Bulletproof (44/52)
Title: Bulletproof
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them.
Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine.
Comments much appreciated . . . I love them like Reid loves Luke.
Previous parts: prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43
***
Luke moaned softly, pressing his cheek against the tile of the shower wall as Reid thrust in gently, fingers pressed hard into the grooves of Luke’s hips. The tiles smelled of Clorox, as though they’d been recently washed, and the streams of water that beat against his back turned into tumbling rivers, running down his spine and infiltrating his crack, winding around Reid’s cock. Reid pressed in fully, not an inch of space between their backs and kissed Luke’s shoulder, brushing his hair out of the way with one hand. Luke sighed, his eyes closed and head leaning back toward Reid as the other man moved his hips in small circles, never quite pulling out, but rubbing the head of his erection against Luke’s prostate with every tiny movement.
Luke’s groans couldn’t find it in them to recover quickly enough to produce any sound and instead they came out in rapid, soundless gasps. Reid pushing in hard as he nipped sharply at a patch of skin on Luke’s neck, letting the continuous flow of water sooth the sting. Luke’s legs shook and Reid had to wrap an arm around him to keep him upright. The water that flowed between them adhered properly to its biological principles, cohesion and adhesion working together to fuse the lovers together into one entity.
Reid made the tiniest of thrusts and Luke gasped, collapsing back against Reid and thrusting his ass back into Reid, steam swirling around them and encasing them in droplets of mist. Reid reached around and wrapped his long fingers around Luke’s cock, his fingers dancing around the thick, engorged cock and slid his entire fist down Luke’s length, running his thumb definitively over the head.
Luke groaned, arching his back and thrusting into Reid’s hand, seeming almost torn between fucking Reid’s hand and thrusting himself back onto Reid’s cock. Reid closed his eyes, feeling the younger man’s movements against him. He nibbled at Luke’s neck, Luke’s head rolled on his shoulder, eyes closed and mouth opened and pulled him off three times before the latter arched his hips forward and panted out Reid’s name, clamping down hard around Reid, who followed the blonde shortly, watching Luke’s come mixing with the translucent water and snaking down the wall and into the drain.
Luke gasped as Reid pulled out carefully and tossed the condom into the floor next to the shower, turning Luke around and kissing him gently, running his fingers through the latter’s dark, wet locks. Luke made a small, mmph sound as Reid’s tongue stroked the inside of his mouth tenderly, his hands massaging shampoo into Luke’s hair as they made out sensually under the stream from the showerhead. Luke pulled away from the water running over his eyes and opened them, the deep chocolate brown now visible, discernible from the black of his pupils. Reid smiled lightly, running his thumb over Luke’s bottom lip as the shampoo was washed out and swirled with the water and come in the drain.
Luke gave him a small, half-smile and ducked silently out of the shower, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around his waist. He swept his hair out of his eyes and wiped the steam from the mirror, observing himself carefully, trying to figure out exactly what he was thinking. He wondered if he recognized his own reflection. His eyes closed instinctively as Reid came up behind him, wrapping his tan arms around Luke’s waist, the fingers of one hand brushing lightly over Luke’s transplant scar, his chin resting on Luke’s shoulder as he watched the blonde’s reflection in the mirror.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, an unbelievable amount of concern threaded through his voice.
Luke’s eyes opened and he looked surprised, as though he hadn’t thought that the way he was acting in anyway signified some abnormality. They never had before. He felt as though he always needed to tell someone or to dramatically act out in order for anyone to notice anything. He’d never really had anyone know him quite as well as he presumed to know himself.
“What do you mean?” he whispered softly to the man he was in the mirror.
“You just seem quieter than usual,” Reid replied, massaging Luke’s scar gently with his fingertips.
Luke snorted, feeling oddly defensive of his privacy, despite the fact that he would have always done anything to have someone read him perfectly. “Well, sorry. You were just as fantastic as always, if you’re worried about that,” he replied sarcastically, pulling away and slipping into his boxer briefs. He started to walk back to the door of the bathroom.
