Luke
Luke
L uke wasn’t sure that he’d say that Ruby looked happy to see him—hell, she looked downright pissed that he was standing in her apartment. The only time she looked pleased to see him was when he told her that he wasn’t lying about her being hot. He was still trying to figure out why in the hell he had shown up at her place, to begin with. Sure, she was the last person he saw at the office before running home, packing a bag full of his shit, and taking off for her condo. Maybe it was the fact that he had snooped into her personal file at work just before he left the office for the day or the fact that he had memorized her address, telling himself that he’d never look her up. Yeah, he was a big, fat liar and here he stood in her family room, trying to figure out what to say to her next.
“I’m sorry,” he breathed, “I shouldn’t have come here.” Luke walked to the corner of her family room and grabbed his duffel bag off of the floor. “This was a mistake.”
“Luke,” Ruby breathed, reaching out to put her hand on his arm. Just that one simple touch sent what felt like an electrical jolt up his body. “Don’t go. Let me help you figure this out before you just take off. If someone is following you, then you can’t just keep running. Stay here, where it’s safe.”
“That’s just it,” he murmured. “I don’t know if it’s safe or not. I might have put you in danger by just knocking on your door, Ruby.” She leaned into his body when he said her name and for just a second, he thought about kissing her. Instead, he cleared his throat, and she took a step back from him.
“Has this ever happened to you before?” she asked. “I mean, do you usually have someone chasing after you?” she asked.
“It’s happened before,” he admitted. God, she was going to kick him out of her place so fast, it was going to make her head spin, and he wouldn’t blame her one bit for it. “When I was in the Navy. I was stationed in South Korea for almost a year.”
“You were stationed in South Korea?” she asked. “I think that we should sit down for this conversation.” Ruby pulled him to the small sofa that sat in the middle of her apartment, and he sat down next to her. Luke liked the way that he took up most of the sofa, forcing her to have to touch him. It actually gave him some strange comfort having her so close.
“I was in the Navy and well, I was stationed on a base over in South Korea for eleven months,” he said.
“And this happened to you while you were there?” she asked.
“Yes, well, kind of,” he said. “I was out enjoying some downtime at a local bar, and when I was on my way back to base, I realized that I was being followed. It felt a lot like this does. I can’t explain it. Jesus, I know this must all make me sound completely crazy, and maybe I am. Maybe I lost my damn mind and now, I’m paying the price.”
“Nonsense,” Ruby countered. “How about you tell me the rest of the story and let me judge whether or not you’re crazy,” she offered.
“Good luck with that,” he teased, causing her to giggle. “I overheard two men talking, saying that they were supposed to bring me in to talk to their ‘Boss,’ but then, my friend Ranger found me, and that never happened. They said that he wanted to talk to me because I’d be able to get their family back for him.”
“Were you able to get the guy’s family back to him?” she asked.
“No,” he admitted. “I never even met the guy. He sent the two guys after me, to bring me back to him, and that was about all that came of it. My buddy Ranger showed up and took me back to base. He went in with me to talk to our commander and well, I was sent back to the states shortly after reporting that I was being followed.”
“That’s kind of suspicious,” Ruby challenged. “I mean, you reported to your commanding officer that you were being followed, and then, they sent you home before you could figure out who had been following you?”
“That about sums it up,” he said. “I never found out who was following me or who their boss was. I really didn’t give it too much thought—until now.”
“Because you feel like someone is following you again,” Ruby said, following along.
“Yes,” he said.
“Do you have any proof that someone is watching or following you?” she asked.
“Um, not really,” he admitted. “It’s more of a gut feeling.” She looked him over and he held up his hands in defense. “I’m not crazy,” he insisted.
“I never said that you were crazy, Luke,” she said. “But you have to admit, this whole thing sounds a little bit off.”
“Well, that’s a lot nicer than saying that it sounds crazy,” Luke mumbled. “I know how bad this sounds, but I just need someplace to lay low while I try to figure out what’s going on,” he said. “Can you give me that?”
“I think that I can,” she agreed.
“I promise not to put you in any more danger than I already have,” Luke assured.
“I appreciate that, but I’m tougher than I look,” she promised. There was a knock at her door and Ruby started to stand. Luke pushed her back to the sofa and she looked at him like he’d lost his damn mind.
“I’ll get it,” he said. “Were you expecting anyone?”
“Um, yeah,” she said. “The Chinese takeout. Remember, I thought that you were our delivery guy when you showed up here?”
“Right,” he breathed. “Well, let’s not take any chances.” Luke pulled his gun from his shoulder holster and held it by his side, trying to keep it out of eyesight when he opened the door just a crack.
“Food delivery,” the guy said from the crack in the door.
“Thanks,” Luke said, taking the bag of food from him.
“I’ve already paid,” Ruby said. “And left a tip. Thank you,” she shouted to the delivery guy as Luke shut the door in his face. He walked back into the family room and handed her the bag of food and another soft knock sounded at her door.
“What now?” she grumbled. “I’m assuming you’ll want to get that too,” she said.
“Yep,” Luke agreed. He walked back over to the door, gun still in hand, and opened Ruby’s front door to find the same woman from earlier standing in her doorway.
“Hi,” the woman squeaked. “I’m Millie,” she reminded.
“Hi, Millie,” Luke said.
“I’ve come to grab my food,” Millie said.
“Sorry, Millie,” Ruby shouted. “Come on in.” Millie brazenly walked past Luke and smiled up at him as he holstered his weapon.
“Were you expecting someone else?” she asked, eyeing the gun.
“Don’t mind him,” Ruby said. “He’s having a bad day. Did I mention that Luke works in the security department at McTavish Industries?” Ruby asked.
Millie shrugged, “Probably, but I might not have been paying attention.” She waited for Ruby to unload her food from the bag and handed her the rest.
“Sorry about dinner again,” Ruby said. “I’ll make it up to you next week. You can choose the place.”
“Sounds good,” Millie agreed. “And no problem. I mean, if I had a better offer, I’d ditch me too.” Millie giggled at her own statement and waved over her shoulder at them both. “Talk soon, Ruby,” she said. “See you later, Luke.” He nodded to Ruby’s very odd friend and waited for her to leave the apartment before crossing the room to the front door and locking them back in.
“You need better security,” he mumbled, more to himself than to Ruby.
“Well, I’ve never had a need for more security,” Ruby admitted.
“I’ll make do with what you have in place,” he assured. “But I’d like to at least put a deadbolt on your front door. Is there another way out of here?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “Not unless you’re planning on going out the second-floor windows.”
“No, but we really can’t be too careful,” he insisted.
“Well, you should come sit down and eat while it’s still hot,” Ruby said.
“But that’s your food,” he said.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” she said. “I always order way too much food. I can’t possibly eat all of this myself, so come sit down next to me and eat.” He was starving, and honestly, the smell of the food was making his stomach growl. Ruby waved her egg roll in front of him and he laughed—God, it felt good to laugh again.
“You know you want to,” she taunted.
“I do,” he admitted, “thanks, Ruby—for everything.”