‘We talked. That’s it,’ he said, his eyes still on Willow. ‘It was no big deal.’
He just wished he could convince the rest of his body to feel the same, remembering how close they had been made his head rush all over again.
It would’ve been so easy …
But what would’ve happened next? Was it really what Willow wanted? After all, in theory she hadn’t ended things with Jake. Instead, she was on some kind of useless break thing. What did that even mean anyway?
And even if they did break up, he didn’t want to be some kind of rebound option, or a tool used to get back at her ex.
‘I was only teasing,’ Mia said. ‘You guys just looked a little secretive.’
‘No secrets at all.’ Willow laughed awkwardly. Lucas wondered if he was being paranoid, but he swore she was now avoiding looking at him. It was like she regretted what had almost happened. ‘I’m just hoping that Sapphire’s post does the trick.’
Mia clapped her hands together. ‘Well, I’m sorry I interrupted it all with my dramatics. I had actually come back here with news—’
Lucas wasn’t really listening to the conversation. He couldn’t hide his frustration about the whole situation. Even thinking about Eric caused a burning rush of rage. This was another example of Jake being a total screwup. Oh yeah, he could present a perfect life on the internet, but in reality, he was hiding the fact that he had parents that he never bothered to see.
‘You need to tell that ex-boyfriend of yours to start looking out for his dad a bit more,’ he said bitterly to Willow.
Willow looked momentarily stunned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, he never sees him. I bet he doesn’t even call him either. What’s the problem? Is he ashamed of him being a drunk?’
She frowned. Lucas could tell he had pushed this a bit too far, but he couldn’t help himself. Seeing Eric had reminded him of Jake and thinking of Jake only made him remember that Willow had chosen him. She had been with him for years! What had he been thinking about only moments before? He was clearly losing the plot.
‘Not that it’s any of your business, but Jake phones his dad regularly,’ Willow replied. Her words were clipped. ‘He’s a busy man and Eric isn’t exactly the easiest to get along with.’
Lucas could tell from the way she was avoiding his eyes that she was lying. Willow had always been a hopeless liar, even when she was a kid and trying to convince him that it wasn’t her that stole his bubblegum.
He couldn’t let this go. He was too wound up now. He hated the way she was defending that loser.
‘The man has an illness. He needs support, not occasional phone calls when Jake feels like it.’
‘It’s not like that!’ Willow snapped. ‘What the hell has gotten into you anyway? What do you know about anything?’
Mia moved towards him and gently touched his arm.
‘Luc, maybe you need to back off a bit?’
‘No, I don’t need to back off, I need to say my piece. I’ve been worried about Eric for a long time,’ he shot back. ‘Jake should consider himself lucky. He still has parents to worry about. He should think about that a bit more when he’s yakking on about empathy or whatever on his page.’
Willow rounded on him. Her tone was super cool. ‘I think you need to stop worrying about what my ex-boyfriend is or isn’t doing. But when I speak to him later, I’ll be sure to pass on your concerns.’
‘You do that,’ he replied, just as icy.
And then he turned round and walked back into The Diner. He couldn’t stand the way Willow was looking at him. Lucas knew he had gone too far, but he had always been skilled at messing things up before they got dangerous.
It was his self-protection.
But he couldn’t ignore how much it hurt to see how protective she still was of Jake.
‘What was all that about?’ Mia slammed in after him. ‘Willow’s gone. She looks really pissed and I can’t blame her. You can’t be criticizing her about something her ex-boyfriend should be doing.’
‘I wasn’t criticizing her; I was simply pointing out facts,’ Lucas replied, running his hand through his hair. ‘Mia, are you here simply to lay into me? Because I’ve got to open in an hour and I still need to prep.’
‘I’m not here to lay into you; I’m just worried about you,’ Mia said gently. ‘Lucas, you’ve not been right since Mom died. You know that. You keep everything locked inside. It’s no wonder you explode every now and then. It’s not healthy.’
Lucas was pacing the floors of The Diner, trying to settle himself. ‘Mia, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine. I just have a lot on my plate.’
