by J. P.
“Yeah,” I answer, truthfully.
Luke’s demeanor changes suddenly, and he glances around the room. “Is there somewhere we can go to talk?”
“Yeah,” I repeat. “Is everything okay?”
“We just need to talk.”
Nerves bubble in my stomach as thoughts explode in my mind about what he could possibly want to talk about.
I take his hand and pull him off into the hallway. I make my way to the small dining room, and Luke follows me inside. The dark wooden floors echo under the sound of Luke’s boots. We never use this room, and I find myself surprised every time I come in here. It’s actually a beautiful space with its dark grey walls and white curtains. The dark, long table sits in the middle of the room with white chairs lining the edges. I pull a chair out and sit, expecting Luke to do the same. Instead, he stays standing.
“What’s going on?” I ask, nervous by the way he’s acting.
“I killed Jeremy,” he blurts out. “I hope you’ll understand, and you won’t see me as some kind of monster. It had to be done, though, Nina. I couldn’t take the risk that he would escape from Chrome and come straight for you, because he would. And then he—”
“You think I would be mad at you?” I interrupt.
He reaches up and scratches the back of his head. “Well, yeah. I did something wrong and barbaric.”
I toss the idea that what Luke did is wrong around in my head. Technically, yes, you shouldn’t kill people. But I understand why he would feel it was necessary.
“I’m not mad. You did what you had to do,” I finally say.
Luke sighs in relief. “I did what I thought was right. What I needed to do to ensure your safety.”
“I’m never safe,” I say with a sad laugh.
“What do you mean? What have I missed?” he asks with a furrowed brow.
“A lot.”
He pulls out the seat next to mine. “Tell me.”
“Basically, Will is here, and he’s after me.”
“I hate that guy,” Luke says with a groan. “But we do have an advantage. We know him. He’s young, impulsive, sloppy. Olivia also taught him how to fight and has observed him during training. She’s equipped to take him.”
I frown as I nod.
“What’s wrong?” He tips my chin up with his finger, making my eyes meet his.
“I don’t want this anymore. I don’t want to strategize and plot. I just want everyone to be safe.”
“I hear that, babe. We’re in the home stretch, I can feel it. This will all be over soon.”
I nod my head as I press my lips together. “I hope you’re right.”
“I’m always right,” he says with a cocky smirk.
I grin as I roll my eyes.
“So, what else has been going on?”
“Um…” I trail off, trying to figure out what to tell him. “We have Elliot on our team now.”
“He seems like a cool dude.”
“He is.”
Luke tips his head back and starts to laugh. “I just realized that when I first met you guys, I was actually posing as Tyler?”
I laugh with him. “It’s strange the way things work out that way.”
Luke’s expression suddenly gets serious. “How have things been between you and Tyler?”
I grimace as my stomach drops.
“What? What is it?” Luke asks as he takes both of my hands. “Is this what you were trying to tell me before? Shit, I’m so selfish. I should’ve asked you sooner. Instead, I had to go and blab on about my sins—”
“It’s okay,” I interrupt him. “Tyler and I were on good terms yesterday and today and then this afternoon…” I swallow the lump in my throat. “This afternoon, we kissed. After that, I couldn’t take it anymore. I broke up with him, officially.”
Luke stares at me, his expression blank.
“If you don’t want to continue whatever was going on between us, that’s okay. I broke up with Tyler because I have feelings for you, and it wasn’t fair to him.”
“Do you still have feelings for Tyler?” Luke asks.
“Yes, but it’s different.”
“Different?” Luke asks.
“Yeah.” I bite my lip, trying to think of what I mean. “With Tyler, I feel safe, comfortable, normal. When I’m with you…” I trail off, trying to think of how to put it. All my guilt about Tyler disappears for a moment as butterflies burst in my stomach. A smile spreads on my face as I stare at the floor. Luke releases one of my hands and takes my face in his hand. He leans down and brushes his lips against mine.
“I know what you mean,” he says to me, his voice low. “I feel it too. Words don’t do it justice.”
I smile up at him as I pull him back down and kiss him again.
“I’m sorry. It must’ve been really hard to hurt someone you’ve loved for so long.”
“Yeah.” I flinch as some of the guilt comes back.
“You did the right thing.”
“Nina?” Olivia calls from down the hallway.
“She always interrupts at the worst moment,” Luke mumbles.
I break away from him and stand. “Over here,” I call to her.
Olivia turns the corner and spots us in the dining room. “Oh good, you’re here too. I need help bringing my things from Luke’s room to your room.”
“Relax, Olivia. I don’t even know how long you’re staying here,” Luke tells her, and she freezes.
“What do you mean?” she asks, looking to me as if I was kicking her out.
“You can’t stay here forever.”
Olivia’s eyebrows knit together as she scowls. “I want to stay here.”
“Don’t argue with me,” he says as he gives her a look. “Think about what you want to do next. Living off the Blair’s is not an option.”
“It’s only an option for you?” she snaps at him.
“No,” he says automatically. “I’m here to protect Nina.”
