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Hell no, I’m leaving well enough alone.
“Well sit down then, I ain’t gonna bite.”
Her eyes widen, her gaze clashing with mine. And reflected back at me is the same thing that’s always there when someone who doesn’t know me looks into my cold eyes. Terror, apprehension. But is that also a little spark of something else mixed in there too?
“I’m Lily,” she whispers, her soft voice fuckin’ floating through the air.
I already know who she is, but I stay silent as I continue to stare, watching her as she moves closer before tentatively sitting down on the other end of the sofa. She keeps her gaze connected to mine, not backing down. Girl has spunk, I think I like that. Shit, no. No, I don’t fuckin’ like that.
I grunt as she lifts her lips into a small smile before I look away and take a long pull of my beer.
“I’ll be in in a minute, Lily! I’m just making pasta!”
“Okay,” she replies.
I grit my teeth, a muscle in my jaw ticking. I don’t know if I can sit in the same goddamn room as her for the next couple of hours. I’m on edge—an edge I haven’t felt in a long-ass time.
I’m standing up before I know it and walking toward the stairs. Even though I only lived with Mom until I was eighteen and went to basic training, she still keeps my room just how it was back then.
I can feel Lily’s eyes on me, burning a path through my skin, so I halt when I get to the bottom step. I grip onto the railing, taking a deep breath before turning my head to face her. Her blond hair whips around as she looks away, but now I’m the one staring.
Her nose is straight, lips full and plump, her hair—fuck. Am I really standing here doing this?
Grunting, I take one final look before stomping up the stairs and slamming my door just like I used to when I was sixteen.
LUKE
“Luke?” I roll over, my neck aching with the movement. “Luke?” A hand lands on my shoulder before gently shaking.
My eyes spring open. “What—” My gaze bats around the room, frantic as I sit up. What the hell?
“You fell asleep last night,” Mom tells me, a smile on her face as she places her purse over her shoulder. “I need to get to the shop to open up.”
I grab my cell off the bedside table and check the time. “You woke me at four in the mornin’?” I raise a brow before settling back down, closing my eyes briefly.
“Well, I didn’t want you being late and I didn’t know if you set an alarm.”
“It’s set,” I mumble, already falling back asleep.
The door clicks shut as she walks out of my room and I’m out like a light, feeling like my alarm is waking me up only minutes later. I click snooze, rolling over.
I never click snooze; I love my sleep but after years in the Marines, my body has got used to the early mornings. But when I’m at Mom’s something happens and I revert back to the teenager I used to be where I’d have to set several alarms to get up in the morning.
The incessant sound goes off over and over again, and when I finally push up off the bed, I see it’s past nine.
“Fuck!”
I run out of my room and into the bathroom, brushing my teeth and jumping in the shower. I then pull on the same clothes I was wearing yesterday as I don’t have any spare clothes here that will fit. It’s not often I sleep at Mom’s but when I do it’s never intentional. Hence the tight muscle in my neck from the fuck old pillows.
Picking up my keys before heading out the door, I lock it behind me and click the fob to open up my SUV.
I’m about to pull the door open when something out the corner of my eye gains my attention. I frown at the hunched figure as she walks along the sidewalk on the other side, her blond hair shadowing her face from view.
She walks gingerly, careful not to jostle herself, and the way she holds her arm against her middle tells me she’s in pain.
She didn’t look like that last night.
I stand here, my muscles taut and ready to stalk over to her, but my brain stops me. I told Mom to stay out of it and yet my instinct is to protect her. Something about her is calling to me, and when she looks up, her dark-blue eyes capturing mine right away, I know I can’t not see if she’s okay.
