Spent - Part Two (Bad Boy Fighter Book 2) (5 page)

“Sorry if I’m interruptin’ you two, just need to get my things,” Big Mike’s voice mutters nervously nearby.

“No problem, Mike. Don’t mind us,” Luke grins against my lips.

“There’s one little problem, Richards."

Luke groans slightly as he turns in an awkward pose to face Big Mike, “What might that be?"

“You two are canoodlin’ in front of
my
locker,” Mike adds, with an exaggerated look in every direction but our way, and a sheepish grin plastered across his face.

Luke and I both erupt in laughter, and we slowly move our bodies away from each other. The fire is still burning in Luke’s eyes, but he has enough composure to control himself.

“Sorry, Mike,” I tease, “It just looked like a good locker to use."
 

Mike returns his gaze to us and arches his brow in a teasing expression, “Use Richards’ locker next time. Besides, medics told the boy to eat something. I’d reckon he probably ought to do that before you two go goofin’ around.

“I’m planning on eating something alright,” Luke winks at me.  

Mike waves his arms in surrender, “If that means what I hope it doesn’t, I don’t need to hear ‘bout none of that,” he mutters as he shuffles towards his locker, “I just want to get my things and get out of you two lovebirds’ way."

“That being said,” I chime in, “We actually probably should get you something to eat, Luke."

Luke stares at me incredulously, “I don’t think food is really going to satisfy me right now."

I place a hand on my hip, “I’d rather you eat something than pass out during our… well, as Mike puts it so well, our canoodlin’."

“The lady has a point,” Mike chimes in as he rummages through his locker.

Luke rolls his eyes, “Fine. My appetite seems to be returning anyway. Get some food in me. Then I’ll show you exactly how much I’ve missed you."

“Just… not in front of my locker,” Big Mike chortles as he closes it and extracts the key.

I giggle, “Don’t worry. We won’t ruin your locker with anymore canoodlin’ Mike.”

“Well that was embarrassing,” I mutter as Luke and I, hand in hand, walk out of the locker room.

“Meh,” Luke shrugs, “Being with you is never embarrassing,” he says as he squeezes my hand tenderly.

“There’s that cheesy stuff again,” I smirk as we turn down the hall that leads to the parking lot.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think up cheesy affectionate things to say during the past few weeks,” Luke sighs, “I’m just happy that I’m actually getting to use them. I wasn’t sure if I ever would see you again.”

Ouch.

I stop walking. Luke stops after our hands tug. He looks me over, sadness bored deep within his hazel eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“Me too,” he squeezes my hand, “But we’re going to make it better this time.”

A faint smile eases across my face. It’s a smile of hope. There isn’t complete certainty behind it, but there is hope, and hope is enough to keep me going right now. Regaining the strength in my legs, Luke and I continue on with our journey.

“How’s Cameron doing?” Luke asks, probably in an attempt to ease the silence between us.

“Oh shit!” I say a little too loudly, as I quickly try to dig my phone out from my back pocket.

“What?”
 

“I need to tell her about today,” I mutter as I briskly begin typing out a text.

“Okay?” Luke arches an eyebrow.

I look up and smile, “She’ll want to know about you and everything else that’s happened today.”
 

“And it can’t wait?” Luke asks, amusement written across his face.

I pout playfully, “Nope.”

Luke rolls his eyes, “Fine. Just text and walk. I’ll steer you away from running into traffic and other hazards. I’m starving.”

I arch an eyebrow, “What happened to Mister Eloquent with Words?”

“He left when my stomach began to rumble,” Luke smirks.

I chortle, “Alright, alright. I think I can handle a little multitasking. I’m still driving, though.”

“
After
you finish texting Cameron.”

“So bossy,” I grin, turning my attention back to my phone.

Its been a whole four hours since I last heard from Cameron. On any normal week, that would be fine, but ever since the breakup, Cameron’s acted like my mother and has checked on me nearly every other hour.
 

Glancing at the clock, I realize that she’s teaching one of her evening classes so I likely won’t hear back from her right away, a good thing, because she’ll probably flip out when she finds out that I’m with Luke.

