Chapter 50
The Date with Death
Harper
I’m unreasonably nervous when there’s a knock on the door. I’m going out alone with Luke. We’ve been alone before. Multiple times. My body softens in memory. But tonight is different.
It’s a date.
I chose a crop top and skirt for tonight. Last night was a night off from cock, but that doesn’t mean our meeting tonight might not go sideways in the best possible way. A girl can hope.
Of course, there’s still tons to talk about first. I need to get their read on going to the principal. It might be worth waiting. But if Mom calls and finds out I didn’t, I’ll break her trust. Not something I want to do.
I pull open the door, and Luke is there. His blond hair falls over his light blue eyes. He has on jeans and a buttoned shirt in a dusty blue that make his eyes more pronounced. His smile, though, is everything.
It’s soft and knowing. It’s mine. My heartbeat stutters.
“You ready, princess?” He holds his hand out to me. The butterflies in my stomach take flight.
“Yes.” I take his hand, and he draws me outside to his car. I close the door behind me.
“So what’s the plan?” I ask. What does he have planned for me? I mean, the last time we had an hour to ourselves we fucked three times. My thighs press together against the aching need between them. They’ve definitely created a monster.
Luke opens my door and leans on it as I slide in. “All we have time for is dinner.”
My eyebrow arches, imagining him driving us to his house and eating in his room while he fucks me.
Chuckling, he closes the door. When he gets in, he nods to the radio.
“Pick what you want to listen to.” He starts the car and his typical EDM comes on.
I draw in a breath. This is intimidating. What if I pick something he doesn’t like? I bite my lip and tune his radio to a station playing the top hits. Taylor Swift comes on.
He pulls onto the road and drives in the opposite direction of his house.
My brow furrows and my fingers play with the hem of my skirt. “So not to your house?”
He shakes his head. “As much as I’d love to have you to myself up in my room, I don’t want to go home.”
“I can understand that.” I understand his dad is a huge creep, but I can’t really imagine how it must feel to not be safe with your parent. However, not safe in your own home? That I’ve learned these past few weeks.
“You like that diner we went to for breakfast, right?” He glances my way.
“You mean the one Rebecca works at?” My eyes widen.
After what they told me about Rebecca, I figured we could avoid her for a while.
I don’t know how to behave around her. What they did to her wasn’t right, but what she did to those freshmen wasn’t right either.
And taking advantage of Eli... I don’t know how to wrap my head around it.
“Yeah, but she typically doesn’t work evenings, just weekends.” He takes a turn.
“You know her schedule?” I cock an eyebrow. That seems like too much information for someone he doesn’t care about.
“No, princess, but we tend to notice things about the people around us. Especially ones who may have a reason to come back on us.” He glances my way. “If you don’t want to go there, we can go somewhere else.”
I breathe out. If this is what he wants, I can’t really think of any other reason to avoid it. “We can go there. I’m sure it will be fine.”
He smiles and pulls into the parking lot. When he parks, he turns to me and cups my cheek. “She’s our past. She’s not you.”
I lean into his touch for a moment. He closes the distance between us and gives me one of those soft kisses. My heart thunders in my ears. When he draws away, he gets out of the car and I take a minute to compose myself.
It’s not just that Rebecca works here. Lots of students come here. Which means guys who might have seen that picture and jerked off to it. Ew. Even if it’s not my body, it’s my face.
Luke opens the door and holds his hand down to me. He helps me out of the car.
“You’re with me,” he says softly. “No one will do anything when you’re with me.”
I’d like to believe that’s true as he leads me in. The host shows us a booth toward the back. It’s a wraparound style so we’re basically sitting catty-corner from each other. Our knees brush, settling me.
I haven’t dared to look around to see how many other students are here, or to check out the servers to make sure she isn’t here.
Luke’s hand curls around my thigh and I jump a little. “Relax. We’re just here to eat, and then we’ll join the others at Caden’s.”
I set down my menu and release the breath pent up in my chest. “Thank you for still taking me out.”
He smiles and his thumb swipes at the corner of my lips. My lips part, and his eyes darken. Suddenly, it doesn’t matter who else is here as long as he’s here.
“What can I serve you this evening?” The girl’s voice makes me pause. My breath catches. I don’t want to turn and look. My chest burns. My gaze remains fixed on Luke, but the butterflies have traded places with a stone heavy in my gut.
“We’ll start with two diet Cokes.” Luke doesn’t smile.
