“Let’s agree that this conversation never happened then.”
Lisa nodded absently and ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “He needs to let people in, Kayla. He can’t keep doing this by himself. It scares me sometimes.”
“What does?
“Thinking about how he’ll handle it when Ally is gone,” Lisa said simply. There was a heavy note of sadness in her voice. “It’s going to break him, and if he refuses to let anyone help him through it? Well, I don’t know if he’ll come out of that grief in one piece.”
My throat ached. I willed the emotions down. “Lisa?”
She glanced up at me with glassy eyes.
“Lukas has always been full of surprises,” I told her.
She smiled softly. “You’re not wrong.”
I got to my feet. “I have to go track him down. I need to talk to him sooner rather than later. Do you know where he might be?”
“If he’s not at work, he’s either drinking alone in a bar or he’s at home.”
“Home, it is,” I said. “Do you have his address?”
“I’ll text it to you.”
“Thank you,” I said before opening her office door. I turned back and paused. “Hey, Lisa? Lukas is lucky to have a sister like you. Even if he doesn’t act like it, he knows that’s the truth.”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to say that just to make me feel better. Go on, go. We’ll catch up later.”
I left my friend in her office with her woes and made for the elevator once more. It spat me out in the lobby, which was busier than it had been when I arrived. The workday was over and people were socializing in the lobby. Nobody paid me any mind as I crossed the polished floors and descended the stone steps outside to the sidewalk, where I waited at the curb for the next passing bus and hopped on.
As I rode, it started to rain.
I hated riding the bus when it rained. The humidity was insufferable. And the smell?
Not pleasant.
I had to transfer two times and ended up on a smaller shuttle that circled around the Puget Sound and eventually made it closer to Lukas’ address. I had entered the address Lisa texted me into the maps program on my phone and discovered that the closest bus stop to his house was still a ten-minute walk away.
So I got off the shuttle and started walking.
My clothes were soaked through by the time I arrived at the edge of his property. It was gated, but the gate was open, so I strode through and made my way down the winding driveway up to the mansion at the end.
The house was incredible. It was a sprawling single-story estate of contemporary Spanish design. The house itself was white with black trim around all the windows. His car, the Lykan, sat parked in the pull-through driveway under cover of a built-in carport. The structure was being overtaken by ivy plants that gave the place a whimsical feel.
I stepped up to the black front door and lifted my hand. Suddenly, I was afraid to knock.
There was no telling which version of Lukas I was going to get when he opened this door. I suspected he was upset about Rodney but I couldn’t be sure. That seemed to be what set him off back at the soup kitchen. But it was impossible to tell with Lukas sometimes.
I’d just have to knock and find out.
I rapped my knuckles six times on the door, and I waited.
Chapter 19
Lukas
“Hold on!” I bellowed down the hall toward my front door.
Now was not the time for visitors. I wondered who was knocking on my door at this time as I tore my towel off the rack and peeled my sweaty back off the workout bench. I’d been lifting weights and pumping iron and broken quite the sweat. Exercise seemed to be the only thing that helped me keep my head on straight when my anger was getting the best of me.
And lately, my anger felt like it had become part of my personality.
I wiped the sweat from my brow as I got to my feet and padded down the hall to my door in nothing but track pants and sneakers. It was raining outside. I could hear it pinging off the copper roof overhead. The sound was almost soothing.
I jerked the door open and draped my towel over my shoulder.
There, on my doorstep, was Kayla.
At first, she stared into my eyes and I stared back at her. Then her lips parted ever so slightly and a tight sound escaped her. Her eyes broke away from mine and did a slow up and down of my entire body, starting at my feet and working their way up only to fall back down one more time for good measure.
I crossed my arms and braced my shoulder on the doorframe. “What are you doing here?”
“I—I—” She closed her eyes and gave her head a shake. I tried not to smirk. I liked watching her squirm. Perhaps the key to getting what I wanted with her was to start wearing fewer clothes. She opened her eyes again and fixed them on me, this time refraining from checking me out. If it took effort, it didn’t show. She’d collected her composure. “I was hoping we could talk about what happened at the soup kitchen.”
“And what exactly did happen at the soup kitchen?” I asked.
“That’s what I wanted to find out.”
Of course, she was oblivious. Of course, she was going to make me feel like this was all in my head.
Damn her for screwing with me.
I arched an eyebrow. “I don’t have anything to say about it.”
“Well, I do,” she said sharply. “So are you going to invite me in or are you going to leave me standing out here soaking wet in the cold?”
I sighed and