“Whoa, okay, then,” Reid murmured, reaching out and grabbing hold of Luke’s wrist and turning the blonde around until they were close and facing each other. Reid ran his arms around Luke’s shoulders, looking closely at him. “That’s not what I meant. You just seem . . . I don’t know, distant. Out of it.”
Luke’s mouth opened and his eyes softened slightly but his mind continued to race. Because every minute of every day seemed to demonstrate that Reid . . . Reid was perfect and, despite what people may think, he probably had the biggest heart out of anyone that Luke had ever met. And that’s probably why it didn’t make any sense whatsoever, what Luke had told (or, rather, hadn’t told) his father at Java earlier that day.
“I’m fine,” he lied, giving Reid a bit of a half smile.
Reid shook his head, rubbing his thumbs over Luke’s biceps. “Liar.”
“I don’t . . .” Luke frowned, biting his lip. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Reid pursed his lips, staring intently into Luke’s eyes as though trying to determine whether or not he wanted to pursue the subject. Luke had the quiet look of devastation about himself again, as though he were troubled by something that he would just rather keep bottled up inside and while Reid knew that it wouldn’t be good for Luke to do so, he also didn’t want to shake the bottle and let the carbonation explode out. He leaned in, kissing Luke gently on the temple and murmured, “You know you can talk to me about things, right?”
Luke smiled. “I do, yeah.”
Reid nodded. “Okay. Are you hungry?”
“A bit, yeah,” Luke responded, raising an eyebrow as to what the proposition might entail. Because it was perhaps the entailment that might clear things up for him. Might clear up Reid’s intentions. Might clear up exactly what they had going on there. Luke shook his head. He really wished he hadn’t run into Noah.
Reid grinned and slipped on a pair of pajama bottoms. “Excellent,” he replied, walking toward the living room. “Katie made the most amazing Chinese food last night and, for the first time ever since I’ve sat down at a table, there were leftovers. I’ll heat them up. I swear you’ll be in heaven.”
Luke frowned for a moment, watching Reid leave the room and paddle on over to the kitchen. He shook his head, brow furrowing in annoyance, before stalking after the auburn-haired man. “I don’t want leftovers,” he declared, wondering if there was something more metaphorical that Reid could read into the statements.
Reid glanced up and saw Luke standing near the island counter, his arms crossed. He frowned, unsure what was making Luke glare at him with that blazing infuriation. “Oh . . . kay,” he mutters, closing the fridge and giving Luke curious glance. “Not in the mood for Chinese. I can respect that. So you . . . want to just order in, then?”
He raised his eyebrow as Luke snorted, shaking his head as though confirming what he’d been expecting to hear. Luke pursed his lips thoughtfully, staring daggers at Reid. “Maybe I want to go out.”
Reid frowned, as though he hadn’t really considered that possibility. Not that he had been planning on staying locked up in Katie’s apartment for the rest of his life (was that the time frame he’d given their relationship?); it had just worked out like that. “You want to go out?” he inquired dubiously, wondering why Luke was suddenly so set on the idea.
Luke shook his head, as though he was unconsciously read something into Reid’s tone and it had confirmed those worries that he would get, those things that would make him panic, despite himself. “Yeah, go out. So, sorry if that’s too big a commitment to handle,” he muttered, rubbing his eyes with his hand.
“Luke, what-”
“What are we doing here, Reid?” Luke asked suddenly, removing his hand rapidly from his eyes and staring hard at Reid.
Reid raised his eyebrows. “What are we . . . I’m trying to determine what we’re dong for food and what’s gong on with you and you . . . I have no idea what you’re doing-”
“Oh, stop trying to be cute,” Luke replied sarcastically.
“But it’s my default setting,” Reid whined in reply.