“I’ll be right back with that.” She walks away.
“I didn’t know.” Luke’s words are lost on me as I finally turn and see Rebecca Forester disappear into the kitchen. “Do you want to leave?”
I draw in a breath. “Is there really anywhere we can go that I won’t run into a woman some of you have slept with?”
“Probably not in this town.” Luke sighs. His gaze is steady on me. “We can go somewhere else.”
“No.” I look around for the first time. There are several tables of other high schoolers.
They’re minding their business, but if we get up and leave now, it would cause a stir.
Especially if they draw the line between Luke and Rebecca.
There’s enough crap going around the school about me and the guys.
“You sure?” He tucks my hair behind my ear.
“Yeah.” I give him a smile. This will be fine. She only needs to come to our table a few times. It will be just like when we were here for breakfast. Well, maybe not just like that.
She sets the glasses on the table. “Are you ready to order?”
“Burger and fries please.” Luke looks at me.
“Same.” I hand her my menu and she walks off. My breath eases out of me.
“So how does this date thing work?” Luke takes my hand on the table and squeezes it.
“How should I know?” I chuckle.
“You’ve been out on one already.” His gaze locks with mine. “What did Nico do to wow you?”
I laugh because I don’t think Luke is going to be wowed by what Nico did.
“We had burgers and shakes. Talked. Afterwards, he drove me out to a field, and we watched a meteor shower while we talked some more.” I smile. It was a great first date.
“So food and talking.” Luke glances around the restaurant before his gaze returns to me. “How are you feeling about that picture?”
“Wow, going right to heavy stuff.” My eyes widen for effect, but I get it. I can’t imagine Luke just chatting.
He shrugs. “I’m not much for small talk.”
“Okay.” I lean my elbows on the table. “Honestly, it’s creepy. Seeing my head on someone else’s body. Whoever did it must not like me very much.”
“Whoever did it will feel the brunt of the horsemen.” Luke’s tone grows dark. I squeeze his hand.
“At first, I worried someone had taken a picture from the webcam shows you all are so fond of.” I give him a small smile. “So at least we know those are safe.”
“Jack’s good at what he does. No one has access to that stream except us.” He draws my hand closer to him.
“Mom wanted to go to the police, but I told her I’d talk to the principal. I figured we’d talk about that later though.” I shrug and my crop top falls off my shoulder.
Luke wets his lips at the flash of skin and when his eyes meet mine, his are heated, stirring my desire even more.
“So Nico took you to a field?” He takes a drink of his soda. “There’s a few places we could park for a while.”
I shake my head. “Still bleeding, Death.”
“Already told you blood doesn’t bother me.” He leans in close to my ear. His warm breath tickles my hair. “Only your cunt is bleeding, princess.”
“You say the most romantic things.” I turn my face so that our noses graze and we’re eye to eye.
“If you want romance, you need a different horseman.” He claims my mouth. For a second, the whole diner disappears, and it’s just the two of us. This is what’s dangerous about Luke and me alone. He shatters my control.
He pulls away, and there’s a promise in his eyes for later that makes a shiver go through me. Even if something doesn’t happen at Caden’s, later in my bed it will be the three of us.
“What else do you talk about on dates?” Luke leans back in the booth, but his hand remains on mine.
“Nico and I discussed Harry Potter.”
He arches a haughty eyebrow. “Really?”
I press my lips together to keep from laughing and nod my head.
“What about Harry Potter?”
“How it kind of sucks when you like something and find out you disagree with the person who made it.” I glance off in the distance.
“That’s a fairly deep topic.” Luke clears his throat.
I smile because yeah, not exactly what I want to discuss on date two, but there was a point of contention between Nico and me.
“We also discussed which house you all would be in.” I arch an eyebrow. “Have you taken the quiz?”
“What kid our age hasn’t?” He smirks and traces small circles on my hand with his thumb.
“And?” I roll my eyes. He could have just answered and not made me ask the question. “What house did you get?”
“Tell me yours first.” He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles.
My breath quickens and my heart races. We’re out in public. Everyone is seeing Luke do this with me. This isn’t his normal rough handling. This is almost... sweet?
“Ravenclaw.” I straighten in my seat.
“Hmm. That makes sense, but I almost see you more as a Hufflepuff.” He lowers our hands to the bench.
“I’ve told you mine. Now tell me yours.” I squeeze his hand.
“Gryffindor.”
“No way. You’re totally Slytherin.” I draw back. “You must have lied on the questions.”