Page 67 of Veiled in Brick

I set my belongings on the kitchen island, Luke sat at one of the bar stools, and I cocked my head at him curiously.

“Don’t you have to get back to Henry’s?”

“In a few,” he remarked with an apologetic smile. “Liam said he wouldn’t be long.”

“He told you to stay here?”

“Yup.”

I recalled the brief conversation that Liam and I shared in the alleyway next to Zest and my acquiescence to his request for Luke’s presence until he returned back home.

I questioned, “Did he not think I would ask you to hang around?”

Luke chuckled. “Nope. Was he right?”

I sighed. “Maybe.”

“Of course,” he muttered.

“What am I supposed to do, have you guys babysitting me for the rest of my life?” I asked him.

“Just for a little?”

I laughed, albeit a bit sardonically. “Until what?”

He shrugged, and I groaned. Instead of arguing about the concept, I dug through my purse to grab my phone, swiped a handful of times to find Liam’s number on the redial list, and selected it. It was half a ring before he answered, and his tone carried an undercurrent of anxiety that he attempted to mask with a casual flair.

“Hey, you make it back?”

I exhaled softly through my nose, for the apparent nervousness that he showed in those few words gripped at my chest.

“That I did,” I replied.

“Luke with you?”

“At your request, yes.”

I had intended to say far more than that, but hearing his initial tone of voice had caused me to take pause. And when Liam spoke again, my plans on the matter were obliterated entirely.

“You should tell him to get outta there.”

At the mention of my obvious safety, his tone was suddenly gruff. Husky. A sound that I had never heard come from Liam’s mouth, and it sent my heart jumping to my throat.

“And why is that?” I questioned, my voice unintentionally dropping down an octave.

“Well, I’ll be back in a minute—just parking. And I’ve been…distracted. All day.”

I teased him softly, “Don’t tell me it was because of Kelsey.”

Luke’s body tensed on the barstool beside me, no doubt straining his ears to give Claire the shred of gossip that I know she desperately craved.

Liam laughed a throaty laugh. “No, no,” he replied, “not her. Just dirty thoughts.”

“Is that right?” I cooed.

“Feeling like I’m intruding on something here,” Luke interjected at my tone, but I paid him no mind.

“Mhm,” Liam hummed as the sound of shutting a car door reached my ears.

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