Page 44 of The Crazy Duet Box Set
L: I’m leaving.
While I’m reading it over and over again, and feeling positive that there will be more to the message that will come through my phone any second now, Luke gets up and walks out of the club. Not another word. No more messages. Nothing to indicate he understood what I meant or that he would even just trust me until we were out of sight so I could explain my reasoning to him. He just got up and walked away.
I’m now visible to Jackson and he’s intently watching me. Somehow I mask the emotions that are threatening to take full control of all my faculties. I can’t let him know I’m affected by Luke. To keep at least some semblance of sanity, I have to hold to the notion that he doesn’t know about us yet. I’m also desperately hoping that Luke is actually waiting for me in his truck outside. I’m praying that he understood my message and is just putting some space between us so it will appear I’m here alone.
I wait a few minutes before I get up to leave. I keep my eyes trained on Jackson’s but I let how much he disgusts me burn through my glare at him. He takes a deep breath as I pass by him – he thought I was going to cause a big scene and get him busted for being in the club tonight. I thought about it, actually, but I feel an urgent need to get to Luke right now. I keep my pace casual until I get to the door and out of the bastard’s line of sight, then I run to the area where Luke parked.
No!
Oh God, please don’t let this be true.
He. Left. Me.
Again.
I walk around the parking lot for a few minutes to double check that he’s not really out here somewhere. I just can’t believe that he would really do this after everything we just went through to get back together. After everything he said to me. After the way he made love to me.
He wouldn’t really do this, would he?
Would he?
LUKE
“Why the hell are you walking around out here in that?” Has she lost her mind? I’m really trying to not be mad. She’s still in her costume from her song earlier and it doesn’t cover nearly enough of her. We’ve already had that one run in with douche-Brad in the parking lot and I don’t want anyone else getting any ideas about her. I’m concerned about her safety withthe bastardbeing here tonight and she’s running around alone and half-naked.
She turns and looks at me and her eyes grow wide. Note to self: she may be small, but she is strong! Andi just flew through the air and plastered herself to me. Thankfully, I caught her under her ass just in time because her legs are now wrapped around my waist and her arms are around my neck. And she’s squeezing the breath out of me. Her reaction to seeing me is just now sinking in and my first concern iswho hurt her?
“Baby, tell me what happened. Did someone hurt you?” I keep my voice calm to try to calm her but inside my blood is hitting the temperature of the sun right about now.
She shakes her head no but she’s still holding on to me with all her might. She turns her face and buries it in my neck. I rub her back with one hand while holding her up with the other. “Sweetheart, tell me what’s wrong. Why didn’t you meet me behind the club like I said? What happened?”
She raises her head and I realize my neck is now wet. I draw my head back to look at her and cup her face with one hand while holding her up with the other. “Andi, tell me what’s wrong,” I demand a little stronger this time.
“I couldn’t find you….I thought….I-,” her words are clipped and she’s trying to speak between gasps of breath. “I thought you’d left.”
“What?Why? I sent you a text – told you to come out the back door after you changed clothes.”
“I don’t have a text from you – other than when you said you were leaving,” she says as she buries her face back into my neck and squeezes my neck tighter.
I remove my phone from my pocket and pull up my text messages.Failure to send. Son of a bitch!
“Andi, look at my phone, baby,” I coax her as tenderly as possible. She doesn’t budge. “Please, baby, just look for me.”
She reluctantly takes the phone from my hand with one hand but the other hand grips my neck tighter, as her legs constrict tighter around my waist. We need to settle this before I pass out from oxygen deprivation.
I can’t help but laugh – a little – when I see my phone disappear behind my neck. She’s looking at it over my shoulder so she can still hold on with both hands. I love her so fucking much.
“You thought I left you, Andi?” I ask softly. I know she does – I know her mind went back to the worst thing I’ve ever done, the day I left her at my parents when she needed me the most.
“I’m sorry I thought that,” she whispers, “I didn’t at first. But then I couldn’t find you. I’ve been walking around looking for you.”
I squeeze her to me even tighter now and I really didn’t think that was even possible. My arms are wrapped around her, supporting her and holding her to me, as I walk back to my truck parked behind the club. After I open the passenger door, I place her on the edge of the seat but she’s still facing me so I can lean into her, between her legs, and talk to her. She hasn’t loosened the hold she has on me with her legs yet, giving me no choice but to stay close.
Holding her face in my hands, I give her gentle kisses on her lips, nose, eyes and then all along her jaw. “You have nothing to be sorry about, baby. I will never leave you. Never. It was an honest mistake – I didn’t check the text and I was mad when I left the club. But not at you, baby.”
She finally looks up at me and my chest squeezes like a vice is wrapped around me when I see her red-rimmed eyes, bloodshot and puffy from crying. I still can’t believe how someone so completely beautiful inside and out could love me as much as she so obviously does. How could I have ever doubted her?
“I was so afraid I’d….that I’d lost you again. When I saw you, I was just so relieved and happy that you were really here.” Her voice is so soft and I can see that scared, lost young girl behind the strong, independent woman she’s become.
