Her mind chewed on thoughts of Luke the way a child chews on a stolen piece of candy—secretly and relentlessly.
Luke cursed himself to hell and back.
He’d decided to come here.
He’d known Finley was bringing a date. But he hadn’t known that seeing her with Derek would be so sharply painful. Possessiveness had twisted together with wanting someone he couldn’t have to the point that he’d been unable to take a deep breath since she’d walked up to him.
He was mad. At the world. At Finley. Most of all ... at himself.
For decades now, he’d been an expert at punishing himself. When they’d released him from prison, he’d told himself he was done with that. But apparently not.
He should have stayed home.
He felt sick to his stomach.
“I see my dad across the room,” Dakota said. “Want to head over and say hi?”
“You go. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“’Kay.” She moved off.
Dakota had approached him seconds after he’d entered the house. He didn’t have anything against her. She was attractive and friendly. However, she wasn’t Finley. So it was a relief not to have to keep making conversation with her.
He crossed to the bar. What were the chances they had tequila?
Zero, it turned out. They had regular and pink champagne, rosé, and a beer called The Love.
He picked up a beer and drank half of it down.
“Luke.” A feminine voice spoke his name.
He turned to see three of the Miracle Five. Natasha and her sister, Genevieve, both carrying small plates of appetizers. Plus Sebastian.
He swallowed a curse word.
“I’m so glad that you came tonight,” Genevieve said to him.
“Who managed to coerce you into attending tonight?” Natasha asked. “I’m going to send them a bouquet of flowers.”
“Was it CeCe?” Sebastian guessed.
“Yes.”
“In that case, CeCe will be receiving a bouquet from me,” Natasha stated. “It’s not easy to entice you into a public setting.”
“Maybe we can ask her if she’d be willing to give us lessons,” Genevieve said to her sister, “on how to be persuasive. The ability to persuade people to do what you want would be a fabulous life skill.”
“CeCe’s methods can’t be taught,” Sebastian said. “They’re in her DNA.”
Luke could see Ben on the other side of the space. He was pretty sure this was the first time all five of them had been in a room together since the ruined basement in El Salvador.
Uninvited memories carved into his thoughts.
Ben, hanging on to his optimism even though they were stuck in a dark hole. Natasha, stepping into the mom role, treating the cut on Genevieve’s arm and assuring Sebastian that his head injury would be fine. Genevieve, praying out loud over and over. Sebastian, threatening him if he refused to drink water. Ethan ... dead.
“Would you mind grabbing me some punch, Sebastian?” Natasha asked. “Dickens liked to drink punch at the holidays with his family.”
“I’d be honored,” Sebastian said dryly, and left.
