21. Luke
CHAPTER 21
Luke
Bruised ribs were a bitch.
I stood in my kitchen, fresh out of the shower, my hair still damp, and a towel wrapped around my waist. Leaning back against the counter, I sipped a cup of coffee, then rubbed the stubble on my jaw.
My midsection looked about as bad as it felt. I was black and blue, and basically everything hurt. It was hard to move, hard to sleep, hard to breathe. I was supposed to be careful, but I’d spent the weekend lying around, and I was ready to crawl out of my skin. It was Monday morning, and I needed to go to work.
It wasn’t like the garage would fall apart without me. But if I had to spend one more day cooped up in my house with nothing to do, I was going to lose it.
The problem was, I wasn’t supposed to drive. Despite what the doctor had said—no driving for at least a couple of weeks—I’d assumed it would only take a day or two to feel well enough to get behind the wheel. But every time I moved wrong, sharp pain exploded across my midsection. All it would take was swerving to avoid a squirrel in the road, and I’d probably hit a tree .
Which meant I needed a ride. And for some reason, that had left me paralyzed with indecision.
My family all knew I was hurt. Theo had spread the word. Dad had bellowed at me a bit, then helped Mom stock my fridge with food. Everyone else had stopped by throughout the weekend, adding more ice packs, electrolyte drinks, snacks, and cookies from my sister-in-law, Harper.
I could have asked any of them for a ride. But when they’d asked how I was going to get around, I’d told each of them I had it covered.
You should have called me.
It was so weird that Melanie had said that. Because I had been thinking about calling her. Which made no sense. Why would I have called her? And why would I call her to drive me to work?
But damn it, the way she’d burst in on Saturday had done something to me. I’d spent the rest of the weekend thinking about her. About the worry in her voice and the look in her eyes when she’d replaced my ice pack.
You should have called me.
I wanted to be mad at her for getting in my head. But she’d been in my head since the day she’d almost run me off the road.
Actually, she’d been in my head a lot longer than that. She’d never really left.
With a groan of frustration, I set my coffee down and grabbed my phone. “Fine, Mel. I’ll fucking call you.”
It was a mistake. All she was going to do was piss me off. I hit send anyway.
“Are you okay?” she answered, urgency in her voice.
“Yeah, fine. I just…”
“What? What’s wrong? You’re not at work, which makes sense because you’re injured, but I’ve also been trying not to call you all morning. ”
My lips twitched in a grin. “Why were you thinking about calling me, Mel?”
“You know, because you’re usually here and you’re not. Except you’re not always here, sometimes you’re off site. I don’t know. I’m worried about you, okay? That’s not illegal. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“So there’s a modicum of concern again?”
“Yes. Just a small amount.”
I could picture her gesturing with her thumb and forefinger to show me just how little concern she had.
She was such a liar.
“So, as part of your job, I need you to run an errand for me.”
“Oh. That’s why you’re calling? Of course it is, it’s a workday and I’m here… working. That’s what I do. I work for you. What errand?”
“I need you to come get me.”
“Come get you?”
“I can’t drive because of my ribs, so I need a ride to work. I figured if I didn’t call you, you’d probably complain about it, so I’m just avoiding an argument.”
“Oh.” She was quiet for a second. “I’m glad you called.”
Why did she keep doing that? Going all soft when I expected her to snap at me. The woman made my head spin. “Yeah, well, you said I should have before. So I am now.”
“I did say that.” Her gentle voice was disarming. “Sure, I’ll be right there.”
“Thanks.”
I ended the call and set my phone down.
Okay, so I’d called her. And it was fine. I needed a ride, she was coming to get me. It made sense. It wouldn’t have been weird if I’d have called Andrea when she was working. Just part of the job.
Except I hadn’t called Melanie because it was her job.
My phone buzzed. It was my aunt Louise .
“Hi, Aunt Louise,” I answered.
“Luke, I’ve been worried sick. Your mom told me you were in an accident. How are you? Are you all right?”
