Catching Luke

by Debra Elise

  She felt the crest of her orgasm rise and when he found the right spot inside her, she exploded. Her pussy clenched around his fingers. He slowed his rhythm, which helped to prolong her orgasm.

  “Oh, my god. Luke. Yes, baby.” She could feel him kiss her belly and up to her stomach and breasts where he flicked first one nipple, then the other, all while his fingers remained inside her, caressing her until she could take no more.

  Laughter came through the door and she heard someone ask if there was another bathroom up here. “Please tell me you locked the door.”

  “Shh, no worries, darling. But we’d better get back down to the party.”

  She reached out to him as he got up and began getting dressed. “Wait a minute. You didn’t get your turn.”

  “The night’s still young, darling.” He winked and finished dressing. “Now hurry up so we can go down there, say good-bye, and get home.”

  She scrambled off the bed and dressed in record time. They giggled like a couple of high schoolers and would have finished faster if Luke had stopped kissing her at every other piece of clothing.

  Home, he said. She wondered as they said good night to everyone if he realized he hadn’t said “my house.”

  The drive to his house seemed to take forever. His promise of more loving created a perma-grin on Lara’s face. When he turned into the long driveway something instantly felt off. The gate to his property wasn’t quite finished, so it wasn’t locked. Anyone could drive onto his property, and tonight someone did.

  What looked like a two-door coupe was parked facing toward them on the edge of the lane before the last curve. You still couldn’t see his house from this point, but whoever was in the car had to know this was a private drive.

  No one other than Lara, the nurse Luke fired over a month ago, and Mav and Kelsey knew where he lived. It could be the paparazzi but they knew enough to stay on the other side of the gate; otherwise Luke could press trespassing charges.

  “Lara, does that car look familiar to you?”

  “No. Maybe it’s a couple of kids looking for a place to neck or something.”

  “Maybe. But I’m going to ruin their night. Just let me do all the talking.” He pulled up to the driver’s side door and revved his engine. Nothing. No one moved in the car. Luke took his seat belt off and reached for the door handle. Lara let out a gasp at the same time and grabbed his arm.

  “Baby, you okay? What’s wrong?”

  “In the middle of the road, there’s a man walking toward us and . . . and . . . oh, god. Luke, I’m sorry. I know who it is.”

  She was shaking. What the hell was going on? He brought her into his arms and looked up and out through his windshield. A man was standing maybe six feet in front of them. But “standing” was generous. He seemed to be swaying, and he had something in his right hand.

  Luke had never been so pissed off in his life. It was bad enough that the press encroached on his private life whenever they could, but now he had to deal with a drunken idiot on his property who was probably looking for a goddamn autograph.

  “Luke? Luke, I need to explain something.” Lara’s shaking had stopped so he relaxed his arms a bit.

  “I’ll handle this. You stay in the car. But get your phone out just in case.” Luke went to move, but she kept a hand on him and tugged.

  “Please. I know why he’s here, Luke.”

  He looked back at Lara and saw fear in her eyes. He clenched his fists and held off confronting the man who gleefully stared them down. “Who is he, and how the hell did he find out where I live?”

  “He must have followed me. He has a habit of doing that.” Lara sounded just as pissed as him. But that didn’t tell him who the trespasser was.

  “Tell me.”

  “He’s my ex. We broke up a year ago. Actually I kicked him out when I found out he was cheating and had started drinking again. He showed up at my place a few weeks ago asking for a second chance.”

  Luke gently removed her hand from his arm. “I’m going to go out there and tell him to get the hell off my property. Anything else I should know about him? Like, he owns a gun or carries knives for fun.”

  “No, no. Nothing like that, but . . .”

  “But what?”

  “He still thinks there’s a chance for us. When he found out I was working with you, he flipped. He said some things and he left me a threatening voice mail. I thought he was drunk, Luke. I thought the things he said were just him talking big, like he always did. He’s never followed through on anything in his life. I swear, Luke, I didn’t think he would show up at your house.”