Olivia rolls her eyes. “You’re just making excuses. You don’t want me around your new, fancy life. You liked it better when I was far away with our messed up father.”
“That’s not true,” Luke says with a sigh.
“Whatever. I’m over it,” she snaps at him before she storms out of the room.
Luke turns to me and frowns. “That didn’t go as planned.”
“She really is more than welcome to stay as long as she wants,” I say, but he shakes his head.
“She needs to figure out what she wants to do next. It’s a big decision she probably thought she’d never have to make because she assumed she would be stuck with our dad for forever.” He shrugs. “She’ll figure it out.” Luke lets out a deep breath as he stands from the chair. “Do you want to do something later?”
“Do something?” I repeat as I look up at him.
“Yeah. I’ll text you,” he says before he stands up.
“Where are you going?” I ask with a laugh.
“To check on Tate.” He sighs before he turns back to me. “I’ll text you,” he repeats before he leaves the room.
“Nina?” my dad asks as he walks into the room a moment later. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you.” He walks over to me and sits in the seat beside mine.
“Is everything okay?” I ask him.
“Yes. Now it is.” He clears his throat. “I just wanted to check in on you. Luke told me you went through some pretty hard things at the Malum mansion.”
“Yeah,” I admit with a nod. “I still don’t understand why I was left in the dark. You could’ve told me the plan,” I mumble.
“No.” He shakes his head. “I couldn’t have.” He sighs as a frown pulls down the corners of his mouth. “I don’t think you understand what I went through, trying to make the right decision. Luke came to me with this genius plan, but it would only work if all the pieces came together perfectly. If you had known, you might’ve slipped up when you thought no one was watching you. You and Luke would’ve been killed immed
iately. No,” he repeats as he shakes his head. “If I was going to send you into the enemy’s fortress, I needed to do it knowing that you had the best chance of survival, and that meant that you needed to be kept in the dark.” He sighs as if he’s coming back from reflecting on the past. “I’m sorry if you were hurt or if you were scared. We were with you the whole time.”
“Yeah,” I mumble absentmindedly. “I understand why you did what you did. I just wish we weren’t in this situation to begin with.”
“I understand that. Right now, it is what it is. We just need to make the best of our lives, even though, unfortunately, there are some people that want to hurt us.” My dad clears his throat. “The bottom line is that I love you, and I’m sorry that things happened the way they did. I only ever had your best interests in mind. We will be together from now on, I’ll make sure of it.” The right side of his mouth pulls up into a smile as he reaches out and touches my shoulder.
I lean over and wrap my arms around him, holding him tight.
“I missed you, kiddo,” he whispers, his voice sounding strained.
“I missed you too, Dad.”
27
“Isn’t Luke such an asshole? I mean, I know you’re biased since you guys are like madly in love or whatever…” Olivia trails off as she looks around my room and drops her bags onto the floor. “Can I share your closet?”
“Sure,” I say as I help her pick everything up and organize it.
“What do you think my next move should be?” Olivia asks me as she neatly puts a shirt on a hanger.
“I think that’s something you need to decide for yourself,” I tell her, honestly. “In an ideal world where you could do anything you want, what would you do?”
Olivia frowns as she stops hanging things up and taps her chin while she thinks. “I don’t know. I really did enjoy training kids how to fight with Malum.” She squints her eyes, and I can practically see the wheels turning in her head. “Maybe I should join Chrome.”
I laugh as I throw another shirt at her for her to hang. “Maybe you should. I’m sure they could use you.”
“My father is rolling over in his grave right now,” Olivia says with a laugh. She sighs as she looks at me. “Is it weird that I kind of miss him?”
“No, not at all. He was your dad,” I tell her.
“I know he was, but our relationship was super messed up. I’m not going to, like, cry over him or anything. I just miss him walking around and criticizing everything and then making snarky comments. I think he secretly liked my comments,” she says as she laughs to herself.
“Probably,” I agree.
My phone buzzes next to me, and I have a text from Luke.
Meet me outside in two minutes.
I feel my shoulders stiffen as I get to my feet. I feel adrenaline rush through my system, prepared for the worst when I remind myself that nothing is wrong. He just wanted to meet up later. There’s no danger.
“Where are you going? We still have half my wardrobe left,” Olivia says.
“I have to go do something. I’m sure Sean or Mason or my brothers would be more than happy to help if you ask them,” I say as I reach the door.
“I’m sure you’re wrong, but thanks for trying,” she says with a sarcastic smile.
“I’ll be back soon,” I say as I shut the door behind myself.
I step outside and blink into the darkness. I didn’t realize it was dark already. The sound of cicadas and crickets interrupts the silence of the autumn night. I pull my sweater tighter around myself and look around for Luke. I find his figure standing a few feet in front of me on the front lawn, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black bomber jacket as he looks up at the sky. I walk over and stop when I’m next to him. He glances at me and grins as he reaches down and takes my hand in his.
“Let’s go for a walk,” he says as he starts to walk and pulls me along with him.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, suddenly skeptical.
“Of course, it is,” he says as he looks at me like I’m crazy. “I just miss spending time with you alone, and I don’t want to be interrupted by any of the million people living in your house right now.”
