Chapter Thirteen
Jada’s phone was ringing. She opened her eyes blearily, feeling disorientated. It was morning, and the sun was coming in through the windows. Luke was no longer lying next to her, but the closed bathroom door and the sound of the shower running answered that question easily.
Her phone was ringing. She managed to wake up enough to wrench her attention towards it and reached out to fumble with the charger. She managed to get it to her ear after what seemed like about a hundred years, all the while knowing the caller might give up if she took any longer.
“… Hello?” she said into the phone, realizing she hadn’t recognized the number. It wasn’t picked up by caller ID. Damn. She had probably just woken herself up to talk to a salesperson.
“Jada?” The voice on the other end of the line was faint, but Jada recognized it.
“Aliss?” she said, with some surprise. She hadn’t expected to hear from her, especially not when it wasn’t through Luke. When had she got her phone number?
“It’s really important -- listen to me,” Aliss said, the line fading in and out.
“You’re breaking up,” Jada tried to interject, but Aliss was already continuing.
“Doesn’t seem -- but you have to -- me. It’s -- Garrett,” Aliss said.
“What? What are you trying to say?” Jada asked.
“LISTEN!” Aliss shouted at her, the words still sounding like they were coming from far away. “Garrett is -- dangerous. You have to -- -- Luke. Tell me you’ll -- safe.”
“I think I understand,” Jada said carefully, but there was no more sound from the other side. She turned the phone around to look at it. The screen was blank; call disconnected.
Jada sighed, and put the phone down on the covers, trying to think. She had barely registered the fact that the water was no longer running before Luke emerged, a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Who was that?” he asked, nodding to the phone. “Sounded serious.”
Jada was almost too distracted not to appreciate the sight of his bare, muscular chest and arms, and the delicious cut of his hips just above the edge of the towel. “It was Aliss,” she said, a little uncertainty creeping into her voice.
“Oh?” Luke stopped moving. His hands were frozen with a towel about to dry off his hair. “What did she say?”
Jada frowned. “I’m not sure,” she said. “The connection was bad. But it sounded like she was trying to warn us about Garrett. That he’s dangerous. I think she wanted me to warn you, so we could stay safe.”
Luke shrugged and started toweling off his hair. “Nice of her, I guess. But we already know.”
“Maybe she didn’t realize that,” Jada said. “You should call her back later and thank her. They’re supposed to be on holiday, after all.”
“Right,” Luke said, grinning. “I guess I need you around more often to help me with my social graces. You’re a lot better at being a friend than I am.”
Jada laughed. “Don’t be silly. You’ve known them your whole life, right? I guess you’re more comfortable with them. You don’t need social graces with people you’re comfortable with.”
Luke shrugged again. “Maybe,” he said. Then he climbed up onto the bed and crawled over her, smoothly, his whole body covering hers. “I don’t need social graces with you, then.”
Despite the fact that she was covered by the bed sheets, and he was still wearing a towel, Jada couldn’t help but flush a little. He was hot, and even more so with that little touch of dampness remaining from his shower. If he was going to make a habit out of flirting with her like this, she was going to have a hard time resisting.
“I guess not,” she agreed and succumbed to the sensation entirely as he bent his head down to kiss her full on the lips. Judging by the fact that something was suddenly poking against her thigh through the sheets, she guessed he was enjoying it too.
That’s precisely when her alarm went off.
Both Jada and Luke groaned in frustration, Luke burying his head in the covers next to her before sighing and rolling over onto his back. “Time for work, huh?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Jada said, her tone sympathetic. “I don’t know how I’m going to get through the day.”
“Call in and tell them you’re sick,” he said, a naughty smile playing around the corners of his lips.
“No,” Jada laughed, albeit reluctantly. “I’d better get going.”
She had never felt so impatient for the work day to end. Not once in her life had she wanted so much for 5 pm to come, so she could get up and leave her desk and get home as quickly as possible.
Even the journey home felt longer and more tedious than it had ever been. When you had the prospect of Luke in only a towel to come home to, it really felt like there was no point in hanging around.
At home, however, there was no sign of him. Jada walked from room to room, even calling out his name, but the whole apartment was empty. She couldn’t remember him saying he was going out – but she was being stupid, of course. He didn’t actually live with her. He could come and go as he pleased, and he had his own life to attend to.
