“I got contacts,” I told him.
He glared at me.
“And I dyed my hair.”
The glare turned scary.
“And I lost seventy-five pounds.”
For some reason, at this Shirleen burst out laughing and I could hear other laughter in the room as we’d been joined by more people that I couldn’t see. I just kept my eyes on Luke who looked, for some insane reason, about to blow.
His jaw clenched and his gaze moved to the man behind me. “You wanna let her go?” he asked but it wasn’t really a question and the tone of his voice was downright frightening.
The arms around me loosened and I took a step away.
Luke stayed where he was. “What’re you doin’ here?” he asked, still weirdly pissed off and still angrily glaring at me.
I decided instantly I didn’t need a tough guy. I was going to go it alone so I lied, “Thought you might want to get a beer.”
“I called you,” he said, changing the subject suddenly, seemingly oblivious to our audience.
Crap, I was worried about this.
He had called me, half a dozen times after his father’s funeral. Two, I missed because I was out. Four, I had listened to, sitting there while he was leaving the messages and I didn’t answer. None of them I returned.
“I know,” I said softly.
“After my father died, I called you,” he repeated and the laughter swept out of the room just as quickly as it came in.
“I know,” I repeated.
“You didn’t call back and now you wanna have a beer?”
His tone was even more frightening than before. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible but there it was.
“Um… maybe not,” I muttered, deciding that perhaps I should go home, go to bed and get up again and try the day differently, next time making smart decisions about my actions (read: not going to Nightingale Investigations).
“What’re you doin’ here?” he asked again.
“I told you,” I answered.
“You lied,” he stated.
My mouth dropped open. I had lied of course but how could he know that? And anyway, he was accusing me of lying in front of other people.
I felt my temper flare.
“I did not,” I snapped (and lied again).
“Bullshit.”
“Don’t you say ‘bullshit’ to me, Lucas Stark.”
“Don’t lie to me, Ava. What’re you doin’ here?” He wasn’t going to let it go.
“I was going to ask you out for a beer. Then I remembered I have a dentist appointment and now I’m late so I’m just going to…” I was preparing for escape, I took two steps toward the door, mid-rant, and Luke moved.
One second he was several feet away from me. The next second, he was right there, bent over and, I kid you not, his shoulder slammed straight into my belly, he lifted up and started moving, taking me with him. I let out a small, surprised scream and I heard a couple of gasps as his shoulder twitched and he bumped me into a more solid position on it, his arm wrapped around the backs of my thighs. He walked from the room, opening a door and carrying me with him as he went through.