Chapter Nineteen

Meg

“I hurt everywhere,” Luke announced. “It’s your fault.”

I hadn’t expected him to answer the door in nothing but a pair of swim trunks and a lopsided grimace. He gripped two towels under his arm. His biceps bulged around the bundle. I’d learned that he was able to throw a consistent eighty-mile-an-hour fastball with that arm.

“I know.” I hobbled inside. I tried to concentrate on the ache in my thighs in an effort to distract myself from his obnoxiously chiseled abs.

School had started a few hours ago. When I first got up, I told Mom I wasn’t feeling well. It wasn’t exactly a lie. She excused me for the day, and I went back to bed. Luke woke me up with a phone call and an offer to use his hot tub.

My muscles begged me to comply.

I let Mom think I was heading to class. I knew she wouldn’t call. She’d just assume I’d check myself in.

Luke and I had stayed in the wooden swing set until we were sure we hadn’t been followed. Eventually we’d climbed down and trudged back to the SUV in silence. We’d stuck to the shadows as we looped away from the water tower, adding several extra blocks to our hike, but feeling safer because of it.

By the time he’d dropped me off, molten streaks of sunlight were cresting the horizon.

“I have aches in places I didn’t even know existed,” he grumped as I followed him down the stairs. “And that’s really saying something because the coach at the last baseball camp I went to was a sadist.”

“Imagine how I feel. You are definitely in better shape than me.”

“It’s the offseason,” he argued. “I hurt.”

“Poor baby.”

He led the way through the game room, out a set of double glass doors and onto the patio in the backyard.

The water bubbled invitingly.

He tossed the towels onto a lounge chair before climbing the steps to the hot tub. I quickly wiggled out of my clothes, glad I’d thought to come dressed in my bikini. The hot water felt heavenly as I slid in.

I rested my head against the hard-rimmed edge. “I feel better already.”

We were quiet for a while, relaxing, allowing our aching muscles to be massaged by the jets.

Eventually he asked, “Nutmeg?”

His cautious tone made me suspicious. “Yes, Luke?” I mimicked.

“I know about Sydney. I know your mural is a copy of her work. But why do you do it?” He squinted at me over the bubbling water. “I get it to some extent. But I feel like I’m missing something.”

I had to organize my thoughts, trying to find a logical way to answer that.

“Sydney wanted to be an artist. She was young, so maybe it was a phase. But she said so many times she wanted to see her artwork all over the world. Obviously that’s never going to happen. One night, about a month after she died, it hit me. I could do this one piece, this one thing to honor her memory. Honestly? I was such a mess, I didn’t think about the consequences at first.”

He didn’t say anything, so I kept talking.

“The first two I did were on buildings I knew were going to be torn down. I guess you could say they were my trial run. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to pull off a decent mural. But the design was pretty simple.”

“How many murals are there?” he pressed.

“There’s an old barn on a busy road north of town. It’s crumbling, beyond repair. The property is abandoned. I also painted an old wooden fence. It’s up on a hill so anyone driving by will see it. Half of the fence was missing and the rest was in pretty bad shape.” I continued on, listing landmarks I’d hit. “Some of them are as far as twenty miles away. For the most part I’ve chosen surfaces I didn’t think mattered to someone else. Structures that are highly visible, but unsalvageable.”

“The overpass?” he asked.

“Someone had already tagged the opposite side. I guess at the time I felt justified.”

I braced myself for the question I knew he was going to throw my way.

“Why the school, Nutmeg? It’s almost like you wanted to get caught.”

“Maybe I did.”

I’d suffered through dinners with Luke’s family. I knew how imperfect his parents were. Because of that it wasn’t hard to tell him the truth.

“The school is the one place I did on impulse.” I rolled my lower lip through my teeth, trying to figure out how to explain this. “My parents haven’t been the same since Syd died. They either fight or ignore each other completely. The night I painted the mural they had a horrible fight. Mom couldn’t stop crying. Dad locked himself away in his room.”

I felt tears burning in my eyes and my throat was tight.

“I knew I was being reckless but part of me didn’t care. In the back of my mind I thought so what if I got caught? Maybe then my parents could focus their anger on me, instead of each other.” A sarcastic laugh bubbled up. “The irony? The moment I crashed into you I knew I never wanted them to find out. I knew it would make things worse. It was stupid and impulsive and when you caught me, it was the worst kind of reality check. I’ve regretted that decision every day.”

“Guess you’re lucky it was me.”

I nodded because yeah, I really was.

“The water tower?”

I dropped my gaze. “That’s different. It was worth the risk.” The water tower was more visible than all of the other places put together. People could see it for miles.

“That’s about Sydney.”

“Yes. It’s in a place everyone can see. They might not know what they’re looking at, but I know.” I shook my head. “I’m sure this all sounds so stupid to you.”

“I’m not judging. Not when I’ve done things I regret, too.”

I assumed one of the things he regretted was helping me with the tower.