  “When was the last time you talked to him?”

  “Not since he was at my house. I haven’t talked to him since. I . . . I’d hoped he’d left the area.”

  “Apparently not. Okay, sit tight.”

  He exited the car as slow as he could and shut the door firmly behind him. He took a good look at Lara’s ex. He was tall, but Luke was taller and had forty, maybe fifty pounds on the guy. He also noticed what was in his hand wasn’t a weapon, but a bottle of some kind. Perfect. Now he felt compelled to call the guy a cab instead of making him get back in his car.

  “Hey there . . .” He looked into the car and through the half-opened window asked Lara for his name.

  “Nate,” she said.

  He felt sucker punched. Nate? Goddammit. This was the guy causing problems at O’Malley’s. Mouthing off about him. God Fucking Dammit. Why didn’t she tell him about her loser ex?

  “What the hell, Lara? Why didn’t you tell me he might be a problem?”

  She just looked at him with tears in her eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I thought he would go away once he saw we were . . .”

  “What, Lara? Fucking like rabbits, or maybe you were hoping for something more permanent? Shit. Do you know he showed up at O’Malley’s and was harassing the patrons and talking smack about me?”

  “No,” she cried.

  He wanted to believe her. But his past had taught him to question everything. Damn, he’d wished she had said something. Now all he could think about was she had something to do with Nate standing in his drive, drunk and confrontational.

  He pushed off the car door and turned toward Lara’s ex. He decided to play it cool and calm. Until the guy gave him a reason not to be.

  “Hey there, Nate. It’s pretty late and you happen to be on private property. Why don’t I call you a cab?”

  “I want to speak with Lara.”

  “Well, Lara’s not interested right now. It’s late and she’s tired.”

  “Then why didn’t you drive her home, huh? Planning on fucking her later, I bet.” Nate tossed the bottle he was holding and took a step toward the car. “Lara! You’re nothing but a whore. I wanted us to be together, but that can’t happen now, can it?”

  He lunged for the passenger side of the car, but Luke was faster.

  Luke made it to him in two long strides, grabbed Nate’s jacket, and tossed him up against the hood. He made a fist and lifted his arm to strike but held it in place. “Now, I suggest you apologize to the lady before I add a shiner to the things that are wrong with your face.”

  “Luke, no!” Lara got out of the car and stood next to him.

  “Lara, get back in the car. Nate and I are just having a friendly conversation, isn’t that right, Nate?” He pressed his hand harder on the smaller man’s chest and widened his stance to steady his balance.

  “Shit, I’m not apologizing to her. Not after she decided to crawl into bed with you. So tell me, Garibaldi, is she using her favorite excuses with you yet? ‘I’ve got a headache,’ ‘I have cramps.’ Shit, no wonder I stepped out on you, bitch. You stopped putting out when you could no longer control me.”

  “I warned you, asshole,” Luke announced.

  Instead of hitting him in the face, Luke dragged him away from the car and threw him on the ground. He wasn’t setting himself up for a lawsuit, no matter how much the guy deserved a pounding.r />
  “Get up, get off my property, and never, and I mean never, contact Lara again.”

  Nate had taken a face plant into the soft dirt on the side of the pavement. He stood up and spit at Luke’s feet.

  “Real classy. Now leave.”

  “Not before I share a bit of fun news with you both. You see, Lara, you had your chance with me, but you blew it. I put a lot of time and money getting myself back here, thinking we could try again, but now that I see our little charade has turned into something real, I’m letting the cat out of the bag. Unless your boyfriend here wants to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  Lara cried out and covered her mouth and grabbed her stomach. Luke looked from her to Nate. “What the hell are you talking about? What do you think you have to let out of the bag?” He turned to Lara. “What charade, Lara?”

  Visibly shaken, he walked over to Lara who less than an hour ago had been shaking for an entirely different reason. When she just stood there, he whipped back around to face Nate.

