Page 7 of He's All In

I’m out of the car and running to catch them as she hands him one of the milkshakes and they turn the corner. My heart is in my throat as I come up behind her, and before I think it through, I grab her arm to stop her.

“Kelly,” I say at the exact same time she hisses in pain and pulls out of my hold.

“Shit.” She holds her arm close to her body, and the young man she was walking with jumps in front of her to protect her.

“Don’t put your fucking hands on my sister,” he says menacingly, and I take a step back.

“I’m sorry, I was just saying hey.” I hold my palms up in front of me in surrender, but the young man doesn’t back down.

“Watch your mouth, Marco,” Kelly scolds, and the kid looks chided.

“Sorry,” he mumbles but again doesn’t move from in front of her until she pushes him out of the way.

“What are you doing here?” she says in a low voice but doesn’t look at me. Instead she’s glancing quickly up and down the street like she’s waiting for someone else to jump out.

“I need to talk to you,” I tell her, and she finally turns her eyes in my direction.

“Who is this guy?” Marco asks and then drinks his milkshake like he’s got all the time in the world.

“Not here,” she says, looking around and then walking quickly to the back of the school. There’s a loading dock near the cafeteria with a couple of dumpsters to block us from the street view.

“Give us a second,” she tells her brother, but he doesn't move. “It’s okay, I promise. He’s a friend of Paul’s.”

What she says strikes me as odd because she damn well knows Paul and I are not friends. Her brother still hesitates, and she passes him her milkshake.

“Here, you can have mine too.”

That does the trick because he takes both of them over to the loading dock before pulling out his phone and ignoring us. She looks around one more time, but there’s no way anyone could see us back here.

“What are you doing here?” She crosses her arms over her chest, and the motion pushes her sleeve up. That’s when I see the bruises.

I know I didn’t touch her hard enough to leave a mark, and they are higher than where my fingers landed. Suddenly I can hear blood pounding in my ears as I think about someone grabbing her hard enough to leave those kinds of marks.

“Who did it?” I ask, and I clench my jaw so hard it pops.

“Did what?” She immediately uncrosses her arms and puts her hands behind her back. Her eyes widen, and I see real fear there. “It’s nothing, Luke. You need to leave.”

“Tell me who did that to you,” I demand, and she shakes her head.

“You’re only going to make things worse.”

“Worse?” I step closer, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Marco watching us. “Does he know who did it?”

“Yes,” she says quietly and moves to block my view of Marco. “Please, Luke. You can’t be here.”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me who hurt you. I’ll follow you home. I’ll stand outside your house and make a scene until you talk to me.”

She shakes her head, and then I see tears form as her shoulders sag. Suddenly it’s like she’s carrying the weight of the world, and I can’t stand it.

“Come here,” I tell her as some of my anger deflates and I pull her against me. She hesitates for only a second before she melts against my body and I feel her arms come around my waist. “It’s all right. I’m here.”

She’s crying now, and I feel her body shake. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I know that it’s not good.

Chapter Five

KELLY

Luke wraps his arms around me, holding me close. I breathe in his rich, warm scent, and for the first time in a week, I feel safe. I know it’s only temporary because I don’t think I’ll ever be safe unless my father is behind bars. Or dead. Even if I ran, I would always be looking over my shoulder. Not to mention how he would haunt my dreams.