by L. P. Dover
Summer: I’m fixing a meatloaf. Hope you’re hungry.
I couldn’t deny the disappointment I felt. I thought Luke would at least attempt to plead his case, but I guess when you’re guilty, there was nothing you could do. Taking off my clothes, I stood in the bathroom, waiting for the water to heat. I looked at myself in the mirror and didn’t even recognize the girl staring back at me. My heart was broken and I felt shattered. I was lost.
I drove around for a while to clear my head, and I still felt fucked up from the drugs. The last thing I wanted to do was go home and sit there. Evan told me to give Lara space, but I couldn’t do that. She might not believe a word I said, but I had to at least try.
Picking up my phone, I called Evan’s number.
“Hey man,” he said.
“Is Lara there?” I blurted out.
He sighed. “No, she went home to grab more of her things.”
“That’s all I needed to know.”
“Luke, no. Wait!” he shouted, but I hung up before he could try to stop me. I wasn’t far from her house, but when I turned down her street, I realized why Evan wanted to stop me. Grayson was there. Motherfucker. My whole body shook with rage as I slammed down on the brakes, tires screeching to a halt.
Fists clenched, I was ready for a fight. I knew Grayson would pounce on Lara the second he knew she wasn’t with me. I beat on the door as hard as I could, the frame shaking from impact. Being the bastard that he was, Grayson answered the door with a sneer on his face … in only a fucking towel.
“Where’s Lara?” I growled.
He nodded upstairs. “In the shower. We had a busy afternoon, if you know what I mean.”
“You lying son of a bitch. She’d never run back to you.”
He scoffed. “After what you did to her, she needed a friend. I can’t believe you’d fucking cheat on her. That’s some messed up shit.”
All I could see was red. “I didn’t cheat on her, asshole. And if you don’t step out of my goddamn way, I’ll show you what messed up looks like.” I didn’t even give him a second to think before my fist reared back, connecting with his jaw. His head snapped to the side and it gave me the opening I needed to rush inside.
“Son of a bitch,” Grayson snarled.
Hurrying up the stairs, I slammed the door to Lara’s room behind me and locked it.
“What the hell? Grayson, is that you?” Lara called from the bathroom.
The thought of Grayson being with her made me so damn furious I couldn’t see straight. I growled, storming into the bathroom. Lara was in the shower, her body glistening with water, but the doors were too steamy to get a clear view.
When she saw me, she covered her body with her hands. “What the hell? Grayson, get out of here,” she demanded.
At least now I knew that douchebag lied. I marched over to her shower doors and she backed into the corner. “It’s not Grayson,” I said, opening the shower doors.
At first, she looked nervous, but when she got a good look at me, her eyes turned into venom. “Get the hell out of here.”
“I didn’t sleep with Skylar. You have to believe me,” I pleaded.
She shut off the water and pushed me out of the way. “You expect me to trust you? I saw you naked in the bed,” she cried, tears already spilling from her eyes. She hurried over to her towel and wrapped it around her body.
I wanted to hold her, but she backed away from me. “I was drugged, Lara. Skylar wanted to tear us apart. She was jealous.”
Shaking her head, Lara held her face in her hands. “Stop it! I don’t want to hear anymore.”
Grayson kicked down the bedroom door and I knew my time was done. Lara gasped and backed out of the way as Grayson barreled into the bathroom.
I was ready for him. Ducking out of the way, I grabbed him around his waist, hurling him into Lara’s bedroom. He elbowed me in the side, as I punched him again and again. Grayson was a trained fighter, but I had my will and anger driving me.
“Luke, stop!” Lara screamed. Grayson punched me back, but it was Lara’s hands on my arm that made me stop. “That’s enough!”
I let her pull me back and Grayson got to his feet, a triumphant smile on his face. To him, he’d won, but I was nowhere near done. Lara might be pissed at me now, but once the test results came in, she’d have no choice but to listen to reason.
Holding up my hands, I backed away. Lara’s lips trembled and I hated that I’d given her any reason to doubt me. I couldn’t blame her, but it hurt all the same. “I’ll leave,” I said to her, “but this isn’t over. One way or another, you have to listen to me.”
Grayson wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. “She’s done listening to you. All you’ve ever done is hurt her.”
“And all you ever do is lie.” Turning on my heel, I marched down the stairs and out the door, even though it killed me to do it. Kate said the test results could take twenty-four to forty-eight hours. I just prayed it was sooner than later. The faster I could give Lara the truth, the quicker I could get her away from Grayson.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe he did that,” Summer gasped. I’d driven back to Evan and Summer’s house, leaving Grayson to get cleaned up at his house. He had a busted lip and a right eye that was almost swollen shut. Looking like that, there was no way he could go back to work at the tavern. So I was going to hurry and eat my dinner, then take his shift.
“I think he was drugged,” Evan claimed, spooning a large bite of meatloaf into his mouth.
Summer glared at him. “You will always defend him, won’t you?”
He shrugged. “He’s my best friend. I was there when he went to confront the bitch who drugged him.”
“What?” I gasped. Summer dropped her fork and we both stared at him. “What happened?”
