Skin Deep (Skin Deep #1)

“He said, ‘I know’, that ass! I opened myself up and that’s all he said! Cryptic caveman douche bag asshole…” I muttered.

I sat my bowl down on her coffee table, leaving the remains of my ice cream to melt. I leaned back and closed my eyes, opening them again immediately when all I saw was Luke and that bitch standing together. I glanced at my phone, wondering if I should turn it on again, but deciding that I wasn’t going to. If my family needed me, they would know exactly how to find me.

Allie patted my hand and got up to take our bowls into the kitchen. I heard her phone ring and heard her answer it, speaking softly to someone on the other line. I pushed myself up off the couch to go to the bathroom to blow my nose and wipe my face, but I froze when I passed the kitchen.

“No, Brandon, don’t tell him she’s here.”

I waited to see what else she would say, wishing I could hear Brandon’s side of the conversation.

“Well, she doesn’t want to talk to him or see him right now. And I don’t blame her! How could he do-” she cut off in mid-sentence.

“Yeah, right. You aren’t going to tell me-”

“Oh, really? Well…I don’t know. You know what’s going on, you know him better than me. If you say it wasn’t…”

She was driving me nuts allowing him to speak over her. I really wanted to hear what she’d been getting ready to say!

“Okay. I’ll try. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll call you back.”

“Okay, bye.”

I hurried toward the bathroom before Allie could turn and see me eavesdropping on her conversation. I heard her call my name and hollered back at her. She stood behind me in the doorway of the bathroom and I looked at her in the mirror.

“Emma…”

“What, Allie?”

“Are you sure that you don’t want to talk to him? Just see what he has to say?” Allie was pleading with me.

“I’m sure. Why would I want to put myself through that, Allie? Who’s side are you on anyway?” I knew she was on mine but Brandon must have told her something in order for her to be trying so hard to get me to talk to Luke.

“Yours, Emma! But I think you should talk to him! Give him a chance to explain some things to you, that what you saw wasn’t what you thought it was!” She slapped her hand over her mouth with a gasp and I narrowed my eyes at her in the mirror.

I turned around to face her, and asked, “Have you been talking to him? I know you talked to Brandon because I heard you. Is he putting you up to this?”

“No…well, not really. He asked me to talk to you to try to get you to listen to Luke. Emma, he explained everything to me and there’s no way you saw what you thought you saw. If you don’t want to talk to Luke, at least talk to Brandon, okay?”

I closed my eyes and nodded, opening them and grabbing her arm before she could escape. “Brandon! I’ll talk to Brandon, but not Luke. I mean it, Allie.”

She nodded and pulled away from me, already digging her phone out of her pocket. About fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on Allie’s front door and Brandon came in when she opened it. He strode immediately to my side talking a mile a minute.

“Emma, I didn’t bring him here, he followed me. Please don’t be mad at me! I didn’t even know he had run out of the shop into his car until I pulled up here and he pulled up, too. I got him to stop outside and let me come in and talk to you first, but I don’t-”

“Emma!” Luke interrupted Brandon, yelling my name as he flung open Allie’s door and strode in like he owned the place. “Emma, sugar, please talk to me!”

He came and knelt in front of where I was sitting on the couch. I sat back away from him and pulled my hand away as he tried to grab it in his.

“Luke, I don’t have anything to say to you. I saw enough for myself, thank you.” My voice was icy but it was taking everything I had in me not to break down and cry at the sight of him there in front of me. Damn him for being so fucking gorgeous!

“Emma, it wasn’t what you thought it was. I promise, baby. Jadalee is a girl that Brandon and I have known for a long time. She works for me sometimes when she’s in town, which isn’t that often because she moved down to Miami to open her own shop. She’s back just for a bit while her mom is having surgery.” Luke’s voice was soft, cajoling.

“That doesn’t excuse the fact, or tell me why, you were standing there with your hands on her, her hands on you, and her lips on yours, Luke! Seriously! How stupid do you think I am? I’ve been through this before with Douche Bag and you knew that! I refuse to let that happen to myself again.”

“Seriously, it wasn’t what you thought it was, even though I wish it was,” a snarky voice said from the doorway.

Every eye in the room flew to the front door where the dark haired bitch was standing, leaning nonchalantly against the jamb like she belonged there. I let out a gasp and watched as a million things happened at once.

Allie’s faced darkened with rage and she took a step toward the front door; Brandon jumped to intercept her. Luke sprang to his feet, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, and I sat there in stunned silence, wondering what the hell I’d done to deserve this.

Jadalee pulled away from the door frame and wandered over to the couch where she plopped herself down by my side. I glared at her before transferring it to Luke, who had fallen to his knees in front of me again.

He gently took my hands in his before saying softly, “I know you don’t want to see her, and I really was not intending on her walking in here like she owned the place,” his voice hardened and he glared at Jadalee before continuing, “but I didn’t do anything wrong and she’ll tell you that. Brandon can tell you, too.”

Jadalee rolled her eyes and said, “He really didn’t do anything. In fact, if you’d stuck around long enough, you would have seen that his hands were pushing me off of him. I had just come in and had given him a hug. Yeah, so I tried to kiss him, but so what? We’ve done way more than that before-” she broke off at Luke’s growl, shooting him a cheeky smile.

Luke started talking before she could dig herself, and him, deeper. “Yes, before you ask, we had done things in the past, but that’s what it is, Emma. The past. One I told her implicitly would not be happening. Ever. Again. Because I am so completely and totally in love with my girlfriend.”

I felt the tears brimming in my eyes spill over and beginning running down my cheeks and he reached up to wipe them away. “Emma, I love you. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

“Well you sure have a funny way of showing it, asshole,” I muttered, pushing his hands away from my face and wiping my eyes with my sleeves.

“I’m sorry I hurt you, sugar. Forgive me? Please?”

I closed my eyes against the pleading, yet hopeful look in his, and whispered, “I love you, Luke. But I just need to think for a minute, okay?” I opened my eyes and looked at him, watching as his face brightened for a brief second before it fell.

He nodded once, sharply, before standing up and, inclining his head to Allie and Brandon, stalked out the front door. I heard his car start and then the squeal of tires as he peeled away from the curb.