Catching Teardrops (MAC Security 5)

“Come on, kids! Let’s get our bowl on.”

Neither of us look away at the sound of Kim’s voice, instead Luke steps closer, bringing his point home, and I understand him fully. He can see it, he saw my reactions on Sunday... he knows. The thought of him knowing has me relaxing, my shoulders slumping and my body swaying toward him because one thing shines through his otherworldly eyes: belief.

He breaks the connection as he lets go of my arm and tilts his head. I swallow, nodding and turning around before walking toward Kim who’s standing at the shoe bar with her bowling shoes already on her feet.

I tell the guy what size I am before slipping my ballet flats off, grimacing when I spot another hole on the side. Pulling the socks out of my pocket, I then pull them on before sitting down next to Kim and pushing my feet into the shoes.

“I’m so excited,” she says, the grin on her face uncontrollable. “Tonight is the night I’m gonna beat him.”

“Unlikely,” Luke grunts from the other side of her, pulling his own shoes on before standing up and checking his cell. “Fuck.”

“Everything okay?” Kim asks him, standing up.

“Yeah, just… work.”

Pushing his cell into his pocket, he rolls his shoulders back and tilts his head. “We’re lane five.”

Kim rubs her hands together. “Five is my lucky number.”

She skips off ahead, Luke behind her and me trailing behind him. I feel like now would be the time to speak up and tell them I’ve never done this before, but instead I watch with keen eyes as they set up and both take their turns.

As soon as Kim tells me I’m up, I start to panic. What if I accidentally fling the ball into someone else’s lane? The kids are using ramps at the start of the lanes, maybe I should—

“Lily? It’s your turn.”

“I know.” I nod at Luke, my hands smoothing over all the balls lined up, different sizes written on them. What do they mean? Picking up the pink ball—because I figure pink means girl and girl means not as heavy—I don’t expect the weight of it and nearly pull my shoulder out of its socket. “Crap.”

Not letting the weight of it distract me, I use my other hand to hold it too, bending my knees slightly and letting go of the ball with a little push. It gets a third of the way down the lane before going into the gutter, rolling slowly before it gets to the end.

“I erm…” I bite my bottom lip, turning around and looking at Kim and Luke. “I’ve never been bowling before.”

Kim’s eyes widen before a sad look comes over her face and I just know she’s going to say something I don’t want to hear right now, so I focus my attention on Luke. “Can you teach me?”

He’s silent a beat, his ice-blue eyes focused entirely on me before he steps forward and picks up a green ball, handing it to me. “You need to go with a lighter ball.” He points at the number written on it. “That size is perfect for you.”

“Okay.”

He grabs my hand, separating my fingers, first gripping my thumb and then my two middle fingers. “Use these in the holes.” Once I have them inside the holes, he places his large palms on my hips, spinning me around so we’re both facing the lane. His hand covers mine, his front against my back, and every breath we take causes us to touch. “You’re gonna swing your arm back.” He swings it back and then forward. “And then you’re gonna let the ball go with force.?

?? He does it once more before saying, “Next time let it go.”

I nod, the top of my head rubbing against his chest at the movement before he swings both our arms back and then forward.

I let go, putting some force behind it and watching the ball as it flies down the lane and knocks all but two pins down.

“Oh my God!” Spinning around, I fling my arms around Luke’s neck, squeezing as I shout, “I did it!” There’s a beat before his arms wrap around my waist, and he pulls me to him, chuckling as I say it over and over again.

He lets me go and I practically skip over to Kim, her hand raised for a high five. “I can bowl!” I tell her, a stupid grin on my face.

“You can,” she replies softly, but her attention isn’t on me, it’s on Luke, and when I turn around, I see him staring at me, his brows pulled down into a frown before he looks down at his hands, shaking his head.

LUKE

Mom displays her winner badge proudly on her chest, her grin so wide I’m sure she’ll break her face any second.

“Told you I’d win,” she says, winking at me as she pulls her boots back on.

“Yeah, yeah.” I don’t tell her I let her win, same with Lily for that matter. What the hell is wrong with me? I never let anyone else win, but for some reason, I didn’t want to see the looks on their faces if they both lost.