33. Luke
CHAPTER 33
Luke
Melanie was tense and it was making me furious.
Anger seethed inside me as we drove back to my place from the Timberbeast. She hadn’t been herself for days, and it was only getting worse. I wanted to find the piece of shit who was responsible and make sure he couldn’t hurt anyone ever again—especially not my woman.
Shadowing her every move was probably starting to make her mad, but what else was I supposed to do? Someone was out there attacking women, and Melanie was not going to be one of them.
In the meantime, I wanted to rearrange his face. He was victimizing her without even targeting her directly. She was anxious and scared. And who could blame her? With everything she’d been through, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she decided to bail on Tilikum forever.
That thought made me pause as I pulled into my driveway. Would she? And if she did, would she bail on me, too?
We got out of the car in silence, tension snapping between us. Despite all my confidence—all my bravado about being the one to marry her—deep down, I was worried. Maybe even afraid .
And that kind of pissed me off too.
She went up the stairs ahead of me and unlocked the door. I followed her inside and locked it behind us—something I didn’t always used to do.
“I know it’s early, but do you want to just go to bed?” I asked.
Stopping in the kitchen, she didn’t turn around. “You know that’s not going to fix anything.”
“I’m not trying to fix anything. It’s just been a long day.”
She hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know if I’m going to sleep here tonight.”
If I’d been in a calmer frame of mind, that statement might not have felt like a punch in the face. But I wasn’t, so it did.
“What? Why? You can’t go to your place alone.”
“I’ll go to my brother’s house. Or my parents’.” She dug her phone out of her purse. “I’ll see who’s around.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, I think I do.” She started walking down the hall, her eyes on her phone.
“Why?”
She disappeared into the bedroom without answering.
Rolling my eyes in frustration, I followed her. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean, what’s going on?” She had her bag on the bed and was stuffing things in it. “A psycho murderer is terrorizing the town, and I can’t even stay at my own house. That’s what’s going on.”
“We can sleep over there if you want.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she snapped.
I was trying, and probably failing, to keep my voice from rising. “Then what do you mean? Why can’t you stay here?”
“What are we doing, Luke?” She started gesturing wildly as she spoke. “We decide to start dating again because we both got jealous. What is that about? And then you move me in because you’re afraid I’m going to be the next victim. So here we are, playing house, like this is all a great idea and our lives aren’t spinning completely out of control.”
“What am I supposed to do? Leave you alone and let you be an easy target?”
“This isn’t about him!”
I was ready to tear my hair out. “Then what the fuck is it about?”
She opened her mouth like she was going to answer, then shut it again and started shoving more clothes in her bag. Without bothering to zip it closed, she grabbed it off the bed and shouldered her way past me.
“Where are you going?” I asked, following her into the living room.
“My brother’s house.”
“At least let me drive you.”
“No.”
“Mel, just let me drive you over there.”
“I’ll call him on the way and he can meet me outside, since this stupid town is so insane I can’t even walk from my car to someone’s front door without an escort.”
As soon as she put her hand on the doorknob, a strange sense of panic seized me, making my chest tighten. It wasn’t just fear, it was a memory—an awful memory. One that I’d tried very hard to forget.
For a second, it left me frozen. She was going to walk out and that was going to be it. It didn’t seem like we’d just had a breakup argument, but it hadn’t the first time, either. I’d been blindsided then just as hard.
And I’d let it happen.
I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. Teenage me had figured she’d get over whatever had made her mad. That we’d get back together in a day or two and everything would be fine.
We hadn’t. And there had been nothing fine about it. Not that day, or in any of the days since .
In that moment, everything became so clear I almost laughed. My anger melted, even as I watched her open the door and start to leave.
“I love you,” I said.
She stopped in her tracks, her back to me.
My beautiful mess.
“This isn’t about me being jealous of some other guy. I mean, I was. But I’ve loved you since high school. I never stopped. And if you think I’m going to let you walk out that door and out of my life, you’re very, very wrong. I’ll pick you up, fling you over my shoulder, and carry you, no matter what it does to my ribs.”
Slowly, she turned to face me. “I’m not leaving you. I…”
“Aren’t you?” I asked, my voice gentle. I moved closer. “I think you’re trying to run. Baby, I’m not the one you need to be running from.”
“How do I know that?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper.
“Because I love you.”
Her eyes were wide, full of vulnerability. “You said that back then. And you didn’t.”
“Of course I did.”
“Then why did you break up with me?”
I looked at her like she’d just asked me why I’d murdered her entire family. “What? I didn’t break up with you.”
Her forehead creased in confusion. She marched back inside, closing the door behind her, and dropped her bag on the floor. “Excuse me? Yes, you did. And I have the marriage to another man to prove it.”
“You broke up with me.”
Her mouth dropped open, her expression full of offense. “Excuse me, Luke Haven, I did no such thing.”
“I’m sorry, did I just teleport to an alternate universe? Because yes, you did. You broke up with me. I was fucking devastated. ”
“No, you weren’t.” She put her hand on her chest. “ I was devastated.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “After prom, we were out at that party and we started arguing about something. I don’t even remember what it was, but you got mad and said you were leaving. That someone was taking you home. I thought you were going to cool off and we’d be fine in a day or so, like usual. But you weren’t fine, and apparently that was it. You were done with me.”
“That’s not what happened.” Her voice was indignant. “We were fighting, and you said you were sick of it. And I said fine, I’d get a ride home. And then… I don’t quite remember what else we said, but I left crying because you broke up with me.”
