Chapter Eighteen

Ayla

My fingers drifted to my lips, where Luke had kissed me. I could almost still feel his mouth on mine. But that wasn’t all I’d felt. I squeezed my eyes shut. No. This plan was backfiring in ways I’d never imagined. Because when Luke kissed me tonight, there’d been this pang in my chest. A spark that could ignite a damn forest fire. Although if I was being honest, it’d been there before that. He’d come to my rescue tonight like some knight in shining armor. And the other night in the tree house when we’d stayed up most of the night talking—I’d gotten glimpses of this extraordinary person who was nothing like the guy who stood in the halls mocking people.

I wasn’t supposed to like him, or fall for him, or get close to him. He was my ticket to the class presidency, nothing more. My way to secure funding for the newspaper so Mr. Fairchild couldn’t just take it away from us—so I wouldn’t lose my chance at a scholarship. Then why did it suddenly make me sick to my stomach to think about the election ending and us going back to the way things were?

“Hey, there you are,” Chloe said. She looped her arm through mine and walked with me toward the driveway. “So, you and Luke?”

“I don’t know, Chlo. I’m so damn confused. How could this ever work out? I mean, look at who he hangs out with. We’re not on the same level. We don’t belong here.”

She frowned at me. “That sounds kind of stuck-up. So not everyone here is our biggest fan, but almost all of Luke’s friends, with the exception of Jack and Jenna, were totally awesome to us tonight. Besides, Brady kind of asked me to hang out again sometime, and I told him maybe we could do something with you and Luke.”

My eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Yes.” Her cheeks reddened. “I didn’t come here thinking Brady would want to do anything with me. I figured he’d only extended an invitation because you’re my best friend and you’re dating his best friend.”

“Oh, God. We’ve infiltrated the jock-holes,” I said, covering my face with my hand.

She snorted. “Funny. That’s not what I meant.” She tugged me closer to Luke’s car, and we leaned against the hood. “The thing is, what if we’ve been kind of wrong about these guys? What if Luke really likes you and you blow it because you don’t give him a chance?”

And there it was, Chloe’s honesty that I both loved and hated.

I toyed with the strings on Luke’s sweatshirt. “I’m scared. How do I know he’s not just playing along with this whole scheme? Waiting to get back at me.”

“Because he kissed you. He didn’t have to kiss you. Twice, I might add. Not only that, but what about the whole tree house thing?” She put her arm on my shoulder and squeezed me. “Sometimes you’ve just got to jump, Ayla.”

“I don’t know.” I glanced at her.

Her blond hair had come loose from its clip, and it hung about her shoulders. She laughed. “Yes, you do. This is our senior year. We have to take some chances. Just think, we’ll be able to look back at these moments and show our kids pictures in our yearbooks of how we dated some of the hottest guys in school.”

I snorted. “Now that that’s settled…”

Over her shoulder, I spotted Luke and Brady heading toward us. “Hey, you ready to leave?” Luke peered at me then turned away.

“Sure, whenever you are,” I said. Why wouldn’t he meet my eye? Did he regret kissing me? Maybe he was embarrassed.

Brady stood next to Chloe. “I’m not sure if Chloe mentioned it, but I wondered if you guys might want to go out together next weekend. Hit the movies or something?” He shifted his attention between me and Luke.

“Are you fine with that?” I asked Luke.

“If I can get work off, it sounds fun.”

But then I thought about all our talks and how he was struggling for money. “Or, if you guys want, we could do a picnic or something instead. There’s this really awesome place a couple hours from here. There are these great waterfalls, and the leaves up there are already turning colors. We could go hiking and stuff. And I could even drive, although we might be a little cramped.”

“Or we could take my dad’s Jeep,” Brady said. He smiled at me, and I was pretty sure he knew what I was doing.

“That’ll be fun. Let me check my schedule at work this week.” Luke opened the car door for me.

I climbed inside then turned to Brady. “Thank you for inviting us tonight. I had a lot of fun.”

“No problem. Just glad to see Luke having a good time, for once. You really bring out the best in him.”

I smiled. Did he really think so? My gaze shifted to Luke, who seemed as surprised as I was by the comment.

“Be careful driving,” Chloe said, leaning in to give me a hug good-bye.

“I’ll see you later.”

I waved as Luke shut my door for me.

He got inside and started the car; he was quiet as if deep in thought as we drove down the hill.

“Luke? Are you mad at me or something?” I finally asked.

His head snapped around. “No. Sorry, just preoccupied.”

“Are you sure? I mean, if this is about the kiss—”

“It’s not.” After we left Mansion Hill, Luke suddenly pulled over and turned to me. “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be a jerk. It’s just, I’m not sure what to do about all this.” He pointed between us.

