Capturing Them

Chapter Forty

Raven stares at the wall, his head tilting to the side. "Well, parrot is a new one." A smile spreads across his face. "I kinda like it."

Marc looks at Raven like he's lost it. "You do know what a parrot is right?"

"I'm guessing a bird," Raven says. Luke's head falls onto my shoulder—luckily, my good one. He laughs quietly and I grin.

Axel and Dr Green look at Raven for a long moment. "A bird, yes. A bird that can be annoying," Dr Green says.

Gabriel bellows out a laugh, hitting Nathan in the ribs with his elbow. "Oy, you think North calling Raven a parrot was for more than one reason?"

"I don't fucking understated," Raven muses.

"Understand," I correct with a smile at Raven, while the others laugh out loud at the wrong word Raven used.

"Thanks, Little Bird. At least you don't laugh at me." Oh, I'm laughing on the inside.

Axel, Raven, Marc, and Nathan leave. Gabriel goes with them too, and promises to be back soon. Raven made sure that had my number and that I had his, so I could text him. I did have his number—I have all of them now as Victor programmed the apps onto my phone along with their numbers.

When the door closes behind them, I look to Dr Green and Mr Blackbourne. "And then there were three," I murmur.

"Not for long, Pookie," Dr Green says. He comes towards me and pulls something out of the pocket of his medical bag. "I'm going to have to ask you to wear this tomorrow."

I take it from him. It's a large triangular piece of material. "What is it?"

"A sling," he answers. "If you don't wear that, then you may get shouldered more than you would want too. We can't promise that one of the guys will always be able to walk on the left side of you. If people see the sling, they may, hopefully, be more considerate."

"What will I do if anyone asks questions?"

"Corey has already hacked into your father's email and sent one to Mr Hendricks saying that you fell on Saturday and cracked your collar bone. The sling is to help the healing process."

I nod my head and fold the material up, ignoring the fact my Dad's email has been hacked. "Okay, thank you."

"You don't need to thank me," he says, sending me a wink.

I meet a pair of steel grey eyes. Giving Mr Blackbourne a smile I say, "Thank you for today."

"No, Miss Sorenson, thank you." Both Mr Blackbourne and Dr Green leave and then it's just me and Luke.

Luke collects my pillow and duvet as I go and sit down on the couch. Turning on the TV I put on a music channel, just so it doesn't sound so quiet. For the last few hours all we've had is noise and it's now nearing eleven o'clock.

Luke comes back into the family room, duvet and pillows in hand. He drops them at the end of the couch before throwing himself down onto the seat beside me. I smile, shaking my head as he sits up and looks at me.

His eyes move over my face, and I wonder what could possibly be the problem. I raise an eyebrow and he ignores my silent 'what are you doing' question, and just continues to look at me. My heart beats faster in my chest. "What?" I finally ask.

"Anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?" His question surprises me. It must show on my face, because he grins. "You're beautiful, Sang."

I look away, feeling my cheeks heat. "I'm nothing special, Luke."

"Oh, the thing is though, you are." Fingertips press at my chin and my head is turning. I look back into his whiskey brown eyes. "You're special to me." His voice is nothing but a whisper.

I smile, I can't help it. His words are like an arrow straight to the heart. "You're pretty special to me too," I admit, realising in that moment just how true those words are.

"I don't want you to ever leave."

I don't want you to leave me, I think. Any of you. "I'm not going anywhere."

"But yesterday...you did. You walked away and came back with a gunshot wound." His eyes drop to my shoulder. "Took fifty years off of my life."

"That's a bit dramatic."

"But it's the truth." His hand moves from my jaw and he cups my face in his hand. "Don't leave...don't walk away again."

"I won't," I whisper. His face moves closer until he rests his forehead on mine. I close my eyes, my lips parting as uncertainty rattles through me. Is he going to kiss me?

"Open your eyes, Cupcake." My eyes spring open and I bore them into his. His breath whispers across my face and I want to drop my eyes closed at the sensation.

The air shifts as his face moves. I force my eyes to stay open as his nose brushes against mine. I suck in a breath, ready and waiting for whatever comes next. "Luke," his name leaves my lips in a breathy whisper. I want him to kiss me.

I didn't have to want long.

His lips press against mine, and my eyes drop closed. I shift closer to him, my good arm coming up and clutching at his shirt near his ribs. His hand tightens around my face, pulling me in closer, even though there isn't an inch of space to spare between us. His tongue snakes out and licks at my lips. Instinct takes over, and my lips part.

His tongue immediately seeks out mine. His arm comes around my waist and I let out a surprised gasp as he lifts me and moves me until I'm straddling his legs. My hair falls down around us, like a curtain. My lips and tongue become hungry for more and he gives me everything.

"Sang," he murmurs.

"Luke." His lips trail down my jaw to my neck and I suck air into my desperate lungs. This isn't how imagined my first kiss to be, but I'll take it.

Luke moves his face from my neck, tilting it back, and resting it on the back of the couch. His hand pushes some hair behind my ear as he gazes up at me in a heart stopping way.

I get lost in his eyes; the swirling emotion takes my breath away and the whiskey colour with the smallest flecks of gold draw me in. I can't look away even if I wanted too.

He brings my lips down and onto his, my lips immediately parting for him. His kiss intensifying the taste of him from his previous kisses. With the vanilla scent that seems to cling to him, I realise he's just complete sugary goodness; sweet like chocolate.

I break the kiss once more, gasping for breath again. "You're beautiful, Cupcake," he whispers again.

I nod my head, my silent way of accepting his compliment. The back door shutting has me looking up and moving as quick as I can off of Luke's lap and back into my seat. "Oy, I'm back."

Luke gets up and meets Gabriel in the foyer. My fingers rise to my lips, which are swollen from Luke's kiss, my first kiss.