17. Luke
luke
. . .
Our drive to the hospital was now much more lively. Lucy’s mood picked up, and for a good reason—her mom is better. Landon didn’t call. I called them and pestered them until I got an update on her mom, so I had good news when she woke up. Or that was, at least, what I told myself. After they insisted they couldn’t give me details because I wasn’t Eve’s family, I called Landon, who had to call them and ask for updates. Still, it all worked out in the end because the smile on her face was more than worth it.
“I think I’m going to bake her some cookies the next time I visit her,” she said, looking out the window as we headed toward Rockwood. “And I definitely have to make some for you. To thank you for everything.”
“I already told you there’s nothing to thank me for. You would’ve done the same for me.” She had done the same for me. Lucy was there during the worst things to happen to me—save our breakup. We were dating when my grandpa passed away, and she didn’t leave my side. Before we could continue the conversation, her phone buzzed, and she groaned as she looked at the caller ID.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“My ex,” she grumbled. Every muscle in my body tensed. Why was he calling? Did he want her back? “Do you mind if I take this?”
“Not at all.”
“Hello,” she answered, and I lowered the radio volume so she could be uninterrupted during her call and so I could hear the words exchanged between them. I kept my eyes on the road.
“Hi, how are you?” he asked on the other side of the line.
“What do you want, Jason?”
“Shit, there’s no need to be so cold to me, Luce.” A surge of fury spread through me. Apparently, we shared a nickname for her, which annoyed me to no avail.
“You don’t get to call me cold. You cheated on me for six months, so I’m sorry if I am less than cordial with you.” Her volume rose with each syllable.
“Well, maybe if you weren’t so fucking distant, I wouldn’t have needed to do that. I needed you by my side, and you weren’t there.”
Was he seriously blaming her for cheating? The audacity of this asshole. I shook my head.
“Put that on speaker,” I interrupted her. I was about to give this dickhead a piece of my mind.
“Who’s that? Are you already fucking another guy, Lucy? I can’t believe this!” her ex continued complaining on the other side of the line as she put me on speaker.
“You want to know who this is, and I’ll tell you. I’m about to become your worst fucking nightmare if you ever speak to her like that again. She’s not interested in anything you have to say about this charade of your affair, and she’s most certainly not interested in being insulted and humiliated by you. So, the next time you speak to her, you show her some fucking respect. Or you’ll regret the day you met her.”
Lucy fell silent, and so did her ex. I didn’t need to look at her to see how her mouth gaped.
“Now, say what you need to say, and leave her the hell alone.”
He was still silent, so Lucy spoke up first. “What did you want, Jason?”
Jason then blew out a breath. “I need you to get your stuff out of the apartment.”
“I’m not in town right now, and I’m dealing with a lot, so that’s not going to happen. I’ll check with Sailor to if she can help out and come pick up my things in a few days.”
“I can’t give you much time. Sarah moved in, and she wants your stuff out of here…so if you could make it happen sooner than later, I’d really appreciate it, Luce.” It took every ounce of self-control I had not to send him to hell. Judging by Lucy’s face, she felt the same way. She scrubbed at her face.
“Un-fucking-believable,” she swore at him. I smiled. It wasn’t like her to swear, but I was glad it was directed at this douche. “Fine, I’ll make sure Sailor comes to pack all of my?—”
“You won’t need to pack anything. We already did it for you.”
“Are you kidding me? We’ve been broken up less than two weeks, and you’ve already packed up my stuff and moved in with your mistress? You know what, Jason? You can go to hell!” She hung up with a puff.
“What a dick,” she swore, and the initial swear was followed by a flood of more…interesting choices of words. Each suited her ex-boyfriend perfectly fine, from what I had heard. My hands were white with how tight I was gripping the steering wheel.
“I know it’s not my place to ask, but I have to do it, Luce…” I said. “Did he always treat you like that? Because I’m about ready to hop on a plane to Seattle and give him a piece of my mind.” And my fist right into his face. I was not a violent guy by any means, but someone talking to Lucy like that sent me into another kind of rage.
“He wasn’t always like that. I guess it was about the time he started cheating when our relationship started to get rocky…and things took a turn for the worse. I thought it was just a bump on the road—something we could overcome. I thought it may be the stress about work…” With the way her voice broke, I momentarily gazed over at her. Her eyes welled up, and the sight of that alone made me want to beat the hell out of that guy.
“Hey, don’t cry.” I reached for her hand, giving her a small squeeze. She didn’t pull back. “That guy doesn’t deserve you.”
Lucy sniffled. “That’s not why I’m crying. I’m embarrassed about it all. How couldn’t I have seen it coming?”
“Because you always see the best in people,” I pointed out. “He’s the asshole here. If he couldn’t recognize what a great thing he had, that’s on him. I regret every day that hasn’t been spent with you.”
“Luke,” she said, squeezing my hand. “I can’t do this right now.”
“I know. I just…I want you to know it. So, you don’t question yourself. Because trust me, this has nothing to do with you and everything to do with him. It’s not your fault he cheated, and you didn’t see it coming because you trusted him.”
She sniffled. My gaze switched between the road ahead of us and her, but the tears were slowly disappearing, and I was pleased to see it.
“Still very good at comforting people,” Lucy murmured, “if you weren’t working at your dad’s company, you should’ve been a therapist.”
I laughed at her words. My hand remained locked around hers. “Well…I own the company now. Dad sold it to me last year when he decided to retire and spend more time with Mom. I think it was the right move, but it’s a lot of work between the company and renovating my home…”
“Wow, congratulations. Luke, that’s amazing. I’m glad everything worked out for you…”
Not everything, I wanted to say, but I hoped that was about to change soon.