𝘿𝙀𝘾𝙀𝙋𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 • 𝙇𝙍𝙃

32. shoot me

SHOOT ME

It was a rainy day in New York City. The rain has lost the ambient temperature of early fall, freezing and paling Luke's skin on contact.

Now early November, Luke's concussion was long gone. The only thing he has to show for that day being his bruised knuckles that have yet to heal.

He punched Michael in the face. Twice. I'm sure no one saw that coming.

There was a yellow-ish bruise right under Michae's cheekbone. Luke smiled every time he saw it.

While the boy didn't heed Luke's warning about staying away from Lila, the ultimatum Luke gave him did the trick.

Stay away from her or get the fuck out.

Luke's anger at the time was partly fueled by his own feelings for the girl, but his priority remains avoiding another Cora situation.

They were on their own this time. When Calum broke, there were hundreds of other men eager to stand in. Now it's different. If one falls, they all fall.

The group can't afford any slip-ups as their enemies are now much bigger.

After another missed call from Jack, Luke slips his phone into his pocket, running a frustrated hand through his damp hair.

He's been calling once a day for nearly two weeks, leaving the same cryptic voicemail each time. Their mother is in Jack's possession, and if Luke doesn't come, Jack is going to kill her.

While the blond didn't believe that his brother would murder his own mother, he would be a fool to underestimate him. Jack could easily torture her until she wishes she were dead, and that would almost be worse.

So he's been training non-stop, whipping Lila into shape as she needs the most work. He told the group that they'd be headed Jack's way tomorrow night.

Luke didn't want Lila within one hundred miles of Jack, especially after what he did to Cora, but he needed all hands on deck for this, and Lila would refuse to stay home alone.

Trying to break the group into two teams proved to be a bigger challenge than Luke anticipated.

Luke and his team would have to confront his brother, while the other searched for his mom.

He wanted Lila with him, but he couldn't risk Jack seeing her. So they would have to split up. Just the thought of her being there without him made him apprehensive of the whole thing.

Luke also didn't know what the fuck to do with Michael. He didn't want Michael on his side, seeing as his face just seems much more punchable these days, but he sure as hell didn't want him with Lila.

Luke knows he can trust Michael. But still, if he so much as laid a finger on her again...fuck. The brush of Michael's hand against her cheek played on a loop in Luke's brain.

Michael wasn't allowed to touch Lila. Not when Luke couldn't.

"Another lap, let's go." He instructs a breathless Lila.

She rests her hands on her head, panting. "It's raining and I've been running for at least five minutes. Can't I go back inside now?"

"Fine." She breathes a sigh of relief as he seems to cave. "Ten more laps."

Her eyes go wide in protest. "But Luke–"

"Don't make me tell you again." His stone-cold eyes tell her he means business, and if the alternative was being in the same space as Michael... yeah, she'd rather run 'till she drops.

It's not even awkward. It's unbearable. He runs in the other direction if she so much as enters the same room as him.

Lila knows that's Luke's doing. And so is the ugly bruise Michael conveniently got the same night Luke saw him try to kiss her.