He finished chewing his food and sighed. “She admitted to drugging him out of jealousy, she wanted to make you think they slept together.”
“So they didn’t?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nope. He could charge her with rape if she did. It was all staged to make it look like they did.”
Summer huffed. “There’s no proof he was drugged.”
“There will be,” Evan countered.
I sucked in a breath. “How so?”
“Kate.” A wide grin spread across his face. “She took a sample of his blood. We should find out in the next day or so. He was so sick after he woke up, he was vomiting and couldn’t see straight. Kate said those were the exact symptoms of a person under the influence of drugs. She’s an expert on that kind of stuff.”
“Why didn’t Kate tell me? She’s my best friend.” My gut clenched and I couldn’t eat anymore. What if I’d been wrong about Luke this whole time? Had I just left him there, drugged and in pain? He had been sleeping when I saw him on the bed . . .
Evan shrugged. “She didn’t want to interfere until she got the results. She knows you don’t feel as close to her as you once did, because of the memory loss. And I thought it best for everyone to stay away from you and give you your space. Obviously, Luke couldn’t abide by it. He was so desperate to see you.”
I could tell by the way he barged into my bathroom. “I should’ve talked to him, let him explain what he thought happened. Instead, I yelled and told him to get away from me.”
“Which I’m sure hurt him more than anything,” Evan added. Summer hit his arm and gave him a glare, but he grabbed her hand. “Think about it, Summer. This same shit almost happened to me and you.”
Summer sighed and lowered her head. “You’re right.”
I waved my hands in the air. “Uh . . . I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Summer glanced at Evan and then over to me. “You don’t remember this, but when Evan and I started dating, his ex was jealous of me. At the same time, Jaxon, one of the other football players, wanted to steal me away from Evan. What’s crazy is that Jaxon is one of our friends now.” Evan snorted and Summer rolled her eyes. “Anyway, t
hose two put together a plot to break us apart. One night at a party here, Evan got really drunk. Lindsey snuck into his bedroom and even planted a used condom in the trashcan. They wanted me to think they’d slept together.”
“How do you know they didn’t?”
“Because Luke caught them,” she replied. “He was the one who figured it all out in time. Lindsey had confessed to being a part of it, and the next morning, Evan went and kicked his ass.”
“It felt good too,” Evan added. “But do you see the possibilities here? I know it might seem farfetched to think Luke could’ve been drugged, but jealousy can make someone do desperate things. He’s a victim in all of this. Imagine how he feels right now.”
Tears slid down my cheeks. “What am I going to do?”
Summer reached for my hand. “You’ll figure it out. If you want me to find someone else to take Grayson’s shift, I can.”
I wiped away my tears. “No, I got it. Maybe the distraction will help.”
I helped clean up the dishes, then hurried over to the tavern. I wanted to text Luke, to tell him I was sorry, but after what happened at my house, I couldn’t blame him if he was upset with me. If the situation was reversed, I’d be furious if he didn’t believe my side of the story. A simple text wasn’t going to suffice; I knew what I had to do.
The hours dragged by and I kept looking over at the corner table, hoping the four guys catching up about all the girls they banged over the summer would pack up and leave. Josh ended up taking over their table because they kept flirting with Victoria. I was starting to think something was blossoming between those two.
Victoria removed the clip from her long, light brown hair and shook her head. “That feels much better.” I handed her the wet glasses and she dried them.
“Are you ready to start college again?” I asked. Once the summer was over, she’d be finishing up her teaching degree at the University over in Charlotte.
She turned to me and smiled. “More than ready. But I’m glad I get to keep my job here. Being promoted to manager was the highlight of my summer.”
“I’m sure there are other highlights of your summer, right?” I asked, nodding toward Josh. He was about a year older than her, and was home for the summer from Western Carolina.
She glanced over at him and sighed. “I like Josh, but when he goes back to school, we’ll have that long distance thing going on. I don’t know if it’ll work.”
“You’ll just have to try it out and see. At least he’s not ignoring you.” I pulled out my phone and texted Luke again. I’d called and left messages for the past two hours, but he wasn’t picking up.
“He’s still not answering?”
“Nope, and I can’t get him to return my calls.”
I’d told her what happened, and even she believed Luke wouldn’t have slept with Skylar. She knew Skylar and how shady she was. Apparently, they went to the same high school together. I just hated I hadn’t taken the time to listen to Luke when he’d tried to talk to me.
Victoria squeezed my arm. “He’ll call. He hasn’t spent the last year trying to get you back just to ignore you now.”
Hopefully, she was right. We finished up the glasses, and thankfully, the group of guys decided to leave. I was just about to kick them out, since the tavern had closed thirty minutes ago. Josh lifted the chairs onto the tables and Victoria helped him. Once the floors were swept, they left. All I had to do was lock the doors, and I’d be on my way to Luke’s.
My purse was still behind the bar. When I walked over to grab it out of the lower drawer, I heard the back door open. I sucked in a breath. It was almost eleven o’clock and I was alone. There was a knife by the sink, so I grabbed it and got down on my knees to peer around the corner of the bar.
Luke stepped out from the hallway and looked around. “Lara?”
