Pure of Heart / l.h ✔️

18

~Seraphina's POV~

Luke led me outside and to the car, still shaking with evident anger. I kept my head down and my eyes on the ground as we walked, my arms crossed over my chest. He didn't ask anything about Malachi or Anton or Keith, none of them. But I knew he would as soon as he and I got home, as soon as we were no longer in the presence of my mom and Carmen. It made my stomach twist and clench nervously, not wanting to have to to explain this all to him.

"What took so long?" Carmen asked as we walked up, her eyes locked on me. I gently shrugged my shoulders and climbed into the back seat with Luke, buckling my seatbelt while Carmen got in the front with mom. Mom pulled out of the parking spot and began the drive back home, none of us speaking to one another. It was just completely silent and something about the silence made my stomach churn anxiously. I looked out the window until we got home and parked in the driveway, climbing out of the car and heading up to the porch. Mom unlocked the front door and Carmen entered behind her, disappearing up the stairs. Keeping my head down, I skittered inside and tried to head up the stairs, but Luke suddenly cut in front of me. I slammed into his chest and gasped as he grabbed my lower waist to steady me, peering down at me as I immediately slipped away. For some reason, the touch of his hand had caused my heart rate to race faster and warm me even through my dress. It was the same feeling that I got when Enzo touched me.

"You're not going to slip your way out of this, sunshine." He said flatly, crossing his arms over his chest. I shyly looked up at him and tried to not focus on the question that was now burning in my head: why did his touch make me feel like butterflies were batting up a storm in my whole body?

"I-I need to go to my homework." I stuttered out an excuse, feeling a little guilty for lying to him. I had been sure to complete all of my homework before we even left to go out to eat, knowing I wouldn't feel like getting it done afterwards if I waited to do it. He just stared down at me doubtfully and raised a brow. "Do you? Well, then you'd better get to explaining because you're not going to leave until you do." He said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest as he remained in front of me, blocking the stairs. I sighed softly and looked down at the floor, fiddling anxiously with my fingers. "Explaining what?" I asked quietly, pretending I had no idea what he was talking about.

"How about who those boys were, and why they were obviously picking on you? And don't you even try to deny it. I saw the tears in your eyes, Nina." He said firmly, staring at me while I avoided his gaze. Seeming to know that I didn't want to look at him, he stepped closer and my heart rate spiked up again. And when his fingertips brushed my jaw, tilting my head up to meet his gaze, I felt a blush creep up my neck. "Tell me. You said you weren't being bullied. Why did you lie?" He wondered, raising a brow at me. I blushed harder when the pads of his fingers grazed along my cheek, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind my ear. "I wasn't technically lying at the time." I whispered, still playing with my fingers anxiously. "Oh? So that boy was just grabbing your ass because you wanted him to? And you teared up because you liked it?" He asked sarcastically, dropping his hand down to his side again.

A soft sigh left my lips and I hesitantly shook my head. "Well, they didn't start being mean to me like that until a few weeks ago." I muttered, shrugging my shoulders lightly. He raised a brow, his intense blue eyes still boring down into my brown ones. "Why are they picking on you? Who even are they?" He prodded, making me softly bite my lip as I turned and walked over to the couch. Immediately, he followed and sat down beside me, close enough that our thighs touched gently. "They just don't like me very much, I guess. They're friends with Enzo." I explained quietly, placing my hands in my lap.

"What?" He scoffed, making me look up at him. "Why the fuck would he be friends with people who treat you like garbage? I thought he was supposed to be your best friend." He asked with a hard frown on his face and anger surging in his pretty blue eyes. I blinked in surprise at the sheer anger in his voice, anger towards Enzo. "W-Well, Enzo is my best friend." I said defensively, frowning at him as my brows furrowed. Why would he suggest otherwise? "But it's not his fault that his friends are mean to me." I added softly, feeling defensive of Enzo. I didn't want Luke to think badly of my best and only friend.

"Not his fault?" He chuckled, rolling his eyes in disbelief. I frowned and looked up at him in confusion, wondering why he was so angry right now. "His friends are clearly harassing you and he's not even done anything to stop them!" He scowled, making me look down at my lap. "What does it matter?" I muttered softly, no longer knowing what to say. He looked down at me and raised his brows, as if he couldn't believe the words that had just left my mouth. "It matters because he's supposed to protect you, and care about you. If...If it were me, none of them would even so much as look at you wrong." He practically snarled out, making me gape at him with a blush in my cheeks and my lips parted. I had not expected him to be so protective of me. "Nobody would touch you or disrespect you." He added in a gentler tone, his eyes much softer now than the bright gems of passion and anger he had looked at me with moments ago.

"Why are you saying these things?" I asked in a little whisper, still taken aback and confused. He had complimented me before, but this was a side of him that I had not seen until now. He was angry, even moreso than when I had asked my question earlier about marrying Carmen, and I was pretty sure he was feeling protective over me. I hadn't had someone behave like that towards me, not even Enzo.

"Because even though you're eight years younger than me, I'm not going to act like you're just some stupid little girl who I don't give a shit about." He muttered, peering down at me with an unfamiliar emotion in his eyes. The foreign look made my brows furrow and my head cock to the side, peering up at him curiously. His eyes were soft and tender, making me feel flustered as he sucked me into his gaze with the intensity of his clear blue eyes. It completely overwhelmed me, making my hands tremble as he stared back at me. We were quiet for a while, his gaze never breaking away from mine. "Why do they pick on you, Nina?" He murmured eventually, grabbing my hand and stopping me from fiddling around with my fingers any longer.

"They say I'm a nerd, and that I shouldn't be friends with someone as popular as Enzo. They always make fun of me for having feelings for him, even though I know he doesn't have the same feelings for me." I answered lightly, my skin warming as his fingers tangled with mine on my thigh. "And they're right. It's pathetic." I added with a sigh, feeling my mood deflate. As I thought of Enzo, I noticed that my heart still fluttered, but nowhere near the way that it used to. My heart was too occupied with Luke's hand in mine, making me wonder what was happening to me. It couldn't be what I thought it was. It just couldn't.

"Don't say that, Nina." Luke said gently, squeezing my hand with his while his other hand reached up to tilt my head up towards him. "You're not pathetic in any way. It's not like you can control who you grow feelings for, sunshine." He comforted me, my throat drying as his thumb brushed over my bottom lip slow and gentle. I wasn't sure what was happening, why I was feeling like this. My cheeks warmed again and he smiled softly at me, our thighs pressing against one another further as he scooted a bit closer to me. "And even if he did return your feelings, I think you deserve someone better. Someone who will love you and cherish you in ways that you don't even know are possible. To depths unimaginable. You deserve more than any one person can give you." He murmured, making my heart flutter and clench harder in that one moment than it had in the many years I'd crushed on Enzo.

And that was when it hit me like cold water, making me pull away and stand up quickly. I couldn't believe how I had been so dumb, so terrible as I rushed up the stairs with tears gathering in my eyes. How had I gathered feelings for him?