“
Guess what
,” I hit send, as Luke holds open the door for me that leads to the parking lot. With a smile, I silently take note of his gentlemanly disposition.

“
You finally climbed out of bed?
”

“
Why are you texting and teaching!?!
”

“
Because it pisses my students off when I do it and they can’t. What’s up?
”

“
You’re such a biatch.
”

"
WHAT'S UP!?!
"

“
FINE! I’m with Luke…
”

“
Oh? Finally realized you need to get laid?
”

“
Say what???
”

“
You’re always so bitchy when you haven’t gotten laid in a while… 2 weeks is way too long for you to go.
”

“
Jeez, thanks
,” I roll my eyes as Luke and I settle into my car. He stares at me, quizzically.

“Cameron says I need to get laid.”

A broad grin stretches across Luke’s handsome face as he buckles his seat, “Tell her I’ve got it covered.”

I snort as my fingers return to tapping, “
Luke told me to tell you he’s got it covered.
”

“
Good man. Time to get back to teachin’. Later babe.
”

“
Laters <3
”

I turn on the ignition, but a thought suddenly crosses my mind, “Is your car going to be okay here? This isn’t exactly the best part of town.”

Luke leans back against his seat, settling in for the two hour ride home, “I rode in with Mike. I called him this morning telling him I wasn’t going to make it to the fight, ‘cuz my car wouldn’t start. He said he’d get me here come hell or high water.”

“That bastard,” I laugh, “He planned the whole damn thing.”

“Huh?” Luke arches an eyebrow.

“Nevermind. I just need to send Mike a thank you letter is all,” I grin as I drive the car out of the parking lot.

***

Excitement has been building up inside of me the entire drive home. Now that we’re pulling into Luke’s driveway, I feel like I’m going to burst. Between the throbbing in my vagina, and the anticipation of Luke’s touch all over my body, I feel like I’m going to erupt before we ever get into his apartment. There were several times on our drive home that I wanted to pull the car off to some dirt road on the side and jump him.
 

I’m sure he would have loved it, but even though some snacks at a gas station had helped get us home, food was still the top priority at the moment.

“So, what’s for dinner?” I ask as I turn off the ignition.

Luke leans towards me, placing his hand on my thigh, he slowly begins to massage the aching muscles, until he works his way up towards my mound. A chill runs through me as I savor his touch.

“I was thinking about having you for dinner,” Luke’s voice is deeper than usual, and the fire that was burning in his eyes earlier in the locker room has returned.

It takes everything in me to control the urge to completely melt against his touch. Taking in a deep breath, I gather up every ounce of resolve I have to push forward with what our relationship actually needs right now.

“Dinner first, then we need to talk.”

Luke’s expression turns serious. He leans back against his seat, moving his hand off of my lap. I let out a sigh over the sudden loss of his comforting touch.

“You’re right. We do need to talk.”

“But dinner first,” I try to smile.

Luke grimaces, “That might be a problem.”

“Oh?” I arch an eyebrow.

“You’ll see,” Luke sighs as he unbuckles his seatbelt and opens the car door.

This can’t be good.

I groan silently to myself as I unbuckle my seatbelt and step out of the car. Luke leads the way to his apartment, staggering slightly. He’s still a little shook up from the fight, but he’s beginning to look far better than he did initially. My stomach begins to rumble as we reach the door to his place.
 

As the door opens, I’m immediately greeted with a pungent odor. Walking in, I spot the source of the stench coming from a pile of gym shorts that have been discarded near the couch.

Luke must notice my attempt to hide my nausea, because he hastily gathers the clothes and whisks them away towards the kitchen. I giggle to myself as I watch him rush off in embarrassment.

“What would you like to eat?” Luke calls from within the kitchen.

A sense of deja vu hits me as I catch myself glancing over towards the table with the photos of Luke and his family. My thoughts trail off as I wonder whether or not the photo in the gold frame might still be hiding under the table.

“Whatcha got?” I call back, as curiosity gets the better of me and I decide to inspect.

“Um…” I can hear Luke rummaging through the cupboards as I head towards the table.

“I’ve got some Twizzlers.”