“It is a little crowded,” I say with a laugh.
He lets out a deep breath. “Honestly, babe, I’m worried about you.”
“You are?” I ask as I raise a brow.
“Yeah. All this can’t be easy for you. How was school
today?” he asks as he keeps glancing over at me.
“It was okay,” I say with a shrug. “It’s strange being back, and it’s even weirder trying to go back to when things were normal when so much has changed.” I bite my lip as I think. “I don’t really know what I want anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Luke asks.
“A few months ago, I thought that right now, I would be applying to colleges, studying for tests at school, dating Tyler, figuring out what I want to major in, but now…” I trail off as I think about how bizarre that all sounds now. “Now, everything is different.”
“I understand what you mean.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “If it makes you feel any better, I had no idea that this would be my life either. I thought I was just going on a mission for my dumb father, and then I would continue trying to figure out how to get away for a while. The problem with Ethan, though, is that wherever I tried to go, he would always find me.”
Silence hangs in the air as I try to imagine the kind of life he had growing up with a monster like Ethan as a father.
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore. He’s gone for good.”
“Yeah,” Luke says with a frown. “I don’t know, sometimes I just get this weird feeling that he’s still watching my every move. I don’t know. I’m probably just paranoid.” He shakes his head as if shaking the idea out of his brain.
We turn the corner and continue walking. I shiver as a breeze blows against my skin, and Luke releases my hand and wraps his arm around me.
“Are you upset that I turned your future completely upside down?” Luke asks.
“No,” I say with a laugh. “Part of me wishes that was still my life, but a bigger part of me is happier that everything is different now. If none of that other stuff happened, I would’ve never met you.”
“You’re glad you met me?” he asks, completely serious.
I stop walking and turn to face him. The always-confident Luke looks nervous for my answer.
“Yes,” I answer, undoubtedly. “Something was missing in my life, and I didn’t even realize it was missing until I met you.”
Luke’s face breaks out into a smile as he pulls me closer to him. “I’m so fucked.”
“Why?” I ask with a laugh.
“Because, when you say shit like that to me…I don’t know. I never thought I would get this.”
“Get what?”
“Get to know someone like you in my life.”
I roll my eyes at his dramatics. “Luke—”
“I’m serious.” He tilts his head down and kisses me slowly. “I don’t want to be without you. Ever.”
“You won’t be,” I tell him before I press up on my tippy toes and kiss him. I don’t ever want to be without Luke, either. The thought makes my heart hurt.
We start walking again, and I keep glancing over at Luke, positive that this is all a dream.
“Thank you for being so kind to my sisters. Olivia is borderline obsessed with you,” Luke tells me with a smirk.
“Of course. I really like her too,” I say, a grin spreading on my face. “Do you know what you’re going to do about Tate? Is she going to stay with us? She’s more than welcome—”
“No. I’m going to try and find a few relatives for her to stay with. I’m going to look into it more tomorrow. I don’t think she should be on Termin.”
“I agree.” I nod my head. “You’ll have plenty of free time since you’re not going to school.”
“I know. What will I do with all my time?” he asks
with a smirk.
“C’mon, you don’t want to go to school and hang out with me all day?” I ask as I flash him a smile.
“Don’t smile at me like that,” he says with a laugh. “The offer is tempting, but I can’t. I have other things to do during the day.”
“What other things?”
“I’m just doing some of my own research on Malum and their next move. I know I’m jumping in quickly, but just until I’m positive you’re safe. Then I plan on making your dream come true. We’re going away for a while where we can just be together.”
It sounds too good to be true.
“Where are we going?” I ask with a giggle.
“Wherever you want, babe,” he says and winks at me when I look over at him.
“Hawaii?” I ask, and he laughs.
“Sure, if that’s what you want.”
We turn down the last corner, and my house is coming up on the left.
“Sneaking out is fun. We should do it more often,” I tell Luke with a laugh as we walk up the steps to my house.
“It’s a necessity at this point. I can’t speak to you privately for more than two minutes without getting interrupted by someone,” he says with an exaggerated eye roll.
I laugh as I push the door open, and I’m greeted by the sound of boys cheering. I look at Luke, questioningly, and he gives me the same look back. We walk into the living room to find Sean, Mason, Jake, and Paul, all playing some video game.
“Luke! Hey! We’re playing a FIFA tournament. You in?” Jake screams to Luke.
“Don’t do it, Luke, unless you want to take on the champion!” Sean shouts from over his shoulder as he keeps his eyes locked on the screen with a controller in his hands.
“Crap!” Paul shouts as he throws down the other controller.
Sean lets out an evil laugh. “Another one bites the dust! Mason, you’re up,” Sean says as Paul hands his controller to Mason. “Nina, you should totally go up against me after Mason loses,” Sean adds with a laugh.
“Hey, how do you know I’m going to lose?” Mason asks.
“Call it a mother’s intuition.” Sean’s eyes glue onto the screen again.
“You’re such a moron, Sean,” Jake says as he holds his middle and laughs.