For the Love of Ash (28 page)

"Hey." Luke reached forward and pulled my arms onto the table so I couldn't hide. "I'm not rushing. Friends, first, okay? I can go slowly. I just want to know you, Maggie. I swear I have good intentions."
 

"I don't know if I can ever give you what you want."

"I won't give up," he said, mimicking what he told me in the diner. I smiled as he held my hands, my face igniting.
 

"I might be changing my mind…"

By the time I looked up, it was starting to get dark. I looked down at my phone and saw that it was almost four, which meant that I had to go get Asher from school.
 

"I'm sorry, I have to go," I said while I shoved the notes in my bag. Luke frowned at me but stayed quiet, letting me pack up. I found the garbage can in the corner of the place and walked over to dump my half-drank coffee. On top of the can were two pitchers and two shakers full of what I was guessing was cream and sugar. Figures I'd find it now.

"Let me walk you to your car," Luke said when I returned.

"How chivalrous." I joked, winking up at him.
 

Luke hugged me at the car, his thick arms around my neck and back. It felt comforting and fated to let him hold me. When he pulled back, he looked at me with hooded eyes like he might kiss me. I didn't think I was ready for that, so I quickly turned around and threw my bag into the back seat.

Luke leaned on the open door as I crouched in and turned the key. But it wouldn't start. My car sputtered, but it just wouldn't catch. After five or so tries, I banged my hand against the steering wheel.
 

"Damn it," I yelled, pressing my forehead against the wheel. "I just fucking bought this."

"Hop out." He moved to the side, pulling the door open farther, and gestured for me to leave. Holding back tears, I stepped out and let Luke take my place. He climbed into my seat, crouching down since it was so low to the ground.
 

I grabbed a cigarette out of my pocket and sucked in a full lungful. This was bullshit. I needed this stupid car to work perfectly. Asher had to be picked up in fifteen minutes for hockey. I couldn't live without a car.
 

"Sorry, Sunny. Looks like you need to get it looked at," he said as he gave up trying. It just wouldn't start.
 

"Fuck," I muttered and turned around so my back was to Luke. I didn't want him to see the disappointment and tears on my face.
 

"Let me drive you until you get it fixed up."

"I don't really have a choice."

"You sure know how to make me feel needed."

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Maggie

I knew that Ash wouldn't recognize the large truck, so as Luke pulled in front of the school, I jumped out when he was nearly stopped. I heard him chuckle behind me, but it didn't stop me from trying to put as much space between us as possible.

The end of the day bell chimed from within the school, and within seconds, the front hallway was flooded with students under five feet tall. It was like a sea of munchkins from the Wizard of Oz.

Ash was one of the first out of the school, and I was genuinely excited to see him. My day was not a great one thanks to an early morning drunk phone call from Margo telling me to get a life, and just his bubbly face was enough to skyrocket my mood into happiness. Although the date with Luke helped a bit.

"How was your day?" I asked him as he threw his backpack at me. I caught it, luckily, and swung it over my back. I walked towards the parking lot where I saw Luke parked with his unnecessarily large truck.
 

"Good. Can we stop before hockey? I'm so hungry."

"Didn't you get lunch?"

"I wasn't hungry. I only ate like half of my nuggets."

"Nuggets are your favorite though."

"They aren't my favorite anymore," he said and took my hand. I walked up to the truck and opened the back door. The wheels made it tall, so it was hard enough for me to jump in without breaking my neck that I knew Ash would have trouble.

"Did you get a new car?" he asked, not having noticed Luke yet.

"Hey, buddy!" Luke said as he turned around in the seat.

"Mr. Wilson! What are you doing here?"

"Your—"

"My car had a problem, so Mr. Wilson agreed to drive us around today. Luke will be driving us to your practice and bringing us home." I reached across Asher's lap and buckled his belt. I left his backpack on the ground and then shut him in the car. I had to walk all the way around the back to get to the passenger side.

When I finally climbed in, I sighed in relief and buckled myself. Luke and Ash were talking about some incident in gym class where a kid got hit in the face with a wayward baseball. Ash was in stitches.
 

"So, where am I going?" Luke asked as he started the car again.
 

"It's kind of a long drive. Take route fifteen."

"That's okay. We can listen to music. What's your favorite kind?"
 