“God, Reid,” Luke groaned, suppressing a chuckle. His blood was racing and he didn’t quite know what to do with it. “God, I forgot that you’re you, aren’t you? Secluded asshole of a genius who doesn’t ever go out, who probably doesn’t ever do relationships.” He paused, looking expectantly at Reid, praying to a God he wasn’t quite sure he believed him that Reid would counter the statement.
Reid remained silent for a moment to long, observing Luke quietly as though he were a specimen in the lab and Reid was just trying to figure out what made him function the way he did.
“Ugh, fuck,” Luke groaned as he began to further hear Noah’s voice inside his own head, whispering seductive lies into his brain and some part of him started to believe that maybe he was right. Maybe Luke really was worth nothing at all. “I can’t do this right now,” he muttered, grabbing his shoes off the floor and starting quickly toward the door.
Reid’s brow furrowed at almost lighting speed and in three steps he was across the room and his hand was once again on the blonde’s wrist, pulling him backward so hard that the younger man almost fell over. Reid’s lips parted as a small, shaky sound of surprise escaped from Luke’s and his desperate eyes met Reid’s.
“Luke, what’s going on?”
Luke shook his head. “Are you just using me for sex and money?”
Reid started and he made a small, choking noise deep in his throat and took a small step back. Luke’s mouth opened in shock, as though he hadn’t been expecting quite that reaction. He’d figured that if it wasn’t true, Reid would have laughed it off and called him an idiot. He opened his mouth to give a small retort of despair, Reid cut him off, his voice indiscernible. “Have you been talking to your father?”
“I-” Luke recoiled, wondering how on Earth Reid could have possibly known. “How did you know?”
Reid shook his head, running his hand through his damp curls. He could barely believe it. He half wondered how it was that Holden had held out for so long without mentioning anything to Luke about his suspicions, half why it was that he brought it up now. He didn’t know, did he?
Luke frowned, feeling his eyes welling up. “Reid-”
“Whatever he told you,” Reid interrupted, staring hard at Luke, “It’s not true.”
It was Luke’s turn to be unbelievably confused. “He didn’t tell me anything.”
Reid’s brow furrowed. “So, where the hell is all this coming from?”
Luke wrung his hands, pacing back and forth between the between the couch and the coffee table. He absolutely knew that his source had nothing for it in its credibility and he was angry that he had let Noah get to him, despite his ascertains to the brunette that he was being absolutely ridiculous. Reid frowned at Luke’s silence. “Luke, if this relationship is going to work, we’ve got to be able to talk.”
Luke snorted. “I thought you didn’t do relationships. And I’m pretty sure the one thing you love more than brain surgery is not talking.”
“Luke.”
The frown that had etched itself into the corners of Luke’s mouth spread to his sad eyes. “I just . . . I ran into Noah-”
“Ah,” Reid hummed softly.
“And . . . I don’t know. He said things and I told him he was wrong. I thought I thought so but then I ran into my dad for the first time in . . . I don’t even know, weeks. Since we’d started seeing each other. I would just always miss him or my mom whenever I went to the house. And, you know, he asked me where I’ve been spending all my time, since I’m not with Noah anymore and I . . . I . . .” Luke broke off, his voice so thick that Reid was surprised that he could still discern the individual words. “I lied to him.”
“You lied to him?”
“I told him I’d been staying with Casey,” Luke whispered to the floor. “And I . . . I don’t even know. . . . I had no reason to . . . I . . .”
“Luke,” Reid murmured gently, reaching out an arm to him, but the blonde skipped back a step, as though he knew he couldn’t properly communicate with Reid touching him.
“And I just realized that . . . we’d never go anywhere and no one really knew about us and it was as though . . . as though we were doing something wrong, like with me and Noah and Ameera, and suddenly everything Noah had said just came flooding back, seeming impossibly true,” Luke whispered, his voice sounding broken. He glanced up from the mesmerizing pattern of the carpet to the deep pool of Reid’s eyes.
