Off Limits (20 page)

“It’s up to you,” Luke
was probably leaning on the side of telling them.

“I’ll tell them.
If I hold something back it’ll be found anyway and he’s not living there now.
It’s not my problem. I just want this guy behind bars.”

“I think that’s
the best idea,” he admitted. “But you don’t have to.”

“No, it’s for the
best.”

We pulled into the
police station a few minutes later and walked in hand in hand. There was no
point in hiding it anymore and I just needed the comfort Luke provided.

We awkwardly got
to the point that we needed to report a crime at the front desk and were
assigned a uniformed officer to tell all the details to. We got through it
together and somehow I managed to hold back the majority of the tears. That was
probably because I never got to the part that had just happened. Someone
interrupted us.

“I’m sorry to
interfere, but I’ve been assigned your case,” the middle-aged woman stuck out
her hand for us to shake. “I’ve just got back from the hospital. I think we
need to talk somewhere a bit more comfortable than this.” The interview room
was a metal cell that really hadn’t made me feel very safe.

Luke and I
followed her to her office, our hands linked together until we sat down. We
exchanged a look and waited for the officer to speak. “I think I should tell you
what I’ve been told before we get into your side of things. The first thing you
should know is about Phoebe,” she paused awkwardly. “I’m telling you this
because of your involvement, though she begged me not to. This is a delicate
situation.”

My eyebrows
knitted together and I waited impatiently for the detective to just say it.

“Phoebe was never
pregnant. She was lying to you both.”

I blinked, but Luke
ran a hand through his hair and swore. “That bitch.”

“I know it sounds
bad,” the detective looked uncomfortable talking about the entire situation.
“But the hospital has assigned her a therapist and she’s on the road to
recovery. It was just important for you to know that she didn’t miscarry. She’s
requested that you don’t contact her.”

I nodded, numb.
Could I be mad at Phoebe? She’d obviously been suffering some kind of mental
health concern that I’d never noticed. I’d been a bad friend once again in not
noticing.

Luke frowned.
“It’s not your fault,” he assured me for the thousandth time today. “Nobody
else realised either.”

That didn’t settle
my mind that much. I was her best friend. It was my duty and no one else’s to
find out that kind of thing. Still, I could deal with that later.

The detective
continued. “I’m going to have to ask you to tell me everything from the
beginning again, if you don’t mind.”

I shrugged. At
least Phoebe’s miscarriage wasn’t such a sore point anymore, it had just been
replaced by something else. Luke and I went through the story in as much detail
as we thought appropriate. The detective didn’t do a very good job of hiding
her judgment when we were finished and I couldn’t blame her. “Thank you. We’ll
get on the number plate immediately and see what we can do. Are you safe to go
home tonight?”

“I’ll be fine. He
never bothers us at home. He won’t do anything. Besides, he said today was his
finale, so I don’t think he’d bother us again anyway.”

Luke nodded. We
both just wanted to get home to our beds and sleep for a week. “That’s fine by
me,” the woman nodded. “But I do have to make you sign a form to say that it
was your decision to drive home. Is that okay?”

We exchanged a
glance and nodded. “That’s fine.” Probably foolish, but fine. We also left our
numbers, so that the detective would be able to contact us with any
developments.

In the car, Luke
and I sat in silence for a good few minutes. “I’m not having a baby,” he
murmured, leaning his head back against the car seat and closing his eyes. “I
was never having a baby.”

I reached across
and squeezed his hand. “It looks like your life isn’t on hold anymore.”

It was a sad laugh
that left his mouth. “I wasn’t allowed to be happy when she had a miscarriage,
but this. Thank God, it’s all I can say. I know, that I was a dick and I must
have been the one to send her over the edge and I hate myself for that, but I
just, I’ll get over that eventually. I don’t know if I could have ever gotten
over having a child.”

I leant across and
gave him a hug. “I know. I understand.” I understood enough to see his point of
view, anyway. “I just… I just wish I could say sorry to her, even if she
wouldn’t believe me. There’s so many things I regret happening.”

“Do you think we’d
have ever been together if I’d not been with Phoebe?” Luke inquired suddenly,
weaving his fingers through my hair absentmindedly.

I shrugged, my
cheeks turning scarlet. “Well, I did kind of fancy you for, erm, quite a long
while before you started going out with Phoebe.”

Luke smirked. “I’m
glad to hear it. I may have also thought you were kind of hot.”

Rolling my eyes, I
pulled back, but Luke pressed a kiss to my lips. “I liked you. I wouldn’t have
told anyone about my grandma. In fact, I didn’t tell anyone apart from you.”

I hadn’t even
required Luke to fancy me beforehand. The point was that he fancied me now. It
still made me feel good about myself, though. “Do you think that guy knew
Phoebe was lying about her pregnancy somehow? Or do you think he really wanted
to kill her baby?”

Luke knitted his
eyebrows and started up the engine. “I really have no idea. I just want to know
who it is now,” he admitted, pulling out of the police station and starting off
towards our house. “All this time and we still don’t know which one of us he
was actually interested in hurting.”

“It’s so weird,” I
commented, holding Luke’s hand once more and smiling at the feel of his warm
fingers covering mine. It felt so right, even if everything had eventually come
crashing down around us. “I still haven’t come up with anyone I think it could
be either. I mean, if he’d been a bit fatter, I might have considered your dad,
but they aren’t the same build at all.”

“I know, it
crossed my mind, too. Before I saw him again I thought it might be a
possibility, but now I don’t know.”

