His Twisted Heart by Ellie R Hunter

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Luca

“Ididn’t recognise her in the photo, but she’s Victoria Simmons from school, isn’t she?”

I can hear her, but I’m not listening. Victoria’s still talking with Angel, and the fucker’s blasting her with a killer smile. She’s lapping him up, and I have to dig my fingers into my thighs to keep from rushing over and punching those white teeth of his out.

“It’s her, isn’t it?” Sara asks again.

“What are you talking about?”

“The girl over my shoulder who you haven’t taken your eyes off of since we sat down.”

I’ve heard rumours that Angel and the other two, Dion and Grim, are wanting to transfer to our chapter from Mercy. And I haven’t forgotten it was Angel who kept checking Victoria out when we were up North.

“She’s a friend.” It’s a straight up lie, but I’m not attempting to explain our relationship.

“I used to be your only friend. Was she my replacement?”

Tearing my eyes from Tor, I settle on the woman in front of me. “You can’t be fucking jealous?”

She’s the one who left me.

Looking down at her clasped hands, she mutters, “I’m not.”

She used to do this when she didn’t want to tell the truth, mainly whenever I asked about her dad.

“Sure sounds like it,” I huff, reaching for my smokes from the table.

Pulling a cigarette from the pack with my teeth, I light up, blowing the smoke away from Sara.

“Luc…”

Her voice fades away as I watch Victoria stand and wave at everyone sitting at the table, Angel quick to stand up beside her. He signs something, but I can’t see what he’s telling her from this angle.

Smiling, she nods, and they walk toward the side gate where he jogs up in front and opens it for her. What a fucking gentleman. As soon as the gate slams closed behind them, I’m on my feet. I don’t give a shit who notices me following them.

Leaning against the side of the porch, I watch them sign next to her car. They don’t notice me, but I can clearly read them both. The look of shock on Victoria’s face when I signed to her in her kitchen was the reaction I anticipated. We hadn’t spoken for months. I’ve had to stand by and watch her communicate with her family and have no idea what she’s saying.

Angel signs it was nice to meet her, and if she wants, he’d like to take her out for a drink.

Victoria thinks I don’t know her every look, her expressions, but she’s wrong. Right now, she’s blushing like she used to with me.

Pulling on my smoke, I watch as he leans around her and opens her car door. I refrain from rolling my eyes. I should be happy Sara’s back and Tor is more interested in someone else, but the asshole part of me—and it’s a big part of me—hates that she’s smiling for him.

With a shy wave, she climbs into her car, and he watches her until she’s out of sight. He’s grinning from ear to ear when he turns around, but it disappears when he sees me.

Pushing away from the house, I take one last drag of my smoke and flick across the gravel.

“How do you know sign language?”

“My aunt’s deaf. My whole family knows how to sign.”

“You wanna continue to talk to your aunt, let alone ride your bike, you won’t talk to Victoria again. Don’t force me to break every one of your fingers.”

Holding his hands up, he steps back and says, “Hey, she said she was single. I made sure not to step on anyone’s toes.”

“My toes are just fine. Stay the fuck away from her and your fingers will be safe.”

I smell her perfume before she steps around me and looks warily between Angel and me.

He makes a quick exit, returning to the cookout, and Sara shakes her head sadly.

“I’m going to head out.”

I can only stare at her, having no clue what to say. I shouldn’t have followed Tor out. In my head, I know I should’ve stayed with Sara. It shouldn’t have been any of my business who walked her to her car.

Blinking, I find Sara’s no longer in front of me. She’s walking to her car, and her leaving triggers me.

“Stay with me tonight,” I call out.

Stopping, she turns to face me, but she stays where she’s at.

“I’ve been away a long time. I don’t know… you seem different. You notice others around you now.”

She’s different too. She was never jealous before. Mind you, she had nothing to be jealous over. Not that she does now.

Walking over to her, I ask, “You want me to only see you, like before?”

Latching onto my cut, she stares me straight in the eye and says, “For tonight, I want my Luca back.”

All I’ve wanted is my Sara back. I can give her me.

