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"What's important is that you do care and you act

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"What's important is that you do care and you act." — Charlotte Lunsford
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Chapter 16
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Luke

I had made it to the stop sign when I texted one of the brunettes. I didn't even have time to turn the phone off before she was accepting my request.

I grinned at the normalcy. Normalcy, that's what the hell I needed. Not some green-eyed, Snow White lookalike, smart/foul mouthed brat.

My eyes narrowed in the mirror at her house. I could still see that damn doormat, and that brown mailbox even from here, or maybe I was imagining it. Even though the heat was high, I still felt my skin cool and crisp from her house, or the outside, or both.

I huffed, pulling onto the road. I tried to redirect my mind to the brunette I'd have under me tonight. The distraction. The cold beer. The—

Fuck.

Maggie was going to freeze. She was going to freeze, and she was going to haunt my ass for it. I knew it; I could already hear her in my ear, cursing me so bad, she'd be kicked out of hell.

I didn't even check for troopers before I did a U-turn. The car followed my sick twist, roaring until I cleared the spot. I didn't let the wheel go until I reached where I needed to be.

I knew for a fact I left the car running this time. I heard the engine teasing at me, but paid it no mind. Instead, I focused on Maggie's foreseen torment, and that was the thing that willed me inside of this place.

I'd never even been here before; I usually paid someone else to handle these things. It couldn't be too hard, though.

The inside of the building was still decorated with Christmas decorations despite it being early February. The smell of coffee, and pencil shavings swung right at me the moment I stepped in. The chairs were empty, and facing a wide open space with a desk and computer.

The woman behind the counter was petite, with blonde streaks of hair that were graying at the roots. "Welcome to—" her eyes fell to me before widening. I refrained from rolling my own. "Oh, Mr. Vaudest," she chuckled nervously, adjusting her posture.

"That's me," I responded dryly.

Her coffee-stained teeth flashed at me as she swept a hand down her shirt. "What a pleasure—"

I didn't have time for this. Maggie was probably a fucking icicle by now.

The thought made my voice much rougher than I ever intended. "Yeah, yeah, I know already. I need to pay Maggie Norris's bill." I thought over my words for a minute before I remembered what Maggie told me. She said that her brother, specifically, forgot to pay, so his name was probably on the bill.

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