Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Luka
Coffee in hand, I drag my ass into the conference room and fall into my seat with a sigh.
Normally, I’d tell my brother to go fuck himself if he even thought about putting a seven-a.m. meeting on my calendar, but since it’s for Ivy, his firecracker girlfriend who will someday be my future sister-in-law, I let it slide.
She’s chasing her dreams in Romania and hates that she’s not here for this year’s Phantom Festival, so filling her in on the details of what’s going on is the least I can do. Even if it means dragging my exhausted ass out of bed on only a couple of hours of sleep.
Sleep isn’t something I usually struggle with, so this exhausted shit is new for me. But ever since I brought Scout home, I haven’t been able to sleep for shit. It’s like I can feel her presence in the house, even though our bedrooms are on different floors.
I find myself alternating between frustration with her and wanting to fight on her behalf. I still can’t get over those text messages I saw yesterday. What the fuck is her dad thinking? He can’t be serious with that shit, can he?
And even if he was…why the fuck would her douchebag ex go along with it?
When the thought of her safety comes to mind, it takes all my strength not to drive over there right now and handle this myself.
You don’t need another criminal charge, I remind myself.
So instead of acting on my impulses and doing something I’ll most likely regret, I take a huge gulp of my scalding hot coffee and remind myself that Scout’s problems are none of my business. Just because I saw a few text messages, it doesn’t mean anything. There are two sides to every story…
“Was it a long night or an early morning?” Guy’s question slices through the war zone in my mind. I glance down at my wrinkled shirt, realizing the buttons are all misaligned and the collar’s slightly twisted.
I huff out a grunt, working to re-button my shirt as Roman takes a seat across from me. He gives me an incredulous look, then looks to Guy, as if silently asking what he missed.
“You look like shit, dude,” Roman says after getting a better look at me.
“Jesus, I was in a rush, okay. I didn’t realize you two worked for the fashion police.”
Guy holds up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey, I wasn’t judging. Don’t worry, your sour mood tells me more than enough.” He places a palm on Roman’s shoulder and leans in. “If you want to talk about your sexual hardships, I’m sure Roman will be more than happy to commiserate with you.”
Roman slaps his hand away, looking offended. “What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”
Guy levels him with a get-real look as he quirks a brow. “Do I really need to spell it out for you? Nobody who’s getting steady pussy is wound that tight?”
“I’m not wound tight.”
“You spent an entire afternoon last week arguing with the design team about fonts…”
“Fonts are important. Just because you don’t give a shit about your work doesn’t mean everyone else cares too much.” Roman fires back, flipping his yellow notepad to a new page with a little more force than necessary.
Guy’s eyes widen, but he just looks down at his own notepad, clearly feeling like he’s made his point.
I’m relieved for the interruption when Leo and Ivy’s faces pop up on the large screen on the wall.
Ivy’s face lights up the moment she sees us, her face splitting into a beaming smile. “Hey, guys! It’s so good to see you. Thank you for coming in early so we could do this today.”
Leo wraps an arm around her and smiles, looking so fucking proud to be the one sitting beside her right now. “Ivy’s been worried about what’s happening with the festival…no offense, Luka.”
“Leo, I told you to be nice,” Ivy hisses, slapping my brother on the chest.
He jerks back, looking confused. “What? That was nice. I said no offense .”
Ivy just rolls her eyes and directs her attention back to us.
“Anyway… I heard the news about Luka taking over the festival…and I just wanted to check in and see how things were going?” She pauses, her eyes narrowing.
“Luka, is everything okay? Maybe it’s the lighting in there, but you look… a little more tired than usual…”
Guy offers me a smug smile and shrugs. “Now, who are you calling rude?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m great. Just had a long night last night—nothing too crazy is going on.” I try to sound casual, but I can feel their eyes on me.
“Uh huh,” Leo says.
“How are you feeling about leading the festival? I know you’re probably nervous, but I want you to know I’m here to help you in any way I can. I’ll send you all the vendor contacts from last year, and the template for the schedule I created, so all you have to do is fill in the blanks…”
I scribble down notes while she’s talking, trying my best to seem like I’m paying attention, but when her words trail off, the room goes quiet.
“You seem oddly…focused on this,” Leo cuts in. “What’s going on with you?”
I drop my pen and lean back in my chair. “Seriously? Now I’m acting like I care too much?” I look at Roman and Guy, who both just nod in agreement.
I catch the faintest hint of a smirk at the corner of Roman’s lips before he says, “Does this…” He gestures to me… “Have anything to do with Scout by chance?”
Ivy’s eyes grow wide as she looks at Leo and then back to us, and clears her throat. “Ahem, who is Scout?”
Oh, great. Here we fucking go. So much for brotherly secrets, I guess.
“She’s his childhood best friend who lived next door to us growing up…” Roman supplies.
