His eyes widened slightly as he stared at me. “Are you apologizing for him?”
“I . . . think so? I don’t even know why, which would usually mean that’s a crappy apology, but mainly because I don’t know exactly what he did, but I just know that my mom wouldn’t lie about something like that—”
Luc’s laugh was harsh.
My lips started to turn down. “Are you laughing while I’m trying to apologize for my father?”
“Yeah, I am.” Straightening, he rose. “You don’t need to ever apologize for a damn thing that man did.”
“Oh.” I was still for a moment and then scrambled to my feet so he wasn’t some giant towering over me. “That still doesn’t—”
“I’m not here to talk about Jason Dasher,” he cut in.
I took a tiny step back. “Then why are you here?”
His head tilted to the side, and a slow grin tipped up one side of his lips. “I don’t know,” he said, pausing. “Maybe I was looking for you.”
My hands tightened on the camera as my stomach dipped and twisted. Good. Bad. Both. “I think that’s pretty obvious.”
He chuckled as he leaned forward about an inch. “And here I thought I was in stealth mode.”
“Not exactly.” I glanced down at the camera. “So why were you looking for me?”
“Why aren’t you running away?”
My gaze shot to his. That was a good question, but whatever. “Is this how every conversation is going to go? You answer a question with a question?”
“You do realize you just did exactly that.”
Irritation prickled over my skin, as did reluctant amusement. “I think it’s weird to ask someone why they aren’t running away from them.”
“Maybe, but I—” His head swung to the left and his eyes narrowed. I followed his gaze, unsure of what I was going to see, but I expected something. I didn’t see anything. He sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, I need to go.”
“Uh, okay.”
Luc’s gaze slid back to mine. “Do you know how easy it was to find you? The answer is really easy. In a city that has—how many humans? A little over a hundred thousand? It took nothing for me to find you.”
My heart banged around in my chest. “Why should I be worried about how easy it is to find me?”
“You never considered that before?”
“That’s not something I’ve really ever thought about,” I answered truthfully, because seriously, who thought about that unless they were trying to hide? Or had something to hide?
His eyes held mine. “You should probably start doing that.”12
The house was too quiet when I got home, so like any other normal person out there, I turned on every light—and I mean, every light, even the hallway bathroom. And turned on the TV in my bedroom.
It still felt too dark in the house.
I’d uploaded the pictures I’d taken at the park and was flipping through them, but I didn’t really see any of them. My mind was someplace else as I sat on my bed.
Namely, it was still in the park.
What the hell was up with Luc? After he said that creepy thing that kind of felt like a warning, he’d just strolled on off like he hadn’t freaked me the heck out. And I like to think anyone in my shoes would’ve been creeped out. Why did it matter how easy it was to find me?
Shivering, I rubbed my hands down my arms. I just didn’t get why Luc felt the need to search me out in the first place. It was literally the weirdest conversation I’d ever had.
Ever.
And I’d had some weird conversations with Zoe and Heidi, the kind you didn’t want to repeat and you hoped no one was listening to.
My phone dinged from where it rested beside my laptop. I leaned over and picked it up to see it was a text from Heidi. Excitement sparked to life when I saw it was a picture of her and Emery, their cheeks pressed together. Emery was smiling, and wow, she was truly a stunning girl. Her skin tone was rich and earthy next to Heidi’s paler skin. Of course Heidi’s lips were puckered, like she was blowing a kiss at the camera. It looked like they were at a restaurant.
I quickly texted back: You guys look adorable.
Then I added about a dozen exclamation points, which earned me a heart emoji, the kind that exploded into little baby hearts. I sent another text, telling Heidi to call me when she got home so she could tell me all about her date.
I tossed my phone back onto the comforter. I was still too antsy to go through the pictures I’d taken. I scooted off the bed, and my sock-covered feet whispered against the hardwood floors as I decided to grab something to eat, because shoving chips into my mouth was the only way to kill time when I was feeling antsy.