I swallowed hard. “You don’t have to do anything. We can go on how we’ve been going on and forget about the kiss, if you want.”

“Okay,” he said, hesitantly, watching me closely.

I bit back the tears. That’s what I got for thinking something might come from this. For believing he’d ever be more than my fake boyfriend. In what reality did Luke Pressler like someone like me?

Just then, Luke’s phone beeped. “Could you check my text for me?” he asked.

Keeping my head down, I reached for his phone and swiped the screen to the side to see he had a message from Landon.

It said, Luke can you come home? Mom left me alone. It’s dark and I’m scared.

There were several other messages from Landon asking where he was.

“We need to get to your house, now,” I said. “Landon’s by himself.” What the hell was going on? Why had Landon been left alone?

“Fuck.” Luke sped across town until we came barreling into his driveway.

When we got there, we found his mom’s car parked in their front yard, the door halfway open with her passed out inside on the front seat. There were open beer bottles littering the floor of the car as well as the yard surrounding it.

“I’ll go in and check on Landon,” I said. Oh, God. Was this what Luke had to deal with all the time? This was totally shitty and unfair.

I knocked on the front door. “Landon, it’s me, Ayla. Are you okay?”

A second later the door flew open, and Landon rushed into my arms. Tears streamed down his face. “Ayla,” he sobbed, and I picked him up in my arms and brought him inside.

On the counter I saw a box of cereal, which I assumed was what he’d had for dinner. There was a blanket fort in the middle of the living room, with a flashlight still on underneath it. Along with several pillows and cushions set up around it.

“It’s okay, I’m here. So is Luke.” I pressed a kiss to his forehead and rocked him back and forth in my arms.

“Mom left me. She said she didn’t want me no more.”

“Oh, Landon. Sweetie, I’m sure she didn’t mean it.” She better not have. What a freaking bitch. Who told their kid stuff like that? “Tell you what. If you want, I can see if you can spend the night at my house.”

He sniffled. “Really?”

“Yep. I’ve got this really freaking awesome tree house that I think you’d love.” I pushed his hair from his face.

Right then, Luke came in, trying to get his mom inside. She cussed at him, telling him he was a piece of shit and just like his dad.

“You and your brother ruined my life. That’s why your dad left,” she screamed, which set Landon off crying again.

“Shh…don’t listen to her, Landon.” I hummed the theme song from Zelda in his ear and went out onto the dilapidated porch with him. Without even thinking about it, I reached for my phone and dialed my parents.

Dad picked up on the second ring. “Hey, kiddo, anything wrong?”

Mrs. Pressler yelled from inside the house, and I heard the sound of glass breaking. “Yes. Can you come over to Luke’s? His mom’s gone off the deep end. Dad, she left Landon here by himself tonight—she’s drunk and taking it out on Luke.”

“I’m coming. I’ll see if I can get a hold of the cops, too,” he said.

“Dad?”

“Honey, this sounds like something more than we’re going to be equipped to deal with. Trust me, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be right there.”

A few minutes later, Luke came out on the porch, his forehead bleeding. He carried two large duffel bags. “Do you think your parents would be cool with us crashing at your place tonight?”

“My dad’s on his way right now; we’ll ask him when he gets here,” I said.

Luke closed his eyes as blood slid down his head.

“Luke, you’re bleeding,” Landon said, clinging tight to me.

“I know, buddy. I’ll wipe it up in a minute.”

“Don’t you walk away from me, Luke Allen Pressler. Get back in this house.” His mom stumbled onto the porch, carrying a golf club, which she swung at his face, barely missing him.

I hopped down with Landon in my arms and raced into the front yard, nearly tripping over half-empty beer bottles. At that moment, my dad, followed by a police cruiser, pulled into the driveway.

The deputy jumped out and ran up to the house.

“Hey, Landon, why don’t we get into my dad’s car, okay?” I said.

“Will you take me away from here? I don’t want to be here anymore, Ayla. My mom hates us. And we never have enough food to eat. I want to live somewhere else.”

As I rocked him back and forth, a lump lodged in my throat. If I had it my way, Landon would never see that woman again. Luke wouldn’t have to work his ass off to make payments on stuff his mom neglected.

I watched as the cop fought with Mrs. Pressler to get her handcuffed. Soon another patrol car parked on the side of the road and more officers jumped out to help. One of the men escorted Luke to my dad’s car where he had him take a seat in the passenger side.

The door was open, and we heard the obscene words flying from Luke’s mom. “You fucking assholes. You have no right to be here. Get out of my yard. You can’t tell me how to raise my fucking kids. Those spoiled little dipshits called you, didn’t they?” She kicked her legs out. But the cops finally managed to get her into the cruiser.

