I blink with confusion. “What did I do?”
“You’re overthinking about something,” Luke says. “I can tell. You’re upset.”
“I’m not,” I lie, glancing around at the others who are watching this conversation with a mix of curiosity and amusement.
“Yes, you are! You can’t hide it from your face. Your eyebrows get all scrunched together, and you look intense.So serious.” Luke hiccups with a slight giggle, clearly having fun poking at me.
I can feel how my forehead scrunches with my frown, and I immediately relax my face, rolling my eyes. “No, I’m not.”
“‘He said seriously.’”
“Stop it.”
“‘He commanded with the intensity of someone who is very serious.’”
“If you don’t shut your mouth, I’ll shut it for you,” I laugh, unable to help myself.
“Oh yeah?” Luke’s eyes narrow. “Prove it.”
So I do. Even though we’re not alone, I grab Luke by the shirt and pull him into me without hesitation, kissing him like no one is watching. There are a few ‘oohs and awws’ from the others, but it barely registers in my brain as Luke quickly melts into me with a big smile, his arms reflexively going up around my neck. My hand drifts down to his waist, my fingers finding the little dip where they fit so well. Except the moment I touch his side, Luke tenses, letting out a soft gasp, and he pulls back with a noticeable wince of pain.
“Wha—” I start to ask, but then Luke suddenly jumps up from the couch, Misty leaping from his lap with a disgruntled mew, and he declares that he needs to pee, cutting me off before I can address what just happened.
Without another word, he sways around the couch and down the hall toward the bathroom, leaving me stunned and confused. There’s a sudden knot of angst in my chest, and when I turn my attention back to the others, I see the same confusion mirrored in their expressions. No one says anything, but a sense of mutual concern makes me feel like we’re all on the same wavelength.
Eventually, when Luke reemerges from the bathroom, I see he’s ditched his contacts for his glasses, his eyes slightly red-rimmed, and I wonder if they’d been bothering him or if he was crying. After making himself another drink, he returns to the couch and sits down next to me with his characteristic, dazzling smile—a deflection I’ve become all too familiar with. I lean into it for now, not wanting to get into yet another fight about what he’s not telling me while we’re in front of his friends.
As the night goes on, I manage to keep my worries at bay. Luke’s so happy and bright that it’s not hard to forget that there’s something to be worried about.
When the alcohol starts to drag Luke down with fatigue, he lays his head on my lap, and I brush my hand through his hairwhile we listen to the others talk. Misty eventually returns and curls up in Luke’s arms, purring as he lazily strokes her dark fur.
But when his whole body finally goes limp with exhaustion, and I’m confident he’s out for the night, my curiosity gets the better of me. Gently, I reach out and lift the edge of Luke’s shirt, pulling the fabric back to expose the skin underneath.
“Oh my god!” Star gasps in horror when she sees the massive bruise I had hoped wasn’t there. Rei and Dmitry snap up quickly at the outcry, moving closer to see the mottled skin below Luke’s ribcage. It looks a few days old, with the yellow and green starting to form around the edges, but that only makes it look more gnarly.
“How did that happen?” Dmitry asks.
I can’t help but frown, tracing my fingers delicately across Luke’s skin. He’s so out cold that he doesn’t even seem to notice.
“He fell down the stairs,” I say softly, repeating the flimsy excuse he told me. It sounds just as wrong coming out of my mouth as it did out of his.
The three roommates exchange wary glances that only an idiot would miss, and a pit forms in my stomach.
“That feels wrong to you, too, doesn’t it?” I ask.
“Is that what he told you happened?” Star asks, frowning.
I nod. “A few weeks ago, I found a massive welt on his shoulder, and he said he’d walked into an open cupboard. Last week, he got this cut,” I add, gesturing to the healing skin hiding underneath his hairline. “He said he’d tripped and fallen down the stairs. This must have happened at the same time.”
“That doesn’t sound like him.”
“He claims he’s naturally clumsy.” I shrug.
“Clumsy?” Rei scoffs, indignant. “Luke’s adancer. Have you seen how he moves? He’s more graceful than a swan. No.Thatlooks like someone got their hands on him.”
I clench my jaw, feeling a swell of inexplicable fury rushing through me at the confirmation that my concernsarejustified. These aren’t just random accidents. Luke is getting hurtbysomeone… He has to be. It’s the only thing that makes sense. With Rei’s words, a missing puzzle piece clicks into place, and my world tilts on its axis with the implications. All this nonsense about self-induced injury is bullshit. It’s been happening right under my nose, and I’ve been oblivious.
I lay his shirt back down and move my hand back to his hair, gently brushing my fingers through the golden strands.
