never be » lrh book one

Chapter 31

G U N S H O T S ,  H E A R T   A T T A C K S

Luke's POV

I head back to where Sam was sitting at the party, but she's not there. My heart drops, and at first I just text her a simple 'where are you?' but after she doesn't reply for twenty minutes, I start to get worried. Calum, Ashton, and I search the house for her. She's no where to be seen. Because we can't find her, I decide to leave the party to see if she maybe started walking home or something. I don't fucking know, the worst I can think of is her being taken.

First, I drive the fastest way home. My best guess is she maybe called an uber to be taken home because she got scared but didn't want to ruin the fun. To my surprise, the lights in her house are on. I let out a sigh and shoot a text to the boys that she's at home and I've found her.

I park in my driveway and walk through my yard into hers. I really don't want to bother her. It's late, she's probably sleeping, so I remove her house key from the little nook in the cement under the porch and unlock the front door. The second I open the door and walk in, I'm greeted with a gun in my face. The color drains from my face and I freeze completely.

"Close the door, don't say a word or I let Sam starve to death in the room upstairs." Bruce speaks firmly. Instantly, I shut the door and stay still. "Good. God, you have no idea how fucking badly I've wanted to kill you since you took her away from me that night."

"I-I'm sorry. Please don't hurt her," I beg, staring into his cold eyes.

"Ha, yeah. But why? Why pass up the opportunity to kill the boy who's taking my girl away from me?" He asks, the question being rhetorical.

My response is silence. But then I think about it, hopefully nor provoking him.  "Killing isn't the answer."

"But in this situation, it is." Bruce's voice is rough, scratchy. It makes me uncomfortable.

"There's no reason to kill me." I continue to try and stall, hoping something or someone will just fucking save me already.

* * *

Ashton's POV

Calum and I drive over to Luke's since we already left the party and just think it'd be good to have our own little celebration. It's been about 5-10 minutes since Luke sent us a text saying he was at his place and he found Sam.

We drive up to Sam's driveway, assuming they're at her place since the lights are on. Instantly, I suspect something's wrong. First, I see a car that isn't Luke or Sam's in the driveway. Second, all the blinds are drawn except one.

I get out of the car, telling Calum to wait there just in case. I'm sure to close my door quietly. Maybe it's just the drugs or the alcohol playing tricks on my mind, but I have a weird feeling something is very very wrong.

When I walk up to the window, my suspicions are confirmed. Standing right on the other side of Sam's front door is Luke, with a man. The man has a gun pointed at Luke and all I can do is panic. That's my best fucking friend.

I bolt back to the car and get in, ripping out my phone and calling the police. I tell them everything I know, Calum so confused as he watched me and looked back at the house. I was just fucking praying I wasn't silenced by a gunshot.

Not even 20 minutes later, the police are outside Sam's house. We're all standing around, waiting for the police to actually go into the house and retrieve our friends. As the police are about to go in, I get a text from Sam's phone, but it's obviously not Sam.

sam: the police come in, i shoot your friend.

The first thing I do is show it to the sheriff, praying he'll know what to do. Calum in literally fucking pacing at my side. Apparently, the threat wasn't enough. Two police men burst into the house, I'm frozen at the sound of three gunshots. Calum stops in his tracks.

* * *

Luke's POV

"Death is going to come at some point. Why should you have to suffer, Luke?" Bruce speaks lowly. I know my time is coming. The police are outside and I just know he's going to shoot me before he gets caught. That was his ultimate goal; to kill me.

There's some banging on the door and I squeeze my eyes shut. The sound of three gunshots rings through my ears and I fall to the ground in a heap, my eyes rolling back and my head smacking against the floor.

Next thing I know, police are around me, Sam's calling my name. She sounds scared and relieved. My vision is cloudy, all I can really focus on is Bruce's bleeding corpse on the floor a few feet away. I wonder if I'm bleeding. Am I bleeding? I hope not.

I look up at Sam and she cups both my cheeks and kisses my forehead. "I'm so sorry, Luke," I hear her say, tears streaming down her face. What is she sorry about?

Everything gets extra blurry, then black spots cloud my vision, and next thing I know, all I can see is darkness.