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Except that she would know him anywhere.
With shaking hands, Terri replaced the phone on its station, and without saying where she was going, walked mindlessly down the narrow passage leading to the locker rooms. She needed to be alone. She couldn’t think. Her mind was too clouded with visions of her murder, of Randy strangling the life out of her once and for all.
With panic setting in, Terri burst through the locker room doors and ran for the washroom where she proceeded to vomit her dinner into the toilet.
Luke found her soon thereafter, worry and annoyance warring for dominance on his broad face.
“The girls are wondering where you disappeared to,” he informed her, crossing his arms over his chest as if she were a child in need of reprimand. “You know you can’t just take off without telling someone where you’re going.”
“I know,” Terri muttered, keeping her head low. She lacked the strength to hold it up, too weakened from the turmoil eating at her insides to do much else than sit there and ponder her fate. “I’m sorry. Tell them I’m sorry.”
Luke was suddenly sitting beside her. She hadn’t even heard him move.
Lifting her chin, he narrowed his deeply blue eyes on her and tilted his head. “Are you sick or something?”
“I’m fine,” she managed, trying to find some strength to lie effectively and failing miserably.
Tucking a chunk of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear, he shook his head. “Talk to me, Terri. I know everything isn’t fine. I know there is something going on with you, and I want to know what it is.”
“It’s nothing,” she insisted, forcing herself to meet his gaze.
Dropping his hand, Luke’s expression changed from soft and understanding to a mix of anger and annoyance like a switch had been thrown.
“That’s bull and we both know it. Now this…whatever this is,” he waved a hand through the air encompassing her, “is starting to affect your performance here. This is a business, Terri, and if you want me to be understanding, then you’re going to have to level with me.”
Terri narrowed her eyes on him. “Are you saying you’ll fire me if I don’t confide in you?”
Luke sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “No, I’m not going to fire you, Terri. I just need you to help me understand. I can’t help you if you don’t.”
The pained expression he turned on her, one of utter defeat, somehow compelled Terri to open her mouth and admit this one person into her shrunken world.
“My husband,” she began, and swallowed hard to tamp down the tremor in her voice, “he’s been released from prison.”
Luke looked at her in a way that told her he was trying to be sympathetic but still didn’t grasp the gravity of the situation.
She went on. “He was here tonight, and I think he was here last night too.” She grimaced, knowing in her heart of hearts that what she was about to say next was the truth. “I think he was the one who hit that boy in the parking lot.”
Luke’s eyes widened, understanding mixed with equal parts anger and worry twisting through them until the blue seemed to swirl with his anger.
“I’ll kill that asshole,” he seethed, his fingers curling to form tight fists against the bench they sat on.
Terri shook her head. “You can’t. They would lock you up, and then who would watch out for me?”
She didn’t want Luke to get himself into trouble. It was obvious he was a fighter, willing to go up to bat for any cause he deemed worthy, but she didn’t want to see him get caught up in the drama of her life. Not if she could help it.
She hadn’t meant to, but she started to shake a little, almost as if the cold outside hadn’t fully left her.
Seeing this, Luke wrapped her in his arms and squeezed her to him. “Hush,” he murmured. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Promise?” she asked, then sniffed back the start of a runny nose. Had she started crying too? Jesus, she really was a mess.
“Promise. It will be a cold day in hell before I let that creep get anywhere close to you again.” He petted her hair absently. “Don’t you worry about a thing, I’ll work something out.”
Closing her eyes, she leaned into his embrace. For the second time in her life, Terri decided to put her trust into a man. This time, she only hoped she wouldn’t get burned.
