“Eli came and…” I trail off as Eli pulls on my hand.
“Tell him we’re going to watch The Avengers.”
“Did you hear that?” I ask Luke, standing in the middle of the compound.
“Yeah.” He chuckles. “I should be back in a few hours but if they get to be too much, ask them to leave.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Yeah, you fuckin’ can, darlin’. I gotta go but try to keep your cell on.”
“I will,” I tell him. “See you later.”
I hand it back to Evan when the line goes dead, watching the grin on his face before he turns around to Lexi and puts his arm around her. “Luke’s totally whipped.”
“Totally?” She snorts. “You sound like a teenage girl.”
He gasps dramatically before pulling away from her and pretending to flip his hair. “How, like, dare you, like, say that.”
Even I find myself chuckling at his impersonation, and when he walks away, throwing his hips left and right while holding his hand in the air, I can’t stop the full-blown laughter.
I’m nearly crying when Lexi follows him, and Kitty stands next to me, her arm against mine. I look over at her, but her gaze is focused on something else, her back straight, her body tense, and when I follow her line of sight, I see a guy I haven’t met yet.
It takes me a minute to realize who he is, and when I remember what Luke said, I understand why she’s being like this.
“Be polite, but not overly,” she whispers, only loud enough for me to hear.
“Hey, Kit.” He stops in front of us, his smile wide, but I see something behind it when his gaze skirts to me and then back to Kitty as he reaches forward and hugs her.
“Hey.” She hugs him back, the on-alert look long gone as she asks, “Wh
at you up to?”
“Gotta head to this job and meet Luke.” He looks back at me. “Lily, right?”
“Yeah.” I nod, my arm frozen by my side. “Nice to meet you.”
“Dean,” he says, and points at his chest as if I wouldn’t know who he was talking about.
“Well, we’ll let you get to Luke while we stuff our faces and watch movies.” Kitty links her arm through mine and starts walking, causing a ripple effect of Eli following us with his hand still in mine. “So! Avengers again, huh, Eli?”
I want to ask what that was all about—the warning she gave me but then the best-of-friend’s routine with Dean—but when we get to Luke’s door and I turn around, I find Dean leaning against his car watching us. I wish I could see the look on his face from here, but the feeling flowing through my veins tells me whatever Luke suspects must be right because he gives me the heebie-jeebies.
LUKE
I knew Dex would have questions about where I’ve been for the last week, and although Ty told me to feed him a bullshit story, I’m not down with that. My motto is if I’m gonna lie, it’ll have a grain of truth to it—it makes it easier to stick to the lie that way.
“I got married,” I’d told him when I first got here, shrugging as I took a pull of my beer.
He watched me for several minutes, staring at me to see if he could see a lie, only I knew he wouldn’t find one.
And now I’ve drank five shots in celebration—at least that’s what they think I’ve drank—and the sun has set, the darkness calling me to go home.
Pulling my cell out before I open the message app, I’m about to tell Lily I’ll be home soon—not that she’s asked but I feel compelled to tell her.
Damn, I’m in deep and there’s nothing I can or want to do to make it any different. I know she wants me to live my life the way I did before her, but it won’t ever be the same, not if I have it my way.
Running my hand through my hair, I half listen to Dex’s conversation about the next meeting, and when Darrell’s name comes up, I know I need to stay a little longer.