You'll Think of Me

by Franco, Lucia

  She giggled. Still as playful as she remembered. “Thanks, Ash.”

  “Hey, Chase. It’s good to see you again.”

  “Likewise, Olivia.”

  Bradley lifted Olivia off the floor into a bear hug. He crushed her in a tight embrace that felt like all the air had squeezed out of from her lungs. She grunted, “Hey, Bradley.”

  “Hey, girl. Long time no see. Glad to hear you’re back.”

  “I’m glad to be back, actually,” she breathed out.

  “Alright, put her down, B. She’s gettin’ blue in the face.”

  Olivia tensed as Bradley lowered her to the floor. She looked over his shoulder and spotted the voice that had always tipped her world.

  Luke could feel Olivia’s presence the moment he walked into the bar. His eyes zigzagged across the low lit room in an effort to locate her. And when he did, his gaze zeroed in on her curvaceous body as he felt his own roar to life. His eyes blazed full of want as they traveled the length of her body, his cock jumping at the sight of how sexy she looked in jeans that hugged her body like a glove. Man, she got him going every damn time he saw her.

  Luke needed a drink. Fast.

  He knew she was going to be there, but most likely with her stupid boyfriend. Where was he anyway? Luke glanced around looking for Nate but didn’t spot him. Nate probably wanted nothing more than to knock his sorry ass out for layin’ lips to his girl…Nate’s girl…what the fuck ever.

  “Hey, Care Bear. How you doing?” He looked around. “Where’s that boyfriend of yours?”

  Olivia chewed her lip nervously. “Ah, he couldn’t make it tonight.”

  Luke smirked on the inside. There was no way he was holding back from hugging Livy knowing Nate wasn’t around.

  “That’s too bad,” Luke lied. He leaned down and enveloped Livy in a tight embrace, dropping his head into the curve of her neck and inhaling her soft hair. Just the way he remembered. Coconuts. Hell yeah. He inhaled again, squeezing Livy to him and feeling her breasts against his chest. Luke’s blood warmed from the feel of Livy in his arms, he loved the softness of her body. His fingers grazed the sides of her breasts as he held her close.

  She whispered thickly, “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

  “I usually try to, but I don’t always get the chance. Luckily I was able to get away for a few days.”

  “Well, I’m sure your parents and brothers were happy to see you since you hardly get to come home.”

  Luke pulled back and his hands slid to her hips, holding her in place as he eyed her.

  “Your mom misses you and worries about you.” Olivia shrugged nonchalantly.

  “You spoke to her recently?”

  “Do you mean do I talk to her outside of being her doctor? Then yes, sometimes I do. Just a quick hi to see how she’s doing.”

  Luke huffed and scrubbed a hand over his face. His chest softened at the sound of Livy’s genuine concern for his family. “Don’t know why she worries. I’m fine. She needs to worry about herself and my brothers, not me. I’m not a kid anymore.”

  A sweet, half smile graced Olivia’s lips before she said, “I don’t think a mother ever stops worrying about her kids, Luke. It’s only natural. I’m sure one day you’ll be going through the same thing with your kids, regardless of their ages.”

  Inadvertently, Luke gripped Livy tighter. He needed to keep his thoughts locked in, but he was already having a hard time. Here she was talking about him having kids one day. Luke thought about it for a moment but couldn’t fathom having his own children with anyone else other than Livy. She was working her way under his skin again. He imagined her with a swollen belly carrying his child…her face glowing as they found out the sex of the baby…

  The awkward silence was broken when Chase yelled for shots.

  Saved by whiskey. Thank you, Mr. Jack Daniels!

  As Chase handed the shots out, the old friends held them in the air. “A toast to old memories, new memories and friends.”

  “Can’t get any cheesier than that, Ash,” Tessa laughingly said.

  Ash slammed back his shot. “Screw you.”

  “Nah, I’m good.”

  “So long as Luke doesn’t cockblock like he used to…we’re all good,” Ash laughed.

  “Or could it be because no one wanted your lame ass?” Tessa yelled then turned to Luke and batted her eyes up at him. “Hey, Luke, sing for us?”

