Page 18 of Part of Me
For ten years this man has never done me wrong. For ten years I have trusted him completely. For ten years I have been devoted to him. But all it has taken is forty-eight hours for all of that to change. It’s like my world has been turned upside down. Up until two nights ago, I remained blissfully unaware that anything was wrong.
As I stare at the ceiling, I take my mind back to when I confronted Luke about Andi. I watched for all the tell-tale signs to show me that he was lying, but none of them were there. So why the hell can’t I figure out what he is hiding? He works in construction for God’s sake, what could be so bloody important that he has to keep it secret from me?
The fact that I overheard him this morning saying that he couldn’t lose me makes me question what he is up to. He sounded desperate when he said it. I want to sit him down and ask him again if there is anything he needs to talk to me about, but I know that it won’t do any good. Luke can be stubborn at times, and he won’t tell me if he doesn’t want to.
As my mixed emotions swirl around, I fail to hear Luke enter the bedroom.
“Morning,” he says, making me jump. My eyes fly to look at him. He stands in the doorway of our bedroom, dressed in a suit, his hands in his pockets and his eyes trained on me.
“Going somewhere?” I ask him as I let my eyes run up and down his body. He really does look divine in a suit.
“Uh, yeah. I need to go into work for a couple of hours.”
“Again?”
“Afraid so.” He comes over to me and leans down, placing his hands either side of me to prop himself up. He hovers over me, his eyes burning into mine.
“You know,” I start. “I see less of you now that we live together than I did before.” I say it in a teasing manner, hoping that I am covering up the fact that my heart is racing.
“It feels that way, but I promise this won’t keep happening. Once this project is finished, I’m telling Andi that I want to take a step back.” His confession leaves me shocked.
“What? Why would you do that?” I ask as I wonder why he is saying this.
“I just don’t think it’s what I really want anymore.”
“But you’ve worked so hard to get where you are. Why the sudden change of heart?” I can’t keep the shock out of my voice. He has always seemed happy in his work.
“I can’t explain it to you right now,” he says as he stands up and looks at his watch. “I’m going to be late if I don’t leave in the next few minutes, but I promise to tell you more over dinner tonight.”
“You can’t just leave after dropping a bombshell like that on me,” I say as I sit up in bed, pulling the quilt to just under my chin.
“I’m sorry, babe, I have to go,” he says as he turns and walks out of the bedroom.
“Luke!” I shout as I jump out of the bed and race to the hallway. He has already disappeared from my view, and I feel panicked as I run down the stairs and try to catch him.
I hear the front door shut as I reach the bottom and I run to it, flinging it open, but it’s too late. Luke is already in his car and pulling out of the driveway. I don’t think as I grab my car keys and run to my car. I don’t even bother to lock the front door behind me in my rush to follow him. I have no idea if he has seen me, and by the time I pull off of the drive, he is already at the bottom of our road and turning left.
I put my foot down, willing the car to go quicker, but when I turn left there is no sign of Luke’s car. He’s gone. Fuck. I pull to the side of the road and bang my fists on the steering wheel, letting out a cry of frustration as I do. My breathing is heavy, and I stay sat in my car until I have calmed down. What the hell is going on with him? And why the bloody hell won’t he tell me anything?
I turn the car around and go back to the house. It only takes me a matter of seconds, seeing as I didn’t get very far in the first place. I park the car back on the drive and I make my way into the house.
As I walk in the front door an idea comes to me. I run back up the stairs and enter Luke’s office, which is opposite our bedroom. If there are any clues as to what he is hiding, then I am bound to find them in here. I go and sit at his desk, and I just stare at it for a few moments. I never thought that I would ever be doing this. I never thought that I would have to stoop to snooping through my boyfriend’s stuff behind his back, but Luke has left me no choice. With his secrecy, the arrival of Andi, and his decision to leave his job, I know that if I want to get to the bottom of this then I need to start doing some digging.
I place my hand on the top draw of the desk and pull it open. I peer inside, but there doesn’t seem to be anything that is remotely out of character. Just a few pens, pencils, a stapler and a hole punch. I try the next draw but all I find are drafts of construction plans. The bottom draw however poses a problem. I try to open it, but it’s locked. I pull on it again––why I don’t know as its clearly not going to open.
I sit back in his office chair and try to think about where the keys might be. I then take an age looking meticulously around his office, but I don’t find them.
“Fuck it,” I say out loud, willing my brain to come up with some sort of idea of how I can get that draw open. I don’t know how much time passes as I try to pick the lock, with no success.
Feeling irate that I haven’t been successful, I turn on Luke’s laptop. As I watch the screen come to life, I see that his laptop is password protected. I try everything that I can think of to unlock the damn computer, but I have no success there either.
With my frustration becoming worse by the second, I look to the bookcase to the left of me. For some reason, there is a piece of paper poking out of two of the books which catches my eye. I stand up and go over, pulling the piece of paper out. It is folded in half. I unfold it, my heart in my throat at what I may find written down, but I needn’t have been worried as all it has on there is a bunch of numbers that have no recognition to me whatsoever. I fold the paper up and place it back where it was.
Marching out of the office and back to the bedroom, I grab my phone off of the bedside table and search for Tori’s name and hit the call button, tapping my foot on the floor as I wait for her to answer, which seems to take a fucking age.
“Hey, Char,” she says when she finally answers, sounding far too jolly for my liking right now.
“Tori, I need your help.”
