Unbeautifully Loved (Breathe Again) (37 page)

I woke with a feeling.

Something didn’t feel right. I could feel it the minute my eyes opened. The knots in my stomach twisted and tangled just enough to be annoying and tell me they were there.

I had no clue what the reason behind the feeling was so I did my usual; I pushed it aside and ignored it.

I could feel Finn curled up behind me, his knees digging into my lower back, his arm thrown over my waist with his favorite stuffed bunny clutched in his hands. Carefully, so not to wake him, I looked over my shoulder to see if Lukas was up and hoped he didn’t mind Finn in bed with us but his side of the bed was empty. Looking at Finn, he was still sleeping and I carefully lifted his arm up and slid out from his embrace quickly as he rolled into my spot burrowing into the bed; pulling his stuffy closer to him.

Finn never did have a problem sleeping in new places. As long as there was a bed, his bunny and he knew I was close by, the boy slept like the dead most times.

I quietly left the room and headed down to the kitchen, stopping to see if Lukas was in the bathroom getting ready for work, but it was empty and in darkness. I walked into the kitchen and it too was also empty, the whole house was silent and empty. Turning, I saw something white sitting by the coffee pot on the counter.

Peaches,

Got called into the station early, call me when you read this.

-Lukas

I smiled down at his writing; it was surprisingly neat for a man’s. Leaving the note on the counter I walked back to the bedroom and silently crept across to where my phone sat on the side table. I looked at the clock and noticed it was almost nine and Finn was still completely out, now sprawled with arms and legs out at the sides, directly across Lukas’ bed.

Shaking my head, I stifled a laugh at the sight of him as I grabbed my phone and went back out into the living room, dialing Lukas’ number.

“Hey babe,” he answered after one ring.

“Hi.” I curled up at the end of the couch with my legs under me and Lukas’
Journey
shirt stretched over my cool, bare legs.

“Everything alright?” he asked and I could picture his brows knitting together in my head.

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“You sound off.”

“Oh it’s nothing; I just woke up feeling weird, probably from the last couple of days. I’ll be fine,” I promised.

“Stay around the house today would you? I’m gonna be busy and I wanna know you guys are safe,” he said, concern in his voice.

“Sure, but I have to go pick up a prescription then get some groceries and something for dinner, and on my way back I need to stop at my place quickly to get some things I forgot,” I said looking at my nails mindlessly thinking how great a manicure and pedicure would be when I sensed Lukas’ temper rise through the phone.

“Lex, I said stay at the house today,” his low growl rumbled over the phone, “So,
stay
at the
house
.”

Umm… geez!

“Lukas.”

“Lexie.”

“I won’t be gone long, an hour or two, tops.”

“No,” he clipped.

“Lukas why–”

“God damn it Lexie, would you just fuckin’ listen to me,” he roared. “Stay. At. The fuckin’.
House.
”

I looked at the blank television. Lukas was being a bigger jerk than normal; he never talked to me or yelled at me like that before. Even when he got angry with me, it was never to that extent. For the first time in awhile, he scared me.

I didn’t say anything to him. I just held the phone to my ear in silence, listening to his breathing on the other end.

He took a deep breath and exhaled.

“Babe, I’m sorry– didn’t mean to yell like that. Listen, I’ll pick up whatever you need when I finish up here. You need clothes, I’ll get them. Finn wants his bedding, I’ll get it. You wanna have takeout for dinner, I’ll bring it. Fuck, you need your girl shit, I’ll get it.” He paused and I could hear voice in the back ground. “Whatever you want, whatever you need Lex,
I’ll
get it.”

Something wasn’t right.

He was being overly insistent about not going anywhere. There was something he wasn’t telling me.

“Baby, what aren’t you telling me?” My stomach rolled with worry and nausea.

“Nothing, everything’s fine.” He didn’t sound right.

“Lukas, don’t lie to me. I can sense you’re not telling me something so what is it?” I urged.

“Shit,” he said tightly. “That cross you’re missing?”

“Yeah, what about it?” I asked confused.

“White gold, about an inch and a half in length with diamonds on the front of it,” he described it from memory.

“Yeah, you found it?” I asked feeling even more uneasy.

“I found it alright,” he said gravely. “It was left on my front step this morning.”

“Was there a card?” I asked in a rush.

“Yeah, it just said fixed.”

My brows furrowed together. “Fixed? What does that mean?”

“Came on a chain,” he said through gritted teeth.

“There was no chain, it broke; how could–
oh.
” A cold shiver crawled up my spine.

“Yeah, we have it here, and were checking for prints,” he said and I heard his name shouted in the background. “Lex, I have to go, Kincaid’s waving me over. I mean it; you and Finn stay in today, get Mollie over if you want, watch movies or something. I have a PS3 Finn can play under the TV, call me if you need me,” Lukas said hastily. “Love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said.

Oh.

It just came blurting out like it was the right time to say it but the line was already dead and he was gone, without hearing me.

Not soon after hanging up with Lukas did my cell start ringing in my hands, startling me, as I looked down at the screen.

“Hey Molls,” I answered.