“He was in love with her, but after he got arrested, she ditched him and never looked back,” Guy adds.
“I thought we were here to talk about the festival,” I say, trying to steer the conversation away from my personal life.
“That was before I found out your long-lost childhood lover just came waltzing back into your life,” she says, waving a dismissive hand. “The festival can wait.” Then she turns to Leo. “When were you planning to tell me about this?”
Leo shrugs. “I didn’t realize any of it still mattered.” He leans closer, his voice softening with concern. “So…she’s back in town? What’s the story?”
Guy props an elbow on the table, grinning as he gives me his full attention. “Is there a better way to start the day than with a little morning gossip?”
“If I remember correctly, she’s also engaged, and the other night, Luka offered for her to stay at his house,” Roman adds that key detail. I kick him under the table with the toe of my boot. To his credit, he doesn’t even flinch.
“Wow. Okay. Sounds like there’s a lot to unpack there,” Ivy says, blinking slowly. “And, judging by the dark circles under your eyes and your overall annoyed expression… I’m going to take a wild guess that things aren’t going great for you?”
“You could put it that way.” I admit. A memory of Scout’s red, swollen eyes flashes through my mind, and I feel my jaw clench tighter.
I don’t know the full story behind why she’s back, but the text messages I read yesterday told me more than enough to know her situation is a little more than desperate.
I stare down at my clenched fists and sigh. I had no plans of sharing any of this today, but maybe a little female advice wouldn’t be the worst thing.
“Long story short is, her parents have always been hard on her. I’m not sure what happened, but from what I’ve gathered, she upset them when she broke off her engagement.
“Yesterday, L.O.K.I. sent me a video of her crying.
She looked pretty upset, and it scared me.
I thought somebody died or something, so I rushed home to check on her.
When I got there, she looked so fucking broken.
Her face was red, and her eyes were all puffy from crying for who knows how long.
Her phone was sitting face up on the table, blowing up with incoming texts.
I caught a glimpse of one of the messages that was concerning, so I forced her to show me the rest of them.
“From what I gathered, it seemed as if her dad was threatening her to come home and apologize. That if she wasn’t back home by this evening, then he was going to forge her signature and file the marriage paperwork himself.”
Ivy’s mouth drops open, and she slaps a hand over it. She looks at Leo and then back to me. “Can he do that?”
“I’m not sure. But Judge Sinclair was the reason I went to jail for the full term. He’s got a lot of connections and knows his way around a loophole. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“So what are you going to do?” Ivy asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do. Besides, it’s not really my place. Scout hasn’t asked me for my help.”
“But you can’t just let them get away with that!” Ivy says. “You can’t let them force her to marry someone she doesn’t want to be married to. What if he hurts her?”
“Trust me, I’ve been worrying about the same thing.
But apart from driving over there and getting myself a couple of assault charges…
I’m not really sure how to stop it. Hell, if anything, me showing up will only make things worse.
I don’t think her parents could hate me any more than they already do. ” I sit back in my chair with a sigh.
“So that’s it? You’re not even going to try to help her?” Ivy asks.
“Like I said, her father is an evil man who knows how to get what he wants. I’m not sure there’s anything I can do.”
Roman chuckles under his breath. “Unless you married her first.”
I feel my spine stiffen, my whole body going on alert.
“For Christ’s sake, Roman, don’t give him any crazy ideas,” Leo snaps.
Guy lifts a brow and nods. “Actually…that could work.”
“I don’t care if it’d work. That’s insane. He’s not going to get married just to beat her dad to the punch. There’s got to be another, more rational way to help her…like I don’t know, calling the police and reporting it,” Leo says.
Guy snorts, rolling his eyes. “Because historically the judicial system has always favored Luka…”
“Should we also not forget another important detail… Luka hates her. Does no one else remember how heartbroken he was after he got out of prison and realized she had ghosted him?” Leo says, trying to be rational.
Ivy smacks him in the chest. “Oh, Leo. Why do you have to be such a buzz kill? Have you ever heard of the term enemies to lovers?” She looks back at me with stars in her eyes. “I think it’s romantic. You have my full support… For what it’s worth.”
Leo’s not wrong… I do hate her… but I hate Judge Sinclair more.
How fucking pissed would he be if I pulled something like that on him? All he’s ever cared about is his stupid reputation. His family’s picture-perfect image.
He’d lose his shit if somebody like me, an actual criminal, defiled his angel of a daughter.
“I’m sure Judge Sinclair will come to his senses and he and Scout will be able to work out their differences without the need for any extreme measures,” Leo says. “Now, where were we? Luka, do you have any ideas for this year’s festival?”
We fall back into conversation around the festival, and I catch them up on the first town meeting, but I can’t seem to shake Roman’s words from my mind.
Is this my chance to finally get back at that bastard?