The club is quiet as we walk through the bar. Pope sits in his corner, nursing a beer and reading an old paperback. He looks up at our arrival, glances at Sara, cocks his brow, then returns to reading to his book.

Grabbing a couple of beers from behind the bar, I lead Sara up to the room I’ve been staying in and lock the door behind us.

I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have anywhere to stay in town.

Passing her a beer, she shakes her head, keeping her hands at her sides.

“I don’t drink, at all. You know, because of my dad.”

“Of course. I didn’t think.” Before the awkward silence gets even more awkward, I point to a door and tell her, “There’s a bathroom through there. Do you need something to sleep in?”

“Yeah. I left my bag in the car.”

Riffling through my drawers, I find a clean T-shirt and toss it to her. Once she slips into the bathroom, I fall back onto the bed.

Her turning the shower on has me peeking at the door. I should be on top of the world right now. The girl I haven’t been able to stop thinking about, the one who owned my fucking soul, is in my bathroom, and I’m tense as fuck. Unease weighs heavily over me, and I can’t seem to shake it.

The water shuts off, and I take a deep breath. She’s back, and for tonight, at least, I can get the answers I need.

When the door opens, her legs are the first thing I see, and I let my eyes roam up to the hem of my T-shirt hanging around her thighs.

She hovers nervously in the doorway before climbing onto the bed and slipping under the sheets.

“Why did you follow Victoria and that guy out?”

Getting up, I undress down to my boxers, leaving my clothes in a pile on the floor before getting under the covers, keeping plenty of space between us.

“She’s been through a lot, and I wanted to make sure she was okay.” Again, I can’t bring myself to tell her the truth.

“It seemed more than that. You couldn’t keep your eyes off of her.”

I’m not talking about Tor. Not with her.

“I thought you wanted me back tonight? Tell me, what’s your life like now?” I ask, steering the conversation away from Tor.

“It’s quiet,” she says with a smile. “I work from home, I barely have to leave the house, and it’s safe.”

“What do you do?”

“I write novels. Romance, mainly.”

That’s good to hear. It used to be all I wanted for her when we went our separate ways after school.

Reaching over, I stroke her hair, finding it still as soft as it used to be. The only difference now is that she doesn’t flinch.

“You should never have come back. It’s not safe here.”

“But my father…”

“I’m not talking about him. This town, this club, me. We’re not safe for you.”

“I don’t believe that. You were always my safety. You did save me.”

Shuffling closer, she slides her leg between mine, telling me she’s brave now too. “There hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought about you, either. I guess I always knew I’d come back to you one day, and when my dad died, I knew I was coming for you, as well as making sure my dad was dead.”

“Coming for what, though? How do you see this playing out?”

“I don’t know. I’m asking for a chance to see where we end up. See what could’ve been if I never ran.”

She’s saying everything I wanted to hear when I was sixteen. I would’ve made her mine and kept her forever, but tonight, I’m not feeling much of anything.

Pulling her against me, I murmur, “It’s been a long day. You should get some sleep.”

Without argument, she settles against me, letting me stroke her hair until her breathing evens out. I spent many nights creeping into her bedroom and stroking her hair until she fell asleep. On the nights I couldn’t get to her, she wouldn’t sleep as well, and looked tired the next day at school.

I hated those nights, lying in my own bed, wondering if she was okay, worrying that her father had taken his anger out on her. I remember all the times I tried to protect her from him. One time, I broke his nose. I saw red when he dragged her to their car out front of the school. Everyone saw, and no one did a thing about it. I punched him straight in the face, and the coward dropped like a sack of shit, yet I was the one who was suspended. No cops were called, and the headmaster even apologised to him on my behalf, knowing the prick wouldn’t get one from me. There wouldn’t have been a single reason that would have made me apologise. He deserved it.

Lying here with Sara in my arms, I finally have everything I wanted, yet when I close my eyes, it’s Tor I see. She was there, and it didn’t take long for me to like her being so close. Then I see Angel, making her smile and talking to her for hours. It sparks a burning fire in my gut.

I’m fucked.