Without You

I smiled back and started to stand up. Will pulled me into his arms and kissed me again. The love poured between our bodies and mixed together as the sounds of the waves crashed on the shore.

I’ll never forget this night for as long as I live.

I heard the front door open and then slam shut. I was studying for my last final exam. I also had to get the house ready to close up for a few months since we’d be heading home in a week. I headed downstairs and saw Luke pacing back and forth with his hands in his hair.

“Fuck. Son of a bitch. Fucker. Fucking bastard!”

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Luke, what the hell is wrong?”

He snapped his head over and looked at me. “She slept with him. She…she gave herself to him.”

“What? Who?”

He looked like he was about to be sick. I had been worried about him ever since we had come back from spring break. He never went out. He stayed home almost every weekend, only leaving to go study or go to the gym.

“Oh my God. Oh God, what have I done?” Luke dropped his hands to his knees and leaned over. He was sucking in one deep breath after another. “That was why she didn’t move in here. That was why. She knew she was gonna sleep with him.”

Libby? Is he talking about Libby? My fists balled up.

I walked over to him and grabbed him. “Luke, look at me and calm the hell down. Are you talking about Libby? What’s going on?”

He dropped his head back and let out a long, drawn-out breath before looking back at me. “I went to Libby’s dorm room. I needed to talk to her because seeing her with him was too much. I couldn’t take it anymore. It turned out that she wasn’t alone. Zack was there, and…and…”

“And what?” I asked him even though I knew the answer.

“She was in a robe and kept telling me that now wasn’t a good time to talk. She said if I wanted to talk, we should have talked months ago. I pushed my way into her room and saw…”

I closed my eyes. Dear God, no.

“I saw Zack in her bed. I took one look at him, and I just turned and left.”

I needed to calm myself down before I attempted to calm Luke down. I knew my sister was a grown woman, but all I wanted to do was beat the shit out of Zack.

“Ah shit. Damn, Luke. You had to know she was going to move on. I mean, they’ve been dating for a few months, and I’m sure that wasn’t the first time—”

“Stop! I don’t even want to think about any of this.” He started to head up the stairs.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

I closed my eyes and pulled out my phone. I quickly sent Libby a text message.

Me: Libby, you’re a grown woman, so I won’t tell you what you can and can’t do, but I sure hope you know what you’re doing…with Zack, I mean.

Libby: I need to get out of here. Please come get me.

My heart started pounding. What if that fucker forced her to have sex with him?

Me: Libby…did Zack hurt you? I’ll fucking kill him.

Libby: No.

Me: What’s wrong then?

Libby: I just made the biggest mistake of my life, Will. I slept with Zack. I thought it would help me forget Luke. I need you, Will.

Me: I’m on my way.

Luke came down the stairs with a duffel bag.

I grabbed his arm to stop him. “Don’t go to Abigail.”

He looked at me, shocked. He slowly shook his head. “I haven’t seen Abigail in weeks. I took my last final today. I’m going home.”

He pulled his arm from mine and headed out the door. I let out a deep breath and hit Lex’s number.

“Hey, handsome. I’m about to take my last final, and then I’ll be packing up the rest of my stuff and saying good-bye to UT!”

I smiled, and if I wasn’t so worried about Libby and Luke, I would be turned-on. Just the sound of her voice had my body craving her.

“Awesome. Baby, I’ve got a problem.”

“What? Are you okay? Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s Libby and Luke.”

She sighed. “Grace just showed me a text from Luke. He said he is on his way home and that he ruined everything with Libby. Is he okay?”

“No, he stopped by Libby’s dorm room to talk to her. About Libby and Zack. The only problem is, he walked in on Libby and Zack together. I texted Libby, and she is really upset and asked me to come get her.”

“Oh God. She slept with Zack? He didn’t force her, did he?”

“No. I asked her, and she said she just made the biggest mistake of her life. Lex, can you call her? I’m on my way, but talking to you and Grace might help.”