Page 115 of Anyone But Her

Chapter Twenty-Two

Taylor

When Luke got home he was completely panicking over what his dad said. As he told me the story he held me in his arms and wouldn't let go. I wanted to stay with him but my parents were on their way home so I snuck back in the house and waited for them.

The past couple months Luke and I have become experts in sneaking around. We had to. It's the only way we could be together. A couple weeks ago Cal almost caught Luke and me in the guest house but I snuck out the back right before he opened the door. Other than that, we haven't had any issues. When we're together in the house we basically ignore each other and do our own thing.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," my dad says to Luke. "You might incur a penalty but I doubt it'd be anything too serious."

My parents got home an hour ago and we've all been in the kitchen discussing the issue with Luke's dad.

"It could hurt my chances to qualify for the pros," Luke says. "That's what you said earlier, right?"

"It's possible but we have no idea what we're dealing with here. You said Albert told you the rules were being followed, and you know he'd never do anything to jeopardize your career so—"

"But Albert was old and wasn't as sharp as he was when he was younger. He might've done something unintentionally that could've harmed me."

"True, but how would your father know about it?"

"That's the thing. I don't know if he just said all that stuff to scare me into giving him money or if he knows something he's not telling me. Maybe Albert's daughter put him up to this. The woman hates me. Maybe she looked through Albert's finances after he died and saw how much money he spent on me and decided to punish me for it."

"It's possible, although if that were the case she'd want you to give her the money, not your father. Have you heard anything from Sandra lately?"

"No. Last I heard she was still fixing up Albert's house, getting it ready to rent out."

"Now that it's yours, you're going to have to call her and tell her to stop doing that."

"I'll deal with her later. Right now, I have to figure out how to handle my dad."

"This really sucks, man," Cal says. "I'm sorry he's putting you through this."

"We all are." My mom reaches across the table and puts her hand on Luke's. "We'll do whatever we can to help."

We're all sitting at the kitchen table and Cal is beside me with Luke on my other side. Normally, Luke and I don't sit next to each other but tonight I purposely sat beside him because I know he feels better when I'm next to him.

We spend the rest of the night going over what to do but we just keep circling back to the fact that there's really nothing we can do until we find out what Albert did and if it really will result in penalties that'll hurt Luke's career.

Later, after everyone's gone to bed, I sneak out back to the guest house like I've been doing almost every night since Luke and I got together.

"Hey," he says as I crawl in bed beside him, into his waiting arms. "I need you so much right now."

I kiss him. "It'll work out. I promise. My dad knows how this stuff works and he has connections with the right people. He'll do whatever he can to fix this."

"Your family's been so great to me. It makes me feel guilty for doing this."

"Doing what?" I sit up. "You mean us?"

He brings me back down beside him. "I love us. I love YOU. I just wish we didn't have to sneak around. I wish your family was okay with us being together. Lying to them just doesn't feel right. I get a knot in my stomach every time we're all in the same room and I have to pretend there's nothing going on between us. I'm lying to their faces and I hate it. It's wrong."

"I know, but we can't tell them, especially now. You need my dad's help and you're not going to get it if he finds out about us."

He brings my head to his chest and kisses it. "I'm so tired."

"Then let's not do this tonight. You need to sleep." I start to get up but he holds onto me.

"Could you stay? Just for a few more minutes? I'm not ready to let you go."

I lay back in his arms and snuggle against his chest.

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