Hell, he obviously was one.
And apparently, the ART officers weren’t very good at their jobs, because Luc, and what I was guessing was a family, were still here.
Luc’s gaze dropped to my mouth, and I drew in an unsteady breath. A muscle flexed along his jaw. “How did you even get up here? I told Clyde to send you away.”
“Grayson . . .” I stilled.
Wait. Had Grayson set me up? He told me to come up here; he had to know that family was hidden in one of the rooms.
Luc’s gaze lifted to mine. “Grayson sent you up here?”
“Kind of,” I gritted out, holding his stare. “Can you back off?”
There was a moment of silence. “I feel like we’re having déjà vu.”
“Probably because you have no respect for personal space.”
His lips pursed. “Sounds about right.”
I stared at him.
Luc dropped my hand and took a step back. His gaze flickered over my face. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
His question sort of surprised me. “No. He didn’t hurt me.”
“He was choking you.”
“Yeah, he was doing that, but I’m . . . I’m okay.”
He watched me a moment, shook his head, and then pivoted. He started stalking down the hall, and it was then that I realized he was carrying something in his other hand. A cloth—a washcloth.
I peeled myself off the wall and hurried up. “I need—”
“Your phone,” he interrupted. “I know.”
“Okay.” I struggled to keep up. His long-legged pace was impressive . . . and annoying. “Can I have it?”
“No.”
“What? Why not?”
“You don’t need it.”
“I need it—I totally need my phone. It belongs to me.”
Luc kept walking, and I just—I just lost it.
Leftover adrenaline from being thrown against a wall mingled with the frustration burning at my skin like a swarm of fire ants. Snapping forward, I grabbed his arm and stopped him. In the distant part of my mind I knew that he had allowed me to do that. That if he had wanted to keep walking, he would’ve and then simply dragged me behind him. But I didn’t care that he could throw me down the hall with a flick of his wrist if he wanted to.
“I’m not leaving here until I have my phone.”
A smile played at his mouth as he glanced down at my hand and then back up. “Really?”
“Why are you being so difficult? Just give me my phone and you’ll never have to see me again.”
His thick lashes lowered, shielding his eyes as he reached down and pried my fingers off his arm. He did so gently, as if he were well aware of his strength and thought my fingers could snap like dried twigs. “But what if I want to see you again?”
I swallowed as my eyes narrowed. “But I don’t want to see your face ever again.”
The almost teasing smile began to fade. “Well, that’s rude.”
The irritation gave way to reckless fury. “If you don’t give me my damn phone right now, I will call the police.” I glanced down at the leather cuff he wore before meeting his gaze head-on. I hated saying what I did next, because I would never do what I was about to threaten, but I was willing to say just about anything to get my phone so I could leave and forget all about Luc and this damn place. “I doubt the Luxen back in that room would want that to happen, would they?”
Luc’s eyes widened slightly as he faced me. A measure of surprise splashed across his striking features, parting his full lips. “Are you actually threatening me?”
I had the common sense to recognize I was treading on thin ice with lead boots. Like the kind of thin ice that was already cracking under my feet. “It’s not a threat.” I managed to keep my voice level. “It’s a warning.”
“That’s the same thing, Evie.” Luc stepped toward me, the pupils of his eyes seeming to expand. “It’s a threat.”
The air stalled in my lungs and my body moved without thought. I took a step back, but he came forward once more. I kept going until I was against a damn wall again.
“No one has even the tiniest inclination to threaten me,” he said, the pupils of his eyes starting to turn white. An icy chill ran down my spine. “Because they know better.”
My chest rose sharply.
“They especially know better than to threaten what I’m trying to do here.” His chin dipped, and he was right back in my space, eye to eye. Several seconds passed, and the stupidest, absolute dumbest thoughts occurred. I thought about that meaningless kiss that wasn’t even a kiss—about how those full lips had felt.
How they were soft yet hard, and I—
What in the world was wrong with me? Had I hit my head and damaged my brain earlier? The answer was yes, a resounding yes.
“Dammit,” he growled, and then he did the strangest thing—stranger than me thinking about kissing him, which was next-level bizarre.
He dropped his forehead to mine as he breathed in deeply. “Peaches. I am really beginning to have a thing for peaches.”
I tensed as my eyes widened. What was happening? And why was I standing here? At this point I probably shouldn’t even be trusted to own a phone. “It’s j-just lotion.”
A breath shuddered through Luc. “You were never supposed to be here. Do you understand that? That was the deal.”
My heart lurched in my chest. “What are you talking about?”
The tips of his fingers brushed my cheek, and my entire body jolted as if I’d touched a live wire. He pulled back. A stark intensity filled his stare, and I thought maybe his gaze dropped again, to my mouth. He tilted his head to the side, almost like he was lining up his mouth with mine, and whispered, “The deal was I would stay away . . .” He paused, the brilliant light of his pupils increasing. “If you stayed away.”
“What?” I said breathlessly.
Tension filled the air, popping and sparking around us. Static cracked, and the overhead lights flickered, dimming briefly before roaring back to life, becoming ultra bright.
I sucked in a sharp gasp.
Luc smiled.
Just a few feet away, the door at the end of the hall opened. The lights in the hall returned to normal. The acute pressure and edginess seeped slowly out of the hall, but my pulse was pounding so fast, I felt like I’d run up five flights of stairs. I broke eye contact with Luc and saw the blue-haired guy standing in the doorway. His name was Ken or Kent.
He checked out Luc and then me. “I was wondering what was taking so long.”
Luc took a step back, but even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could feel the intensity of his stare still focused on me. “What’s up, Kent?”
“He’s getting worse,” he replied.
Swearing under his breath, Luc stalked off. For a moment I didn’t move—I couldn’t. I was stuck to the wall. What had just happened there? And what deal was he talking about? None of that made sense.
And none of that mattered.
All I needed—all I wanted—was my phone and then to be out of here.
I sprung off the wall, hurrying to catch up to Luc as Kent stepped aside. He held the door open. I half expected both of them to shut the door in my face, but Kent just arched a reddish-brown brow at me as Luc prowled into the room.