Reid’s gaze softened and his took a small step forward, scanning Luke’s face for any sign of bolting. But Luke just looked like he was about to cry. “We’re not doing anything wrong, Luke-”
“Have you told Katie?” Luke demanded harshly, taking a quick step backward.
Reid’s gaze passed to the door, as though ascertaining that it was closed before replying softly, “No.”
“Why not?”
Reid shook his head, as though he didn’t have a clear, plausible explanation for the why except for the fact that it just hadn’t happened. “She’s been so busy, moving in with Brad. Honestly, I’ve barely seen her. When she’s been here, I’ve been at work. She spends her nights over in Brad’s apartment. The Chinese food last night? Here this morning when I got back from a late night. She wasn't.”
Luke snorted. “Uh huh. So circumstances?”
Reid rolled his eyes and sighed, as though it was time to bite the bullet. “Look, Luke. I’m a private guy. I don’t do feelings. I don’t do relationships. Hell, sometimes I don’t even do friendships-just let me talk, okay?” he interjected as Luke looked prepared to angrily interrupt him. “Since the beginning of medical school, it has just been me and the brain and my job and I didn’t make time for anything or anyone. I don’t to small talk and I sure as hell don’t go running around proclaiming my sexual life to everyone like the town crier. But . . .” he paused, biting his lip and looking almost sternly at Luke. “Honestly, almost from the first moment that I met you, fully conscious, everything I’ve come to know about myself has been blown out of the water. I . . . your grandmother shanghaied me into staying here, but really, I’m a fighter. I’m a runner. I really could have fought her but somehow my heart wasn’t really into it. I . . .” he paused, mussing up his curls in his agitation. This seemed impeccably difficult and he realized why he never did it. “If I was just looking for a piece of ass, I would have certainly realized that I wasn’t getting any early on and I never . . .”
“You never what?” Luke whispered, as though he were afraid to break the spell of Reid’s words.
“I never would have stayed,” Reid admitted softly. It wasn’t just an admittance to Luke. It was one to himself.
Luke’s mouth dropped open. “You . . . you stayed for me?” he stammered, his eyes wide.
Reid rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head to himself softly. “Yeah . . . I guess I did.”
“But . . . the neurowing . . .”
“Just a handy excuse, I guess,” Reid chuckled, watching Luke desperately attempting to process the information. He tilted his head, carefully ascertaining the blonde. “Do you want people to know, Luke?”
Luke shrugged, but Reid was relieved to see that Luke was coming down from his panic high. His features calmed out and there was that glittering foreshadow of a smile in his chocolate-filled eyes. “I . . . I don’t want to hide this.”
Reid nodded and took a step forward and this time Luke didn’t back away. Instead, he reached out and pulled Reid forward by the hand. Reid grinned cheekily and kissed Luke softly on the lips, pulling away just before Luke could make a move to intensify the small gesture. “Okay,” he murmured in reply against the corner of Luke’s lips before pulling away and walking toward the kitchen table. He grabbed his phone and his keys and looked around the room, searching for his coat. “So where do they serve decent food around here? I mean, I know Al’s, but that’s not really date-type food. I guess the Lakeview has a restaurant, right? Or Metro . . . don’t they have decent food there?”
Luke laughed softly as Reid went about the room muttering to himself. “What are you doing?”
“You said you wanted to eat out.”
“Reid, it’s late,” Luke laughed, glancing at the clock and rolling his eyes as the second hand passed mechanically past the 10:00 mark.
Reid groaned playfully. “Seriously, what do you want from me, Snyder?”
“How about we just . . . take it slow? You tell Katie, I tell my parents and we’ll go from there?” Luke propositioned, approaching Reid casually and sneakily fingering the wallet and phone from the older man’s hands.
“Oh, but whatever shall we do with all this free time we suddenly have?” Reid asked sarcastically, waggling is eyebrows at Luke.
