He didn’t respond.
He just stood there staring at me with those gorgeous hazel eyes that seemed to pierce straight through me. My nerves were already shot, and his staring at me was only making it worse. “I just… I just need to see him… I have something to give him.”
Damn.
It was official.
I was literally the world’s worst liar.
Luke’s posture shifted, and his gaze hardened. “It’s time to cut the bullshit, Presley. You need to tell me what the hell is going on between you and my brother.”
And just like that, the weight of every secret, every lie, every withheld detail came crashing down on me. I couldn’t have been in a worse spot if I tried.
“Just tell me,” Luke pushed.
I froze.
I should’ve turned around.
I should’ve gotten back in my car and left.
Instead, I lowered my head and said, “There’s nothing to tell. I just need to find Davis.”
“That’s funny, because nobody ever needs Davis,” he snarled. “Not unless something’s gone sideways.”
I looked past him and out toward the lot. Then, out to the trees. The road. Anywhere that wasn’t his face. That didn’t stop him from pushing, “You show up here like this, asking for my brother like he holds your fate in his hands, and you think I’m not going to know something is up?”
“I can’t.”
“You can.” He slipped his hand around the side of my neck and used the crook of his thumb to gently lift my head, forcing me to face him. “Just tell me what’s going on, and then I’ll help you find Davis.”
“If I tell you, it will change everything.”
“Okay. Not sure that’s a bad thing.”
“But it is.” I let out a defeated sigh. “You’re going to hate me.”
“Doubt that.”
“You will.” I leaned back against the hood of my car, and the fight drained out of me all at once. “Lila Kate ran into some trouble…”
He didn’t speak.
He just stood there and listened as I told him everything.
His jaw flexed from time to time, and I knew he was getting angry. But he remained silent, even when I said, “He said he could help. I just had to pretend to be his girlfriend. I didn’t know what his plan was. He didn’t tell me anything, just that I had to do what he said, and he’d get the money.”
Luke looked away, but I saw it.
The anguish in his eyes was impossible to miss, and it only grew more intense as I said, “I played along with it because I was desperate. I was terrified that those men would come after Lila Kate. I had no choice but to come up with the money, and Davis… he just seemed so sure that he could get it. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Again, he didn’t speak.
I knew he would be angry, but the silence was killing me. I was afraid to say anything more, so I waited until he said, “You knew.”
“I did, but I didn’t,” I stammered. “I had no idea what he was planning until the night of the party, and even then, I didn’t know specifically what his plan was.”
“You knew he was going to steal the money. You had to know that.”
