Page 36 of Lipstick Kiss

“Yes, Sir,” he replied to Luke’s back.

Luke, filled with rage, raced down the back stairs and into the kitchen. He came to a skidding halt seeing his brothers and Maggie. They stopped mid-conversation to look at him. He didn’t know the first fucking thing to say. His aunt had said what he was already feeling, what he thought, and it hurt like hell.

“What happened?” Archer said, getting up from the bench.

“She wanted me to pick a ring,” Luke said.

“What did you pick?” Jason asked.

“I told her no,” Luke replied.

“What else did she say?” Archer asked carefully.

“Nothing. I need to get back and change, then get to Edward Hall to make sure Stan and Opaline have everything ready for our new group arriving.”

Luke walked past them and headed for the open kitchen door. He heard Jason call out his name, but he ignored him. Luke had to escape before he roared with the pain in his chest. His aunt always knew how to push his buttons, and Luke had never learned how to ignore them. When Luke was living permanently at the Turner estate, he would run to wherever Freya was to get some good in his soul to eradicate the badness from Cynthia. Freya would be teaching right now, and barging into her class for a hug would be inappropriate, but he badly wanted her comfort.

Instead, he jogged to his cottage, headed upstairs, showered for the second time that day and changed into a suit ready for his working day.

Another thing he hated.

The only shining light of the morning was that now he knew for sure Freya was not engaged. She was wearing a Turner ring, and no Turner had proposed.

Yet.

Chapter Eleven

Luke

Luke leaned against the wall outside the school on the opposite side of the road. He had his arms crossed with his eyes fixed on the main door. Thankfully everyone knew who he was and his friendship with Freya. Otherwise, he’d be worried someone would question why he was there at all.

The bell rang in the distance, and he pushed himself off the wall to standing, then shoved his hands in his pockets. As the kids piled out of the main entrance, he strolled across the road and pushed through the thong of boys and girls into the main corridor. There was one thing to be said about schools, they emptied fast. A few stragglers were humping on their backpacks. Staff meandered between classrooms, but mainly the hallway was empty.

A kid ran out of the classroom, running hell for leather. It was Ralph’s kid, Kenny.

“Why are you running for your life? Those shitty kids giving you a hard time?”

“No, Sir,” Kenny said.

“What’s your hurry?”

“Need to get to the main house, Dad’s working late, and I said I would meet him in his shed. Do my homework there before we went home for dinner. He doesn’t like me being in the house on my own.”

“Well, if you can wait five minutes, I’ll give you a lift. The buggy is one street over, hang out there, and I’ll take you up.”

Kenny brightened. “That would be awesome.”

“All right. Take off. I won’t be long. And it’s Luke, not Sir.”

“Okay,” he said and ran off.

That was the second time he had understood Ralph was sacrificing his home life for the Turners. He needed to talk to Archer about it. But, first, he needed to talk to Freya.

Luke walked to her classroom and peered through the small square glass window to see she was sitting with her chin on her hands, looking to the end of her classroom. He strained to see what she was looking at, but no one else was in the room. He turned the handle, and her eyes came to him. They rounded for a second, and then she smiled.

He felt that smile in his gut. Wanted to bask in its light.

“Hey,” Luke said, coming into the classroom and shutting the door behind him.

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