“Well, I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
Chapter 45-->
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them.
Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine.
Comments much appreciated . . . I love them like Reid loves Luke.
Previous parts: prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43
***
Luke moaned softly, pressing his cheek against the tile of the shower wall as Reid thrust in gently, fingers pressed hard into the grooves of Luke’s hips. The tiles smelled of Clorox, as though they’d been recently washed, and the streams of water that beat against his back turned into tumbling rivers, running down his spine and infiltrating his crack, winding around Reid’s cock. Reid pressed in fully, not an inch of space between their backs and kissed Luke’s shoulder, brushing his hair out of the way with one hand. Luke sighed, his eyes closed and head leaning back toward Reid as the other man moved his hips in small circles, never quite pulling out, but rubbing the head of his erection against Luke’s prostate with every tiny movement.
Luke’s groans couldn’t find it in them to recover quickly enough to produce any sound and instead they came out in rapid, soundless gasps. Reid pushing in hard as he nipped sharply at a patch of skin on Luke’s neck, letting the continuous flow of water sooth the sting. Luke’s legs shook and Reid had to wrap an arm around him to keep him upright. The water that flowed between them adhered properly to its biological principles, cohesion and adhesion working together to fuse the lovers together into one entity.
Reid made the tiniest of thrusts and Luke gasped, collapsing back against Reid and thrusting his ass back into Reid, steam swirling around them and encasing them in droplets of mist. Reid reached around and wrapped his long fingers around Luke’s cock, his fingers dancing around the thick, engorged cock and slid his entire fist down Luke’s length, running his thumb definitively over the head.
Luke groaned, arching his back and thrusting into Reid’s hand, seeming almost torn between fucking Reid’s hand and thrusting himself back onto Reid’s cock. Reid closed his eyes, feeling the younger man’s movements against him. He nibbled at Luke’s neck, Luke’s head rolled on his shoulder, eyes closed and mouth opened and pulled him off three times before the latter arched his hips forward and panted out Reid’s name, clamping down hard around Reid, who followed the blonde shortly, watching Luke’s come mixing with the translucent water and snaking down the wall and into the drain.
Luke gasped as Reid pulled out carefully and tossed the condom into the floor next to the shower, turning Luke around and kissing him gently, running his fingers through the latter’s dark, wet locks. Luke made a small, mmph sound as Reid’s tongue stroked the inside of his mouth tenderly, his hands massaging shampoo into Luke’s hair as they made out sensually under the stream from the showerhead. Luke pulled away from the water running over his eyes and opened them, the deep chocolate brown now visible, discernible from the black of his pupils. Reid smiled lightly, running his thumb over Luke’s bottom lip as the shampoo was washed out and swirled with the water and come in the drain.
Luke gave him a small, half-smile and ducked silently out of the shower, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around his waist. He swept his hair out of his eyes and wiped the steam from the mirror, observing himself carefully, trying to figure out exactly what he was thinking. He wondered if he recognized his own reflection. His eyes closed instinctively as Reid came up behind him, wrapping his tan arms around Luke’s waist, the fingers of one hand brushing lightly over Luke’s transplant scar, his chin resting on Luke’s shoulder as he watched the blonde’s reflection in the mirror.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, an unbelievable amount of concern threaded through his voice.
Luke’s eyes opened and he looked surprised, as though he hadn’t thought that the way he was acting in anyway signified some abnormality. They never had before. He felt as though he always needed to tell someone or to dramatically act out in order for anyone to notice anything. He’d never really had anyone know him quite as well as he presumed to know himself.
“What do you mean?” he whispered softly to the man he was in the mirror.
“You just seem quieter than usual,” Reid replied, massaging Luke’s scar gently with his fingertips.
Luke snorted, feeling oddly defensive of his privacy, despite the fact that he would have always done anything to have someone read him perfectly. “Well, sorry. You were just as fantastic as always, if you’re worried about that,” he replied sarcastically, pulling away and slipping into his boxer briefs. He started to walk back to the door of the bathroom.
