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What an innocent photo by @II._kruts_.II.  Thank you!

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Chapter 72: Thief to his clothes

"Your hands are freezing," I told Luke as he was trying to warm my hands in his.

He smiled, recognizing that it didn't help if his hands were colder than mine. He blew into our hands and rubbed his over mine with a smile that made me smile.

"Why are you smiling?" I asked.

"No reason," he answered, standing in his bedroom, "I'm happy we're sleeping together tonight."

His bags from the Dubai vacation were by the door. He hadn't unpacked since getting back today. His bed was unmade, from when he jumped out of it a few hours ago to rescue me.

I felt safe in Luke's room. It was warm to me – signs and reminders of him everywhere. He let go of my hand and walked towards the closet.

"You can borrow a shirt, Minnie," he smirked, and repeated, "Borrow."

He was onto me. I was a thief when it came to his clothes.

"What's yours is mine," I replied with the same smile on my face. It only grew wider.

"I didn't realize we were married," he mumbled, walking towards me with his shirt in my hand. Then he bartered, "If you want to wear my shirt, you're going to have to take off yours."

My heartbeat started to quicken for the second time this night. Luke approached me and when he was close, he took the zipper of my jacket in his finger. He slowly unzipped it, creating butterflies in my stomach as he touched my jeans at the bottom. He let go of the shirt in his hand and lightly took the jacket off my shoulders.

I let him.

The jacket fell to the floor. Then he slowly touched the end of my shirt and my skin tingled at the feel of his fingers on my skin. He thumb moved in small circles around my hips, teasing me. His head leaned towards me and he kissed me, his tongue teasing me in a similar way.

Slowly, he raised my shirt, baring my stomach and pulled it higher over me.

My shirt fell to the floor.

"What do you think?" he asked, his fingers tugging at my bra strap, "Optional?"

My mouth had lost the ability to speak. Completely and utterly.

But my head nodded and with an easy clip, he undid my bra with one flick of his wrist.

That too fell to the floor.

Suddenly, Luke's lips crashed onto mine and kissed me deeply. He pulled his own shirt off and threw it aside with the rest of our clothes. His hand slid around my waist and pulled me against him, pressing his chest against mine. He leaned forwards and lowered me onto the bed, kissing me still, while his hands roamed over my upper body.

I moaned at his touch, feeling tingles all through my body. He knew what he was doing, and my moans encouraged him.

**

We didn't go too much further, since I wasn't ready, and I couldn't get the thought out of my head that his parents would hear us. It was hard to stop, so hard when his hands felt like they were doing magic to me.

"I don't think I need your shirt after all," I told him, deciding that I felt comfortable enough to be shirtless... in bed... with him.

Who have I become?

"It's yours if you want it," he said, brushing the hair out of my eyes.

Our movement in bed had made my hair messier than it already was. I could see the sunlight peeking in through the blinds of his window. It was already early morning and we still hadn't slept yet.

I lay on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. This had been such a good distraction, but now that we were in bed and expected to sleep...

The nightmares returned.

My mind kept flashing back to the darkness of my room. My ears were haunted by the footsteps of the intruder. The invader who broke into my house with ill intentions. There was a blackmailer out there trying to harm me.

"Ssh," Luke whispered, running his fingers down my naked arm, "Don't worry."

"I'm so worried," I whispered, exhausted and still unable to sleep.

"Nothing bad will happen," Luke said, "I'm here."

I closed my eyes, while he continued to trace shapes along my arm and back. He felt my body release its tension and slowly exhale.

Luke whispered before I drifted off to sleep, "I love you, Minnie. I always have."

With my eyes closed, I whispered back, "You had a funny way of showing it."

~11AM~

That morning I woke up to an empty bed. I looked down at the navy-blue sheets around my waist and saw that I was completely naked up top. I covered my breasts with my arm until I realized that no one was here.

There was an empty space in the bed where he used to be. I got up and put my jeans on from last night. I found my bra under his shirt and clipped that back on. Then I "borrowed" one of his clean shirts that he's probably not going to miss.

My phone hadn't returned any of my calls or my texts last night. I re-read them:

10.08 PM: someone broke into our house. The cops are here

11.17 PM: it's scary here. Will you please come back?

00.05 AM: cops left. Our door is broken.

Still no response. Our chat was a stream of blue texts from me.

But I did receive a message from Luke almost an hour ago. I opened it:

Morning babe

He must've known I'd wake up wondering where he is. I replied: Hallooo Babe. Where are you?

I smiled hysterically as I typed out the word babe. I never in a million years thought I'd be writing that to Luke Dawson. Am I his babe? And why are we saying babe? There is nothing baby about him.

I made the bed and opened the blindfolds. And, surprisingly, that's when I saw him – my babe – across the street with Jake.

I didn't expect that.

I leaned over Luke's desk to better see what they were up to. It looked like they were hammering something into my front door.

**

I walked quietly down the steps of the Dawson home, trying to run at the same time. My hand movements made it look like I was auditioning for the role of Captain Jack Sparrow. I hope no one saw me.

I passed by the kitchen and heard a clang.

"Millie?" Mrs Dawson's voice sounded surprised.

The door to the kitchen was ajar and she had seen me walk by. I popped my head into the kitchen and greeted her as if this was perfectly normal, "Good morning Mrs Dawson."

