The Journalist and Her Actor

Chapter 29

"You are right, someone is after me," Luke said into the silence as he gazed across the infinity pool from where he was settled on a pool deck chair, a first aid kit balanced between his knees. His words were calm, too calm for the fact that someone had put a target on his back.

Carter was still at school, leaving us with the entire apartment, and Luke with zero excuses to put off telling me what was going on. 

I sat on the lawn chair across from him, doing my best not to wince as Luke took my jaw in between his fingers, his other hand brushing disinfectant across my cheek. I hadn't even realized I had gotten hurt until Luke snatched down the first aid kit and urged me to sit so he could take a look. 

"Any ideas on who?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even as I took in his focused expression, deep brown eyes on my face as he gently brushed away the blood.

"Yes," he said evenly. "A Walker. I don't know which one." He let out a dark humorless laugh. "Some family, huh?"

My family had its problems. But I don't think even on our worst days my parents or brother would try and have me killed. It made my chest ache as I tried to imagine growing up in a family like his. "It's not Andrew—"

The corners of Luke's mouth quirked up slightly. "No. Not my brother. He's the only sane one of the bunch."

"Why?" I breathed. "Why would anyone..." I trailed off, remembering what Luke had said about his family— his reaction when I mentioned how dramatic they were. 

One had gone to prison for murder for crying out loud. But I hadn't realized how much worse it was behind the curtain.

Luke let my face go and rummaged through the first aid kit, his eyes dark, tone emotionless, like he was protecting himself from the depth of the emotions his next words evoked. "Because I am the only thing standing between them and my deceased father's empire." 

He pulled out a bandaid and gently put it on my cheek, his fingers hovering for a beat longer before he leaned back. 

Then it was my turn to take on his hurts, first aid kit in my lap while I gazed at his skin, trying to decide where to start. I looked away and motioned for him to take off his shirt, so I could tackle his back, which had hit the asphalt at full speed. Blood was sticky against his shirt, causing him to struggle as he tried to peel it off, wincing until I helped pull it the rest of the way off.  

He was silent as I gazed at his raw, bleeding back— a screaming reminder of how close he had come to dying. 

"The only one?" I asked, prompting him to continue as I began to wiped down his skin with several sanitary wipes, watching them ink red under my fingers, his back muscles tensing with each sting of the wipes.

"I walked away from the family empire before Andrew did and at the time I believed he would stay on the path. He was the family favorite, was in law school and was learning to take over, but then changed his mind. The difference between us is he made it clear on paper that he wanted nothing to do with it. He forfeited everything. And with my grandfather behind bars..." He shrugged like he wasn't playing a life and death game of chess worth millions of dollars. The gesture sent his back muscles flexing and he took in a sharp breath, the movement causing several scratches to start bleeding again. "The power has shifted."

"What about your mom?"

Luke's entire body grew tense, fingers rolling into fists at his sides. "She asked me to not sign anything. Not to hand everything over to the others. Not yet. Not until she can make a plan for the future." 

He turned, facing me again as I moved to work on his arms. "Things with her have been..." Luke ran his fingers through his hair, causing a wince and his hair to poke up in several places. "...messy and I just... I don't want to leave her to handle this alone."