Page 26 of Part of Me
He places a kiss on my finger and closes his eyes. “You are incredible, you know that?”
“I have my moments,” I say playfully. He laughs, and it warms me from the inside out.
“I promise that I will tell you, when it’s all over.” I see the sincerity in his eyes, and I give a slight nod of my head. “And I promise that you will be kept safe. No one is going to hurt you.” I gulp at his words, and I just pray that he can keep that promise.
“Okay.” He looks startled, but then that’s hardly surprising seeing as only a week ago I stormed out of here because he wouldn’t tell me. “I trust you, Luke.” I have been miserable without him for the last week. Yes, I might have been hurt that he wouldn’t tell me anything, but I need to follow my heart. And my heart is telling me to stick with him. My heart doesn’t want to let him go.
“I love you so much, Charlie.”
“I know,” I say with a smile on my face.
“Want some breakfast?” Luke asks me.
“You mean you don’t have to go into work today?” I ask, seeing as he has worked the last few Saturdays.
“Nope. I told Andi that I refuse to work weekends anymore.”
“Seriously?” Luke nods at me in confirmation. “I bet that didn’t go down too well.”
“Let’s just say that she wasn’t pleased, but she understood my reasons.”
“Huh.” Maybe this Andi woman isn’t that bad. “So, we have the day all to ourselves?”
“Yep.”
“Well in that case, how about we work up an appetite before we make any breakfast?” I say with my eyebrows raised. Luke opens his mouth to answer me but is interrupted by the sound of my mobile phone ringing. Luke groans and I push him off of me so that I can retrieve my phone. I look to the floor and see that my handbag is just by the bedroom door. I jump out of bed, grab my bag, and dive back under the quilt as fast as I can. I pull the quilt around me and take my phone out of my bag. My phone stops ringing as I pull it out and I see that I have a missed call from my mother.
“It’s Mum,” I tell Luke, even though he hasn’t asked. “I better call her back.”
“In that case, I’ll go and make the breakfast.” Luke knows that a phone conversation with my mother isn’t just a few minutes. He pulls on his jogging bottoms and a T-shirt before leaving the bedroom. I call my mother back and she answers on the second ring.
“Hi, darling,” she says, clearly having seen that it is me calling her.
“Hey, Mum. What’s up?” I sound more cheerful than I have done in days, and I feel like nothing can burst my new-found joy.
“Oh, nothing much, except…” Her voice trails off and my new-found joy starts to subside. My mother isn’t often lost for words, so I know that something is wrong.
“What is it, Mum?” I ask, urging her to tell me.
“Well, I don’t want to worry you, but two men just turned up here looking for you.” My heart constricts at her words, and I feel dread creep over me. “They wouldn’t tell me what they wanted, but let’s just say that I didn’t exactly get a friendly vibe from either of them.” I don’t need my mum to tell me anymore. I know that these are the two men that showed up wanting to talk to me about Luke.
“Have they gone?” I ask urgently.
“Yes, I watched them drive off a few moments ago. Who are they, darling?”
“I have no idea,” I reply in a quiet voice.
“Well, they certainly knew who you were. Are you in some kind of trouble?” I can hear the worry in my mother’s voice, and I hate that she thinks these guys are something to do with me.
“No, Mum. I honestly don’t know what they want.” I’m not about to tell her that they want to talk to me about Luke. Until I find out exactly what is going on, I need to keep some information to myself.
“You would tell me if something was wrong and you needed help, wouldn’t you?” I hate that my mother is doubting the trust that I have in her. I just don’t want to tell her that it is something to do with Luke and he won’t tell me what it is about.
“Of course I would.” The line goes silent as I try to quiet the fear rising up within me.
“So, how did last night go?” my mother asks, clearly wanting to change the subject as much as I do.
“It went good. I’m actually at Luke’s place.”