The reminder of our shared favorite candy makes me giggle, “Maybe we can have those for dessert.”

I need to get a little lower to see better...

“There’s some protein shakes. They’re kind of chalky, though,” I can hear him rummaging through the fridge now.
 

Suddenly, I catch myself.

What the hell am I doing?

Jealousy over Claire is what brought on complications between Luke and I in the first place. Why am I willingly trying to create more feelings of jealousy and resentment?
 

Hearing Luke move things around in the kitchen brings a smile to my lips. At one point in time, he might have been with the woman in the photo with the golden frame, but now he’s my man and I’m not about to mess that up.

“So,” I start, as I make my way into the kitchen, “Protein shakes and Twizzlers are our options?”

Luke jumps up, startled by my sudden entrance. He quickly shuts the fridge, barricading himself between me and the appliance.

I arch an eyebrow, “Something the matter?”

I might have enough control to not go snooping around his place for pictures of ex-girlfriends, but the fridge is fairly open territory in my book.

“The fridge… it’s a little dirty...” Luke’s voice trails off. I can’t help but notice the cute way his lips curl when he’s embarrassed.

“Do you need some help cleaning it out?”
 

Luke grimaces, “I should probably hire someone to do it, actually.”
 

I cross my arms, “Why?”
 

Now I’m curious.

“Because,” Luke draws out his reply, “I’m a bit embarrassed by it.”
 

The goofy grimace expression he has right now makes me want to jump him so badly, but I hold back. I’m enjoying our little banter, but most importantly, I need Luke to realize that I want to know about the things in his life, both the good and the potentially very stinky.

“I worked as a waitress in high school at a sleazy diner,” I smile sweetly, “I think I can handle whatever science experiments you have going on in your fridge. Besides, we need to find something to eat.”
 

I push my way past him. Luke doesn’t resist, but I can sense his hesitation from the sheer rigidness of his body as he moves away from the fridge to let me see inside. An odor far worse than the dirty gym shorts hits me in an intense wave as soon as I open the door. I quickly close up the crime scene and stifle a gag.

I was no match for this fridge.

“Was that… butter chicken?”

“Once upon a time,” Luke mutters, “I picked it up for dinner the day you left,” his voice trails off.

Once my stomach settles from the wave of nausea, I try to look directly at him with as calm and serene of an expression as I can possibly muster.

“You have two week old Indian food in your refrigerator?” It nearly hurts just uttering the words.

Luke closes his eyes tightly, bracing himself for some potential ridicule he’s anticipating, “Maybe.”

“And… the blue stuff, in the little container?”

“I couldn’t tell you. I… I know it looks bad.”

I don’t want him to feel any worse so I take in a deep breath, “I have a solution for your fridge situation.”
 

Luke crosses his arms, a soft grin begins to curl along his lips, “Oh?”

“Quarantine this entire kitchen. We’ll probably need long poles, fire and hazmat suits. And it’s
definitely
time to buy a new fridge,” I joke and smile broadly.

Luke rolls his eyes, “I’ll clean it later. In the mean time,” he leans in, wrapping his arms around my waist, “Lets order something and get you out of those clothes.”

Every muscle in my body screams to have him rip apart every article of clothing draped across my curves, but my mind overrides the urge. Despite how incredible it feels to have his hands all over me, there’s something that needs to be done before he and I jump into bed together.

“Luke, we need to talk.”

Luke sighs, “You’re torturing me."

The feeling of his lips brushing against my ear sends a chill through my body that is almost too intense to resist.

“You’re not the only one,” I moan softly, “But we need to talk about us before we jump into a relationship again."
 

Luke nuzzles gently along my jawline, “You’re right, Baby. I just want you so bad."

Who’s torturing whom now?

I grip his forearms firmly, easing his warm body away from mine, “Im serious, Luke."
 

“I know,” he grumbles, as he eases away from me.

Just as he begins to ease his body off mine, his hand quickly swats my butt, catching me completely by surprise. I let out a yelp, but immediately feel the tingle of pleasure from the dominating gesture. I’ve moved only slightly and Luke takes the chance to pull out the drawer that I was leaned up against.