“I’m a little banged up, but otherwise I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Thanks for checking up on me.”
“Of course, dear, of course. I’ll be by later with soup, and I’d bring cookies, but I suppose Harper already beat me to it.”
“She did, yeah. And thank you for the soup, but I’m all stocked up. I don’t think there’s room in the fridge.”
“That’s fine, you can freeze it.”
I shook my head. Sometimes it was easier not to argue with her.
“And one more thing,” she said. “Do you think you’ll be feeling up to the bachelor auction this weekend? There’s absolutely no pressure if you’re too injured. I just need to know since we’re printing the programs.”
I stifled a groan. I’d completely forgotten about the bachelor auction. “I don’t think—”
“You know what? I’ll leave your name in, and we can just cross it out if you decide not to come. But I bet you’ll be fit as a fiddle by Saturday. That’s almost a whole week.”
I wanted to tell her no. But then again, the SPS had actually done a lot for my family. The least I could do would be to stand on stage and let them auction me off for an evening. I’d just have to let the winner know I wasn’t up for any strenuous manual labor.
“You know what, Aunt Louise, I’ll be there.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. I just know you’re going to bring in a hefty sum. I can feel it.”
“Just make sure people know I’m hurt. I wouldn’t want anyone to bid on me with the expectation that I can build a fence or something.”
“I’ll spread the word. Thank you, dear, I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye, Aunt Louise. ”
With a slight shake of my head, I ended the call and set my phone down. This bachelor auction was going to be interesting.
In the meantime, I needed to get dressed. I went to my bedroom to throw on some clothes. I had to clench my teeth against the pain while I pulled on a pair of jeans. The T-shirt wasn’t as bad. I tugged it down gingerly and took a few deep breaths. It hurt, but I’d live.
Shoes, though. Those were going to be an issue. I had a pair that slipped on my feet easily enough, but tying them was going to be a special kind of torture.
I got them on, leaving them loose, and went to the living room to figure out how to tie the laces. I tried putting one foot on the coffee table to make it easier to reach, but I only bent over about three inches before I had to stop.
Maybe I needed to sit. I lowered myself onto the edge of the couch, took a breath, and tried to reach my shoe.
Pain wrapped around my midsection, making me feel like I couldn’t breathe. Groaning, I leaned back.
There was a knock on my door.
“Yeah, gimme a second,” I called out.
Melanie waltzed right in like she owned the place and shut the door behind her. “Ready?”
“I said give me a second. That means wait, not walk right in.”
“It was unlocked.”
“I could have been naked.”
She shrugged. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
She wasn’t wrong, but hearing her flippant reference to a time when we’d been getting naked together was both arousing and mildly infuriating.
I ran my tongue along my top teeth. “No, I’m not ready. I need a minute.”
“Okay.” She crossed her arms and glanced around.
Steeling myself to endure the agony, I sat up and started to bend forward so I could tie my shoes. The groan that crawled out of my throat was completely involuntary.
“Don’t hurt yourself.” She came over and got on her knees in front of me. “Here, let me.”
There was a hell of a lot of pride swallowing in letting Melanie tie my shoes for me. She was matter-of-fact about it. Didn’t make fun of me for not being able to do it myself, or drop a snide comment about deserving it because I’d done something stupid.
In fact, she hadn’t lectured me about the accident at all.
A feeling spread through my chest, and it wasn’t pain. It was warm and pleasant, a deep sense of gratitude. I wanted to reach out and run my fingers through her hair. Touch her face and bring her close. Kiss her soft lips.
Damn it, no. I didn’t want Melanie like that. I couldn’t. I couldn’t take that risk again.
“So when am I going to hear about it?” I snapped.
Her gaze lifted to meet mine as she finished tying my second shoe. “Hear about what?”
“My accident. Racing. Me being an idiot.”
“Am I supposed to say something about it?”
“Figured you would.”
“Why, because I used to hate it when you raced back in high school? That was a long time ago.”