  “You have exactly five seconds to tell me what you’re talking about or I’m calling the cops and reporting you as a drunk driver and trespasser and whatever else the hell I can come up with.”

  Nate brushed off his clothes and laughed. “Oh you know, just the fact that you’ve been using steroids. You and JR. Yeah, I know all about him. He and I have the same deal—mutual friend. He and I are good pals. Such a shock for your fans. But I’m guessing not Lara.” He turned toward her. “Right, Lara?”

  “Nate, why would you do this? It makes no sense,” she whispered.

  “It doesn’t? Really, Lara? Because to me it makes perfect sense. You see, that damn rehab I went to so I could get clean and come back to you a new man, drained every last cent I had. Then I come home and you shoot me down.” He pointed a shaking finger at Lara. “So what’s a guy to do but use the talents he has to turn his fortune around?”

  Luke took in the information. Tried to process the truth from what he hoped were lies.

  “And you see your girl here, Luke, with her connection to you, she gave me some insider information, and it made me think. After some digging around and meeting up with JR, an idea formed. And you’re going to pay to keep me silent. To keep your secret steroid use from the league and your fans.”

  Luke turned to look at Lara when Nate implicated her in playing a part in his twisted game of blackmail.

  “Luke, he’s a pathological liar. He twists everything he says and does to his advantage and doesn’t care who he crushes in the process.”

  He listened as Lara pleaded her case, but the loud rushing noise in his head drowned out the rest of what she was saying. All he could think was, not again. He couldn’t have been played a second time in less than six months. He’d thought, hoped she was different.

  “None of this makes any fucking sense. Jesus, just tell me what you want, Nate,” Luke ordered.

  “Simple. Money. I’m thinking a hundred grand should do it. You pay me what I want and I’ll . . .” He paused and looked over at Lara. “And we’ll make sure your team owner doesn’t receive an e-mail detailing your bad habits, Luke. And I’ll be out of your life. Poof, gone.”

  Luke’s heart had gone into overdrive. “Fuck you. You have no fucking evidence, you prick. You’re not getting a dime from me. Now get in your car. If I see you again, I’m not holding back my fist.”

  “Just remember what I said, lover boy. I’ll give you till ten tomorrow morning to decide. Lara has my number.”

  Nate limped away, but Luke kept staring at the spot where he’d been standing.

  What. The. Hell.

  He felt Lara come over and stand beside him. She stopped but didn’t say anything. Why wasn’t she trying to convince him she had nothing to do with this? Beg for his forgiveness?

  “Nothing to say, Lara?”

  “What do you want me to say beyond what I just told you? I saw the look in your eyes when Nate accused me of being in on it with him. You didn’t have to think very long before you believed him. Am I right?”

  “Lara, the man is blackmailing me and all you want to do is argue about a look I gave you?”

  “It’s true though, isn’t it? Instead of thinking how much we’ve grown close, how I’ve been there for you, the time spent . . . in each other’s arms, you doubted me instantly. I’m not Syndi, Luke. And I’m sure as hell not your mother.”

  “Now wait a minute. How’d this become about you?”

  “It’s not. It’s about us, Luke.” She turned and walked back to the car and got in.

  He stood watching her. Racked with shock, betrayal, and anger at himself, he didn’t know where to begin sorting things out. Hell, what if she was in on it from the start? He knew firsthand just how manipulative women could be. His mother and then Syndi had each shown him that, and yet he hadn’t learned his lesson. God, he wanted her to be different.

  He walked back to the car, got in, and didn’t say a word to Lara. He didn’t want to regret anything said in anger so he drove them the short distance to his house and left her sitting in the car.

  He left her with the choice of whether she’d follow or run.

  CHAPTER 25

  Lara couldn’t blame Luke for not believing her. Hell, if she were being told by one of Luke’s exes that he’d been cheating, she’d probably feel the same. But this was different. This wasn’t about a physical betrayal but one of trust, and to her, that hurt more.