“Whoa, okay, then,” Reid murmured, reaching out and grabbing hold of Luke’s wrist and turning the blonde around until they were close and facing each other. Reid ran his arms around Luke’s shoulders, looking closely at him. “That’s not what I meant. You just seem . . . I don’t know, distant. Out of it.”
Luke’s mouth opened and his eyes softened slightly but his mind continued to race. Because every minute of every day seemed to demonstrate that Reid . . . Reid was perfect and, despite what people may think, he probably had the biggest heart out of anyone that Luke had ever met. And that’s probably why it didn’t make any sense whatsoever, what Luke had told (or, rather, hadn’t told) his father at Java earlier that day.
“I’m fine,” he lied, giving Reid a bit of a half smile.
Reid shook his head, rubbing his thumbs over Luke’s biceps. “Liar.”
“I don’t . . .” Luke frowned, biting his lip. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Reid pursed his lips, staring intently into Luke’s eyes as though trying to determine whether or not he wanted to pursue the subject. Luke had the quiet look of devastation about himself again, as though he were troubled by something that he would just rather keep bottled up inside and while Reid knew that it wouldn’t be good for Luke to do so, he also didn’t want to shake the bottle and let the carbonation explode out. He leaned in, kissing Luke gently on the temple and murmured, “You know you can talk to me about things, right?”
Luke smiled. “I do, yeah.”
Reid nodded. “Okay. Are you hungry?”
“A bit, yeah,” Luke responded, raising an eyebrow as to what the proposition might entail. Because it was perhaps the entailment that might clear things up for him. Might clear up Reid’s intentions. Might clear up exactly what they had going on there. Luke shook his head. He really wished he hadn’t run into Noah.
Reid grinned and slipped on a pair of pajama bottoms. “Excellent,” he replied, walking toward the living room. “Katie made the most amazing Chinese food last night and, for the first time ever since I’ve sat down at a table, there were leftovers. I’ll heat them up. I swear you’ll be in heaven.”
Luke frowned for a moment, watching Reid leave the room and paddle on over to the kitchen. He shook his head, brow furrowing in annoyance, before stalking after the auburn-haired man. “I don’t want leftovers,” he declared, wondering if there was something more metaphorical that Reid could read into the statements.
Reid glanced up and saw Luke standing near the island counter, his arms crossed. He frowned, unsure what was making Luke glare at him with that blazing infuriation. “Oh . . . kay,” he mutters, closing the fridge and giving Luke curious glance. “Not in the mood for Chinese. I can respect that. So you . . . want to just order in, then?”
He raised his eyebrow as Luke snorted, shaking his head as though confirming what he’d been expecting to hear. Luke pursed his lips thoughtfully, staring daggers at Reid. “Maybe I want to go out.”
Reid frowned, as though he hadn’t really considered that possibility. Not that he had been planning on staying locked up in Katie’s apartment for the rest of his life (was that the time frame he’d given their relationship?); it had just worked out like that. “You want to go out?” he inquired dubiously, wondering why Luke was suddenly so set on the idea.
Luke shook his head, as though he was unconsciously read something into Reid’s tone and it had confirmed those worries that he would get, those things that would make him panic, despite himself. “Yeah, go out. So, sorry if that’s too big a commitment to handle,” he muttered, rubbing his eyes with his hand.
“Luke, what-”
“What are we doing here, Reid?” Luke asked suddenly, removing his hand rapidly from his eyes and staring hard at Reid.
Reid raised his eyebrows. “What are we . . . I’m trying to determine what we’re dong for food and what’s gong on with you and you . . . I have no idea what you’re doing-”
“Oh, stop trying to be cute,” Luke replied sarcastically.
“But it’s my default setting,” Reid whined in reply.