My jaw hitched. This turn of subject was my doing. I wanted to antagonize her. Get her arguing with me so I could go back to being mad at her for existing, instead of whatever else it was that kept happening to me when she was around.
But she wasn’t taking the bait.
“We used to fight about it then. Why not now?”
She paused, her brown eyes fixed on mine. No flash of anger lit up her features. I didn’t sense her gearing up to fire back at me.
“Honestly?” Her voice was soft. “You’re not stupid. You know when something is dangerous. And I think you’re old enough to have outgrown your teenage immortality delusion. So you must have a reason for doing it. And until the reasons not to outweigh the reason you do it, you’re going to do what you want. This isn’t my problem to fix.”
I watched her as she stood, at a loss for words. What was I supposed to say to that? She was absolutely right.
“I wasn’t expecting you to be the calm and reasonable one,” I said.
“Weird, isn’t it?” She smiled. “It happens more than you’d think. I’m a hot mess, but I’m not as high strung as I used to be.”
One corner of my mouth lifted in a grin. “You sure about that?”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t high strung at all. Just that I’ve mellowed out a little.”
“All right, I’ll buy that.”
“Can you stand by yourself, or do you need help?”
“I got it.” Gritting my teeth, I stood. “Thanks for the help with my shoes.”
“Of course. Ready?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
I followed her outside to her car. The weather was hot with a slight haze of brown in the sky. Must have been a wildfire somewhere, hopefully not too close to town. I didn’t smell smoke, so that was a good sign.
We got in, and putting on the seat belt wasn’t as agonizing as I’d feared. She pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, but hardly sped up.
I leaned over to look at the speedometer. “Why are you going twenty-five?”
“I’m being careful.”
“You’re not even going the speed limit.”
“You ask for a ride to work, and now you’re going to complain about how I drive?”
“Thirty, Mel. You can at least go thirty on this road. ”
“You’re just so used to driving too fast, you don’t know what safety feels like.”
“Right, because you’re the epitome of a safe driver.”
She glanced at me, pressing her lips together like she was trying not to smile. “I’m not the one with a wrecked car and bruised ribs. What happened to the car, by the way?”
“Evan Bailey went out there and loaded it on his trailer yesterday. Saved my ass.”
“That was nice of him.”
“Yeah, I owe him.”
“How bad is the damage?”
I shifted in my seat, trying not to visibly wince. “Pretty bad. I can fix it, but… yeah.”
My eyes flicked to the speedometer again. She’d finally gotten up to the speed limit. It almost made me chuckle. She was such a fireball, but she was right, I was the one who’d wrecked a car racing illegally.
It was too bad she was dating someone.
But why? Why did I care? Maybe racing—and crashing—made it look like I had a death wish, but I didn’t want to get hurt. And Melanie and I together? There was only one way that ended, and it would be worse than my bruised ribs.
The truth was, it had taken me years to get over her the first time. Why would I do that to myself again? Why even think about it?
Because there was something about her. A warmth that drew me in, like a fire on a cold night. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. Could I bask in her heat without getting burned? Could any man?
It didn’t matter anyway. Whatever she was doing to me—stirring up all these very inconvenient feelings—she was dating someone else. I wasn’t going to get in the way of that. Granted, the guy looked like a douche, and I didn’t know what she saw in him, but who was I to tell her who to be with? My opinion didn’t count for shit .
After the slowest drive in the history of ever, we finally arrived at my garage. I managed to get out of the car without audibly groaning, which was a small miracle. Wordlessly, we went in together.
She went to the front desk and set her purse down. I hesitated by the door to the garage, the ache in my chest not a result of my injuries.
It was her. Damn it. She’d left that empty space behind, and I’d spent years trying to fill it. But nothing worked. And I hated it.
I took a breath and almost said something, but stopped. I didn’t know what to say. She’d always been the one who got away, the girl who broke my heart. I’d been in denial about that for years, but it was the truth.
Didn’t matter. We’d had our chance and that was over. Without looking back, I went through the door into the noise of the garage.