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The tension in his stomach twisted, but he still couldn’t prevent himself from asking the obvious next question. ‘Then why did he?’
‘Because you were Rafe’s son. And Rafe was the love of Matty’s life.’
The information had Luke’s discomfort at the original bequest increasing tenfold, along with his outrage on Ruby’s behalf.
‘That’s kind of an extreme thing to do, even if Falcone was an idol of his …’ he murmured.
What kind of a best friend gave half of what should rightfully have been yours to some random relative just because he looked like the movie icon they’d once had a crush on? He’d always known the Falcone nuts were nuts. But Matty Devlin’s bullshit bequest took that insane devotion to a whole new level.
‘You don’t understand, Luke,’ his mother said, still looking stricken. ‘Rafe wasn’t just the love of Matty’s life. Matty was the love of Rafe’s life. And I destroyed their relationship, when I got pregnant with you.’
Chapter 11
‘I can’t believe Devlin didn’t come back this afternoon like he promised,’ Jacie said as she loaded the hoover back into the supply cupboard after the final clean-up. ‘Do you know where he went?’
‘No, I don’t.’ Ruby sighed. ‘I’m not his keeper, Jace.’ Not even close.
Luke had left before lunch saying he’d be back in an hour and then never reappeared. And she’d missed him. Too much. How had he become such an important fixture after only two weeks? His steady, capable, competent, mostly silent presence, something she had come to rely on? And that was without even factoring in last week’s shock hug while she was having her Matty meltdown after his mother’s call.
Being able to sink into his strong arms, feel his warm breath on the back of her neck and hear the solid thud of his heartbeat pounding against her ear had been pretty much the best thing that had happened to her for a long long time. Well, the best PG-rated thing to happen to her.
Don’t think about Hairgate.
She needed to get over needing him, and missing him, because sooner rather than later Luke and his strong arms and steel buns and steady, capable presence would be gone. And today had been a timely reminder of that fact, for them all.
‘Perhaps we should inform the magistrate’s court of his no-show?’ Jace said, propping her fists on her hips. ‘He is supposed to be doing three hundred hours you know.’
Ruby shut the safe where they kept the night’s takings and whizzed the dial to lock it.
‘We most certainly are not going to be doing any such thing, Jace,’ she said as calmly as she could. Jacie’s heart was in the right place, but she needed to get over her animosity towards Luke. The guy had been The Royale’s very own super-hero so far, working long hours, fixing seats and toilets and a host of other equipment that had been broken for a long time, not to mention starting to return the theatre’s infrastructure to its former glory. ‘From the schedule Luke’s outlined,’ she continued, because Jacie still looked like she wanted to argue, ‘he’s going to be doing five times that number of hours over the next few weeks. I don’t even want to think how much money it’s costing him to rent a house in Chepstow Villas and keep his business in New York on hold. He probably had a boardroom emergency today he couldn’t tell us about …’
The tickle of anxiety, which had been getting worse ever since Luke had failed to turn up at one thirty that afternoon, clawed at Ruby’s throat.
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‘All I care about is that it’s not any other kind of emergency …’ If he’d been hurt, or injured in any way, she’d never forgive herself. Perhaps he’d had to return to America. Was that the real reason his mother had called? To inform Luke of some family disaster? Because Ruby still couldn’t get her head around the idea of Helena Devlin ringing The Royale to talk to her. Or why Luke had spoken to his mother so harshly …
Stop right there, Rubes, not your business.
Ruby steered Jacie through the bar, into the foyer and towards the front door. ‘Why don’t you head home, I can finish locking up. I’ve got a long hot bubble bath and a chilled glass of pinot waiting for me before I crash headlong into bed.’ Running a cinema and panicking at the same time were exhausting.
‘Fine,’ Jacie said as they reached the front door. ‘But if he’s a no-show again tomorrow, we should probably …’
‘If he’s a no-show tomorrow, I’m going to start calling hospitals,’ Ruby said, as the anxiety sunk its claws into her chest.
Whatever the emergency was, Luke would have let her know, unless he couldn’t let her know.
‘Now, piss off so I can panic in peace,’ she said, as she shoved her assistant manager out the front door.
‘He’s not hurt, he’s just a rich, arrogant, entitled guy,’ Jacie said, but even she looked concerned now. ‘With great bone structure.’
‘Don’t forget the buns of steel,’ Ruby said as Jacie stepped out of the door.
Jacie nodded. ‘I hope we get to ogle them some more tomorrow.’
‘Ditto. See you at eleven,’ Ruby said, as she closed the door then pressed the button on the inside to engage the outer metal shutters.
Jacie saluted before heading off down the street to the tube.