“Well, I guess
we’ll know soon enough. Do you think we’ll have to go to trial? I’ve never been
to Court before.”

“He surely won’t
be able to plead innocent after all this.”

“Yeah, I guess
that’s true.”

My house was
relatively close to the station and we pulled up not long after. I undid my seatbelt
and practically launched myself at Luke. “I’m kind of hoping we get some kind
of compassionate leave from school, but I’ll see you tomorrow one way or
another.” Taking a deep breath, I said the words for a second time. “I love
you.”

Luke grinned ear-to-ear.
“And I love you, too.” Our mouths met in a sweet kiss. “And I can’t wait for
you to come round so we can just chill and cuddle and watch some TV.”

“Sounds perfect.”

Chapter Eighteen

My mum was curled
up in a blanket watching TV with a glass of wine when I pulled my suitcase
through the front door. Getting out of Luke’s car had burst a bubble as I
realised I was going to have to tell my mum what had really been going on.

“Hiya honey,” she
greeted, patting the seat beside her. “You’re a bit later than I was expecting.
How was your weekend?”

I stared at her
happy face and found myself breaking down. Taking up her offer, I sat beside
her and let the tears flow. “It all got really messed up, mum.”

“Oh, what’s the
matter?” She manoeuvred the blanket so it was covering me, too, and put down
the wine to hug me. “Did you fall out with Luke again?”

“I kind of did the
opposite.” I told her everything, only choosing to omit the more intimate parts
of mine and Luke’s relationship. By the end, I was sniffling hopelessly and
even my mum’s eyes were shining with tears.

“Oh, sweetie,” she
cooed, tightening her arms. “I’m so sorry. I never realised any of this was
happening. You should have come to me earlier.”

“I didn’t know
how. When Phoebe said she was pregnant I was just trying to forget about Luke
and then I was going to stop talking to Phoebe when I went to university. Then
it turns out she wasn’t very stable and I somehow failed to notice that. I’ve
been a horrible friend and now she’s in therapy. I messed up really bad.”

“She didn’t even
know until today what happened between you and Luke. It’s not your fault that
she went a bit off the rails.”

There was no point
in arguing with her about whether or not I was to blame – I was going to continue
thinking that I was. “Mum, can I ask you about something?”

“Of course,” she
replied instantly.

“What’s going on
with dad?”

My mum frowned.
“What do you mean?”

“You know what I
mean. Why is he involved with drugs and stuff?” I’d never told her about what
happened with Luke’s dad and took the time to relay the story to her now.

She sighed. “I was
never going to tell you about all this and I certainly never meant to send him
back towards that kind of thing. During the early stages of our relationship,
your dad was hooked on coke. He cheated on me a few times, but we got over it.
He gave it up and lost contact with all the people he’d known involved in that
world. That was all. I made some passive-aggressive comments when we were
speaking that I shouldn’t have done. Our divorce had nothing to do with that
stuff.”

I nodded. “Thank
you for telling me.”

“I hope it’s not
going to affect your relationship with him.”

“It’s not. I’ll
still go and visit him, I just don’t want to go visit him where he’s staying.”

“Good,” my mum
sounded relieved. “You can ask him about it if you want, but I’m not sure he’d
be very happy to talk about it, especially considering his situation now.”

“I know,” I
cleared my throat. “I’m sorry for being so mean to you when dad first moved
out. I know I didn’t handle it very well. I guess I just didn’t understand.”

“That’s okay,” my
mum gave me a reassuring squeeze. “I knew that was how you’d react. I did do
the wrong thing, but your father overreacted, too. It was poorly played on both
sides.”

“I’d like to meet
Kevin, properly, if you’d like.”

My mum twisted in
her seat so she could see my entire face properly. “Really?”

I chuckled, “yes,
really. He seemed nice enough and you’re obviously happier than before. I want
to meet him.”

“Well, I can
definitely arrange that. We can go out for dinner somewhere.”

“I’d like that.”

My mum rested her
head on my shoulder this time. “I am going to miss you when university comes
around.”

“I’ll only be half
an hour away,” I assured her. “And Luke is studying in Sheffield, so I’ll be
coming up here to visit all the time anyway.”

“I suppose I’ll
have to give him that,” my mum laughed. “I hope he turns out to be a bit nicer
than all the stories you’ve always told me about him.”

Grinning, I shook
my head in amusement. Luke and I had been complete bastards to each other for
so long. “He is, I promise. You’ll have to formally meet him, as well.”

“I’d like that,
too.”

A yawn interrupted
our conversation and I’d settled so comfortably into the sofa that my muscles
had finally relaxed. “I should go to bed,” I groaned, stretching my arms and
wondering what Phoebe was doing. The detective had said they’d assigned her a
therapist, but that didn’t let me know how extreme her condition was.

I hoped she was
okay.

“Yes, you should.
Are you going into school tomorrow? Will the police need to talk to me at all?”

“I honestly have
no idea,” I admitted, unwinding myself from the blanket and cringing against
the cold air of the lounge. “I think I’ll see how I feel in the morning about
school. I really shouldn’t miss any since we’re nearing the end of the courses
now.”

“If you need to
talk at all during the night, then just come and knock on my door. I know
you’re going to be feeling down for the next few days.”

“I will do.
Thanks, mum.”

I trudged up the
stairs, knowing things were getting better from this point onwards, but unable
to get rid of the guilt that weighed me down. What I knew for certain was that
talking to people made me feel significantly better. I was lucky to have my mum
and Luke to keep me propped up until the sadness started to fade.