  Ash turned around and eyed Tessa up and down like she was a piece of meat. She scoffed and turned towards him. “You pig.”

  “That’s not what you said last time.”

  “Get over yourself, Ash-hole.”

  “I’d rather be over you.”

  Tessa’s jaw locked. “Not going to happen.” She turned to Luke and said sweetly, “Luke? What do you say?”

  Luke mumbled something under his breath. He wasn’t really up to singing for anyone right now. As much as he loved it, he was on a break and just wanted to cut back and hang with his friends, but Tessa was giving him her puppy dog eyes and pouty lip routine, begging him to sing like old times. Old times…when Livy was his girl.

  Chase, being a wiseass said in a high-pitched, girly voice, “Yeah, Luke! Sing for us!” He clutched his beer to his chest and tried to bat his eyelashes like Tessa did.

  “Man, shut up. I ain’t singing.”

  “But Luke! You have to! Just like old times!” Tessa whined.

  “Yeah, Luke!” Chase mocked.

  Luke looked at Livy as he said, “Times have changed, Tessa. Not going to happen.”

  With that, Tessa stomped back to the bar to order another drink. “Want me to sing to you, baby?” Ash asked Tessa in a smoky voice, mimicking Luke’s. Olivia chuckled at his attempt.

  Disgust appeared all over Tessa’s face. “God, no. Now go away.” Ash reached out for Tessa but she pulled away quickly before he could touch her.

  “Alright. I got you,” he nodded, arrogantly accepting her answer.

  Olivia noticed Tessa in the corner of her eye trying to fight the grin that curved the corners of her mouth. Tessa was enjoying it much more than she showed.

  Two hours later, Tessa had finally coerced Luke to sing on stage.

  But that’s not what bothered Olivia, or the slew of young college girls yelling his name and singing along to his songs.

  “You doing okay, Livy?” Tessa asked.

  Olivia nodded her head automatically. What bothered her was what Luke had just sung on stage.

  everyone needs a whiskey girl…

  Four times. Luke said it four times, and every time he did, a drunken howl from the women up front would sound right after. At first she thought he slipped, but when he did it again, she knew he hadn’t.

  It was almost laughable that Luke crooned in the background as she sipped on her whiskey. But then, during a small intermission, he sent her a text.

  Luke: Listen to my lyrics, they tell a story…

  Chills broke out over her skin, her phone almost slipped from her fingers. Why would he send her something like that? Her chest tightened and her body had gone completely numb. He was deliberately testing her patience and it just wasn’t fair. Olivia did everything that he asked of her and this is how he repays her? By singing “whiskey girl” in front of everyone? Granted, no one knew, but that wasn’t the point.

  When Luke finally strolled up to the stage after much nagging from Tessa, Olivia sat at the bar for another drink so she wouldn’t have to watch him. Luke knew it was a childish move to taunt her. He would purposely lock eyes with her and stare. How the hell could he not?

  After a little while, Olivia slipped away to the ladies room in the middle of a song. She needed a break from listening to Luke on stage. Even furious with him, warmth surged through her body at the sight of him. Her heart was laden with memories as she watched Luke grab a lonely guitar and play with expertise. He held and caressed it intimately. Olivia tried to mask her emotions to those around her, but it wasn’t easy. As much a
s she told herself she was over Luke, she couldn’t help but still love him. Watching him on stage again, it was all too much for her to handle. His voice would drop low as if he fell into another dimension, luring her into his black hole. And when that happened, nothing mattered anymore but him. Time stopped and she felt what he felt, the beat of the drums, that one hook in the song that meant more than any other, the clenching of her stomach as he held a note. The rush of performing. As if his voice took them to another place together from a single strum of his finger on the strings. Her love of watching Luke sing still hadn’t died. It never would.

  Reaching the semi-dark area outside the restrooms, Olivia waited her turn in line. She closed her eyes, leaned her head back and took a deep breath. Cheers and chants echoed from the crowd, signaling the song was over.

  “Thank you, thank you.”

  His voice…sounded so hoarse. God.

