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"Baby, I know you wouldn’t have, I don’t think that," Luke assured htly "You were at hoht?" he checked

I chewed on ht I’d stayed up in , the only tiht e after that, working out with the punch bag, I’d heard the fa as he hit it "I didn’t really see hi out in the garage," I answered

Luke closed his eyes, his arue that you could have left the house without Alex knowing"

"I hardly think they’re going to suggest that!" I scoffed, waving my hand dismissively

"But they could And you would have no way of proving otherwise, do you?" he inquired

"Well… no," I replied, looking away from his worry filled eyes "But they won’t ask that anyway If they ask anything at all it’ll be where I was, and I was at hoive you an alibi just in case," he ainst his chest "Tell people that I snuck into your house like we used to sometimes Say that Alex didn’t even knoas there We could say that I caht up to your room, and I left at about six o’clock before Alex even woke up"

I snorted in disbelief "Luke, I’ Besides, there’s no point because they won’t think it’s me anyway," Isense DI Neeson knew that I had a proble Chester and that we had a fight at school A couple of quick questions to some of the students would confirm that I’d uttered those words, and then she’d be duty bound to treat ht, would they view otten out of the house withoutas I walked past them earlier and then whispered behindthat it wasin the heat of the moment?

I pulled back and looked up at Luke He looked extremely worried as he cupped my face in his hands and planted a soft kiss on my forehead "I don’t want to see you in trouble," he whispered, beggingoff his hands "Thank you for the offer, that’s really sweet of you, but honestly I’ll be fine There’s no need to worry They won’t think it’shis arht But if you change your ht"

Gratitude for hio up on tiptoes and press ently His body stiffened as he moaned quietly in the back of his throat His breath blen my neck and I didn’t want to move, I just wanted to stay in this empty classroo silly," I assured hi myself to step back away from his body When I was that close to Luke my resolve faded and all I wanted was to turn back tiain, for hiaze slid over my face as he reached out and touched the spot just belowI nodded in confir ainst ? Have the police said anything else?" he asked

I reached up and took his hand, interlacing et out of this classroo around because I literally felt like a zoht now "No, no news and nothing new Don’t stress," I pleaded, seeing how concerned he was about h his hair,it stick up everywhere "Don’t stress? So to stress?"

"I’irlfriend" The words left my lips before I could stop theh to make my heart ache "I know that Fuck Don’t you think I don’t know that? I think about it every second of every day You’re not the only one having trouble sleeping you know," he retorted His grip loosened onto break the connection

"Luke, we’re trying to be friends," Ithat it was useless No matter how many times I said the word ‘friends’ I kneould never apply to us We would always be more than friends, I just had to find it in o and try to hed "Friends, yeah, I re came out I had no clue what to say Luckily fora five et ready for class," Ithe sad expression on his face He nodded and reached for the door, yanking it open and waving for h first

I stopped abruptly as we stepped into the hallway It seeh everyone that was outside had entered all at once, so the hallas raet their books from their lockers before classes started People turned to look at me as I took a tentative step into the crowd I frowned, looking down at the floor, ossiping started

"Do you really think it was her?"