I took a deep breath and slowly backed up as Luke came around the island in my kitchen, following me, his smile never wavering in the face of my fear. I looked around and grabbed a knife off the counter, holding it with a tight grip, angling it in his direction. He stopped, holding his hands up and raising an eyebrow in my direction.
"Really now Johnny, what are you going to do with that?"
His deep voice still rubbed me in all the right places and I shivered, my eyes momentarily closing.
He took advantage, moving forward in a blur of speed and snatching the knife out of my hand, whirling me around until my back was against his chest and the knife was very soundly against my throat.
"Some things you can always rely on Johnny boy." He said, bending down.
"Your reaction to my voice...to my body...always reliable." He whispered, lips brushing my ear.
"Let me go Luke, now."
I tried to keep my voice even as my body betrayed me and I started to respond, the hard planes of his body fitting against mine perfectly, as always.
"Who the hell do you think you are Johnny boy to try to tell me what to do? You can't just come back here after two years and act like you're the shit boy, it doesn't work like that."
His voice was warm with anger, and underneath that...pain.
"I had to get out Luke, after what happened...I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't do it to my mom anymore. Or to me."
My voice wavered a bit talking about it, but I forced it out anyway.
Luke pressed the knife tighter to my throat, to the point I didn't want to swallow. He was shaking, though I couldn't exactly figure out because of what. Anger, pain, sexual frustration, a mixture of all three?
"You knew what would happen if you came here Johnny boy, do you really think I'm going to let you go again? I know Eric called you, and I know you need my help."
I swallowed very carefully, but I had been held at knife point before, I knew how to not get cut. I talked slowly, breathing short breaths.
"No Luke I don't."
He flinched every time I said his real name, not the nickname I had called him since high school.
"I got a job set up, I don't need you to pay my bills for me. I'm a big boy."
He chuckled, "Oh baby I know that."
I fought off the shiver those words caused, but the goose bumps that raced up my skin were beyond my control.
"Wade Dearborn will change his mind after I talk to him Johnny boy, rest assured."
I grabbed his wrist and twisted, ducking out from under the knife as his muscles flexed. I let go before he could twist mine back and backed up, slamming into the sink. I was angry, so I was stupid and I reached out and shoved him backwards, watching with satisfaction as he almost fell on his ass, instead running sharply into the counter behind him.
"What the fuck is your problem Luke? My mom is dying, this isn't about me and you! Why would you fuck up the only chance I might have at saving her!"
He recovered, standing slowly and staring at me, anger in his eyes, "This is about me and you Johnny as much as it's about her. It'll take you 4 months at least to save up enough money to get that operation, and it will clean out your savings. By that point you don't know how bad the tumor will be and hell she might even need a different surgery, a more expensive one. Come work for me and I'll have her in that operating room as early as next week. I promise."
I just stared at him. He was right I knew that, I was going to try to sneak in extra hours with Wade so it wouldn't take as long but he was right. It might be too long.
"Work for you. Doing what Luke? What I did before?" I didn't bother saying it out loud, he knew what I meant.
He ran a hand through his short spiky black hair, "No Johnny, no. I won't put you back in the field, just help run the compound. That's all, you have my word. No one has the skills you got when it came to that shit Johnny. I'm not nearly as patient as you are, and I didn't understand half that shit you did to make it all run so smoothly. Work for me, and I'll save your mom."
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Luke was involved with a lot of illegal trafficking, everything from drugs to electronics. His compound is where everything happened, and it was damn official. I mean it didn't have papers or some shit because no one is stupid enough to leave a trail, especially not a powerful man like Luke Havers. However, I made it real, efficient instead of a bunch of thugs winging it.
I had schedules, client meetings, I made sure it all went down smoothly; code words for everything though we had never got caught. Not to mention a lot of the runners lived there and I was good at being the peace keeper. Unless I was in the field. That wasn't something I even wanted to think about.
