The Certainty of Violet & Luke (The Coincidence, #5)(55)

Fucking *! God dammit, what the hell is the point of this? To drive me mad. ‘Thanks Jonah.’ I pat his arm then push him toward the exit. ‘It’s been super fun talking to you, but time for you to go.’

‘What about the stuff I need.’ He stumbles over his feet as I push him.

‘Preston lied. I have nothing.’ I retrieve my phone from my pocket and press Detective Stephner’s number. Jonah is mumbling about something as he wanders away and Callie is giving me this worried look. But I disregard them both as I move to the outside of the canopy with the phone against my ear. As soon as Detective Stephner answers, I blurt out everything that just happened.

‘Violet, calm down,’ he says. ‘I can barely understand you.’

I take a breath, realizing I was getting no oxygen in with my words. ‘I just ran into someone who told me that Preston hangs out at Garyford’s on Elm every day. You know the bar where college kids like to hang out.’

‘Okay, I’m on it,’ he says and I can hear him rustling around. ‘But Violet, I want you to go home and wait to hear from me okay? Stay indoors. I don’t want anything happening.’

What the hell does he thinks going to happen that hasn’t already happened? ‘Okay, I wasn’t planning on going anywhere, just dinner with Luke and his dad ‘

‘No, stay indoors,’ he says. ‘Promise me, Violet. Just go home and wait this out.’

‘Why does it matter?’

‘Dammit, Violet, just listen for once, okay?’

‘Okay dad,’ I say sarcastically but then realize I’m acting like a brat. ‘Sorry, I promise I’ll stay in.’

‘Good.’ He breathes a breath of relief. Something’s off. He’s acting more worried than he normally does.

‘What aren’t you telling me?’ I ask suspiciously, watching a group of people closely as they walk by. What if Jonah lied and Preston is out there watching me right now?

‘A lot,’ Detective Stephner replies. ‘There’s a lot of stuff I can’t tell you.’

That’s news to me and by the time I hang up, my minds racing with a million different ideas. I shut it down though when Luke finally walks through the doors. He’s wearing jeans and a hoodie, his hair damp, probably because he just showered. At least he smells like he did, the fresh scent of soap surrounding me as he pulls me in for a hug. He does it without so much as a hesitation, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. It’s starting to feel that way for me too.

‘So what did you think?’ he whispers in my ear, still holding onto me.

‘Those were some super tight pants,’ I try to tease, but my voice sounds off pitch.

He pulls back, concern evident all over his face. ‘What’s wrong?’

I look over at Callie who’s smiling at Kayden as he walks out of the door’s Luke just emerged from. ‘Can I tell you in the truck?’

He glances over his shoulder at Callie hugging Kayden and then nods. ‘Okay, yeah, let’s go.’ He moves back, but doesn’t go too far, sliding his arm around my back. ‘Hey guys, we’re going to head out,’ he calls out to Kayden. ‘See ya later.’

Kayden waves, but he’s distracted by Callie, who’s smiling as she tells him something which creates this big goofy grin on his face. I wonder what she thinks about what just happened. I wonder why I care so much.

Luke and I head across the parking lot to the truck in silence, the sounds of our hurried footsteps adding to the tension around us. He’s parked toward the back so it takes a while but finally we reach it. He opens the door for me then once I’m settled in the seat he shuts the door and gets into the driver’s seat. His truck makes this gurgling noise as he starts the engine and then backfires. He curses then tries again, this time pumping the gas. Once it’s on and clearly going to stay running, he cranks the heat and turns to face me.

‘Okay, what the hell has got that look on your face?’ he asks, scooting toward me.

I slip my gloves off and unzip my jacket as what happened barrels out of me. I explain to him how I ran into Jonah and what he told me about Preston. I also tell him how I called Detective Stephner and how he told me to stay in our apartment tonight and how he seemed to be acting strange.

‘I’m sure he just wants to make sure you’re safe.’ Luke reaches for my hand when I’m done telling him and traces the folds in my fingers. ‘It’s what we all want.’

I’m not sure who he means by we, but I don’t ask. ‘Yeah, maybe. But I talked to him earlier today when we were headed to the game and he seemed fine.’

‘He called you today?’ he asks, turning my hand upward and stroking the inside of my wrist. God that feels so good. ‘About what?’

Through all of this, I’d spaced off the conversation the Detective and I had earlier and how I never did come to a conclusion on whether Luke would agree to help Mira. Although being here with him now, his touch bringing me so much calm, I’m starting to wonder why I doubted him to begin with. ‘About the case … and you?’

His fingers pause on my palm. ‘Me?’

I nod. ‘He said he thinks you got a call from the person defending your mother in court.’

He suddenly looks like he’s in pain, his grip on my hands tightening. ‘Yeah, the other day I did.’