Can't Afford Mistakes.

Chapter Twenty-three

Sadie.

I walk up to the Archer's front door and ring the doorbell twice. Mateo answers the door but doesn't look up from his phone.

"Arabella's not back yet," he says already walking away.

I step inside the house and gently close the door behind me before asking, "Is Lucas here?"

"In his room," Mateo says pointing to the basement stairs.

"Thanks," I say as I slip off my shoes and make my way towards the stairs.

"Whatever," he says as he furiously taps on his phone.

I walk over to the stairs and I see Lucas walking up with a bowl in one hand and his phone in the other. He looks up when he reaches the top of the stairs and makes eye contact with me only to look back to his phone.

"Arabella's not here," he says as he walks to the kitchen.

"I'm not here for her," I whisper underneath my breath as I follow him into the kitchen.

"Why are you here then," Lucas says. I widen my eyes in surprise and he turns when I don't speak. "Supernatural hearing, remember?"

"Oh," I sigh, "yeah."

"Anyways, want do you need," he asks while washing his dishes.

"Can we go somewhere else and talk," I ask scratching the back of my neck.

"Okay," Lucas says although it sounds more like a question.

Lucas finishes washing his dishes and places them in the drying rack. He grabs his phone and I follow him down stairs. In the basement, Marco works in his studio; I can't help but smile at the memory of Jadon and I in there a few days ago. Lucas disappears into a room I've never seem before. I follow in suit.

The room is darkly lit. There's pictures of young Lucas and Arabella hanging on the walls. Lucas sits on a the edge of a chair and he motions for me to sit across from him. I walk in his direction slowly, taking a seat across from, and looking everywhere but his eyes. I try to plan out what I'm going to say in my head, but Lucas clears his throat an speaks first.

"You want to know why you're still attracted to me even though I was rude to Jadon," Lucas says as he sits back in hid chair and crosses his legs.

My jaw drops to the floor. I start to ask how he knew, but I shut my mouth remembering who I'm talking to, "Yeah, something like that."

"What do you even see in him," Lucas asks, "He's a musician, they're all the same."

"You don't know that," I say softly.

"I don't? Sadie, you don't know me," Lucas says sternly as he stands from his seat, "The people I work for-"

"The criminals you worked for," I correct him.

"Whatever," he says turning his back to be, "I was hired to become friends with musicians, to get close with them, to earn their trust and you know what I learned from each of them? That they use and abuse people who are below them."

"Why do you care about how Jadon could possibly treat me anyway," I demand as I rise to my feet.

"You don't get it do you," Lucas laughs with his back still turned to me, "You're fucking oblivious to everything that doesn't somehow involve you and the world you've built around you."

Lucas spins around and charges at me like a bull. His eyes glow in the dark room. I watch the green iris change to violet. His chest heaves up and down but his breathing isn't labored. His face is so close to mine; I notice small freckles on the bridge of his nose that I have never seen before. Lucas backs away with a sinister smile.