Page 28 of Part of Me
“Miss Thomas?” the voice calls from outside the door. The male voice. The voice of Ricardo. My blood runs cold, and I urge my feet to move.
I make my way to Luke as quietly as I can, and I let him take my hand in his. He leads me up the stairs and indicates for me to crouch down as we get to the hallway window. I do as he says. As we pretty much crawl our way to the back bedroom, I realise that I am holding my breath. For God’s sake, Charlie, they won’t be able to hear you breathing, you fool. As I listen to the voice in my head, I let out a whoosh of air and then inhale sharply.
We reach the bedroom and Luke indicates for me to stay on the floor. I frown at him as he makes his way over to the bedroom window. I remain on the floor as he goes to the right side of the window and slowly stands up, gingerly peering outside. I almost laugh at how ridiculous this situation is. It’s like I’m watching someone in an action movie. But of course, this isn’t a movie. This is real life. And real life just got scary.
“Luke,” I whisper, trying to get his attention.
“Yeah?” he whispers, crouching back down and crawling over to me.
“What are you looking for?”
“I’m checking to see if they came around the back,” he says as if it’s no big deal that two strange men are knocking on our front door. I am about to open my mouth and speak again when I hear a smashing sound come from the front of the house. I gasp, and Luke manoeuvres me so that I am behind the bedroom door.
“Don’t move,” he says as he makes his way around the door and disappears from my sight. I struggle to control my breathing as I am left on my own. My ears are pricked for any noise. My body is shaking from the shock. My heart is hammering. I have never been so scared in my life. I need to control my breathing. Think, Charlie, think!
I close my eyes and inhale deeply, letting my breath back out slowly. As I try to collect my thoughts, I feel a hand on my knee. I scream and kick my foot out. My foot connects with a hard chest, and I open my eyes, petrified that it is going to be one of the strange guys. But when I finally focus on the person in front of me, I see that it is Luke. A shocked looking Luke, who is led on his back, looking at me with wide eyes.
“Jesus, Charlie,” he says as he scrambles to a sitting position.
“Sorry,” I respond, still shocked that I managed to push him over. His mouth starts to curve into a smile, and I allow myself to relax ever so slightly.
“Don’t be sorry, I’m impressed,” he says, standing up and holding his hand out for me to take. I do, and I let him help me to my feet. He looks at me with something close to admiration. He is seriously that impressed with a kick? Luke starts to chuckle, but I can’t make myself smile.
“Impressed?” I question.
“Yeah. That’s quite a kick you have there. I never knew that you had it in you.” I know that he is trying to keep the situation as light as possible, but I can’t stop the next comment from coming out of my mouth.
“Yeah? And I never knew that you had some sort of secret that involved two guys trying to scare the shit out of me.”
His smile fades with each word that I speak. We stare at each other in silence. I might have thought that I could live with him keeping whatever this is a secret from me, but after the events that transpired just now, I know that I can’t. I love Luke with all of my heart, but it isn’t enough to keep me here. I am not prepared to ignore this any longer. “Luke, you need to be honest with me, right now.”
“Char––” Luke is cut off by the sound of his mobile phone ringing. He reaches into his pocket and looks at the screen. “I’m sorry, I have to take this,” he says, leaving me aghast that his phone is more important than speaking to me. “Sanders,” he answers the phone, keeping his eyes fixed on mine. He hums and says ‘yeah’ a few times to whoever is on the other end of the phone. I fold my arms across my chest and tap my foot to show my impatience. “Understood,” Luke says as he hangs up the phone and places it back in his pocket.
“What has happened to you?” I whisper, holding the tears that sting the backs of my eyes at bay. “Where has the man that I have loved for the last ten years gone?”
“I’m still here, Charlie,” he answers, his jaw set firm.
“No,” I say with a shake of my head. “You’re not. The Luke that I know would be honest with me. The Luke that I know would trust me.”
“Babe––”
“Don’t. I don’t want to hear you call me ‘babe.’ I don’t want to hear you spout out more bullshit excuses. I only want the truth.”
“I can’t––”
“Yeah, yeah, you have already said that more than once,” I say sarcastically. “And whilst I was prepared to trust you and believe you when you said that you were just protecting me, I’m afraid that all of that has been shattered. These guys went to my parents’ house, Luke,” I shout at him, my anger fuelling my response. “They spoke to my mother. They are trying to get to me. And they are only trying to get to me because of you.”
“I fucking know that, Charlie,” Luke shouts back at me. I can see all emotions flit through his eyes, but I am finding it very hard to be sympathetic towards him at this moment in time. “God, this is so frustrating,” he says as he balls his hands up into fists.
“You’re finding this frustrating?” I screech at him. “At least you know what the fuck those men want. I, on the other hand, am still in the fucking dark.” My feet start to move towards him of their own accord. I only stop when I am stood directly in front of him, and I tilt my head so that I can look into his eyes. “Are you really prepared to throw away the last ten years together?”
“What are you talking about?” he says quietly, his eyebrows knitting together.
“I am talking about us, Luke.” I keep my eyes fixed on his and I channel my anger to get me through the next sentence. “If you don’t tell me what you are hiding, then I’m done. I’m not going to sit around and wait for you to decide when it is convenient for you to be honest with me.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Oh I am. Someone wanting to speak to me is one thing, but when my parents are becoming involved, I am no longer able to push it to one side.” I stand my ground, and I don’t look away from him. He needs to know that I mean what I say. He needs to understand that I can’t just be a ‘sitting duck’ for whatever fucked up shit is going on with him.