  “I’m gonna take a little break for now. Maybe I’ll be back.”

  The cheering only grew louder.

  Luke made his way off stage with determination. He had watched Livy from the stage, watched as she avoided looking at him and stared down at the glass in her hand. Why couldn’t she see what he was trying to say? He managed to catch a glimpse of the look she used to have. It was a look full of want and need that he had fulfilled in the past.

  Pushing his way past people on the dance floor, Luke knew the bar like the back of his hand. He’d come here often after she left, sit in a booth and slam back beers as he put his feelings on paper to cover his emotions. It was how he coped with the loss. Yeah. He wrote those kinds of songs because of a broken heart. Fucking sap that he was.

  Luke found Livy in seconds. She was leaning against a dirty wall in the hallway waiting in line. Her head was dropped back against the bland gray wall, looking so tired and worn out. Luke marched right up, grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him, dragging her toward the door labeled “Emergency Exit”, not even stopping for Livy to gather her footing.

  “Luke, what the hell? Let go!”

  Discombobulated from the shock of Luke dragging her outside, Olivia tried to yank her arm back, but had no such luck. “Luke! Stop!”

  Luke kicked out the door and swung Olivia outside and pushed her up against the brick wall in the dirty alleyway. “Why’d you do it, Olivia?”

  Perplexed, she bit out through clenched teeth, “Huh? Do what exactly, Luke?”

  “Why’d you turn your back on me once I got up on stage?”

  “Are you kidding me? You manhandle the shit out of me, drag me outside, slam me into a wall and that’s all you say? What the hell is wrong with you!”

  Luke retreated a few steps back as shock flitted across his face. His eyes traveled every inch of her body looking for any marks. Hurting her physically was the last thing on earth he’d ever want to do.

  “Dear God,” he whispered, “I would never lay a hand to you, Care Bear. Did I hurt you?”

  Olivia rubbed her arm. “I’m sure I’m fine, but don’t ever do that again.”

  Luke was not the kind of man to raise a hand to a woman, it wasn’t in his bones. He wasn’t trying to hurt her… Rubbing a hand across his tightened chest, Luke slowly took a step closer.

  “Livy...I would never…” He couldn’t even finish the sentence. Luke leaned down and pressed his forehead to Livy’s, holding her face between his palms. It would take nothing for him to lean down and rest his lips against hers.

  Unable to look into Livy’s eyes, he closed his own before he said, “I could never hurt you. You have to believe me.” Her hands fisted his waist, gripping his shirt and holding him. She made the smallest move and leaned into him.

  She knew. Olivia knew Luke wasn’t capable of hurting her. She was just taken aback by it. Taking a few deep breaths, Olivia relieved Luke of his suffering.

  “I know,” she whispered. “You scared me.”

  “I just wanted to talk.”

  “Talk?” A laugh escaped her lips. “What could you possibly want to talk about?”

  Lifting his head, but not dropping his arms, Luke looked into Livy’s eyes and spoke as earnestly as he could. “Why did you ignore me when I got up to sing? I had no intention of singing at all, but I looked at you when Tessa was begging me and thought I saw hope in your eyes for a split second. So I caved. Because of you. I sang because of you. But when I got up there, you wouldn’t look at me, like you couldn’t stand to hear me.”

  Luke’s eyes pleaded for an answer. Olivia had no idea that ignoring him would hurt him so much. She did it to protect herself.

  For her. Luke sang for her. Olivia wasn’t sure what to even think. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because I remember how much you loved it.”

  “Luke,” she shook her head. “That was long ago.”

  “Did you?”

  “Did I what?”

  “Did you like what you heard? I sang it for you.”

  “It doesn’t matter what I like anymore.”

  “It does to me.”

  “Why, Luke? Why? Why does it matter whether or not I like it?”

  Luke shrugged. Why couldn’t she just answer his question? “It just does.”

  “Well, that’s a stupid answer.”

  “Why can’t you just answer me?”

  “I could ask you the same thing. Never mind. I need to get back inside.”

  “Is it as good as when we were together, Livy?” His voice was hoarse. He knew he shouldn’t ask, but he also needed to know how she truly felt.