“God, Reid,” Luke groaned, suppressing a chuckle. His blood was racing and he didn’t quite know what to do with it. “God, I forgot that you’re you, aren’t you? Secluded asshole of a genius who doesn’t ever go out, who probably doesn’t ever do relationships.” He paused, looking expectantly at Reid, praying to a God he wasn’t quite sure he believed him that Reid would counter the statement.
Reid remained silent for a moment to long, observing Luke quietly as though he were a specimen in the lab and Reid was just trying to figure out what made him function the way he did.
“Ugh, fuck,” Luke groaned as he began to further hear Noah’s voice inside his own head, whispering seductive lies into his brain and some part of him started to believe that maybe he was right. Maybe Luke really was worth nothing at all. “I can’t do this right now,” he muttered, grabbing his shoes off the floor and starting quickly toward the door.
Reid’s brow furrowed at almost lighting speed and in three steps he was across the room and his hand was once again on the blonde’s wrist, pulling him backward so hard that the younger man almost fell over. Reid’s lips parted as a small, shaky sound of surprise escaped from Luke’s and his desperate eyes met Reid’s.
“Luke, what’s going on?”
Luke shook his head. “Are you just using me for sex and money?”
Reid started and he made a small, choking noise deep in his throat and took a small step back. Luke’s mouth opened in shock, as though he hadn’t been expecting quite that reaction. He’d figured that if it wasn’t true, Reid would have laughed it off and called him an idiot. He opened his mouth to give a small retort of despair, Reid cut him off, his voice indiscernible. “Have you been talking to your father?”
“I-” Luke recoiled, wondering how on Earth Reid could have possibly known. “How did you know?”
Reid shook his head, running his hand through his damp curls. He could barely believe it. He half wondered how it was that Holden had held out for so long without mentioning anything to Luke about his suspicions, half why it was that he brought it up now. He didn’t know, did he?
Luke frowned, feeling his eyes welling up. “Reid-”
“Whatever he told you,” Reid interrupted, staring hard at Luke, “It’s not true.”
It was Luke’s turn to be unbelievably confused. “He didn’t tell me anything.”
Reid’s brow furrowed. “So, where the hell is all this coming from?”
Luke wrung his hands, pacing back and forth between the between the couch and the coffee table. He absolutely knew that his source had nothing for it in its credibility and he was angry that he had let Noah get to him, despite his ascertains to the brunette that he was being absolutely ridiculous. Reid frowned at Luke’s silence. “Luke, if this relationship is going to work, we’ve got to be able to talk.”
Luke snorted. “I thought you didn’t do relationships. And I’m pretty sure the one thing you love more than brain surgery is not talking.”
“Luke.”
The frown that had etched itself into the corners of Luke’s mouth spread to his sad eyes. “I just . . . I ran into Noah-”
“Ah,” Reid hummed softly.
“And . . . I don’t know. He said things and I told him he was wrong. I thought I thought so but then I ran into my dad for the first time in . . . I don’t even know, weeks. Since we’d started seeing each other. I would just always miss him or my mom whenever I went to the house. And, you know, he asked me where I’ve been spending all my time, since I’m not with Noah anymore and I . . . I . . .” Luke broke off, his voice so thick that Reid was surprised that he could still discern the individual words. “I lied to him.”
“You lied to him?”
“I told him I’d been staying with Casey,” Luke whispered to the floor. “And I . . . I don’t even know. . . . I had no reason to . . . I . . .”
“Luke,” Reid murmured gently, reaching out an arm to him, but the blonde skipped back a step, as though he knew he couldn’t properly communicate with Reid touching him.
“And I just realized that . . . we’d never go anywhere and no one really knew about us and it was as though . . . as though we were doing something wrong, like with me and Noah and Ameera, and suddenly everything Noah had said just came flooding back, seeming impossibly true,” Luke whispered, his voice sounding broken. He glanced up from the mesmerizing pattern of the carpet to the deep pool of Reid’s eyes.
