I shut the door before he can say anything, and Lucy follows me into the kitchen as I make myself a cup of hot tea, willing myself not to look out the window to see if he's still there. It seems like it takes forever for the water to boil, and I'm still avoiding looking outside for Luke.
And feeling guilty for leaving him standing out there in the cold.
"Damn it, Lucy," I say, leaning down to scratch her behind the ears. "Your owner was smart, bringing you here. He knows I can't be mad at you." I walk to the front door and pull it open. "Are you really going to just stand there all night?"
"Am I wearing you down yet?" he asks. It sounds light, but there's an air of sadness in his demeanor.
"Is that a boom box at your feet?" I ask, finally noticing the large object on the porch beside him.
Luke grins. "I was going to pull a John Cusack and hold it over my head outside your window – or on the front porch – but I figured that since Olivia didn't run out here, she's probably asleep."
"She went to bed early," I say. "You've seen Say Anything?"
"You say that like you're surprised," he says.
I am surprised. Luke is full of surprises. "Do you have Peter Gabriel on the boom box?"
Luke laughs. "Yeah, right," he says. "I had enough trouble finding one of these to begin with, let alone music to go with it. I was going to cheat and use this." He holds up his MP3 player.
For a minute, I almost forget why he's here, and it's like things are back to the way they were before – light and joking and fun.
"Autumn," he says. "I know you think I'm a complete jackass."
"I've always thought you were a complete jackass."
"You know what I mean," he says. "Because of the text."
"And the other girl," I say.
"What other – oh, Tempest," he says. "That's my brother Silas' girl."
"So you're stealing your brothers' girlfriends?"
"What? No," he says. "It's – we were trying to cause a scene, in public. Shit, Autumn, I can explain all of this. I swear on my life I texted you because I thought I could keep you safe. I didn't want you involved in the bullshit I'm part of in right now."
"Yeah, right," I say. "But suddenly now it's safe? Suddenly you're okay with coming over here and involving me in whatever you're into?"
"No, damn it, Autumn," he says, stepping closer to me. He puts his hands on my arms, and looks down at me and I know if he keeps doing that, continues to look at me like that, I'm not going to be able to resist him. I silently curse my attraction to him, my stupid libido that's obviously out of control. "You're involved now. You got involved without realizing you're involved, and I want to make sure you're safe. Give me five minutes, and I'll tell you everything. The whole story, nothing held back."
"No more secrets," I say slowly. "No more lies."
"No more secrets," he repeats. "No lies. I promise. I'll tell you everything that's going on – all the family stuff I've been keeping from you."
I swallow hard, trying to decide whether to let him in. I hate deception and lies – my entire life with Edward was one giant fraud, and I can't do that again.
But when I look into Luke's eyes, all I see is sincerity. And pain.
So I say yes.
I say yes, and I let him inside.
It takes longer than five minutes for him to tell the story. Once he starts talking, it's like a floodgate is opened. Words pour from his mouth, and I just sit there listening as he tells me everything. He tells me about his parents and how they were both murdered. He tells me about the corruption in West Bend, the mayor and sheriff taking kickbacks from a dirty mining company. He tells me about his brother Silas, and Silas' fiancé, the girl I saw him with outside of the general store, the one I assumed he was with. He tells me about the con.
It takes far longer than five minutes. He talks and talks, sitting beside me on the sofa in the living room, just like we sat that night, the night he cooked for me. Except this time, the air hangs heavy between us.
When he's finished, he turns to look at me. "That's it," he says. "Now you know everything. You know about what a shitty family I come from, and – I never wanted to involve you in the con stuff, Autumn. I thought you'd be safer if you were kept in the dark. I thought it would be easier if you just hated me. It…fucking killed me to send you that text. That was the last thing I wanted to do. I told myself that it was better to keep you and Olivia as far away from it as possible. I was trying to do the right thing, but I did it all wrong. And if you forgive me, I’ll spend the rest of my time making it up to you.”
"The mining company is that dirty," I say, not quite processing everything he’s said. My mind is spinning with information, completely overloaded. "That's why you flipped your lid when you saw me having dinner with the guy from the company."
Luke clenches his hands. "That's not the only reason," he says.
"What's the other reason?" I ask, afraid to look at him. The air between us seems to be charged with electricity.
"Because you're mine, damn it," he says. "You're mine and I want you. It gutted me to see you on a date with another man."