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His hand slowly comes to my cheek, and vomit burns the back of my throat as he touches me. I don’t want him touching me. His touch doesn’t feel right. Not like Cross’s did.
“You’re here,” he murmurs before pulling me into his arms. I let him hug me, hold me. I let him keep me tucked into him as if he truly missed me when I knew he didn’t. I know what he did. I know the role he played in my life. And yet I play my part. I play the lost girl who has suddenly been found.
“I was so scared,” I tell him as I force more tears to fall. He pulls back and looks at me, really looks at me. Is he trying to see if I’m playing him? He will never know. I won’t let that part of me be seen.
“You were gone,” he says. “I looked for you.” Lies. It’s all lies. He didn’t look for me.
“I was taken and moved around so many times I didn’t know where I was.”
“How did you get away?” he asks. There’s the question. The answer? I’ve been playing that one over in my head since I walked out of the clubhouse.
“I don’t really know. There were these people who came in, killing everyone but the girls. They told us to run, and we did. They loaded us into vans and took us to this house. They fed us, cared for us.”
“I still don’t understand,” Luke’s voice is low.
“I don’t really either. They were like vigilantes or something. They took care of us,” I tell him. I’m such a good liar I almost believe my own story.
“Then how are you here?”
“They said we could go home. And I missed you so much,” I reply, forcing the tears and sobs again. Luke pulls me into his arms, holding me as if he truly gives a shit. We both know he doesn’t, but I like the show he’s putting on.
“Does anyone else know about this?”
“I don’t think so,” I answer.
“Good. Let’s keep this to ourselves then,” he says.
“What about the police?”
“We can’t do that. They’ll never find them. We’ll have to do it ourselves, Raven. We’ll figure this out,” he speaks quickly. I smirk over his shoulder. Of course, he doesn’t want the cops involved. Why would he? That would only implicate himself in this and show his true colors.
“Let’s get you inside.” Luke leads me toward the door. I don’t want to go in there. I don’t really want to be here, but to set my plan into motion, I have no other choice. I have to live here and breathe the same air as this asshole. I have to be in his space.
Taking a deep breath, I let him lead me inside. He pulls my bag from my shoulder and sets it on the couch before looking me up and down.
“You’re okay? They hurt you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay. We don’t have to talk about it. Do you need anything? A drink? Food?” Look at him acting all caring. What a load of shit. I know the truth. I heard the men talking. I know what he did.
“Water maybe?” he nods and walks away to grab me water. Then he comes toward me, handing it to me before motioning to the couch. I move toward the couch I’ve sat on many times and sit. We used to talk about our future here, what we would do with our lives, with our future. And then he threw it all away.
“I don’t even know what to say, Raven.”
“There’s really nothing to say. It all happened so quickly.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry there wasn’t more I could do.” I internally cringe at his words.
“There was nothing,” I say, gritting my teeth. I uncap my water and take a long pull, letting the cold water coat my throat. I don’t know how I will get past this or be here and not snap his neck or stab Luke in his sleep.
“You’re here. That’s all that matters now,” he says, pulling me into his side. I gag but choke it back down to keep up appearances. I can do this. I can fix this.
“Yeah. I’m glad to be home.” No, I’m not. I miss Cross already. I miss the safety. I miss feeling his arm wrapped around my shoulder, letting me know everything was okay. I miss him holding me in my sleep when he didn’t know I was awake. I miss the man himself.
“Is there anything you need?”
“I think I just need to sleep,” I tell him. He nods his head and stands, offering me his hand. He pulls me to my feet and then leads me to the bedroom. The bedroom. The place I slept at night. The place we slept at night. It should make me sick to my stomach, but a part of me feels at peace. Maybe it’s because this is where he’ll die for what he did and take his last breath.
