Halo

Chapter 25: Echo

I handed Keeva the phone and immediately turned to go back downstairs. She let me go without a word, but Luke followed me down to the dungeon. I ignored him.

"What is it that keeps you coming back down here?" he asked. I didn't respond. I sat down in a chair at the only desk down here. Blinked emotionlessly at Lucas. He leaned against the desk and brushed back one of my curls behind my ear. "I'm not leaving 'til we have a conversation, princess," he smirked. "Or...not a conversation if you prefer kissing me over speaking to me."

I turned my gaze away from him. I felt hollow. Wasn't that hard to portray it, and I definitely wasn't about to kiss or speak to Luke. So option three? Tune the world out.

"You know," he pressed his thumbs into my back. As much as I hated him, and hated to admit it, it felt good to have the knots worked out. "If I were to attempt to seduce you, there would be no one to save you."

Oh, trust me. The memory of Asher was fresh in my head. The sound of his voice, the sound of him crying, I could hear it like he was speaking to me rather than Lucas. No way Luke was seducing me.

Unless he eventually gave up seducing you and forced you to-

Nope. Don't even go there, Miller. Lucas isn't like that.

"I could be," he muttered. I jabbed my elbow into his ribcage. He groaned and rested his forehead on my hair. "That was a joke."

"It wasn't, and you know it wasn't."

Silence.

The next day and a half was going to be long. Unbearably long. Especially since I'm on house arrest by order of Keeva. I had tried to sneak off from Luke when we went out to get food. To be fair, though, he did openly admit that he was going to do everything in his power to get me in bed with him again. And I wasn't about to have that. Except I am at a disadvantage in terms of Luke. Sex demon versus small human? Yeah, I was bound to lose unless I became God at my full capacity within the next five seconds.

"To be fair," Luke sighed. "I'd be stupid not to seduce you. I mean, here you are, all alone and sad, and here I am, the top of the food chain now that Ash is gone. Hell, making him leave was the best decision you ever made."

"If this is how you attempt to seduce me, I don't want to know what you do to people you don't care about."

"Baby, I'm not even attempting yet. I know exactly how to seduce you. I just like playing with my food first," his teeth tugged at my ear. "You're easy, Echo. Plant a few false dreams, a few detailed fantasies, and bam. You're all mine." We were silent. Was I really that easy? "Took me two years to figure out I was working backwards with you. I figured you'd go down the sweet and innocent path, but no. You, Echo Miller, do not like things to be sweet and innocent."

"No, I like things straight-forward. Like when I say get the hell away from me. Straight-forward." How the hell did my voice not crack? I was shaking with rage and fear. Petrified Luke would win...again.

"You don't mean that," he kissed my neck. "None of it, princess."

"Except I do."

"Hm-mm. You do like things straight-forward, I'll give you that, but you don't want me to stay away from you. You want me right here. Know how I know that?"

"You don't know shit," I laughed.

"I know that because if I'm here, I can seduce you. And if I seduce you, you'll feel guilty. Guilty for sending Ash away. And you don't handle guilt well. You avoid it. So if you can't get Ash back, then no harm is done, right?"