Page 29 of After We Fall

“Flourish?” He throws his head back and unleashes a mocking laugh. “You guys and your fancy words you keep shoving down my woman’s throat. You don’t know the first thing about Finley.”

I release my grip on Luke’s shirt and shift to step in front of him. “She just needs a little space, Marcus. A little help to get her feet on the ground. She needs a safe place. She needs—”

“Shut up!” Marcus’s hand slices through the air. “I’m done givin’ her space. She doesn’t have a clue what she needs.” With each declaration, his volume increases. “I’m what she needs.” He beats his palm on his chest.

Luke grabs the back of my sweater, drawing me into his chest, while I say, “She doesn’t need you. She’s stronger than you think.”

“Careful, woman.” Marcus’s glazed eyes roam my body from head to toe in a disturbing manner. He lowers his voice. “I’m stronger than you think.”

“Enough,” Luke says.

Marcus finally shifts his focus to Luke. He bares his teeth, revealing a gold-capped eyetooth. “You’re new to the savior brigade, man. Did you come in town for the super secret wedding?”

Ice travels down my veins. The wedding.

“I don’t remember seeing you at the ceremony.” Luke leans toward Marcus, his voice lowering to a growl. “Or were you hiding like a coward?”

A middle-aged lady with a restaurant-themed T-shirt approaches on the opposite side of Luke, seeming to keep a safe distance from the situation. “Excuse me.” Her timid voice matches her wringing hands. “You’re disturbing the other customers. I’m . . . I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Or I’ll need to call the police.”

Marcus doesn’t even do the woman the courtesy of looking at her. Instead, his attention remains on me. “I’m done with you.” He spits on the floor, then turns his attention to Luke while he points to me. “Just make sure she stays outta my way.”

“You lay a hand on anyone at the ranch,” Luke says, his expression dark, “I’ll come after you myself.”

Luke and I cruise down the highway toward the ranch, mountains filling the frame of the windshield. Their dark clouds swallow the afternoon sun, keeping the light hostage.

From the passenger seat of Luke’s black Ford F150 Raptor, I try to wrap my mind around the firestorm that just occurred at the restaurant. My inability to perform well during unplanned scenarios is unfortunate. However, with Finley’s well-being at stake, my inability to perform well feels grave. In truth, I don’t think either Luke or I handled the situation well, and I’m worried about the consequences. Did he have to threaten Marcus? In a public venue, no less?

I turn to Luke. “What is wrong with you?”

“Probably a lot.” Luke shifts a toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.

Ugh. Another toothpick.

“You just threatened someone in public. With numerous witnesses.”

Luke does a double take. He runs his hands from the top of the wheel and around the sides to the bottom. “It wasn’t a threat.”

“What do you mean it wasn’t a threat? You told him you’d come after him yourself.”

“It wasn’t a threat.” He chews twice. “It was the truth.”

After Marcus had stomped out of the restaurant, Luke and I checked on the staff and remaining customers, smoothing over the situation. If I had known he was going to grab a toothpick on the way out, I would have requested the manager confiscate them.

After a swift unzip of my purse, I reach into the side pocket and pull out a peppermint. When I hold out the offering, Luke glances at me, grins, and takes it.

He hits the button to roll down his window, snags the toothpick out of his mouth, and chucks it outside. After rolling his window back up, he unwraps the mint and pops it into his mouth.

Acres of dried grass roll by, and an uneasy concern settles over me. “I set him off,” I whisper. “Marcus said, ‘I’m stronger than you think.’ I set him off. It puts Finley at risk. I put her at risk.” The weight on my chest presses me back against the seat.

“She put herself at risk the second she started dating him.” He reaches to squeeze my arm. “This isn’t on you, Penelope.”

His grip is warm, but I pull my arm away and brush a strand of hair off my cheek. He can’t understand this situation the way I do. I was left in charge of the girls while the Holcombes are away. The sole responsibility for Finley’s well-being lies on me. “Do you think Marcus is the one? The vandal?”

“I think the odds are high that he did it. He’s nursing a healthy hatred of Twelve Bluebells, and he could have been making a statement that night with the broken vase and the scattered brochure pieces.” Luke looks into the rearview mirror, adjusts it, then returns his focus to the highway. “But that information isn’t what concerns me now.”

“Why wouldn’t it concern you now?”

“While you were working this morning, I interviewed everyone I could who knew about the wedding firsthand. No one owns up to leaking the information, whether it be accidental or otherwise. With all the physical evidence cleaned up and no true leak of the wedding to an outside source, we’re not going to know who vandalized the chapel. It doesn’t really matter, though. If Finley really didn’t tell Marcus about the wedding, the fact that he knew means the information was never secure in the first place.”