Page 12 of The Devil Within

The waitress brings out my angel hair pasta and his veal parmigiana, making sure to bend all the way over and flash her goods in my date’s face as she does. I can’t help the eye roll I send her way. I’m over her shit. Luckily, when Luke catches mysass he simply smirks at me. Thank god he doesn’t seem to mind a girl with a little sass.

I swirl my pasta on my fork and take a large bite. I’m starving. The lemon sauce is heavenly and a satisfied moan escapes my mouth.

“If you keep making noises like that, Flower, we will have to take our food to go,” he whispers barely loud enough for me to hear.

Heat immediately rises in my cheeks. When I look up again, expecting to see him giving me a heated glare, I’m instead met with his face buried in his phone. His eyes zip back and forth, taking in something on the screen. He’s clearly displeased by whatever he sees, his face pulls into a scowl. The mask falls and the man underneath is finally sitting across from me. His cold, hard scowl glaring down at the screen.

That’s fucking rude.

Clearing my throat, I try to bring his attention back to our date. “So you get to call me Flower. What do I get to call you then?”

His eyes slowly drag from whatever is seemingly more important and up to meet mine. “Sorry, what?”

“Nevermind,” I mumble as I shove more pasta into my mouth.

We continue our dinner in a comfortable yet slightly tense silence. It’s not that anything is wrong or unpleasant. I probably shouldn’t be so upset that he was on his phone. He’s a successful lawyer. They’re busy, but things are now just off, and I can’t quite place my finger on what my hesitancy is. The mood has clearly shifted and I’m not sure why. We both pick at our meals, taking small bites and occasionally making polite small talk before the waitress comes back to box up our food.

“And will you be needing anything else this evening, sir?” she asks my date, giving me her back and completely ignoring my presence. “My number maybe? I get off in an hour and could use a drink.”

The fucking nerve of this bitch.

“Jessica, is it?” Luke’s deep timbre asks with a hint of amusement.

“Yes, sir,” she croons as her lithe fingers dance up the seam of his button down and her long blonde hair cascades around his shoulders.

“What I need from you is an apology.” My eyes shoot straight up at Luke’s words only to be met with his heated gaze watching me. His dark eyes bore into me with a fire I haven’t seen so far tonight. “You were exceptionally rude to my beautiful date. So you can either apologize to her and get the fuck out of my sight, or I can speak to your manager, who happens to be a good friend of mine, and inform him about your abysmal customer service abilities.”

I can’t stop the snort from leaving my mouth at his remark.Did he really just fucking say that to her?A small smirk pulls at the corner of his lips. Bleach-blonde bimbo Barbie turns slowly to face me, looking thoroughly disgusted. She refuses to make eye contact as I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms and looking thoroughly smug.

“Well?” I ask her. “I’m waiting for my apology.”

“Sorry,” she quickly mumbles before flipping her hair over her shoulder and storming off towards the kitchen.

Giggles bubble from my chest. I’m not usually one to laugh at another’s pain, but she fucking deserved that. Luke joins me, his face lighting up as he laughs.

“Let’s get out of here. What do you say?” he asks, pushing back from the table.

“I’d like that,” I say as I stand.

He leads me out of the restaurant and back to his car. This time his hand never leaves my lower back. His warm fingers against me feel safe and comforting. After guiding me into the low seat of his Audi, he leans across me to buckle my seat belt.

“I can manage myself,” I snark at him as he straightens.

He leans one arm across the open door of the car and looks down at me. “I know. But I want to take care of you, Flower. I get the sense that you don’t really have anyone taking care of you, maybe that needs to change.”

His words are sweet, but as they settle in, there’s something unnerving about them. He barely knows me at all, how the hell has he pegged me so well and so quickly?

We cruise back through town as pop punk blasts from his speakers. Not the genre I would have guessed for a man like him. He’s a contradiction. On the one hand he’s so polite and put together. But on the other hand, there’s a side of him that seems to be holding back. I’m curious about what lies beneath the smooth exterior he so readily portrays to the outside world.

As we come to a stop in front of my house, I unclip my seatbelt and pause. I’m about to ask him if he would like to come in when my phone buzzes within my purse. I’m tempted to ignore it but something tells me I need to check it. Opening my bag and grabbing my phone out I see a message flash across the screen.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: If you want to know where Celeste is, you’ll be my good girl and do as I say.

“I have to go. Emergency. Sorry,” I mumble to Luke before stumbling out of the car. I slam the door before he can even respond. Running to my door, I close and lock it before staring down at the illuminated screen. After taking a few deep breaths, I calm my nerves enough to type out a response.

Me: What do you want?

The reply comes back almost instantly and my stomach sinks.

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