Page 20 of Part of Me
“Charlie,” Tori says, placing her hand on my arm to get my attention. I open my eyes and look at her, the fear not leaving me for one second. “What were those men here for?” she asks as she searches my eyes.
“To talk to me about Luke,” I say in a whisper. Her brows knit together, and I can see that she is as confused by this as I am.
“Did you know who they were?”
“No, but I know that whatever it is that Luke is hiding from me is serious.” I take a few more deep breaths and will my heart to stop racing. “Whatever he has gotten himself involved in, Tori, it’s bad.”
“How do you know that?” she asks.
“You saw those guys. They told me that they were policemen.” I scoff. “They didn’t look like any police that I have ever seen.” I can see that she agrees with me on this. “They were here to frighten me,” I say, my mind thinking of all sorts of shady shit that Luke could be involved in.
“You seriously believe that?” I nod at her, and we stare at each other in silence. All thoughts of opening Luke’s desk draw are gone. I don’t need to look in there now, and I’m not sure that I want to either.
Chapter Fifteen
Tori stays with me until Luke comes home. She can see that I am scared shitless, so I am grateful that she doesn’t want to leave me on my own. When I hear the door open just over an hour after Tori arrived, my nerves ricochet.
“Babe,” I hear Luke call out, and I let out a sigh of relief.
“It’s okay, Char, it’s just Luke,” Tori says as she squeezes my hand. I give her a small smile and am so thankful to have her as a friend. We have spent the last hour going over what happened when those guys showed up here, but we don’t have any conclusion on what is going on.
Luke enters the kitchen and sees us sat at the dining table. I let my eyes meet his and I can literally see the colour drain from his face.
“What’s happened?” he asks as he freezes on the spot.
“I should go,” I hear Tori say, and I turn my attention to her. She stands up and I do too, giving her a hug before she leaves.
“Thanks for coming over,” I say.
“No problem. Give me a call later,” she says as I let her go and watch her walk out of the kitchen. Luke is still staring at me, and we remain in silence until we have heard the front door click shut. Luke is clearly waiting for me to speak, and I decide not to make him wait any longer.
“Who are Ricardo and Gavin?” I ask, and I see his eyes widen before his jaw sets firm. He knows who they are, and I am determined not to let him fob me off with some pathetic excuse. “Who the fuck are they, Luke?”
“They’re nobody,” he says, lowering his eyes to the floor.
“Nobody? You’re really going to try and pass this off when I’ve had them here, asking to talk to me about you?” I’m shouting now, but I can’t help it.
“They spoke to you?” he says, his eyes darting back to mine.
“Yes, Luke, they spoke to me. They knocked on the fucking door and asked to come in.”
“What?” His face looks murderous as I tell him this piece of information.
“They also told me that they were policemen. Fucking policeman!” The rage that I have contained over the last few days has taken over me. My whole body is shaking as I look at the man that I love. He is obviously pissed off, but so am I. “What’s going on, Luke? What the hell have you gotten yourself involved in?”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about––”
“Are you kidding me?” I say, cutting him off. “Two strange men turn up here when I am alone, asking to talk to me about you, and you’re just going to tell me that it’s nothing for me to worry about?” I run my hands through my hair and let out a cry of frustration.
“Charlie––”
“No. I don’t want to hear your excuses, Luke. You either tell me the truth or we’re done.” I see the shock settle on his face at my words. I am so mad that the words came out without me thinking about them.
“I can’t,” he whispers.
“You can’t? Or you won’t?” I question. I see that he wants to answer me, but when he closes his mouth and looks at the floor, I can see that this conversation is over. I fight against the tears that are threatening to emerge. I fight against the urge to go over to Luke and pound my fists against his chest. I fight to stop my heart from breaking right here, right now. The only sound in the room is my heavy breathing.
When Luke makes no motion to say anything else, I storm past him and up to the bedroom. I keep the tears at bay as the rage taking over my body becomes all consuming. I enter the bedroom and grab the holdall out of the bottom of the wardrobe. I throw it on the bed, and I start to yank clothes from the wardrobe.
