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Abby must have sensed the same thing. She turned to him. “It wasn’t my place to tell you. It really didn’t concern me.”
“Either way.” Nathaniel shook his head. “You should have called the police. Something.”
“I did what I thought best for my friend. And I wouldn’t change it at all.”
Nathaniel opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it. Obviously, the conversation wasn’t over. It just wasn’t going to continue at the moment.
Abby shifted her attention back to Luke. “Yes, it started tha
t way. But as time went on, she grew more and more attracted to you. And she was afraid to tell you about the blackmail because she thought you’d act exactly like you are now.”
“Of course,” Luke said. “How else would she expect me to act?”
“Can you see her point at all?” Abby asked. “Seriously, what would you have her do?”
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, tell the truth?”
“She was protecting her brother and her father.”
Luke laughed. “Her brother is an ass. Why the hell would she want to protect him?”
“It was more than that. Whoever it was also threatened her.”
That was the first Luke had heard about a possible threat. The thought of someone hurting Meagan made his blood boil. He clenched his fist. “Damn it, she should’ve told me. I could protect her.”
Abby’s right eyebrow cocked up. “Really? Maybe you would have known if you’d let her explain instead of kicking her out of your house.”
A punch to the gut would have felt better. Damn it. Was his ego so fragile that he couldn’t have heard her out that day? Had she been so frightened for her safety that she felt she couldn’t talk to him?
He knew how it looked. Like he wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. It was the Dom inside him who was bound to protect at odds with the man who’d had his heart broken.
He shoved his hands through his hair, finally admitting the truth to himself. “I was an ass. I care for her. I do. What happened hasn’t changed that.” He sighed. “I just don’t know if I can trust her.”
“Have you never made a mistake?” Abby asked.
“Abby,” Nathaniel said, a slight warning in his tone.
She held up her hand. “No, he has to understand that we all do stupid things when we’re in love.”
Luke felt as if someone had punched him. Love? Was it possible Meagan loved him? It didn’t seem possible. You didn’t keep things from people you loved.
But as soon as the thought popped into his head, he dismissed it. Of course you did. People kept things to themselves all the time. Yes, Meagan had been wrong to keep the blackmail from him, but if he looked at it from her point of view . . .
He’d broken her heart years ago. He saw just recently how much their breakup back then had impacted her. If, in her mind, things were going well between them—and they had been—it stood to reason that she feared telling him about the blackmail might drive him away again.
Hell, it had. He was here now, wasn’t he? Away from her. And he’d replied to the e-mail telling her not to contact him again. Damn. He was an ass.
Granted. It didn’t get her off the hook. She’d fucked up and fucked up big-time. But she was human and if there was a chance she loved him, didn’t he owe it to her, to them, to forgive her?
She’d given him a second chance. Didn’t he owe her the same?
From her chair across from him, he saw Abby’s smile begin to return. His expression must have shown what he was thinking.
“I knew you’d come around,” she said.
“I don’t know if I’d say that just yet,” he admitted. “We still have a lot of issues to discuss and work out. But, I’m willing to work on them. Willing to listen.”
“Damn.” Nathaniel looked at him with a strange expression.
“What?” Luke asked.
“You’re really in love with her.”
He felt light for the first time in years. “Yeah, I suppose I am. Is it that obvious?”
Nathaniel nodded. “When I first came in here, you looked like someone had kicked your puppy. Now, all of a sudden, you look like you could go off and fight dragons.”
“He looks blissfully in love,” Abby agreed. Her phone vibrated with an incoming text and she reached for it.
Luke slapped his hands on his thighs. “Nathaniel. Abby. I know we were supposed to talk about the new club, but if you’ll excuse me—”
“Looks like you may need to start fighting those dragons sooner rather than later,” Abby said. When she looked up from her phone, she was frowning.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
She held up her phone. “Meagan just sent a text. She figured out who was blackmailing her.”
His heart pounded so hard, he could hear it in his head. “Who?” Tell me. I’ll fucking kill him.
“It’s her brother.” She shook her head. “I don’t like the way this sounds. She said she’s going over to his place to confront him.”
In a perfect world, Luke wouldn’t have to worry about Meagan talking with her brother. After all, he was family. But the truth remained. He had threatened her and the possibility existed he might follow through with his threat.
“Shit,” Luke said. “I don’t know where he lives.”
Nathaniel stood up. “Give me his name. I’ll find him for you.”
* * *
Meagan pulled up to her brother’s apartment, noting his truck was parked near the front door. She’d almost thought to call before showing up, thinking maybe he’d be working. Then she decided that it would be more likely for him to publish his book than for that to happen, so she didn’t call. Besides, she didn’t want to give anything away.
She rehearsed in her mind what she was going to say. And, after she said it, she was going to insist he get some help. His refusal was not an option.
She tapped her foot while she waited for him to answer the doorbell. If all went according to her plan, this visit shouldn’t take very long and then she’d work on getting Luke back.
“Yeah?”
It wasn’t Jake who answered the door. Nor was it his roommate, Ray. She didn’t recognize this man, but something about him looked familiar.
“I’m here to see Jake,” she finally said.
He stepped to the side and waved her inside. “He’s passed out in his bedroom, but you can wait for him to wake up if you want. He shouldn’t be out too much longer.”
Waiting with a stranger for Jake to wake up wasn’t very high on her list of fun ways to spend a few hours. But she didn’t have anything else to do and now that she was at his apartment, she really didn’t want to make the trip again.
Like her visit before, she wasn’t about to sit on any of the nasty furniture. She switched her purse to the other arm and tried to get as comfortable as she could.
The strange guy sat on the couch, watching her with a faint amused expression on his face. It was annoying. Like he was in on a joke she didn’t know about.
Why did he look so familiar?
Finally, she couldn’t ignore it anymore. “What?” she asked him.
“You,” he said. “Standing there like you’re too good to sit down.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t believe I caught your name. I’m Meagan, Jake’s sister.”
He kept on smiling. “I know who you are, Meagan Bishop.”
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Something about this guy was off. She took a step closer to the door. “Funny. I don’t have a clue who you are.”
“I’m a friend of your brother’s.” He nodded to the couch. “Sit down and I’ll tell you more.”
“That couch is filthy. I’m not about to mess up my clothes by sitting on it.” The couch in question had several dark stains. They