“Oh good you’re up. I’ll be over in ten with breakfast and coffee from Bean’s. I met Whitney, the barista. Oh man that girl is a hoot, she has like a small twang in her voice that’s kinda hot; just saying, if I was a dude, I’d totally bang her,” she laughed. “She recommended these cranberry orange muffins and they smell a-ma-zing,” she said in a sing song voice.

Someone was extra chipper.

“Okay.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Another ‘gift’, but I’ll tell you about it when you get here okay?”

“Be there in five,” she rushed out, hanging up without a goodbye.

Five minutes later she came barging through Lukas’ door with her purse over her shoulder, coffee tray in one hand and a small brown bag in the other.

“Okay I’m here, what’d creepy douchetard leave this time,” she huffed, coming into the kitchen and placing the cardboard tray and bag down on the counter. “By the way, let me just go on record saying that when detective Gunn finds this douchedick, I don’t care if I have to bribe the officers by showing them the ladies, I want first crack at this creep, and I’ve gotten really good at drop kicking people.”

“When have you ever drop kicked anybody?” I looked at her like she was crazy.

“Okay I haven’t but I just think it’d be fun and that I’d be really good at it.” She laughed, shrugging her shoulders as she passed me a coffee and started emptying the bag, sliding a muffin my way. “So, are you going to tell me or what?”

“My missing cross, on a brand new chain,” I spoke with a mouthful of muffin.

Mollie’s face grew pale and her mouth parted. “So, whoever’s doing this has been in the house before and the other night wasn’t the first time.”

I nodded my head, “I told you things were missing,” I said pushing my muffin away suddenly losing my appetite. “Someone’s been in at least two, possibly three times.”

“
Three
?” she screeched. “How do you figure three times?”

“I still haven’t found my bra Molls, and that went missing before anything else,” I reminded her.

Her eyebrows shot up, “You think he took your under garments?”

“He slept in my bed Moll, who knows how fucked this guy is.” I waved my hand in the air. “Obviously he’s pretty fucked in the head,” I said taking a sip of my coffee.

“We need to talk about something else because this whole thing gives me the creeps. I was sure I wasn’t gonna sleep last night but Erik ran me a hot bath then ran out to get me a slush and lots of candy,” I looked at her my brows rising. “What, sugar makes me happy, then I passed the fuck out, it was blissful I tell ya.” Her eyes brightened as she grinned.

I shook my head and the feeling I woke up with became slightly less annoying and more obvious.

Like something jolted it.

“I need to run some errands today and Lukas doesn’t want me going anywhere because of, well you know, but I don’t want to dump everything on him since he’s letting– no making, Finn and I stay here, can you keep an eye on Finn for a bit? He won’t want to come.”

Lukas was going to be pissed, more than caveman pissed with me leaving the house after he told me not too, but I knew a little work on my end would fix that.

“Are you sure?” Mollies asked as she raised her eyebrows. “He’s gonna be pissed when he finds out.”

“Why wouldn’t I be, plus he’ll get over it; I’ll make sure of it,” I said, my turn to wink at her.

“Well for starters, nice,” she chuckled, “but honestly, Lukas said not to leave and he’s the cop, so you should listen and second,” she trailed off biting and releasing her lip, “I don’t think it’s a good idea, something tells me you should just stay here today.”

I played off what Mollie said as it being a coincidence or just her being her over protective self. Even though I couldn’t help but wonder if she was feeling the same way as I was.

“Molls, I’ll be fine. I just have to pick up my prescription then get some groceries and something for dinner. I’m gonna make Lukas a nice dinner, then I need to pick up some more clothes from the house, shouldn’t be any longer than an hour and a half,” I promised. “Two tops.”

“Alright, just make sure you have your cell phone on you and that when you go to the house you’re in and out of there fast; the thought of you being in there alone makes my stomach churn,” she said scrunching up her face.

“Don’t worry I’ll be back before you know it,” I assured her, finishing the rest of my coffee.

“Where’s Finn?” She asked looking around.

“He’s still asleep, but should be up any minute.” I walked over to the garbage and tossed my cup in. “I’m going to hop in for a shower then get ready and head so I can be back by lunch. I could stop at
Tokyo Express
, bring some sushi back?”

“You know the way into my heart Lexie Todd,” she said in a teasing accent, her hand over her heart; batting her eyelashes.

“You’re such a dork.”

“You love it. Anyways, I’ve got no plans today. Erik’s working the early shifts all this week; I didn’t even hear him leave this morning. I’ll text him, let him know I’ll be here for the day and that I’ll meet him back at the room later on,” she said happily pulling her cell out of her bag that was on the counter next to her.

“Did you say his room?”

“Yeah, his hotel room.”

“Oh.”

Interesting. I thought he would have found a place to live by now.

I turned to go have my shower when Mollie’s voice stopped me. “Cooking a special dinner, that’s interesting.” I looked at her; her head was bent looking down at her phone, a smirk playing on her lips.

“Yeah and why’s that?” I asked leaning against the wall, arms crossed across my chest.

Shrugging her shoulders she placed her phone on the counter, still smirking. “Just find it... romantic, that’s all.”

“Romantic?” I asked quizzically.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but it sounds romantic,” she said coyly, eyeing me.

I sighed.

“Yeah well maybe that’s because...” I trailed off, looking down at my feet.

“Because...?”