“I didn’t break up with you after prom. Is that what you thought?”
“Yes, that’s what I thought. Why else would I have stopped answering your messages?”
“Because you broke up with me.”
“Don’t make this my fault.” She put her hands on her hips. “It took you all of a week to start going out with Melody Torres. And then you were making out with Becky Green not long after that.”
“I never went out with Melody Torres. Who told you that?”
“I don’t know, everybody.”
“Let me get this straight. You left that night thinking I’d just broken up with you. And then you heard a rumor that I went out with someone else.”
She glanced away. “I didn’t know it was a rumor.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “Let me guess. When you heard that rumor, you immediately believed it and burned all my stuff and then made out with Derek Kelly.”
“How did you know I burned your stuff?”
“I think Zachary heard it from someone and told me. Which was why I kissed Becky Green at a party in front of as many people as possible. I felt like I had to prove I didn’t care what you did.”
“And you kissing Becky Green was why I kissed Derek Kelly at a bonfire. And why I didn’t call you when I got my dorm assignment, even though I wanted to.”
“And I didn’t call you when I got an apprenticeship.”
“And I avoided you at Christmas when I came home to visit my family.”
“You avoided me every time you came home to visit your family.”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice softening. “I did. I thought you hated me.”
“I guess I convinced myself that I did. Mostly because I thought you hated me. And because when we broke up, it gutted me.”
“Me too.”
I stepped closer. “You’ve always been the one who got away. You know that, right? I think I’ve spent my entire adult life comparing every other woman to you. And they all fell short.”
She laughed softly. “I have a hard time believing that. I’m a hot mess, Luke. I’m too much.”
“That’s what this is really about, isn’t it?” I moved in and brushed her hair back from her face. “We broke up back in the day. Your marriage fell apart. So deep down, you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. And if you walk out now, maybe you’ll save yourself from having your heart broken again.”
When she lifted her eyes to meet mine, they glistened with unshed tears. “I’m afraid of this.”
Slipping my hands around her waist, I drew her against me and leaned my forehead down to touch hers. “Don’t be.”
She held my arms. “But what if we mess it up again?”
“We might. But messing it up in the short term doesn’t mean we fall apart. It doesn’t mean we give up. ”
“So… we can be grown-ups and actually talk about our problems?”
My mouth lifted in a smile, and I kept my forehead touching hers. “Exactly.”
“That seems awfully reasonable. What’s the catch?”
“There’s no catch.”
“Are you sure? You know me, better than anyone. You know I’m a lot.”
“Baby, I don’t know who convinced you of that, but they’re wrong. You burn bright, and maybe that’s a lot for other people, but I love it. I love how I feel when I’m with you—like I’m alive.”
Her body softened and she draped her arms around my shoulders. “I love that you get me. That I can be myself with you, even when I feel messy. And how you stay so calm, even when things are hard.”
I brought my mouth to hers and kissed her softly.
“I love you,” she whispered when I pulled away. “I love you so much.”
Warmth spread through my chest. Hearing those words chased away any lingering doubts. “I love you, too.”
“Doesn’t it make you mad, though?”
“What?”
“That we could have been together all this time.”
“Believe me, it’s crossed my mind that if I hadn’t let you go, you wouldn’t have been in LA that night. You wouldn’t have married someone else and been through everything you’ve had to deal with in the last couple of years. But maybe this is how it was supposed to be. We both had a lot of growing up to do.”
“And maybe instead of worrying about the mistakes we made in the past, colossal as they might have been, we should focus on the future.”
“And be grateful we found our way back to each other.” I kissed her again, deeply this time. “I’m ready to love you the way you should be loved.”
“And I’m ready to love you back.”
She lit me up, like a spark catching dry tinder. Heedless of the twinges of pain that still tightened my midsection, I picked her up and tossed her over my shoulder.
“What are you doing?” she asked with a laugh.
I strode to the bedroom and dropped her on the bed. “Claiming you. Don’t move.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Yes, sir.”
I shucked off my clothes, but took my time undressing her, kissing her skin as I removed each piece of clothing. Touching her and teasing her, I worked her into a frenzy, making her pant and beg.
“Please, Luke. I need you.”
My fingers brushed her soft center. Groaning, I licked off her taste before climbing on top of her and settling between her legs.
Our bodies came together in a rush of heat and pleasure. She wrapped her legs around my waist and clutched my back, moaning with every thrust. Her skin was silk, her shape molding perfectly to mine, as if we’d been made for each other.
Pressure built, every sensation intensifying.
“I love you,” I growled into her ear as I thrust hard. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
Her answer was almost breathless. “Yes, Luke. I love you. Don’t stop. I love you.”
“Don’t hold back, beautiful. Let me hear you.”
Her climax overtook her, and it was all too much. I came undone, exploding inside her, pushing her up the bed with the force of my hips.
As the intensity subsided, I kissed across her shoulder. She held onto me, as if she were still afraid to let me go.
“Stay here a minute,” she whispered .
I held there, still inside her, burying my face in her neck. For a long moment, we just breathed.
Finally, I propped myself up so I could look at her. “How do you feel?”
“Amazing. Is that what I-love-you sex is really like? Because that was incredible.”
My lips turned up in a grin.
“You might just convince me to stick around if you keep doing that.”
I kissed her and nibbled on her bottom lip. “Baby, we’re just getting started.”
And that was the truth. In moments, I was ready again. We lost ourselves in each other, in the heat and passion and pleasure.
After all, I had to make up for a lot of lost time.