Page 72 of Lunar Crest University

You think I don’t know when you’re lying?

A knock against the glass door makes me yelp softly, clutching my phone to my chest as I yank my head up to see Luca standing on the other side. He’s wearing his usual professor attire: slacks, a button-up, and a tie to match. My heart races as I sigh, pressing a palm to my forehead as I give him a pointed look.

“Let me in.” His voice is muffled.

“We’re about to close?—”

“Let me in, Finley.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I half-expect to see Oscar emerging from the back to see what all the noise is, but when he doesn’t, I relax. With a reluctant groan, I unlock the door and pull it open just enough for him to squeeze through before closing and locking it again. His eyes follow my movements warily as he crosses his burly arms over his chest.

“What happened?” he asks loudly, and I quickly shush him.

“Not too loud,” I whisper. “You’ll make Oscar come out here, and he doesn’t like anyone to be in here once the doors are locked.”

“I don’t give a fuck what Oscar?—”

“Luca,” I urge, putting my hand on his arm. “Please.”

He growls lowly as he heaves a sigh.

“Nothing happened,” I continue after I know he’s calm. “Just some weird guy, that’s all. But that’s normal. It happens.”

His thick brows knit together as he cocks his head down at me, and his arms drop from his chest to dangle by his sides as he steps closer to me. “What are you talking about? What guy?”

I wave him off. “Nothing, Luca. Seriously. I just thought he was strange, but it’s fine. I’m fine, and you need to wait for me outside. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Like fucking hell.”

“You’re acting cra?—”

“What did he look like?” he interrupts me.

I blink slowly as I gape up at him. Why is he pushing this so hard? He looks like I’ve just told him I was almost kidnapped or something, with the way his pupils dilate and his chest rises and falls in swift breaths. The red flags are flying again, and yet, I’m not as alarmed as I probably should be. It’s weird, the effect his presence has on me. It’s almost numbing. Nothing bothers me nearly as much as it should when I’m around him, but I can’t bring myself to care. It’s like I instinctively avoid anything that could potentially result in him…running.

He’s a flight risk.

As much fun as we’ve had together and as wrapped around his finger as I appear to be, I still think he’d take any chance to end this. He’s waiting on the other shoe to drop, for any sign he should break this off before something happens to both of us.

I’m naive, but I’m not blind.

“Luca,” I say. “What is going on? Why are you so worried about this?”

“Answer the question. What did he look like?”

The sinking feeling in my stomach is back again as I gulp. “He was really tall? Tattoos. Lots of scars. He even had one that?—”

“Split his eyebrow,” Luca grits out through his teeth.

“Yeah,” I breathe.

How on Earth could he possibly know that?

There’s no way he could know that—not unless he… Oh my God. The realization singes me all the way down to the bone, and the breath depletes in my lungs. I stumble backward as I watch him grow more irate, my eyes widening as I blink back the water forming in them. It’s all connected to the kind of work he didn’t want to tell me about, the work that involved Rosco and God knows what else on top of that.

“You know him?” I squeak.

Luca lifts his dark gaze to meet mine, and his lips purse slightly as he gnaws at the inside of his mouth. His nostrils flare as he puts his hands on his hips, pacing back and forth unsteadily before taking his phone from his pocket, dialing a number, and putting it to his ear.

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