie before Luke informed everyone that there was lunch waiting for us back at The Green Room.

  We each made our way into the bar where the front tables had been pushed together and draped with white linens. A buffet of
barbeque food had been set up, as well, and everyone began filling plates full of food and finding seats around the tables.

  Mel walked in, followed by a man so hot that I knew my mouth was hanging open. He was carrying a curly-headed little boy who was trying to squirm out of his strong arms.

  “Congrats, sis.” She hugged me tight. “This is my husband, Brant, and our crazy man, Ben.”

  I reached out and shook Brant’s hand and smiled at Ben. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  He smiled, and she leaned into my ear. “You’re drooling.”

  “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry.” I laughed. “But have you seen your husband? You never mentioned he was gorgeous.”

  She laughed and hugged me again. “You’re funny.”

  They walked toward the buffet, and I found a place to sit down.

  “So, this is the bar, huh?” My dad sat next to me and continued looking around.

  “It’s a nice place, dear.” My mom patted my leg before she sat on the other side of my dad.

  “I didn’t say it wasn’t nice.” He shrugged.

  I shook my head before taking a bite of brisket. I was pretty sure this was the first time either of them had ever set foot in a bar. They were doing well with it and had been overly accepting of everything involving Luke. Everyone spent a couple hours at the bar eating and hanging out. My parents were the first to leave since they had the longest drive ahead.

  “Thanks for setting all of this up.” I wrapped my arms around Luke’s waist and looked into his green eyes. “I really appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome.” He leaned down and kissed my lips.

  Something crashed into our legs, and I laughed when I looked down and saw Ben.

  “Hey, you monkey.” Luke picked him up and tickled his belly. “What are you doing?”

  “Hi, Uncy Luke.” He laughed and squirmed.

  “Hey, Benny.”

  I smiled as I watched their exchange. It showed an even softer side of Luke that I really liked, and my heart melted for him a little more.

  “What you doing the rest of the day?” he asked as he sat Ben down and watched him run away.