Deadline≫hemmings a.u

3.9

The moment we had gotten back in the car, we got the hell out of there. Traffic didn't make for the quickest escape, but Michael did what he could, weaving in and out of lanes, getting off the freeway and speeding down side streets. We stopped in Anaheim - yes, near Disneyland - which also happened to be a little more than half an hour away from my hometown.

Once we snuck into our rooms, Michael and Luke went out to check the area, just to make sure we hadn't been followed and that none of Marcus's men were nearby.

Yeah. Marcus, the man Michael and Luke worked for, was now after us. Talk about turning the tables.

Something big was going to happen, that much was clear. It was set in stone for me when the man in the alley warned us it they wouldn't stop coming. I could feel the dread, like a heavy weight in my stomach, clouding up into my lungs and making it hard to breathe. Things were going to happen, and I needed to be ready.

Yet here I was, huddled under the sheets - AC blasting, it was still hot - still trying to get the image of Luke pulling the trigger out of my head. In all of the months I had been with the boys, through all the shit we went through, no one had ever died. We have shot and been shot at, but nothing was ever a death blow. But there I was, with his blood on my shoes.

I shuddered, unable to get the whites of his eyes out of my head as the life left his body.

"Melanie?" There was a soft whisper and knock on the door that joined my room to the one Michael would stay in.

"Come in," I answered back, pushing the covers off of my head. The door opened, letting in Luke, who looked like he had been through Hell and back. Maybe he did, I could never tell what went on in his head. "You didn't have to knock."

"I wanted to make sure you weren't asleep in case I had to be extra quiet." Luke attempted to smile at me as he came to sit on the edge of the bed. He raised his hand as if to put it on my leg, but then something flickered across his face that I couldn't read and he dropped his hand back onto his lap.

I frowned, getting out of my blanket bundle to crawl over to sit behind him. I wrapped my arms around his torso and rest my head between his shoulderblades, his chest rising and falling beneath my hands. "Is everything okay?"

Luke paused for a moment and I felt him hold his breath. His hand came up, covering one of mine on his chest. He brushed his thumb over the back of my hand as we sat there in silence for what felt like forever.

"No," he answered finally, the single word sucking all of the air out of the room. Before I could even ask what was wrong, Luke moved out of my embrace, getting to his feet. "Melanie, we need to talk."

My stomach clenched. This wasn't a normal life, and Luke and didn't exactly have a normal relationship, but that never sounded good.

"About what?" I searched his face desperately for some sort of hint as to what was going on, but all I got was sorrow, clear as could be.

Luke opened his mouth and then closed it, his eyes landing everywhere in the room but on me. "I need to keep you safe, Melanie. I promised myself that I would, and I promise you that I will. But..."

"But what?" I furrowed my brow, getting a sick feeling in my stomach and my chest tightened. I reached for Luke's hand but he pulled away, the rejection feeling like a slap in the face.

"But if that's going to happen, this can't..." Luke waved his hand between us. "We can't...We can't be together anymore."

My face fell and my body felt numb. My heart felt like it plunged to the pits of my stomach as I opened my mouth for something - anything - to say. But I had no words.