“Ya girl, huh? Yeah, that’s what I say when I have a bitch that I don’t want to share too. What’s he paying you, honey?” he asked, looking around at me again. “Hmm? Promising you an apartment to be exclusive for him? Shit, baby. I’d buy you a fucking house if you come with me.”
I wanted to say something, but Luke moved before I had the chance. I watched in horror as Luke closed the ten feet of distance between them. The guy threw his hands up as Luke got closer, given him a perfect shot to his dirty face. Blood splattered the hood when Luke’s fist connected with the man’s nose with a sickening crunch. When the man lost his balance, Luke caught him and landed several more blows to his face. I was frozen in place, my heart beating wildly in my chest.
“If I ever see your face again, I’ll fucking kill you,” Luke said, bringing the guys face close to his. “You see that girl?” Luke had the man by the front of the shirt and jerked him so he could face me. The man nodded his head, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. “That’s my girl, and if you ever talk to her, smile at her or even look at her, I’ll break your fucking neck.” Luke let the man go with a push and he fell to the ground.
I stood in shock at the events that had just taken place before me. If I didn’t know before, I knew now that Luke was completely and utterly unmerciful when it came to my safety. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the driver’s side of the truck. I stumbled over my feet that were being scorched by the asphalt-not able to take my eyes off the man. Luke grabbed me and hurled me into the truck, stepping in behind me and slamming the door. The engine roared to life and we pulled away. I sat frozen next to him, the events running through my head over and over. I was slightly frightened of Luke. I knew he would never hurt me, but I couldn’t believe the way he hit that man. If he was capable of doing that to a man that only spoke to me, what would he do to Frankie? What had he done to Frankie? He had him in his sights for days before they released him. How could he do this to a man that barely looked at me, yet let a man live that did much more than that? Was it really because of Maddie?
I realized in that moment, as I watched the passing traffic that no one, including Luke, knew about what happened that night-only what they saw. Maybe it was the sight of the brutal beating, or the fact that Luke was leaving and I didn’t know when he would be back, but I suddenly felt compelled to tell him-everything. He told me he would listen if I ever wanted to talk, and that I needed to talk about it.
I looked at Luke’s grip on the steering wheel. His knuckles had turned bone white and looked like they would protrude from his skin at any minute. His face was set in stone. The loving look and beautiful smile he wore only minutes before was now gone. It was replaced with a look of anger and disgust. I chickened out, knowing that if I said anything it would only piss him off more. I didn’t want to see a recap of what just happened, especially in the confined space of his truck which left him only two things to beat the shit out of-me and the dashboard.
We were on the highway, headed toward my house when Luke spoke, breaking me from my thoughts.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, babe.” I turned in my seat to look at him. His face had softened somewhat, but he still looked mad as hell.
“You didn’t scare me,” I said, lying.
“Stop lying. You suck at it.” Luke was now smiling, his anger forgotten. He grabbed my hand and tugged on it, gently pulling me into him.
“I didn’t like the way he talked to you. I didn’t like the way he looked at you. I will not tolerate any shit like that in my presence. He is lucky.”
“Lucky?” I gasped, looking at him like he was crazy. “You call that lucky? Luke, you practically smashed his face in.” My voice was now rising as I stared at Luke who didn’t seem to care about my outburst.
“I didn’t smash his face in. Stop being so dramatic, babe. He deserved a lot worse. I tried to warn him, but he is the one who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.” Our argument had taken a turn and I could feel the air in the cab of the truck thicken. I was taking up for this guy and Luke was taking note. I was such a bitch. I had not even thanked him for putting himself on the line for me. He was standing in front of his business for crying out loud! I knew that was the one place he didn’t want act a fool in front of.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I decided to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand. I should be thanking Luke for being such a man and looking out for me; not giving him shit about defending my honor.
“Thank you. I hate that it happened in front of your office, but I’m glad you were there and I’m glad he got the hell beat out of him, and you are right-he did deserve worse.” As I said the words, I realized how much truth they held. My intentions were only to tell him this to smooth things over, but now I knew that Luke had done exactly what I expected him to do. His grip around my waist tightened and he tucked me further into him.