“I love you, brother. I’ll see you later.” My heart clenched at the sight of the two grown men, exchanging hugs and expressions of love for one another. I had never seen Luke like this. You could tell by the look on his face and the sincerity in his eyes that he meant every word of it, as if it was his blood brother. My eyes burned as tears threatened to fall. Luke held his hand out and I walked around the bed, taking it in mine and he led us out the door. Once in the lobby, he exchanged a few hushed words with Crash and Buck, then led us onto the elevator to the second floor parking garage.
We were sitting in Firehouse Subs, Luke eating a meaty, foot-long sandwich, and me a chicken salad sandwich, watching the cars pass on Hardy Street. Luke left his truck at the hospital and we had come in my car. He had insisted on driving and I handed him the keys as he opened my door and ushered me in. It was little things like that, and holding my hand all the way here that had my heart swelling with love for him. Luke was no ordinary man, running a construction company by day, being a biker by night, making mad love to me in-between and during. Good thing, I didn’t like ordinary.
“You sure are in deep thought, babe,” Luke said, smirking at me from across the table.
“Have y’all heard from War?” Apparently, my brain had remembered the mental note I made earlier. Luke’s face tightened and I could see he was trying to control either anger or heartache.
“Not yet. Regg is looking into it.” I thought about how I had not seen Regg’s face in a couple of days. Is that what he had been doing?
“Is he okay?” I asked, my hand covering Luke’s on the table. Regg had been one of the first to arrive the night Frankie had gotten to me. I remember him caring for me side by side with Luke. He had become a very important person in my life and I would hate for anything bad to happen to him. Especially if it was on my behalf.
“Who? Regg?” Luke asked, clearly confused. I nodded my head at him and his face seemed to somewhat soften. “Yeah, babe, Regg is good.” He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed my palm, then sat it back on the table and continued eating. This was a nice way of saying he didn’t want to talk about it. Tough shit.
“What happened that night?” Luke halted his sandwich in mid-air and gave a big sigh.
“You left upset and I didn’t want you doing anything stupid, so I had War and PROSPECT follow you. They let me know you were at Our Place Bar and waited in the parking lot beside it. War called me about ten minutes later, told me you were swerving all over the road. I told him to make sure you made it home then head back to the club house. PROSPECT’s orders were to watch your house. He tried to lure them away, but they caught up to him and ran him off the road. I’m not sure why they didn’t finish him off.”
I felt the blood drain from my face when he said this. Finish him off? My mind drifted back to PROSPECT Marty lying in a hospital bed. He was so close to death, yet he took it as an honor that the club thought enough of him to watch over me.
“What happened to War?” I asked. Luke’s brows were drawn together and he looked like he was in deep thought. For a man that was always in control, I knew it was frustrating that he didn’t have all the answers. He trained his eyes on me and I could tell he was fighting emotion; I just wasn’t sure which one it was.
“He never made it back.”
I decided two things in that instant. One-I would drop the subject, for now. Two-I would do everything in my power to help Luke figure this shit out.
“Let’s go. We have a lot more talking to do and I would prefer to not do it in a public place.” Luke’s face looked serious, but I could tell by the way his eyes shown and his voice changed that he had a lot more in mind than talking. The thought excited me so much that I fumbled around for my purse and managed to knock my cup, full of soda, over in the process, which bought me a laugh from Luke. It was well worth it.
Luke drove us back to my place. Holding my hand once again and tuning the radio to our favorite classic country station. I’m not sure if in that moment it was divine intervention or a turn of luck, but Alan Jackson was singing his rendition of “Blues Man.” The lyrics poured out of the speakers as I looked at Luke and all of his magnificence and thought how perfectly that song matched my feelings for him. I loved him, I needed him, and he had nothing to prove to me. The thought of being with a bad ass biker was thrilling at first, but now, I knew I would love Luke even if he was a librarian. How had I gotten so lucky?
“You are my blue’s man,” I said, drinking in the sight of him in nothing but a plain white t-shirt and jeans, sitting in my car as if he belonged here and nowhere else. He turned his head to look at me and smiled. I didn’t even have to elaborate-he got it. He pulled my hand to his mouth and kissed each of my fingers.