Criminally Yours

16.

A M A R A

Lucian still hadn't found me. I wondered if he was even looking. Surely he would've got to me by now if he was?

I guess he had never met Ashley. She would be next on his list to check, though. It was a Monday, and since I wasn't his personal assistant anymore, I had to sit around and watch Ashley head off to work.

"I'll see you later babe," she squeezed my hand and left at around 7:30 a.m.

At about 8:30 I was starting to get extremely bored. I did her dishes, vacuumed her carpet, and even washed her bedding. I didn't know what else to do. I knew I wasn't going to be able to hide forever. If Lucian was looking for me, he would probably be on his way here in the next hour or so.

I left a note for Ashley on the counter and decided to be the bigger person. As much as I didn't want to, I called Kade and had him take me back home.

"Mr. Moretti has been worried sick, Miss Hale," Kade informed me.

"I'm sure he has," I groaned.

"I may be a lot of things Miss Hale, but I'm not a liar. He's been going crazy. He's scarier than usual."

I stayed quiet after that. Was he really going crazy? Just because I was gone for a night? I was giving myself a headache, so I decided to close my eyes and rest until we reached home.

When we arrived, I went through the back door and entered the kitchen. Sandra greeted me with open arms, "Amara! I've missed you. Where have you been?"

"I was visiting a friend," I gave her a small smile.

"Lucian is in the gym, he's been worried sick." She looked like she was pleading me to go talk to him.

"I'll talk to him. Only for you Sandra."

She let out a sigh of relief, "I know he says things out of anger that may be harsh, but it's only because he cares about you. More than he wants to admit."

The thing is, I really wanted to hate Lucian for everything he had said and done. Somehow I always end up back in his arms. I didn't like being weak, but he was the only one who seemed to put me in that position.

I went up to my room to change before heading over to the gym.

Lucian was beating the life out of a punching bag. Beads of sweat dripped down his face and body. I walked over to him and put my hands on the bag to support it after he continued to strike.

He stopped to look at me after letting out a weak final punch. I didn't know what to say to him. We both looked at each other in silence. I don't think he knew how to approach me either.

"I was going crazy," he admitted.

"So I've heard."

He paused for a second. "What if you had gotten hurt?"

"I'm here now aren't I?" I didn't like where this was going. "Lucian, until you figure out what you want, I'm done."

L U C I A N

I knew exactly what I wanted. But I couldn't. I couldn't cause her more pain than she's already endured. I knew what I had to do.