Coming Home

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Later that evening, Maggie was sitting inside the living room, on one of the old couches, deep in thought, when the phone rang. At first she just sat there refusing to pick it up, scared that Luke would be the caller, until she heard her Grandmother speaking on the voicemail.

"Darling, I know that you have a busy life right now and that you don't have a lot of time for your old grandma, but if you do find the time, please call me and let me know... "

Quickly grabbing the receiver, Maggie interrupted the speech her grandma was giving.

"Sorry grandma, I didn't get to the phone fast enough." She said, making her voice sound like she had just been running.

"Oh dear, you're here!" her grandmother said excited. "And I already thought that you were off somewhere, being busy like always, and that I wouldn't catch you today."

After some small talk, Maggie couldn't hold back the question, which had been bothering her for the last few days.

"Grandma, who is Earl Robertson?" she asked, silently hoping that her grandma wouldn't get suspicious and that she didn't know who this great, great uncle of hers was.

"Oh you mean the Earl who left our family years and years ago? To be honest, I actually haven't thought about Earl in years. Earl had always been a bit of a black sheep and he never really fit into that crazy family of his. Left town when I was in my early 30s and he musta' been around 18 or so. The boy never did feel at home here in Dallas. The last we ever heard from him, was a long time ago. We had heard so many different things about him, but of course they were all rumors. Nobody really ever knew what had happened to Earl. One rumor was that he had gone into doing drugs, while the others said that he bought himself a big castle and lived in it himself. Why, that boy never did marry!

Your mother had been good friends with him, when she was a little girl. She was his little shadow and never let him out of her sights. They seemed to have a connection, and every opportunity they had, they spent together. It was a wonder that the older boy took so much care of your mother. He seemed to think of her like his little sister." Her grandmother's voice trailed off while her thoughts went back in memory lane.

"Now, why did you want to know about Earl? You don't even know him, do you after all?" Her grandma's suspicious voice rang in her ear.

Franticly searching for an excuse to give her grandma, she quickly replied, "Oh I just heard his name around and was just wondering who he is...Anyways, how is the weather back home?" Maggie plowed on, and went back to the small talk. If her grandmother noticed the quick change in the topic, she didn't let on and let it go.

After talking a little bit more, Maggie hung up the phone. Sitting there in dread, she stared off into space. Her thoughts were going wild as she thought about the information she had just gotten. Luke could not be telling the truth. He couldn't be right about everything, could he?

Confused and scared, Maggie didn't know what she should do. But one thing was for sure; she could not let Luke take her with him. She wouldn't go along.

Making up her mind, Maggie quickly ran upstairs.

***

Quickly Maggie scribbled together a note, which said that there had been a family emergency and she had to leave. She also mentioned that as soon as she arrived where she was going, she would call Kristine.

Leaving the note on the table, so that her best friend could easily find it, Maggie looked around for a last time. She was going to run away from here. She would need to find herself a new place to stay; somewhere where Luke couldn't find her. Somewhere she could still earn the money she needed to be able to pay for the second university year.

She couldn't take the car, nor could she travel anywhere. She knew that as soon as she left in public, Luke would be able to trace her right away. She was sure that he had many connections and if he smiled that easy smile of his, at anyone, she knew that any girl would give him information for free. There was no doubt about that. Heck, even any man would give into his smile!

Groaning, she took the one traveling bag she had packed and left the house.

As soon as she entered the woods that led to the other side of the city, she started running. She couldn't let Luke follow her because she knew that he would stop her. So she ran like a wild horse would. She tried to make as little as possible noise, since she was pretty sure that Luke was watching her house, and listening to her every move. He wouldn't be beyond that.

While she was running franticly, she heard a suspicious noise. Glancing back quickly, Maggie didn't see anyone. But then she heard footsteps, which were closing in on her. With a gasp, she whirled around and pumped her legs harder. She didn't dare look back to see if Luke was following her.

Her lungs burned, she was breathing heavily and she felt like she wasn't getting enough air. But she didn't dare stop to catch her breath. He could catch up and she couldn't let that happen. No she wasn't going to go with him to this great, great, great, Uncle Earl. She refused!

The next few seconds were a whirl in her mind. She had chanced a glance behind her shoulders, after all, when things were silent again. And the next moment her running came to an abrupt stop. All of her breath was knocked out of her, when she turned back. Letting out a cry, she desperately hoped it was a tree she had run into, but deep down inside she already knew it wasn't even close to a tree. It was more close to a man's chest, then anything else. Dread filled her, when her fears were confirmed by his voice.

"Where are you off to so fast?"

Maggie had to grit her teeth and she softly muttered "Darn!" under her breath. Luke had caught her.

Frustrated that her plans hadn't worked out like she had hoped, she tried to twist free of Luke's grip on her arms. But instead of letting her go, he tightened his vise-like grip. He wasn't hurting her, but she was angry and disappointed that he had caught her. She thought that she had planned everything out nicely, but apparently not.

She pretended to give up and felt him loosen his grip, but only slightly; she used it to her full advantage. With a jerk she finally got herself free, and turned to go running again. Luke was too fast for her and he had her in his clutches again in the next moment. Screaming in frustration, Maggie started kicking, biting, screaming; anything that would get Luke to let go. But he didn't do as she had hoped he would. He only pulled her closer to himself and held her tight.

"We are going on that plane right this moment" he growled, "and we will go with, or without your permission. I'm sick of this game you like to play." Gently he picked her up and started carrying her. No amount of begging or yelling got Luke to stop; his grip on her, stayed strong. No matter how hard she struggled, the boy just never let go.

***

It was only an hour later that they were sitting inside the private jet. Apparently Uncle Earl had sent Luke to get her, with the private jet and it would be their journey back 'home'.

Because of her anger, Maggie refused to talk to Luke. Never before in her entire life, had she acted the way she did, around anyone. She had been rude to 'Mr. Hottie', had tried kicking and biting him. Had yelled and screamed at him. And he brought out the very worst in her. No one had ever made her feel so many emotions for one person. She had never felt so angry at another human being, nor had she felt the intense feelings that made her want to kiss those lips of his.

And because of this, she had decided to ignore him for the rest of her life. She was going to refuse to acknowledge him ever again. But it was the hardest thing she had ever had to do. Why, moving an entire mountain would be so much easier! Luke filled up every little available space in the plane, and she couldn't help but notice him. It was too difficult to pretend that he didn't exist. And darn her heart, because every time he looked over at her, she could feel her heart beating faster in her throat. It was ridiculous.

Her thoughts were starting to drift off as her eyes slowly closed.

A/N: Hello dear readers :) I am sooo sorry for taking forever to upload this chapter. I know you guys probably don't really care, but I had a lot of things going on all at once and no time. But for those readers who do, thank you so much for your patience and for sticking with me!!