Reid’s gaze softened and his took a small step forward, scanning Luke’s face for any sign of bolting. But Luke just looked like he was about to cry. “We’re not doing anything wrong, Luke-”
“Have you told Katie?” Luke demanded harshly, taking a quick step backward.
Reid’s gaze passed to the door, as though ascertaining that it was closed before replying softly, “No.”
“Why not?”
Reid shook his head, as though he didn’t have a clear, plausible explanation for the why except for the fact that it just hadn’t happened. “She’s been so busy, moving in with Brad. Honestly, I’ve barely seen her. When she’s been here, I’ve been at work. She spends her nights over in Brad’s apartment. The Chinese food last night? Here this morning when I got back from a late night. She wasn't.”
Luke snorted. “Uh huh. So circumstances?”
Reid rolled his eyes and sighed, as though it was time to bite the bullet. “Look, Luke. I’m a private guy. I don’t do feelings. I don’t do relationships. Hell, sometimes I don’t even do friendships-just let me talk, okay?” he interjected as Luke looked prepared to angrily interrupt him. “Since the beginning of medical school, it has just been me and the brain and my job and I didn’t make time for anything or anyone. I don’t to small talk and I sure as hell don’t go running around proclaiming my sexual life to everyone like the town crier. But . . .” he paused, biting his lip and looking almost sternly at Luke. “Honestly, almost from the first moment that I met you, fully conscious, everything I’ve come to know about myself has been blown out of the water. I . . . your grandmother shanghaied me into staying here, but really, I’m a fighter. I’m a runner. I really could have fought her but somehow my heart wasn’t really into it. I . . .” he paused, mussing up his curls in his agitation. This seemed impeccably difficult and he realized why he never did it. “If I was just looking for a piece of ass, I would have certainly realized that I wasn’t getting any early on and I never . . .”
“You never what?” Luke whispered, as though he were afraid to break the spell of Reid’s words.
“I never would have stayed,” Reid admitted softly. It wasn’t just an admittance to Luke. It was one to himself.
Luke’s mouth dropped open. “You . . . you stayed for me?” he stammered, his eyes wide.
Reid rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head to himself softly. “Yeah . . . I guess I did.”
“But . . . the neurowing . . .”
“Just a handy excuse, I guess,” Reid chuckled, watching Luke desperately attempting to process the information. He tilted his head, carefully ascertaining the blonde. “Do you want people to know, Luke?”
Luke shrugged, but Reid was relieved to see that Luke was coming down from his panic high. His features calmed out and there was that glittering foreshadow of a smile in his chocolate-filled eyes. “I . . . I don’t want to hide this.”
Reid nodded and took a step forward and this time Luke didn’t back away. Instead, he reached out and pulled Reid forward by the hand. Reid grinned cheekily and kissed Luke softly on the lips, pulling away just before Luke could make a move to intensify the small gesture. “Okay,” he murmured in reply against the corner of Luke’s lips before pulling away and walking toward the kitchen table. He grabbed his phone and his keys and looked around the room, searching for his coat. “So where do they serve decent food around here? I mean, I know Al’s, but that’s not really date-type food. I guess the Lakeview has a restaurant, right? Or Metro . . . don’t they have decent food there?”
Luke laughed softly as Reid went about the room muttering to himself. “What are you doing?”
“You said you wanted to eat out.”
“Reid, it’s late,” Luke laughed, glancing at the clock and rolling his eyes as the second hand passed mechanically past the 10:00 mark.
Reid groaned playfully. “Seriously, what do you want from me, Snyder?”
“How about we just . . . take it slow? You tell Katie, I tell my parents and we’ll go from there?” Luke propositioned, approaching Reid casually and sneakily fingering the wallet and phone from the older man’s hands.
“Oh, but whatever shall we do with all this free time we suddenly have?” Reid asked sarcastically, waggling is eyebrows at Luke.
“Well, I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
Chapter 45-->