Hearthwood Manor |L.H|

Chapter Eight

My nightmares didn't find me that night, I slept throughout the night, I may have even had a good dream because I woke up feeling warm and happy. I also woke up in an unfamiliar bed, looking straight at Luke's sleeping face.

His eyes were closed, his lips were parted slightly and I could feel his light breath on my skin. Seeing him next to me brought back all the memories of last night, or early this morning. I felt the pain on the side of my face from where Calum had hit me when I pushed him away. I brought my hand to my face and closed my eyes, trying to ignore the pain.

I felt a hand over my own and opened my eyes, seeing Luke's baby blue eyes staring back at me.

"Good morning." He said softly, a growl in his voice. It gave me chills.

"Good morning." I said back to him. I removed my hand from under his, but he kept his hand in place, his palm on my cheek.

"Are you okay?" He asked me, his eyes full of concern.

I nodded, smiling at him, one thought ran through my head, louder than the others.

The pain goes away when I feel you touch me, like a drug I can't get enough of.

"What?" He whispered.

My eyes widened, oh my God. Did I say that out loud?

"Uhh... nothing." I stuttered, feeling my face flush, I looked down, feeling embarrassed.

Luke shifted forwards and kissed my forehead. I sucked in a breath, feeling my chest constrict.

"Don't worry, I heard what you said." He said lightly, his lips brushing against my skin. "You can have as much of me as you want, whenever you want."

I looked up at him, our faces only and inch apart. I could feel the intensity of the moment and I didn't know what to do. My mind went completely blank for once, no thoughts were running through my head. The only thing I was aware of was the fact that Luke's face was so close to mine, and that he was moving closer to me.

"Avalon?" He whispered, his eyes glancing down at my lips and back to my eyes.

"Yes?" I asked breathlessly.

"This isn't allowed... it's against the rules." He said, still moving closer to me.

"Rules are meant to be broken." I said, my gaze locking with his.

Then our lips met, soft and warm against each other.

Barely a second later, not even enough to get a taste, a bell rung. Luke pulled away as fast as I've seen him move and he jumped out of bed.

"Oh no. Shît." He cursed, I'd never heard him curse before and it was strange coming from him mouth.

"What?" I asked, sitting up, staring at him as he slipped on a white shirt.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it. Please, stay here." He pleaded, going over to the door, looking at me with a sad look in his eye.

"Okay." I said simply, crossing my legs on the bed.

"Thank you. I'll be back soon." He said, then exited through the door.

------

I did stay in the room, I didn't go against my word, I stayed in the room. Mostly because I was too scared to go out there by myself, and because I was nervous about what the bell meant.

Instead, I stayed in Luke's room, looking around at what was in his room. He had a bookshelf full of books, a dresser for clothes and a door towards the right. I walked over to the door, but it was locked. Why would he need to lock a door in his own room? Who would come in his room when he's not here?

I walked away from the door, adding another thing to think about in my mad rush of thoughts. I walked over to the bookshelf and looked through the many amounts of books. There were probably close to 100 books just in this bookshelf. I casually read through the titles of the books, a few catching my eye.

I picked out a book that I had read before called Pride and Prejudice. It was one of my favorites. I took it back to the bed and started reading it, completely losing myself in the book.

I had gotten through almost half of the story before Luke came back, opening the door suddenly, scaring me, and making me drop the book. I got up from the bed and picked up the book, looking at Luke who had closed and locked the door.

He looked at me with a confused gaze, glancung down at the book in my hand.

"I was reading..." I said, looking at him with an innocent look in my eyes.

"Yeah, it's fine. Sorry I was gone so long." He said, rubbing his face.

I just then noticed that his hair was a mess and his white shirt was filthy. His shirt was soaked with either water or sweat and was stuck to his skin.

"What happened to you?" I asked, looking back up to his eyes.

"Long story, that I don't know if I want to tell you right away." He said, his eyes watered a little bit, which confused me.

"You should tell me, please?" I asked softly, trying to make my voice sound caring.

"No, I can't." He said roughly, he walked over to the dresser and pulled his shirt off. His back was facing me and I could see the lines of muscle on his back and when he went to put on another shirt, his muscles flexed and rippled. I almost swooned.

"Luke..." I pleaded with him, barely getting through his name before I choked.

He spun around and glared at me, his eyes showing an anger that I had never seen before.

"Avalon. I can't." His voice cracked, but I still moved back at the tone of his voice. He walked a step towards me slowly, his hand outstretched. "I'm sorry..." He said quieter.

"It's okay..." I said, looking down at the ground.

I felt his arms wrap around me, resting his lips on my hair. I followed his movements and wrapped my own arms around him. He sighed, sounding shaky. I looked up and saw a look on his face that I couldn't recognize.

"Calum--" He stuttered over the name. "Calum he..." He paused.

"Calum what Luke?" I asked him, tightening my grip on the back of his t-shirt.

He looked down at me, tears in his eyes, his lower lip shaking slightly. He parted his lips and spoke, two words that I wish I could unhear.

"Calum's dead."