A Minor Technicality [Completed] *Slowly Editing*

Chapter 19 - Knowing is Half the Battle

Blythe's POV

Thankfully, the next stretch of our trip was just under two hours. By the time we arrived, I was desperate to get Luca to talk to me. He'd put earphones in as soon as the bus pulled onto the highway, and he hadn't looked at me once since then.

The moment I had woken up, I knew I wanted to tell him the truth about everything. My dream of Michael murdering him had been so vivid, it would trouble me for a while, I'm sure. The interruptions earlier in the day had almost convinced me to keep deceiving him, but the dream had been a wake-up call. It was a very real possibility that Michael would track me down, and Luca would be in danger if he didn't know. I had turned to tell him immediately, but he had shoved his cell phone into my hand and hurried away from me.

Hearing Charlie on the other end of the phone was a shock in itself. His words only made his call even more astonishing. Not only had he received a call from a detective with the NYPD, soon after someone else called looking for me. He said it was someone name Michael, and I knew immediately what that meant.

Michael pretended to be concerned about my disappearance. He told Charlie he was a close friend and planned to head to Oklahoma to make sure I was okay. Charlie may have been a country boy, but he was no slouch. He'd been valedictorian in high school and had gone to Oklahoma State University on a full ride scholarship. He figured something was up with the second call, and he forced Farrah to give him Luca's number.

Charlie told me he didn't think it was a good idea for me to come home yet. He planned to take Farrah to his parents' farm to keep her safe, and he'd keep an eye out for any suspicious visitors. I didn't have the heart to tell him the whole story, but it seemed the detective had informed him of enough details to worry him. The bad part of that was that I knew he would be calling frequently to check in. The good part was that I trusted no one more than Charlie when it came to my sister.

As the bus pulled into the station in Indianapolis, I sighed in relief. It was almost 9:30 at night, and the terminal was fairly dark, except for the staggered glow of the streetlights. We had just under an hour before the bus was scheduled to leave, and I knew Luca would probably take every moment to curse me to hell and back. Still, that had to be better than the silent treatment and the avoidance of eye contact he'd been giving me.

When the bus finally stopped and the driver opened the door, Luca stood and began trudging toward the exit, eyes narrowed in anger. For a moment, I thought he was going to abandon me like he did at the last stop, but when I followed an exceptionally slow lavender haired woman off the bus, Luca was waiting. He grabbed my wrist and began to drag me to a quiet corner of the station.

The moment we reached the empty corner, he let go of my hand as if my skin burned him. I flinched when I realized how livid he was with me. I wasn't sure that even my explanations could cause him to forgive me.

"Luca," I started, but he cut off my next words abruptly.

"No," he growled. "I get to talk."

I nodded slowly and backed against the wall. My heart hammered when I saw how his eyes were filled with not only anger, but disappointment.

"You lied to me," he yelled. "Since day one! I offered to take care of you, to keep you safe, and you had the audacity to tell me lie after lie. I can't trust one word that you've told me."

"Luca," I tried again.

"No!" he grumbled. "You have driven me crazy! I thought I was a freaking pervert, and the whole time you knew."

At this point, Luca was pacing, still yelling, but it became apparent he was yelling more to himself than me. And his revealing words were affecting my lungs in a strange way. I was struggling for breath, my heart racing and my head pounding as adrenalin pumped through me.