She was drying a frying pan with a dish cloth. The kitchen was even more spotless than I had seen it last night - if that's even possible. A green smoothie was in a glass of ice by the counter. Maybe that's her breakfast? Or some kind of cleaning liquid...

"I didn't realize you were here," she said, "Did you sleep over?"

Do I lie?

"Yes," I replied, choosing the honesty option. I may embarrass them, but at least I wanted to be known for my honesty. "My front door had issues last night."

"Your door had... issues?" she repeated, questioning my choice of language. "Luke didn't mention you were coming over."

I felt like I was making all the wrong girlfriend moves here. I tensed up and said the first thing that came to mind.

"It was unplanned," I said, almost immediately gasping at my choice of words, "Not that we do unplanned things. We plan everything- well except for the things that we don't do at all."

Does she think I'm pregnant?

"No reason to panic, Millie, it was a simple question," Mrs Dawson said calmly, lowering her dish cloth onto the counter. "Would you like any breakfast on your way out?"

I couldn't smell coffee so I declined, thanked her and ran out of the door. I'm not going to have cleaning liquid for breakfast. Even if it has nutrients and is in the shape of a green smoothie.

Dupont Avenue was so much friendlier in the daylight. I hated to think of all the fear I felt on this street, just hours before. I ran towards my house, where the boys were working on the lock. They were actually working together on something for once.

"Millie," Jake caught sight of me first.

Luke was hammering the lock when he stopped and turned around. He smiled, lowered the hammer and kissed me. "Hey."

Jake turned away to pick at the lock.

"Did you sleep OK?" Luke asked.

"I don't want to know," Jake called out, reminding the two of us that he was still here.

I squeezed Luke's hand warmly and said to Jake, "Thank you for sleeping at my house. It means a lot that you kept watch over it."

"No problem," Jake replied, still avoiding eye contact with us.

There was a tense silence and I sighed, staring up at the building I called my home. It felt so not mine anymore.

"I wish we caught them last night," I sighed again, "Maybe we could've caught them? It was two against one."

"Two against one?" Luke asked.

"You're counting yourself as one of the two?" Jake echoed that view.

I stared at the two brothers in disbelief. Did neither of them recognize that I was the one who wounded the invader with my vinyl record?

"Oh look," I said, "Finally something you both agree on."

**

~Austin's POV~

Gloria made muffins for Millie and Luke and it took all my will power not to eat them on the ride over.

They smelt so good though.

I turned the corner on Dupont Avenue and parked outside Luke's house. I left my gym bag in the car and stared at the house across the street, wondering how Millie was coping. Luke said it'd been hard on her.

I rang the doorbell and Charlotte opened the door, "Austin, hey, we're in matching workout clothes. You looking for... they're all in the kitchen."

"Thanks. Muffin?" I offered and opened the box for her to pick one out.

Gloria promised she was making a second batch at home.

I walked into the kitchen and found Luke sitting on a bar stool by the counter, facing his mom. Jake was standing on the other side and Mrs Dawson didn't have a happy expression on her face.

"Hey!" I greeted everyone, trying to act oblivious to the tension in the room, "Mrs Dawson, it smells like your famous spinach smoothies."

It smelled so bad. I am not a fan of spinach.

"Austin! It's lovely to see you," Mrs Dawson exclaimed with a warm smile.

I set the box on the counter.

Luke looked up and asked, "You brought muffins?"

The judgement.

"Gloria made them and who pis-" I stopped myself before I cursed in front of Mrs Dawson.

"Have you heard the terrible news?" Mrs Dawson asked me, "Someone tried to rob Millie's house last night. Luke and Jake tried to help her, but they didn't catch the culprit."

Interesting. Luke never mentioned the Jake part.

"You saw who did it?" I asked Jake, surprised that he and Luke worked together for once.

"No," Luke summarized, "He saw me run out of the house at breakneck speed and did nothing after that."

This sounds more like them.

Mrs Dawson had really made it seem like some brotherly teamwork was at play.

"How was I supposed to know why you ran over there?" Jake retorted, "You were running so fast, I thought you were getting laid."

"Is that what you think about on your candlelit nights with your guitar?" Luke fired back.

Damn. I tried so hard not to laugh.

"Muffin?" I offered.

Mrs Dawson accepted.

**

"No means no," Mrs Dawson said firmly, "I don't feel comfortable having Millie stay overnight. You two are dating each other, and I can't trust what you'll get up to. I'm sorry but as a parent I'm responsible for your wellbeing and I can only imagine that her parents feel the same."

Luke didn't respond. He looked mad, but he'd already tried arguing back and she went extra 'parent' on him.

"Don't look at me like that Luke," Mrs Dawson continued to tell him, "You know she told me that you two plan these things."

I sputtered, Jake froze and Luke looked up.

That sounds exactly like something Millie would say and no one would understand.

"Fine. We'll sleep in my car," Luke shrugged, "I'm not leaving her."

Jake chipped in, trying a more productive route, "She can't stay at her place tonight. Her parents aren't home, and she doesn't feel safe there anymore. So, if she can't stay here, where will she stay?"

Luke looked at me.

And then...

I had a genius idea. I phoned a friend.

A/N: Aaaand that's a wrap!  I love the 'phone a friend' option. I wish we had that option in exams too...

QOTD - Who did Austin call?!

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See ya! <3

Natalie

IG: NatalieInACorner

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