Cupcake Kisses

Chapter 12: Put Down The Meat Cleaver

"If I remember correctly, you were the one who held a plastic knife to my throat the first time we met," I reminded him, carefully put the knife back in its place. "Anyway, how did you get inside?" 

"There's a key underneath the mat on your porch," he explained. "I suggest you change that hiding spot unless you want anymore unwanted intruders."

"I'll be sure to do that," I mumbled.

"Why is Cactus sitting on the counter?" Luke asked, picking her up.

I immediately blushed, remembering what I'd been saying to Cactus about Luke before he'd invited himself into my house.

"Why can't you ring the doorbell like a normal person?" I snapped.

"You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine either!"

Luke rolled his eyes and sat down on the kitchen table, eyeing me up and down.

My blush deepened as I glanced down out at my outfit. I was wearing sweatpants and an oversized shirt, my usual Sunday attire. If anybody else had seen me dressed like this I couldn't have cared less, but for some reason Luke's gaze made me feel incredibly self conscious.

Not that it should have. I mean I was a strong independent woman who dressed for herself, not for some annoying teenage boy.

"We're going out," Luke announced, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I blinked. "Where?"

The last time he had said this, only one day ago, he had made me jump out of a plane. There was no way I was going anywhere else with him again, unless he gave me an exact location and description of the activity we would be doing.

"I'm giving you a driving lesson," Luke explained, smirking at me.

"You're giving me a driving lesson?" I repeated, staring back at him.

"Yes. That's when you get in a car and you make it move."

I glared at him.

The last time I'd been given a driving lesson, it had been from my dad. At first, he'd been over the moon about it. He had described it as the first step to taking my life into my own hands and told me that I was really becoming a young woman now. However, it didn't take long for my dad's view to change. I'd spent the first hour driving so slowly that an old lady had yelled at me and then I had been pulled over by the cops for driving far slower than the speed limit. After that, he attempted to teach me how to park. It only took me five minutes before I managed to crash his brand new Mercedes. It was fair to say I could see why he hadn't tried to teach me again. Not that I would have agreed to it if he had tried.

"I don't need a driving lesson," I said.

"So you want to keep riding around that stupid pink bike for the rest of your life?" Luke raised an eyebrow.

"Her name is Penny," I hissed, through gritted teeth. "And I have plenty of time to get better at driving. I'm perfectly happy riding Penny around for now."

"If you don't learn now, you're never going to learn. So go change and meet me in the car."

A big part of me knew there was no point in arguing with Luke. He was the kind of guy that was used to getting everything he wanted and I knew from past experience that he would not back down unless he got it. Despite this, I didn't want to back down.

"I told you, I'm fine riding Penny."

"You are?" Luke asked, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow.