LUKE: Complete Series by Cassia Leo

I’ll talk about it… eventually.”
    He shook his head and leaned back in his seat. “You can’t bullshit a bullshitter. Didn’t your father ever tell you that?”
    I wanted to reply, but a painful lump had lodged in my throat. I took a deep breath to temper my emotions.
    One of these days it will get easier , I lied to myself.

    The plane landed two hours later and I instantly knew where we were. It wasn’t quite three in the afternoon so the Las Vegas Strip wasn’t beaming with the standard million-megawatt glow yet, but the city’s energy was undeniably electric.
    “I have a suite at the Four Seasons , but we’re going to The Palms first,” Luke said, as he held the door to the sports car open for me.
    The car was waiting for us as soon as we debarked the plane near the hangar. He climbed into the driver’s seat and switched on the stereo, which I was not surprised to see was already set to greet him. The words, “Happy Birthday, Luke,” scrolled across the glowing blue LCD screen.
    “Wow. That’s pretty flashy,” I remarked, as he drove around the hangar toward a service road.
    “I didn’t do that. Someone else did.”
    I didn’t have to ask to know that it was probably an ex-girlfriend or fling that programmed his stereo to wish him a happy birthday, so I didn’t press him for details. But the thought of another woman sitting in this car with him made my stomach ache.
    “It was my sister,” he said, after a long, awkward silence. “She doesn’t like Seattle, so I meet her once a year in Vegas to catch up. Neutral territory.”
    “Oh, that’s cool.”
    “You were getting jealous.”
    “No, I wasn’t.”
    He reached across and grabbed my hand. “Yes, you were. You love me.”
    I smiled as I gazed out the passenger window into the distance at the top of the Luxor pyramid. “Maybe a little.”
    We pulled in front of The Palms Hotel twenty minutes later and two valets immediately appeared at each of our doors.
    Luke slipped the valet on his side what must have been a very generous tip judging by the look on the kid’s face. “Hey, Juan. How’s your girlfriend?” Luke asked, as he rounded the front of the car toward me.
    “I don’t know. I dumped her.”
    “Aw, man, I thought she was the one,” Luke remarked, as he grabbed my hand.
    “So did I, until she cheated on me.”
    “Her loss,” Luke shouted back, as we approached the hotel entrance.
    He opened the door for me and I shook my head. “Workin’ the crowd.”
    “People love to talk about themselves if you give them the chance,” he replied, as he opened another door and we stepped into the hotel lobby. “Except for you, Fort Knox.”
    “You’re one to talk, Mr. I’d Rather Not.”
    He laced his fingers through mine as he led me past the check-in desk toward the casino floor. As soon as the casino was in sight, the sounds of bells dinging, people laughing, and music blaring exploded around us.
    “All right. Ask me anything you want,” he said, and a group of three girls in tube tops ogled him as we passed.
    “Right now?” I asked.
    “Go for it.”
    We passed some craps tables as he led me toward the high limit lounge and the excitement in the air sent a shiver down my spine.
    “Why haven’t you seen your parents in so many years?” I asked, going straight for the most pressing question on my mind.
    We entered the lounge and the way everyone eyed him with such reverence was starting to get me hot.
    “I already told you I was homeless for over a year after my dad kicked me out when I was seventeen.”
    “I know, but why haven’t you seen them since then? You haven’t forgiven them?”
    He led me toward a curved booth in the corner of the lounge and I couldn’t help but ogle all the playmate looking blondes scattered across the room. We slid into the booth just as one of the girls winked at me. I glanced at Luke to see if maybe she was winking at him, but he was busy trying to get the attention of a waitress.
    I