The officer who’d led Luke over checked his forehead. “What happened?”

“My mom threw a glass at me,” he said, barely above a whisper.

“I think you’re going to need some stitches. Do you have a family member you can call, somewhere you can stay?”

“They can come back to our house,” my dad said. “Luke is friends with my daughter. We’ve got plenty of room for him and Landon to stay on with us until something else can be figured out.”

“Okay. We’ve got to get a hold of CPS as well. They’re going to probably want to investigate everything that happened here tonight. Why don’t you give me your contact information, and I’ll have the worker call you.”

“Sounds good. We’ll get Luke up to the hospital so they can check him out.” Dad shook the officer’s hand.

He handed Dad one of his cards and told him they might have someone come up to the hospital to ask the boys more questions.

Before we headed out, Luke ran back up to the house to grab their bags from the porch where he’d dropped them, and also to get a washcloth to cover his wound until we could get to the hospital. While he did that, Dad called Mom to ask her to meet us up there.

I heard him assuring her that I was fine, but that the boys might need a place to stay for a while.

The car ride to the emergency room was quiet, except for Dad’s Irish music, which played softly in the background. Landon rested his head against my arm, clinging tight to me.

Luke turned in his seat to look at me. “Sorry about all this,” he said.

“It’s not your fault. I’m just glad I was with you.” I reached forward and touched his shoulder.

At last, we pulled up to the hospital. Mom was already there waiting for us. She stood as soon as we came in and rushed forward, accompanied by another lady, who looked as if she’d been roused from bed.

“Hi, I’m Carmen Spencer, from Child Protective Services. I wondered if I could meet with Luke for a few minutes?”

Luke nodded for us to go.

We went and found seats in the lobby area, while Carmen took Luke into a room off the emergency room. I glanced at Mom. “What do you think will happen?”

“I don’t know, sweetie. I’m sure they’ll be okay with the boys coming with us for tonight, maybe even tomorrow. But they’ll likely be looking for something more permanent for them. They’ll attempt to get in touch with some of their family members, see if anyone can take them in while they investigate their mom.”

My vision blurred as tears welled. “Mom, I didn’t know they had it so bad. The way she yelled at them, the things she said…”

Mom hugged me. “I know, sweetie. All you can do is be there for them. We’ll get them through this. Luke is lucky to have you.”

Then why did I feel like the world’s biggest asshole? After tonight, I was done with the whole blackmailing thing. If Luke wanted to hang out, we could hang out, but I wouldn’t force him any longer. He had a shitty life, and I wasn’t going to make it worse for him. And besides that, I actually cared about him. I’m not sure when it happened, but I didn’t want the blackmail thing hanging between us anymore.

A while later, Carmen came out and asked to speak to my parents, while Landon and I sat waiting some more. After a bit, my parents came back out with Luke and Carmen. His eyes were rimmed red, as if he’d been crying. I wanted to go to him, to comfort him. But instead, it was Landon who rushed into his arms.

“I’ve gotten an order faxed over from our judge allowing for Luke to have medical treatment. And this order is placing the boys with you for the weekend,” Carmen said, holding up a piece of paper and handing a copy of it to my dad.

Dad nodded and said, “Okay, we’ll take good care of them.”

“We’ll set an emergency hearing for Monday morning up at the courthouse, if you could make sure the boys get there. In the meantime, we’re going to try to get a hold of some of their family.” She handed both my parents and Luke business cards. “If you need anything before then, just drop me a line.”

I knew Luke’s grandparents lived in town, but by the sounds of it, he and his brother weren’t close to anyone on their dad’s side.

Once Carmen left, Mom brought Luke up to the desk. She helped to fill out his paperwork while an attendant came out with a wheelchair.

Dad took Landon from me. “Hey, what do you say we go get some hot cocoa from the cafeteria? Maybe we can find a cookie, too.”

Landon nodded. “Okay. Will Luke be all right?”

“He sure will. Ayla and Mrs. Hawkins will go back with him.” Dad propped Landon up on his shoulders, telling him to duck down every time they came to a doorway.

As they wheeled Luke back, I followed close behind until we came to a curtained area. They slid the long, blue-green curtain out of the way, the metal clips clinking as they went.

A nurse helped him onto one of the beds. Dr. Lipman, or so his name tag indicated, scooted in behind her and took the cloth Luke had been using to keep his head from bleeding.

“You’re gonna need some stitches. It’ll likely leave a little bit of scarring when it heals up. But the girls like the scars,” the doctor teased.

Luke glanced at me, and I smiled. “Yeah, you’ll be way hotter with a scar.”

He snorted. “Well, that was definitely what I was going for.” But his tired eyes softened, and I moved to sit in the chair next to his bed. He reached his bloodstained hand out to me, and I held tight to him while the nurse numbed him up and the doctor proceeded to sew his wound shut.

