Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
My hair swished in front of my face, and the second I pushed it aside to toss Luke the water bottle I’d brought for him, I paused mid-step. What was he doing? Luke held my phone in its purple case to his ear and was nodding his head, obviously talking to whoever was on the other line.
When his green gaze spotted mine, he squinted, just a bit, but it was a puzzling squint, like he was confused.
God, who could it have been? What if it was Grant?
Oh my God! He probably called the cops and was pressing charges or something for his now lack of hair.
I couldn’t go to jail! I wouldn’t survive.
I was way too high-maintenance for all of that.
I walked a few more feet toward Luke, eyeing him suspiciously and trying to gather any clue about who was on the other end.
“Yes, Sir. I have one more left to board.” My eyes went wide. Jesus Christ, is he talking to my dad? ! Why would he answer my dad’s call? It wasn’t like he wasn’t programmed into my phone! Luke knew it was my dad!
I mouthed, “What the hell!” But Luke only ignored me, continuing on with his conversation.
“I’ll tell her, Sir. And I will.”
Then he hung up. I glared. I glared my hardest, most withering stare, but Luke continued to act casual.
I leaned against the side of my house, dropping the water bottle to the ground, and crossed my arms. I was fuming.
“Your dad said to tell you…thanks.” That was all Luke said, then he went back to hammering.
I didn’t say anything, instead getting swept up in my thoughts.
I knew my father would assume that me sending my twin sisters their first birthday gifts was a peace offering—and maybe it was a little bit.
Not really from me to him, but from me to them, it was.
They didn’t deserve the cold shoulder. They were babies.
They didn’t choose their names, they didn’t choose for my father to cheat on my mom, and they surely didn’t choose for him to knock up Carrie.
They were my half-sisters, and I wasn’t that cold-hearted.
They were going to need me down the road.
The funny thing was, though, I picked out two of the most annoying and loudest musical instrument-like toys to send them.
It would drive my dad crazy but not seem like I intentionally sent annoying gifts.
They were really cool toys, and I knew the girls would love them, while effectively annoying my father at the same time.
What was that? Oh, that was just evil Cammie laughing in the background .
I snickered at myself and then pulled back when I realized Luke was standing a few feet in front of me. I tried not to make it obvious that I was wafting the smell of his cologne and husky scent toward myself, but with the gleam in his eye, I wasn’t sure that I was successful.
“It’s funny how surprised the ol’ general acted when I answered your phone.” Luke raised his eyebrows, and I only shrugged.
“He was probably equally surprised that when someone finally answered the phone, it wasn’t his daughter.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I kind of got that. He gave me the…uh…the dad talk.”
I laughed hard—so hard that Luke started to chuckle, too.
“He probably thought you were my boyfriend.” I quickly stopped laughing when a malicious smile formed on Luke’s face.
“Well, I told him I was.”
My mouth gaped open. “LUCAS WELLS!”
“What?”
I swear, Luke could be so convincingly innocent at times. It was kind of scary. I bet he could get away with murder.
“You work tonight?”
“Yeah,” I said, still blindsided that he’d told my dad he was my boyfriend. He was not my boyfriend. Gah. He was so irritating!
“But what about when the storm hits?”
“I’m off for the next few days after tonight.” I snatched my phone out of his hand and looked at the time.
“I gotta go get ready, actually,” I said, already cursing myself for not catching a small nap before I headed in.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you tomorrow then…” he trailed of f, his brow furrowing when he reached into his back pocket to pull out his phone. He audibly growled when he saw whoever had called or texted him.
“Yeah, okay,” I said when he started to walk back to his house. “And…thanks for helping.”
“I’ll clean up the yard; go get ready,” he replied without looking at me.
It was weird how his demeanor had changed within seconds. He ignored his friends when he walked past them on the porch, and they looked back and forth to one another with knowing looks before following him inside.
Weird .
The howling wind woke me up with a groggy jerk out of my bed. I sat up straight, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and hastily grabbed my phone off my bedside table to see the time.
7:08 p.m.
