The Probability of Violet and Luke(20)

Luke works to catch his breath as he stands beside me, staring down at the three-story fall, his eyes wide. “Shit, this is intense… I seriously hate heights.”

Still holding onto his hand, I inch my way across the ledge with my back pressed against the side of the building, guiding him with me. “You act like you’ve never had to escape out a window before.” I cast him an amused glance in his direction, feeling way to at peace with the situation, but I can’t help it. This is what calms me, what distracts me, what makes the pain of being near him, quiet.

He has a tight grip on my hand as he moves with me, continuously keeping an eye on the ground below as his palms become sweaty. “You seem way too calm about this,” he notes, his gaze flicking to me. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess you were enjoying it.”

I shrug, not able to deny it. “I think you know me enough to know I’m not afraid of heights.”

He pauses, searching my eyes, and suddenly I feel like I’m a freak on display because I swear to God he sees my dirty little secret hidden inside me. “No, it’s not the lack of fear… but the presence of excitement that seems a little off for the situation.”

I try to think of something to say, but come up blank. Thankfully we reach the fire escape and I put all my attention onto getting down it. I release his hand and duck beneath the bar and jump down onto the grated stairway. Right as Luke joins me, a large guy sticks his head out the window, looking as angry as one of my more abusive foster father’s I had for a brief two weeks when I was twelve.

“God dammit, Luke!” He rams his fist against the windowsill, debating whether to climb out and chase us or attempt to intercept us at the bottom.

“Go, go, go,” Luke urges me with a gentle push as the guy ducks his head back inside.

We race down the stairway, which shakes with our weight. Deep down, I understand just how serious of trouble we’re in, but the messed up side of me is thriving, fueled by the danger. By the time we reach the bottom, I’m nearly dizzy off the adrenaline high. It seems as if Luke can see it on my face, because he grabs my arm and helps me keep my balance as we race across the parking lot toward a subdivision near the condo complex.

“Where’s your truck?” I ask, breathless as we round the corner, glancing back at the condos.

Sweat drips down his forehead, even though it’s not hot outside, the clouds rolling in and thunder booming. “I walked here.” He pauses near the curb, glancing left and right then behind us. “I need to get you somewhere safe... away from them… and then I’ll go… lead them away…”

“I’ll go with you.” What the hell am I doing?

He looks like he has the exact same thought. “You want to go with me?”

I nod, knowing it’s so wrong because the main reason I’m agreeing to this is because I want the numbing high inside me to stay, at least that’s what I tell myself, not wanting to admit the real reason yet. “Yes.”

“I can’t… I can’t get you mixed up in this… it’s not right.”

“Too late. I already am. And I did this to myself.”

He frowns and I think he’s going to argue more, even though he should already know by now that he won’t win, but then he gives in and we jog up the street together, heading into the unknown.

Chapter 5
Luke

“I’m in so much damn trouble,” I announce the obvious as I shut and lock the door to my apartment behind us. Not knowing where else to go, I’d ran here with a very willing Violet in tow with me. I have no f*cking clue how this happened--not with the Geraldson thing since I’d always known eventually my luck would run out—but Violet being here. With me. In the place that used to be our home.

Emotions stir inside me as I lean against the door and watch her as she walks around the living room, taking in the food on the counter and coffee table, the textbooks on the floor, the general disorganization of the room that was never here when she was living with us.

“It’s messier than when I lived here,” she notes, tracing her fingers along a few empty beer bottles on the kitchen countertop and then across a layer of dust on the entertainment center. She pauses, tucking a strand of her red-streaked hair behind her ear, considering something before she turns around and folds her arms across her chest. The excitement that was in her green eyes just a few minutes when we were on the ledge has vanished and I’m glad because it was sort of freaking the shit out of me, because I think it was stemming from the danger we were in.