  Sure, Luke had had too many women play head games with him, but his lack of faith in her hurt. Hurt to her core that after all they’d been through Luke looked at her now as if she were a stranger. Someone who didn’t care.

  After she followed him into the house, he turned back toward her, but he didn’t look her in the eyes.

  “Look, it’s been a tough evening for us both. It’s late. Too late for you to find a new place to stay. I’ll let you use the guest room and we’ll talk things through in the morning.”

  He didn’t wait for a response. He turned away from her—away from them—and went upstairs.

  She nodded to his retreating back. Numb, hurt, and on the verge of bursting into tears, she followed him upstairs. She gathered her things from his bedroom while he took a shower. She held her head high and back straight, tears threatening to fall as she walked down the hallway. She entered the never-used guest room and dumped everything on the floor.

  She fished out one of his old tees that she’d been using as a nightshirt, quickly changed, crawled into bed, and curled into a ball. She didn’t sleep. She kept hoping he’d sneak into bed, wrap his arms around her and tell her he didn’t believe a word Nate had said.

  Since there was no use in trying to force herself to sleep, she used the time to consider her options and obsess over what was going on in Luke’s mind. Would he listen to her side of the story, or had he already made up his mind? Sometime right before dawn she fell into an exhausted sleep.

  The rich aroma of coffee woke her the next morning. She rolled over and found the other side of the bed empty. The sheets cold. She forgot for a moment she wasn’t in his bed. No morning wakeup call today.

  She took a quick shower and waited to decide if she needed to pack her things after she talked to Luke. Indy greeted her at the top of the stairs. She bent down to rub his favorite spot behind his ear and called out to Luke.

  No answer.

  She walked into the kitchen, Indy close at her heels, and poured a cup of sweet nectar. She’d drink the entire pot if she could. She picked up Indy and carried him around the house with her in search of Luke. When he wasn’t in his home gym, she knew. He’d left the house without waking her or saying good-bye. Checking the garage confirmed it. His car was gone.

  She put Indy in his crate and gathered up her things and left without leaving a note. What would she say? Uh, sorry you had to deal with my crazy ex. And oh, yeah, sorry for him blackmailing you and making you think I had anything to do with it. Hugs & Kisses, Lara.

  She headed ove
r to Noel’s, because she didn’t have anywhere else to go after her house sold earlier than she’d anticipated, and staying in a hotel felt weird. Her cell chimed a familiar tune. It was just like Kelsey to know when something was off with her. They had this freaky yet comforting connection when the other was going through a rough time.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Lara tried to make her tone light, but even to her ears the falseness of her greeting grated and sounded forced. “Let me guess, you have more maid-of-honor duties for me today.”

  “No, nothing like that. Listen, Lara, something’s happened and well . . . I . . . where are you? Are you sitting down?”

  “No, I’m driving over to Noel’s. Tell me what’s up. You never call this early. What is it? Now you have me worried.”

  Lara’s mind still wasn’t working right, and the only other reason Kelsey might call her first thing in the morning was—oh, no. “Is your mom, okay? Did something happen to her?”

  Kelsey gave a short laugh. “No, she’s doing fine, for once. No midnight phone calls in a couple of months and she’s still attending her AA meetings.”

  Okay, then, if it’s not her mom maybe something happened to Maverick or maybe Caris. She’d been keeping to herself lately and claiming she was just worn out from her demanding patients.

  “Lara, an anonymous e-mail was sent to T.S. and the commissioner. It claimed the sender has proof that Luke’s been taking performance-enhancing drugs.”

  “Oh, god. He did it.” The scenery on the river road blurred.

  Lara pulled off the road as soon as she could and cut the engine.

  “He, who’s he? Is it true? Hell, Lara, I can’t believe Luke would ever be mixed up with PEDs. But now, with just a hint of use, the league may demand he take a drug test.”

  Lara poured out her side of the story to Kelsey ending with the confrontation with Nate last night.

  “Wow. Just holy wow. What a mess. How are you holding up?”