“I’m good. I’ll grab something later.”
“Glad to see you in such good spirits. Could it be because you’re going back to work?” he asked, with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged my shoulders, brushing his comment off, while I grabbed my phone from my purse and switched it on. It had been off for over a week, and I dreaded seeing how many emails and phone calls I had missed. “Or is it because you talked to Red?” I stared at my phone, not looking at him. Had he eavesdropped on my conversation? Not that I could blame him. I had done the same thing.
“What did you hear?” I asked, attempting nonchalance.
“Everything,” he said, propping his elbows up on the bar, and giving me a goofy grin. I rolled my eyes at his attempt to be cute, then turned my attention back to my phone. Without looking at all of the unread messages, I shot a text to Lindsey letting her know I would be there within the hour. “Don’t be so hard on her.” I snapped my head up at his demand. Was he fucking serious? He had just acted like a complete, over the top, mad man, threatening not only her, but her husband too, and he had the balls to tell me not to be hard on her. I scoffed. I couldn’t even find words to spit at him. “She’s only doing this to hurt me. She blames me for Regg being gone so much.”
“Well, isn’t that part of the life? She knew that from the beginning,” I replied, not caring what her excuse was.
“Regg has been gone a lot lately. More than normal.” I looked up, and he was giving me that expectant look. The one that told me I should know what he was referring to, without him having to actually say the words.
“Oh,” I replied, realizing that I was the reason Regg had been gone so much.
“Yeah, so she gets a little out of line when he ain’t around. She will be fine. I just don’t want you thinking you can’t trust her.”
“Well, you sure sounded like you didn’t.” Fuck. Did I say that out loud? Luke didn’t seem surprised at my words. I guess my eavesdropping wasn’t such a secret after all.
“Not trusting her to not tell you something and not trusting her to tell an outsider club business are two different things. I gave Red what she needed, and that was a reality slap. The same as what you gave her, but without my hand.” My face flushed when I remembered my actions of this morning. She hadn’t even said anything about it.
“Did she say something to you?” I asked. My eyes searched Luke’s face and found nothing, but a smirk.
“She gets it.”
“Gets what?”
“Bad dreams.” Red has bad dreams?
“Babe, I gotta go. I’ll call you when I get there. Keep your phone on you, always.” He was really leaving. My good mood turned melancholy when I thought of how I would not see him tonight when I got home. “Stop it. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry. I’ll be back before you know it.” I nodded my head in agreement, although my selfishness had me wishing I could have spent more than one night with him. Damn this other club. I would kill them myself if I had the chance. Luke was suddenly in a hurry, as he pulled me to him and kissed me hard. He released me all too soon, and I couldn’t help it. I needed more.
“Another?” I asked hopefully, as I watched Luke grab his keys from the counter. He stopped in front of me, and smiled. His patience was no longer an issue.
“Anytime, baby.” This time I was lifted onto the counter and he positioned himself between my legs, making us almost eye level. His hands came to my face and the next several minutes of my life were spent sharing an unhurried, lazy, passionate, kiss with Luke. When he finally pulled away, I sat staring at him, while his hands stroked my face. I memorized everything about him. From the way his ocean-blue eyes danced in his head as they scanned my face, to the way his hands felt while they were on me. “I’ll come home. But until I do, remember I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said, still feeling his words seeping through my pores, and running through my veins, all the way to my heart. He pulled me into a hug, burying my face in his chest. I felt his lips on the top of my head, then I was pushed back away from him, and he was gone. I sat on the counter, dangling my feet, listening for the roar of his pipes. Eventually they came, and I strained my ears until I could hear him no longer. He was gone, but I couldn’t dwell on that. By the ‘OH THANK GOD!!’ text message I had received from Lindsey, it seemed I had other things I needed to think about right now.