"Oh—" I was about to say z100. Luke reached over the middle console and took my hand in his. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Ash looking out of his window, completely oblivious to Luke caressing the back of my hand.
 

"I was talking to Asher."

"Jerk," I muttered, as I pulled my hand back and slapped Luke's chest.

Luke parked the truck and I jumped out of the passenger seat as quickly as possible. The sexually charged tension in the air was starting to get to me. His fingers intertwined with mine were sending shockwaves down into my pants. I felt as if I might blow up right there.

I pulled the black bag out of the bed of the truck and dropped it on the ground. The back of the truck came up to my chest, so it was no small feat to get the damn thing down.

"I would have done that," Luke said as he rounded the other side.

"I'm used to it," I told him with a smile. Luke was faster than me and grabbed the stick from the truck and grinned at me, almost like he was sticking out his tongue.

"Gimme gimme!" Ash said as he saw the stick in Luke's hands.

"Hey, be nice. He did drive us here."

"Sorry. Can I have my stick?" Ash asked, his hand out.

"Sure." Luke nodded and handed the blue stick over. Ash didn't wait for us to follow; he turned and sprinted across the parking lot towards the rink. Within a minute, he disappeared.

"Let me take that," Luke said as he pulled the bag from my back without even asking. I let him since it was about as heavy as Ash and killed my lower back. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop from smiling.

"Shoot, I have to take this," Luke said as he pulled his cellphone from his pocket. It was blinking with a girl's face on the front. I just assumed from the light hair and eyes that it was one of his sisters. I nodded, and he turned his back to me.
 

I leaned against the white wall in the hallway of the rink and tried to stop imagining kissing Luke. I didn't know if it was spending so much time with him or what, but I wanted to jump him, and it was a startling thought.

"Do you want to go sit in the car?" Luke asked when he came back. He looked down at his phone. I peeked over and saw that we still had thirty minutes to kill before Ash's practice even started.
 

"Okay." My voice chirped, like I had been surprised. I shook my head and stood up behind Luke and followed him back out to the truck. My fingers were glued to the bottom of my jacket, twirling the zipper.

Luke pulled open the passenger door and held it open for me. "Thank you," I said as I climbed in. He shut it and then ran around the back. When the driver's side door opened, I jumped at the loudness.

"Do you want to go back inside?" Luke asked, noticing my jumpiness.

"No. I'm fine," I said, my voice as quiet as a whisper.

"Is it me? Do you honestly not like me, Sunny?"

"No," I said way too fast. "I'm just fighting myself here."

"There's nothing to fight."

"There is. That kid in there deserves way better than what my parents gave me. He deserves all of my affection. I don't know how to juggle more. I'm just not good at this yet."

"He's a good kid. You're a good mom." Luke reached over and took both of my hands in his. I didn't have a choice but to look up at him. His eyes were honest, but they tortured me with their sincerity.

"I'm his sister," I said under my breath, squeezing my eyes shut.

"What?"

"Asher is my younger brother. When my parents died, I took custody of him. He calls me his mom because our mother was a bitch. He said that I loved him more than she ever did. Do you know how terrible but wonderful that feels?"

"Jesus," Luke said as he ran his hand through his hair. "Whether you gave birth to him or not, you're his mom."

"Which is why we can never be a we."

"I didn't say that."

"But I did." I turned and looked out the window, trying to control my emotions. I wasn't a romantic, but for some reason, being with Luke made me think that there could be a future there. There was potential for more.

"I won't hurt you. Either of you."

"And I don't believe you."

"Give me a shot, Maggie. All I'm asking for is a fucking shot."

"Why me? Why are you so interested in me?"

"You're strange."

"Thanks." I glared at him, narrowing my eyes and pursing my lips.

"Not in a bad way. I mean you're like two people in one. You have this outgoing, snarky side, but then you come off so nervous and closed off. Your fingers are always clutching your shirt, like that—" He pointed to my lap, where I was indeed twirling my zipper again. "—But your eyes are wide, curious. I don't understand how you can be so different, yet the same."

"You're observant."

"I know enough to want to know more."

"I've never had a real boyfriend," I blurted out before my brain could shut me the hell up. I guessed once the walls were down, all my secrets just tumbled out.

"I would be honored to be your first."

"You seriously want to be my boyfriend after all the shit I just laid on you? You will never be first in my life; you have to know that."

"I understand."