Jada felt at a little bit of a loss. Should she cook something? Something for two, or just something for herself? Should she eat without him? She checked her phone, but she had no messages.
It was ridiculous. They had known each other only for the shortest time. She had been able to get on with her day before he had been around, and she still could. There was just the small matter of deciding how.
Jada ended up perched on the sofa in front of the television, putting on old episodes of a sitcom she had seen enough times before to be able to completely ignore it playing in front of her. She toyed with sending Luke a message, but it suddenly felt like she didn’t know what to say. If she asked him whether he was coming home, it felt presumptuous – and besides, this wasn’t his home. If she asked him what he was doing, it felt possessive and controlling. If she didn’t send him any messages at all, she was going to be sitting wondering for the rest of the night, and that didn’t seem like a good solution, either.
She was just on the verge of picking up the phone and calling him when the door buzzer rang. A surge of hope fluttered in her chest in a way that was almost embarrassing as she ran over to the intercom.
“It’s me,” he said when she pressed the buzzer to open communications.
Jada buzzed him through the doors, her heart fluttering in her throat. Why did she feel this way, after only such a short time? She felt ridiculous, like a schoolgirl all over again. It wasn’t like she needed him to be around. She was an independent woman, strong and successful.
Of course, she had pretty much ditched her entire social life since he showed up and started hanging around with his friends instead. She had closeted herself inside the house with him 24/7 and even started indulging his kinks already. Maybe she was just a little bit too obsessed.
Okay, Jada, she thought to herself. Take a deep breath now. Don’t let yourself get carried away.
She heard his footsteps outside in the hall and quickly went to open the door to let him in. Maybe he could stay the night and go back to his place in the morning. A little bit of distance might help them both out… but then there was the question of Garrett, of course, and whether she would even be safe on her own.
Jada shook her head to clear her mind and opened the door with what she hoped was a sincere smile.
It dropped off her face almost immediately.
“Oh, my god,” she burst out, pulling Luke inside and shutting the door after him. “What happened to you?”
Luke waved a hand as if to fend off her concern. “I’m alright,” he said, his voice sounding a little strained.
“You sure as hell don’t look it,” Jada admonished him, grasping his head so she could get a clearer look at the cut above his eye. The front of his shirt was stained red, although parts of it already appeared to be fading away, and there were more blood spatters across his face and his bare arms.
“You should see the other guy,” he said, giving her a weak smile before collapsing down into one of her armchairs with a wince. “Not that you could. You-know-who.”
“You found Garrett?” Jada asked, her voice pinched with worry. She was hovering over him, unsure of what to do to help. He waved her away every time she tried to get a look at his head.
“Or he found me. I’m not really sure which,” Luke replied. He shifted in his seat to put a hand over his ribs on his right side. “Either way, I think he regrets it now.”
“What happened?” Jada asked again, practically wringing her hands. She rushed to pick up a towel from the clean laundry basket, running it under the tap in the kitchen so she could still watch him.
“I went out to get some supplies,” Luke said. “You know, a nice wine, something fancy to eat for tonight. Which I never got around to – sorry about that.”
“Don’t be silly,” Jada scolded, standing behind him so she could carefully dab his forehead with the wet towel. “That doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Well, anyway, so then I found him. Or he found me. I’m not sure if he knew I was going to be there. He sure as hell looked surprised when I went invisible and pushed him down an alleyway.” Luke winced, flinching his head away from the towel once or twice as he spoke. “I guess if anyone was watching they might have had a hard time working out why there was a lot of grunting and shouting coming from an empty alleyway, but by the time I staggered out of it, I’d left him on the floor behind me.”
“Is he coming back?” Jada asked, trying to focus on cleaning out his wound so that her hands wouldn’t shake.
“No,” Luke said and grinned. “I made him swear. Don’t worry, Jada. You’re safe now. Didn’t I promise I would keep you safe?”
“You did,” Jada replied, ducking in front of him for a moment to lean down and plant a kiss on his lips. “And you came through.”
“Of course, I came through,” Luke said, reaching up to cup her face with his hands in spite of the wince his ribs produced. “I’m never going to let you down, babe. Believe me when I say that.”
Jada smiled back, laying her caramel hands on his cream arms. “I do,” she said.