“What would your parents do if they found out about last night?” I asked. “Bail you out? Pull some strings? Cover the whole thing up?”

“Probably.” I had been joking, but he sounded serious when he answered. He also sounded disgusted. “Dad wouldn’t allow me to tarnish the family name. Ironic considering the sleazy way he makes a living.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“I think it is. Most of his clients are guilty. These corporations have enough money to pay a top lawyer to help them weasel their way out of trouble.” He made a sound of disgust. “I realize it’s the nature of the business, but that’s not the kind of life I want to live. I’d rather struggle to pay my bills than be rolling in blood money.”

“Have you told your dad this? That you don’t want to work for him?”

“I talked to my mom. She’s the more reasonable one. She said Dad would probably cut me off. I asked her how good of a lawyer I could possibly be if I hated my job. She said Gabe isn’t crazy about his job, and he does just fine.”

“Basically she was telling you to suck it up and deal with it.”

“Pretty much. They don’t know this yet, but Gabe’s had enough. I think he’s going to walk away soon. He said he’d rather be a construction worker than spend another year at the firm.”

“If you don’t want to be a lawyer, what do you want to do?”

“I want to go into sports medicine. A few years ago I sprained my ankle. It ended up not being a big deal, but I was really worried at first that I wouldn’t be able to play. I saw a physical therapist, and he really helped me.”

“That’s something your dad wouldn’t approve of,” I guessed.

“No.”

“What’s wrong with going into the medical field?”

“He sees it as a personal insult that I don’t want to follow in his footsteps. He rattles on and on about how hard he’s worked. How he’s paved the way for his sons. He thinks we should be grateful because if we follow his plan, our futures will be set.”

“You’re not supposed to live your own life?”

“Not if he can help it.”

“You should talk to Miss Perez.”

“The guidance counselor?” he asked skeptically.

“She’s pretty awesome. Tell her you want to explore college options without involving your parents. She’ll help you. She has a knack for looking at things from a different perspective.”

It appeared as if he was actually thinking it over.

“I’ll figure it out,” he finally said. “That’s enough serious talk for now. How do you feel about going to another party?”

“What kind of party?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “If it’s a party that involves your parents, I’d rather decline.”

He laughed lightly. “No. No parents.”

“What is it then?”

“Adam’s dad owns a big chunk of land north of town. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere. It’s beautiful, really. A river runs through it, and a few times a year we camp out there.”

“Camp?”

“Camp. With tents.” He rushed to add, “Well, Adam has a camper set up, so there are some amenities. But the rest of us rough it.”

I mulled the idea over. I didn’t hate it. But I didn’t love it, either.

“Who will be there?” I asked.

“Me…hopefully you. Adam and Julia. Leo and maybe a couple of other guys. Trevor usually comes but I’m not sure what he’ll do.”

I wrinkled my nose at the thought of Trevor. Wherever he was these days, Jaclyn tended to follow.

“When you mentioned tents, you meant sleeping in them. Overnight?”

He held up his hands and shot me an innocent look. “Just two friends, sharing a tent.”

“Right.” Could it really be that simple?

He nudged my foot. “Hey, don’t read too much into this. I don’t have an ulterior motive. I’m offering because I know how much you like to get away. You’ll have a good time. I promise. It’s pretty laid back. We have a bonfire. Adam never invites a lot of people. That way it stays pretty mellow.”

An entire night in the woods. With Luke. In a tent alone? It was probably a horrible idea.

“Okay, I’ll go.”

“Really?”

The way he smiled at me lit up my insides, confirming this was definitely a very, very bad idea.

“Yeah, why not?” After the nerve-wracking ordeal last night, it sounded like a great way to relieve some stress.

“I think last night was a bonding moment,” he teased.

“You do realize,” I said cockily, “that you can’t blackmail me anymore.”

He nudged my foot again. “Why is that?”

I gave him a triumphant grin. “Because as of last night, you are officially my accomplice. You can’t turn me in without getting yourself in trouble.”

“I never intended to turn you in.” He flashed an innocent smile.

“Really?” I wasn’t sure I believed him. “You definitely fooled me. You seemed awfully determined to get your way.”

His lips twitched. “I was determined to get my way. That’s why I had to play hardball. I had to make you believe I wouldn’t hesitate to go to Mr. Prichard.”

“You were very convincing,” I admitted.

“I’m glad you’re still playing by the rules. It’s honorable of you,” Luke said. “One rule, in particular.”

“Which rule would that be?” I cocked my head to the side, as if I didn’t know.

“The ‘Luke can kiss Meg whenever he wants’ rule.”

I gave him a serious nod. “That’s my favorite one.”

He reached over and wrapped his hands around my waist. My body bobbed through the water as he effortlessly positioned me on his lap. My knees rested on either side of him. Our chests pressed together, and his lips were so, so tantalizingly close to mine. His hands skimmed up and down my bare sides, heating my skin a million degrees more than the water of the hot tub ever could.

When he pulled me in for a kiss, I was sure I was about to combust.