Last Chance - L. P. Dover Page 0,71

hair and shook her head. “That feels much better.” I handed her the wet glasses and she dried them.

“Are you ready to start college again?” I asked. Once the summer was over, she’d be finishing up her teaching degree at the University over in Charlotte.

She turned to me and smiled. “More than ready. But I’m glad I get to keep my job here. Being promoted to manager was the highlight of my summer.”

“I’m sure there are other highlights of your summer, right?” I asked, nodding toward Josh. He was about a year older than her, and was home for the summer from Western Carolina.

She glanced over at him and sighed. “I like Josh, but when he goes back to school, we’ll have that long distance thing going on. I don’t know if it’ll work.”

“You’ll just have to try it out and see. At least he’s not ignoring you.” I pulled out my phone and texted Luke again. I’d called and left messages for the past two hours, but he wasn’t picking up.

“He’s still not answering?”

“Nope, and I can’t get him to return my calls.”

I’d told her what happened, and even she believed Luke wouldn’t have slept with Skylar. She knew Skylar and how shady she was. Apparently, they went to the same high school together. I just hated I hadn’t taken the time to listen to Luke when he’d tried to talk to me.

Victoria squeezed my arm. “He’ll call. He hasn’t spent the last year trying to get you back just to ignore you now.”

Hopefully, she was right. We finished up the glasses, and thankfully, the group of guys decided to leave. I was just about to kick them out, since the tavern had closed thirty minutes ago. Josh lifted the chairs onto the tables and Victoria helped him. Once the floors were swept, they left. All I had to do was lock the doors, and I’d be on my way to Luke’s.

My purse was still behind the bar. When I walked over to grab it out of the lower drawer, I heard the back door open. I sucked in a breath. It was almost eleven o’clock and I was alone. There was a knife by the sink, so I grabbed it and got down on my knees to peer around the corner of the bar.

Luke stepped out from the hallway and looked around. “Lara?”

Breathing a sigh of relief, I stood and put the knife in the sink. “You scared the shit out of me. I didn’t know who was coming in at this hour.”

Luke looked at me and we just stared at each other. His cheek was blue from where Grayson had punched him, but it was nothing like Grayson’s swollen eye. He nodded toward the back. “I saw your car and thought I’d stop by. I was on my way to your house.”

“You were?”

He held up his phone. “I got your messages and thought it’d be better to talk to you in person.”

“I thought you were ignoring me,” I said, my voice growing thick.

He stepped closer, then stopped. “Of course not. I went out riding to clear my head. Then my bike broke down in the woods and I had to walk all the way back.”

“Are you okay?”

“Far from it, cupcake.”

“Why do you call me that?” He’d said it numerous times, but I’d never asked.

“Because every time I saw you around town, you were getting a cupcake from the bakery. It just kind of stuck. I always thought you liked it when I called you that.”

“I do,” I murmured, closing the distance. “I’m so sorry, Luke. I should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt, but after seeing you in that room . . .” I shook my head. “If I’d just gone in there and tried to kick your ass like I wanted to, I would’ve been able to tell you were drugged.” I burst out crying and he pulled me into his arms. With him holding me, everything felt right.

“Shh . . . it’s okay. I wish you would’ve tried to kick my ass. My world has been a complete clusterfuck without you. And I’m sorry, but I was desperate when I barged into your bathroom. All I wanted was for you to hear me out.”

I nodded and breathed him in. I didn’t want him to let me go. “Can you forgive me?”

He pulled me back and lowered his lips to mine. His kiss was hard and deep, his fingers digging into my hips. We’d only