Page 14 of Professional Consult
“Then where will I be staying?”
“With me.”
CHAPTER5
LUKE
Is it possible to both love and hate someone? Because that’s what I’m feeling for my brother at this exact moment as I’m driving Lexi Dash to my goddamn house, which she has no business being at.
I wish she’d just go away. Fly back to Hollywood so I don’t have to see the living proof of just how badly I fucked up.
But I owe this to her. I wasn’t the only one Clint played a joke on. Lexi has been put through literal hell, believing that she was set up for a crime she didn’t commit. Heck, I’m lucky to be a free man tonight.
I suppose I should have some respect for her after the incident. She’s Hollywood royalty and no one would have blamed her if she’d run back home and cried her pretty little eyes out to the tabloids.
And yes, they are pretty. Cerulean blue, deep and captivating with just a touch of girlhood charm. Eyes that compliment her delicate, heart-shaped face.
Those qualities have got to be how she’s landed so many of those ‘girl next door’ roles. Even after spending the day in jail with her eyes red-rimmed and watery, she still manages to hold a shred of beguiling innocence.
“Thank you for giving me a place to stay,” she says, clearly uncomfortable with the heavy silence.
“Don’t thank me yet. It’s a far cry from the Hollywood palaces you’re used to.”
“Hollywood palaces are a stretch from what home feels like.” Her voice is tinged with sadness.
I can’t help but wonder what home is to her. Surely a mansion with a wait staff. Or perhaps she’s the bungalow type, living on top of blue waters in paradise.
“Oh, almost forgot!” she says in a startle. “What happened to my luggage?”
“As far as I know, it never made it off the plane.”
“You didn’t grab my things?”
“Just what you had on you, which was your purse.”
She sighs but says nothing.
“You know, there are plenty of police departments across the country that would be happy to have you. I can ring some up if you’d like.”
“No, this is oddly perfect.”
I snicker. “I’d like to hear why you think that.”
“For one, this is a small town, and it’s unlikely we will encounter dangerous situations, but also, no one knows I’m here except for the jet company, who’s signed NDAs, and the paparazzi your brother hired for ‘funsies’. I’ll be able to learn a lot.”
I grit my teeth.
“Have you ever thought that maybe I don’t want to be your teacher? That maybe I have better things to do than babysit a grown-ass woman?”
“Tell that to your brother.”
“As if he’d ever listen. He’ll laugh, write a check for the playground, and make my life into a damn joke amongst his friends.”
“So, this playground means something to you?”
I frown, wishing she would keep her mouth shut, but I honor her question.
“Sometimes, that’s all a kid has. Their parents fall on hard times. Santa doesn’t come. Thanksgiving turkey is a microwaved meal, if they’re lucky. A playground is where they can set their imagination ablaze and live out a thousand lives where they aren’t cold and hungry. Now, I don’t expect you to understand that, and I won’t hold it against you, but it’s something that I think about every time I drive by a school. Any school.”