The doctor talked to my mom for a minute about getting him a low dosage of painkillers to help him through the next couple of days and explained to her about keeping the area dry.

When Luke was done, we all headed back into the lobby together. Mom left first, while the rest of us piled into the backseat of Dad’s car. Landon sat in the middle, buckled in between me and Luke. He leaned against Luke, resting his head on his chest, while I rubbed his back.

Over his head, Luke met my gaze and held it until we got to my house.

Dad parked in the garage, and we ushered everyone inside to get them settled in. Since we had extra bedrooms, Dad let Landon have first dibs. He picked the one across the hall from my parents, the one that overlooked our backyard and pool. And, coincidentally, the tree house.

Luke took the one next to mine, which was down the hall from the others.

Together, we tucked Landon in. “Ayla, do you think you could maybe sing to me?”

I smiled. “I sure can. What song do you want to hear?”

“I don’t know. You can pick one.” He yawned, pulling the blue-and-gray comforter up under his chin.

Luke tucked his stuffed Yoda under his arm and kissed his forehead, while I sat on the edge of his bed.

“How about a song from the musical I’m in?”

“Okay.” He nodded, closing his eyes.

So I sang “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors. And when I finished that one, I sang a couple of Irish songs my grandma had taught me when I was younger. Finally, Landon dozed off, and Luke and I crept from the room.

Instead of going to bed, we wordlessly both made our way into the backyard and climbed up into the tree house. We sat on the deck of it, staring at the stars. Without saying anything, he took my hand in his. He held it for a long time before finally turning to face me.

“Thank you for helping with everything tonight. I don’t know what Landon and I would’ve done if you hadn’t called your dad…I can never repay you for this.”

My throat thickened with emotion. “You don’t have to repay me for anything. This is what friends do for each other.” I dropped his hand, then reached my fingers up to stroke his face. “Whatever you need, I’m here, okay?”

He raised his palm until it covered my hand, then he leaned closer, until his chin rested against my forehead.

“I’m done blackmailing you,” I whispered. “I don’t care if I win the election or not.” I knew that it might mean my future and possibly the futures of some of my friends. But maybe there’d be another way to save the paper, in case I didn’t win. I just couldn’t go on doing this to Luke. He didn’t deserve it.

He pulled back slightly and grinned. “Just so you know, you’re not real great at blackmailing anyway. The only thing you’ve done this whole time was show me the video and tell me to help you. You’ve made no other demands. Besides, everything I’ve done, I’ve wanted to do.”

My mouth gaped open. “Everything?”

“Yes.” He moved closer, his thumb trailing down my jawline. “You don’t need to blackmail me into liking you, Ayla.”

“I don’t?” I stared at him, loving the way his blond hair flopped over his forehead, hiding the bandage. The way his eyes glittered when he was teasing me about something.

“No.” With that, he leaned down until his lips brushed mine.

Fire shot through my veins as if someone had thrown lighter fluid on a bonfire. The way his mouth moved against mine—how gentle the touch of his fingers was along my face and the back of my neck as they clasped hold of me. His breath made a trail over my skin as he kissed my chin, then my neck and once again found my lips. I pulled him down next to me until we were pressed together, his arms wrapped around me, keeping me molded against his chest.

He let out a low groan. “God, you have no idea how beautiful you are. How much you make me want to be a better person.”

“Hmm…then my magic spell must be working.” I laughed, smoothing his shirt down. Beneath the fabric, I felt the contours of his muscles. The solidness of him.

“We should probably head back in soon. It’s almost two in the morning, and I think my meds are starting to kick in.” He tugged lightly on my sweatshirt string.

“What, you don’t want me to have to carry you into the house?”

He rolled his eyes. “More like I don’t want to fall off the top of the tree house, although this might not be a bad way to go.” He released the string and instead twirled a strand of my hair around his finger before kissing me once more, this time gentler, deeper…

This was the kind of kiss you gave to someone when you were promising them something.

I touched his cheek, feeling the light stubble beneath my hand. My gaze held his, and I realized in that moment, I’d fallen. Fallen so hard. So fast. And there was no going back for me. Somehow, through this whole blackmailing thing, I’d fallen for Luke Pressler. Not the one everyone else saw at school. But this one. The nice one. Responsible. Caring. Hardworking. Adorable Luke Pressler. The guy who put his little brother before himself. Who’d endured his mom’s wrath for who knew how long in order to keep them together. But how did I know he felt the same? Maybe it was the drugs talking, or maybe after this blew over he’d realize I wasn’t right for him. I tried to push the doubt from my mind.

Luke had let me into his life, and I never wanted to let go.