Page 27 of Don't Make Me Beg
He’s wearing a button-up dress shirt with a skinny black tie and the same black cargo pants and boots combo he was wearing the other night. His shirt sleeves are rolled up to his elbows revealing his tattooed forearms, emphasized by the way he’s got his arms crossed over his chest.
Hell, he looks like he just stepped out of one of the dark romance books.
“Who are we hiding from?” he whispers as he crouches down beside me.
Suddenly, my tongue feels too big for my mouth and anxiety rushes through me when Jimmy comes back into view.
“Ahh, I see,” Luka says, still crouched beside me. “I suppose this means there’s still trouble in paradise?”
“Shh.” I reach to cover his mouth, which only makes his smirk grow wider. “Can you just be quiet. I’m not ready to go home yet…”
His eyebrows knit together, and he narrows his eyes. “Yet? Does that mean you’re going through with it then? You’re going to marry him?”
I shrug, rolling my eyes. “I don’t exactly have any other options, do I?”
He bites the corner of his lip, looking hot as sin as he seems to consider something. “But you don’t want to go through with this? You really don’t love him?”
“Of course I don’t,” I scoff, feeling my lip curl in disgust as I study him. Jimmy looks like a frat boy finance bro in his boat shoes and khaki shorts. His bright blue polo shirt is tucked into his shorts, and his sandy blond hair is cut neatly, not too long or too short, just the perfectly acceptable length. He’s the epitome of clean boy aesthetic…if that’s even a thing.
Luka’s eyes shift from me and then back to Jimmy, and I can see the wheels turning in his mind. “Luka… What are you… Please don’t make a scene,” I plead, grabbing for his arm the moment he begins to stand.
But he just brushes me off. “There is one other way out of this.” He clicks his tongue as he tilts his head to the side. “But you’re going to have to trust me.”
I blink at him in confusion before realizing I’m still awkwardly on my knees and push myself up to stand. “You wantmeto trustyou? Last time I checked, you seemed to hate me.” I cross my arms over my chest as I scowl at him. “For all I know, you’re the one who ratted me out to begin with.”
Luka chuckles, not even trying to keep his voice down now. “Oh, believe me, I do.” Then he leans so close to me that his lips barely graze my ear. “But I hate your prick of a father more,” he whispers, and I feel a shiver shoot up my spine as goosebumps break out across my skin.
His eyes flick down to my lips and then back to mine, his smirk growing impossibly wider, clearly proud to have gotten a rise out of me.
I blow out a huff and roll my eyes. “What’s your plan then?”
But rather than answering me, he turns around and pushes a pile of books off the display table, then grabs my hand and pulls me toward him.
The books crash to the ground with a heavy bang as Luka and I stand beside the table; he leans toward me and drapes his arm around my shoulder.
I stand there frozen as Jimmy turns around, his blue eyes flashing with something that looks like relief. He rushes over to me. “There you are. Your father and I have been looking everywhere for you?—”
His words break off when he reaches for my arm, but Luka slaps his hand away. “Don’t fucking touch her.”
“She’s my fiancée. I guess I’ll touch her when I damn well please,” Jimmy snaps back, reaching out to grab my arm again.
Luka pushes me behind him, then takes a step closer. “Lay a hand on her and see?—”
“Or what?” Jimmy shoves Luka in the chest, but Luka doesn’t so much as move. “You gonna hit me? Are you missing your boyfriends down at the county jail already? If you’re looking to go back, all you had to do was say something.”
Luka glares down at him, his fists clenching at his sides, and I’m not sure what he’s going to do next. He told me to trust him, but I won’t let him go back to jail for me…not again.
“Luka, he’s not worth it.” I grab his arm to pull him back, realizing we’ve now got the attention of everyone in the store, and I have no doubt Jimmy knows it. He’s baiting him on purpose, trying to get Luka to throw the first punch.
“Come on, Scout. Come with me before you embarrass yourself any further,” Jimmy says, trying to act like he isn’t shaking like a leaf under Luka’s death glare.
I take a step forward, wanting to end this before Luka does something he’ll regret. But he holds out a hand to block me. “She’s not going anywhere. You can run home and tattle all you want, but you don’t have any claim on her…not anymore.”
“Is this guy serious?” Jimmy scoffs a laugh, then his eyes find mine. “We’re engaged. Sorry, bro, but she’s already taken?—"
“I didn’t see a ring on her finger when she had her hand wrapped around my cock last night,” Luka retorts.
“What the fuck did you just say?”