Great. I’d slept most of the day. Thankfully, after my very long and exhausting shift at the hospital, I had been able to run by our small grocery store to grab some necessities for tonight.
You know, more wine, chocolate chips (in case a certain someone came over), non-perishable food, and two cases of bottled water.
I would have been A-okay if the power went out, and by the sound of the wind and rain slapping against my window, it would be out sooner rather than later.
I had welcomed my shift at the hospital with open arms. We were swamped, the ER taking the brunt with several men (and a few self-sufficient women) coming in with accidents from trying to prepare for the hurricane.
I had to bounce back and forth between the floors, losing myself in bandaging wounds and performing tetanus shots, which thankfully helped steer my mind away from my earlier encounter with Luke.
He’d seemed so…off when he’d seen whatever was on his phone, and I couldn’t quite shake the rare in-between moments that my mind did drift to him. Like right now, staring out my bedroom window through the dreary darkness of my half-boarded-up window. Luke was right; I sucked at boarding my windows.
I wondered what he was doing. No! Stop . I blew air out of my mouth and walked out of my bedroom, heading straight for the kitchen to whip something up for dinner before the power really did go out.
When I got to the sink, that was when I peeped through the tiny sliver of non-boarded window to see if I could spot any lights on in Luke’s house. It was a terrible habit, me spying on him, but it was the one guilty pleasure that I couldn’t quite give up…yet.
I couldn’t make out anything through the darkness, but I could glimpse a tiny glow of light through his window.
It was boarded up earlier, but somehow, it wasn’t boarded up now.
Whether that was from the wind knocking it down or the harsh rain, I wasn’t sure.
Suddenly, I jumped back and squealed as the wooden plank swung slightly off my window.
Jesus, the winds were picking up pace, and they were doing it fast!
I placed my hand on my chest to calm my erratic breathing, and then squinted my eyes back toward Luke’s window.
Our eyes met instantly, like he was waiting for me.
His body was illuminated in the window with just the one dim light on in the background.
He was wearing what looked like a black T-shirt, and if I tried hard enough, I could see his perfect green eyes, too. I reached my hand up and waved at him.
So, what? I was playing nice tonight. Whatever.
When his smile lifted on one side, I couldn’t help but feel my mouth do the same, and then, BAM!
The lights shuddered off. I jumped back and let out another shriek, my eyes searching the darkness for Luke, although I knew I wouldn’t be able to see him. It was pitch-black and the gusty rain didn’t help matters.
I thought about texting him, but the service was sure to be spotty from the weather, so I let out a frustrated sigh while fiddling with a granola bar in the dark of my kitchen.
My bare feet pattered against my hardwood floor as I went into the living room to light some candles.
I would just read a book; that would keep my mind off Luke and the increasingly loud, howling wind outside.
I shivered as I heard a tree branch whip against the side of my house.
I held my breath for a moment, allowing myself to feel afraid for about three seconds, and then I grabbed the lighter off my coffee table and flicked it on, staring at the red-and-orange flame before my finger let off of the trigger.
My head lurched to my front door when I heard a terrible screeching noise. It sounded like a cat dying, getting louder with each howl of wind. I walked over to the front door slowly before I put my ear against the wooden panel, and then I shot back again, heart racing in my chest.
“Oh no!” I said as my fingers reached my mouth.
I was pretty sure it was a cat, and it really did sound like it was dying.
Its cry resembled a meowing noise mixed with a high-pitched scream.
Before I knew it, I was grabbing my gray, cotton jacket off the coat rack and pulling the hood up over my head.
I slipped on my pink rain boots and quickly grabbed the nearby flashlight, flipping it on.
When I opened the front door, a deep chill set throughout my bones. It was absolutely astounding how beautiful the weather had been just a day ago, and now it was a wicked hurricane, destroying everything in its wake.
The shrieking noise had stopped for a moment, so I paused at the threshold of my house, about to retreat back inside from the awfulness of the storm, when it started up again. The noise was coming from the in-between part of Luke’s and my identical front porches.
My heart was beating ferociously in my chest as I crept down the front steps, making sure that my front door was closed and secure.