Breathing a sigh of relief, I stood and put the knife in the sink. “You scared the shit out of me. I didn’t know who was coming in at this hour.”
Luke looked at me and we just stared at each other. His cheek was blue from where Grayson had punched him, but it was nothing like Grayson’s swollen eye. He nodded toward the back. “I saw your car and thought I’d stop by. I was on my way to your house.”
“You were?”
He held up his phone. “I got your messages and thought it’d be better to talk to you in person.”
“I thought you were ignoring me,” I said, my voice growing thick.
He stepped closer, then stopped. “Of course not. I went out riding to clear my head. Then my bike broke down in the woods and I had to walk all the way back.”
“Are you okay?”
“Far from it, cupcake.”
“Why do you call me that?” He’d said it numerous times, but I’d never asked.
“Because every time I saw you around town, you were getting a cupcake from the bakery. It just kind of stuck. I always thought you liked it when I called you that.”
“I do,” I murmured, closing the distance. “I’m so sorry, Luke. I should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt, but after seeing you in that room . . .” I shook my head. “If I’d just gone in there and tried to kick your ass like I wanted to, I would’ve been able to tell you were drugged.” I burst out crying and he pulled me into his arms. With him holding me, everything felt right.
“Shh . . . it’s okay. I wish you would’ve tried to kick my ass. My world has been a complete clusterfuck without you. And I’m sorry, but I was desperate when I barged into your bathroom. All I wanted was for you to hear me out.”
I nodded and breathed him in. I didn’t want him to let me go. “Can you forgive me?”
He pulled me back and lowered his lips to mine. His kiss was hard and deep, his fingers digging into my hips. We’d only been on the outs for a day, but it felt like an eternity. “There’s nothing to forgive,” he whispered. “I just want to know, what made you change your mind?” His green gaze bored into mine.
“I talked to Evan and he told me about your visit to Skylar, and getting your blood tested. He really put it all in perspective. And then Summer told me about that time you caught Evan’s ex and that other football player trying to basically do the same thing, except without the drugs.”
He nodded. “That was a crazy night. I’m glad I got there in time.”
“If you didn’t, Summer and Evan might not have ended up together.”
He kissed me again. “That’s not true. They would’ve found their way back to each other. The truth always has a way of coming out.”
“That it does.”
Letting me go, he stepped back. “Are you going home now?”
I shook my head. “Nope, I’m going to yours. It’s been a long day and I just need to be in your arms. Will you make love to me?”
Putting his arm around me, he led me to the door. “I’m completely down for that.”
It’d been two days since Luke had given Kate a sample of his blood, and we were supposed to find out the results today. I had no doubt he was drugged, but I was curious to see what he was given.
The sound of dirt bikes filled the air, as Luke and Chance raced around his track. It was so hot outside, I’d decided to spend my day in the pool, relaxing and working on my tan.
Summer and Evan knew I was back together with Luke, but as far as I knew, Grayson didn’t. I was pretty sure he’d find out sooner or later and I’d get a phone call. Until then, I had no plans on calling him.
My phone rang and my stomach dropped. I paddled over to the side of the pool and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was Summer. “Hey,” I greeted.
“Don’t kill me, but I have a favor to ask you.”
“Okay, what’s up?”
“Can you work lunch on Saturday? Victoria has a family reunion to go to, but it’s only for a couple of hours.”
Luke’s race didn’t start until seven o’clock that night, so I had plenty of time. “Sure, I can do it. I’ll head to Charlotte for Luke’s race afterward.”
“Great, thank you. Evan wants to watch the race too, but he’ll be watching it with Emma-Grace at home.”
“It should be a good one. I’m excited.” We said our goodbyes and I paddled over to the edge to drop off my phone. Once I pushed off toward the center of the pool, it rang again. “Really?” I grumbled out loud. Hurrying over to the edge again, I answered my phone. “Hello?”
A strong, feminine voice replied. “Hi, is this Lara Jacobs?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.
“I’m returning your call from the other day, this is Shelby Reynolds. I’ve researched your client and I love what I see. I’ve featured several athletes in the Charlotte area, including Evan Townsend and Cooper Davis.”
“Yes, I know. Evan is my brother-in-law.”
“What a small world. You and your sister are the ones who own Carolina Tavern, right?”
I bit my lip to keep from squealing. Shelby Reynolds was huge and if she knew who I was, that was pretty epic. “Yes, we are.”
“But now you’re working for Mr. Collins as well?” she asked.
“Yes. I graduated with a degree in Marketing and I want to put it to good use. Luke does really well on his own, but I want to help him reach the next level.”
“There’s no denying he’s a star in the motocross and supercross world. I’d love to interview him for a spread in Physique.”
“He’ll be thrilled to hear this. I can’t wait to tell him.”
“Great, I look forward to it. Talk it over with Luke and we’ll pick a time in the next couple of months to get together. Either I can fly out that way, or you both can come to San Francisco. I’ll leave it up to you. If you haven’t been out this way, I strongly recommend it. I have a house you can stay in and everything.”
“Wow, thank you. Now I’m even more excited.”
“Give me a call back with a time that suits you.”