Love in time

The Ride Home

"I have to get going," she said suddenly. Luk shook his head,

            "Wait we just got here." Phillipa gave a short burst of laughter, and looked down shyly,

            "We've been here for over two hours; I have to head back home to get ready for my shift at the diner." Luk looked down at his phone, and couldn't believe that she was right, he also had about five missed calls from his beta Kane. He ignored the missed phone calls and focused on his mate,

"Wow I can't believe it, I had an amazing time, can I take you home?" She gave him a questioning glance,

            "But we walked here."

            "I can get a cab, or we can take the long walk back to my car. It isn't very far from where we met."

            "Oh no, I couldn't do that, I can just take the bus."

            "No!" Luk growled out at her, she took a step away from him given how loud and angry the denial came out. He quickly put her at ease.

"I'm sorry, I meant no I cannot allow you to do that as I am the one who convinced you to come here with me, instead of going to your classes like you had originally planned, so it is my responsibility to see you safely home." Her demeanor completely changed from being on guard to back to being relaxed and at ease.

Thank God, he didn't mean to lose his head but his wolf bared his fangs to the thought of his mate being put in such a vulnerable position without his protection. She gave him a small smile and replied,

            "That sounds fair enough."

            "Which do you prefer love?" he asked her with a charming smile. She looked down shyly,

            "It doesn't matter either way to me."

            "All right, lets head to my car, it has to be better than a smelly old cab," he said as he took her hand. His wolf yipped in approval, both in touching his mate as well as saving him a trip in a cab that would put his senses into overdrive.

            They walked back to his car in amicable silence, hand in hand. He opened the side door for her and hurried around to the driver’s side and hopped in.

            "This is your car?" She asked him in awe. Luk owned a 1967 chevy Camero that he bought fresh off the assembly line and taken amazing care of it ever since. However, he couldn't tell her that, she couldn't know he was that old, not yet anyway.

"I love it! I'd die for a car like this, or a 'vette." Flip said as she buckled her seatbelt as he started the car.

            "You need to buckle up," she told him before he shifted the car into first to take off. He shrugged off her concern, he was a werewolf, short of decapitation he would heal just fine. He pulled out of the parking space when she told him to buckle up again.

            "I'll be fine, don't worry about it," he shrugged off her concern again until he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. He then heard it, the faint sound of crying. He looked over at her and she said,

"Let me out please, I'd like to take the bus." He looked over at his mate in horror. How in the hell did he make her cry so soon?

            "I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was important to you, I’ll buckle up right away," he said to her as he buckled his seat belt.

            "No please, just let me out," Flip said still crying.

            "Baby, look I'm buckled up... I'm a guy and I don't normally wear a seat belt in town. But I will always wear it if it makes you happy." He didn't take his eyes from the road much, as he had a feeling as what this was about, her parents, and was a total i***t for not realizing it sooner. But he grabbed her hand and rubbed the back of her knuckles with his thumbs. He looked at her quickly and saw that her tears had dried up and she so softly said the words thank you.

His phone started ringing again and knowing it was Kane he simply ignored it.

            "Don't you want to get that?"

            "No not really, where is your house?" She quickly gave him directions.

            "are you sure? it could be important." She said while his phone continued to ring.

            "I'm sure it is, but you are more important." he said as she directed him to her house and he pulled to a stop. "If you are so worried about it, you answer it." It was time to know that he wasn't afraid to tell her anything. She looked at him with shock in her eyes, he pulled out his iPhone and hit the green phone and handed it to her. 

    "Luk, Luk, where the hell have you been? This is the worst possible time for you to go AWOL. The leaders all want to know when we can meet for a meeting." Flip heard a deep male’s voice on the other end of the phones. She continued to look at Luka with shock, and he just looked at her with pure amusement on her face.

            "Luk..."

            "Ummm....What time?"      

        "Who the hell is this and why do you have Luka's phone." He sounded mean, and Flip didn't do confrontation. So, she let out a little “eep” and tossed the phone at Luka who simply chuckled and caught the phone she tossed.

            "Hey Kane, no I'm fine just took Phillipa to the museum and gave her a ride home. I will speak to you later okay." He didn't wait for a response, he simply hung up. He reached up to place his palm against her cheek, she looked down shyly she wasn't used to intimate interaction with men of any kind let alone one so as attractive as Luka.

            "Hey," Luka put his index finger under her chin and gently applied pressure so she had to raise her head and meet his gaze. "Phillipa, I'm really sorry about before, do you want to talk about it?" 

"I don't have time right now, maybe later?" He gave her a small smile,

            "Sure, I have to go meet up with Kane about some business and then I'll be seeing you later at the diner for some dinner." For a minute Flip couldn't breathe, she thought this afternoon was a fluke. They had met, spent some time together, and would never talk to each other again, but he planned on seeing her again tonight? Wait Flip, he just said he was stopping by with friends for dinner, where she worked, not that he had planned on having dinner with her.

            "Sure, the diner stops serving food at ten," she got out of his car," and walked up to her childhood home. She pulled out her keys and unlocked the front door. She tried to ignore all of the pictures that greeted her in the hallway and went upstairs to her room.

    She never moved into the master bedroom, hell she never even entered her parents’ room after they passed except to get some paperwork that was needed for insurance purposes. So, she still lived in the room she had since she was a baby, the same pink wallpaper and all. To be honest it all brought her some comfort, everywhere she looked there was some precious Knick knack or picture that was given to her by her parents. She couldn't bear to part with any of it. She looked to her alarm clock on the bedstand and saw she only had 20 minutes to get to work. She hurried up and got changed and headed out the door. She normally walked to work, but it was too cold and she was working the night shift. So, she started up the old car and headed to the diner that she loved like a second home.