  Olivia glanced up into his eyes. Her heart raced as she tried to find the right words.

  Luke saw the look in her eyes that revealed her answer. “Nothing could be as good as when we were together,” he whispered, answering for her. Luke couldn’t resist tasting her. He leaned down and kissed her hard, savoring her mouth. She responded immediately and took all of him in a heart stopping kiss.

  Breaking the kiss, Luke asked between pants, “Tell me. Does he make you happy?”

  Olivia felt her jaw quivering. She thought about her answer carefully before she spoke.

  “At one point Nate made me happy more than I thought possible.”

  Luke cringed on the inside at her confession. He wasn’t expecting that.

  She let out a sad smile, her eyes soft with repentance. “I once loved a guy long ago so much it hurt. I never thought I’d feel that way again.”

  Pulling away, Olivia turned to leave, but Luke kept a hold of her hand. “I write them for you.” His voice cracked along her skin like sparklers.

  “Write what?”

  “My music. The songs I sing. All I have to do is think of you when I’m stuck and it just flows from the tips of my fingers.” Luke chuckled dejectedly. “It’s almost like you’re my muse. All of my songs have parts of you in them. You just have to listen closely.”

  She couldn’t handle it any longer. Luke was making her chest hurt and her head ache. He wanted her, he didn’t. Which was it?

  “I don’t know what happened, Livy. I drank a few beers and was all good, but once I began to play my music...you paid no attention to it… I’m sorry. Lame excuse, but I was sucked back into the past and couldn’t control myself. I wanted to go back and feel it all again with you, even if it was just for one night.”

  Olivia smiled sadly. Squeezing his hand she said, “I have to go. I have a long drive ahead of me.” As she went to open the door, she glanced over her shoulder and saw Luke standing with such a heartbreaking look that she found herself saying, “I listen to all of your music, even if it hurts to.”

  Luke was too stressed out with everything going on in his life. His mom, Livy, work, touring… It was all becoming so exhausting mentally and he needed a damn break. Livy took up most of his thoughts, those of the present and past. Watching her in her doctor’s office being able to do what she loved really got to him. He knew what she wanted at a young age, and she went after it. But the truth was, he couldn’t help but “what if” hims
elf to death over the choices he made.

  So he flew home the moment his tour ended. He hopped on the next flight out, only after sitting with his manager for over three hours discussing the next phase of his life, and then he bolted. He hadn’t even stopped to see his parents, didn’t mention he was coming home, just went straight to his house and threw himself into his empty bed and passed out. He needed some serious down time. But before he crashed, he shot Livy a text.

  Luke: I’m home…was thinking we could get lunch while I’m here.

  Olivia: Sure. I’d like that.

  A few days later, Luke was finally rested with a clear mind.

  Luke: How about I come pick you up?

  Olivia: Umm… Where are we going

  Luke: Wait, is this going to be a problem with Nate

  Olivia: No.

  Luke: Good. We’re going out to lunch, remember?

  Shoot. Olivia wasn’t even thinking and had completely forgotten about Luke asking her to lunch. She wasn’t in the best frame of mind and her emotions were all over the place. Her only plan for Saturday was to plant flowers all day on her newly finished deck.

  Olivia: I’m working on my deck and around my house all day…Sorry. Maybe tomorrow?

  Luke laughed. Livy wasn’t getting off that easy.

  Luke: That’s fine. We’ll just take a ride and get a late lunch instead. Be sure to wear jeans

  Olivia: Okay.

  Olivia put the phone down and got back to planting. Would it be okay with Nate…if he only knew. Olivia shook her head. Taking a ride with Luke meant what? Where were they going? Where would they get lunch? What would they talk about? Luckily she was able to push that back until tomorrow.

  Two hours later, sweat trickled down the swell of her breasts and her hair sticking to the back of her neck. With her fingers covered in dirt and all over her clothes, Olivia stood up and wiped her forehead then grabbed a water bottle. It was a scorcher outside, and she could feel how hot her cheeks were. She pressed the ice cold bottle to both cheeks before she opened it and drank it all.