Bay, and his Family Days had consisted of Nate’s brother and Dallas’s wife. Ted never did have much family come to the facility, and neither did Slate.
They both seemed to be thriving now, though. Heck, Nate and Ted had fallen in love by the nine-month mark of their releases, and Luke felt like it was just one more way he was failing.
He tried so hard. Tried and failed, almost all the time.
His mind cleared, and he managed to go back to sleep. He woke when a woman said, “Go on, Axle, you naughty thing. You’re not supposed to be in here.”
He knew the voice, but his eyes were sluggish to open to see her face. In the next moment, the blanket got torn from his body, and the fan he used blasted cold air across his bare torso.
That got his eyes to snap right open. He grunted too, and that was when Hannah Otto said, “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
Luke sat halfway up, his heart pounding in the back of his throat. “Hey,” he said.
“I didn’t know anyone was in here,” she said. “And Slate said he needed a blanket, and…” She trailed off as her eyes moved from his face down his body.
Luke knew he had a lot of muscles. He worked purposely to get them and keep them. He’d loved boxing, and at least half of that was because of the physical conditioning it required.
He liked to run, and he liked to lift weights. With all the muscle he had, it was no wonder he was like a walking furnace—or that he only slept in a pair of thin gym shorts.
Hannah stared at him, her mouth hanging open, and the moment turned awkward. Luke reached for the blanket she still held in her hands, and it came loose easily. He covered himself up as she blinked her way back to the land of the living.
He didn’t know what to say or do. He’d entertained a fairly massive crush on the woman standing in front of him while he’d lived here at Hope Eternal Ranch.
But Hannah had been dating Bill Buckingham at the time, and Bill was one of Luke’s roommates in the Annex. When they’d broken up, Luke had started to form a plan with Jill to ask Hannah to dinner, but in the end, he hadn’t.
In the end, he’d gotten a job with a construction crew and knew he wouldn’t be staying in town. He didn’t think it fair to start a relationship with Hannah that he couldn’t finish, and he’d never asked.
He met her eyes and found her face red and getting redder fast. Without a word, she spun and left the bedroom, the slam of the door behind her making him cringe.
He sighed and looked up to the ceiling. “Really?” He didn’t have any other words for the Lord. Out of all the people who could’ve come in and disturbed his sleep, it had to be Hannah?
She was dating someone else now, and Luke wasn’t surprised. She was easily the most beautiful woman he’d ever met in his life, and he was honestly surprised she hadn’t been taken a long time ago.
He wasn’t as surprised that he was still single. He’d never really wanted a girlfriend growing up, because his older brother had had one, and she was so much work. Luke had enjoyed wrestling in high school, and then he’d gotten into boxing immediately afterward.
He hadn’t gone to college, and he’d never wanted to. He liked working with his hands, and he’d thought construction would be a good career for him. The work was hard, and he had to get up early, but he didn’t mind either of those things.
His father was a part-owner in a real estate development firm, and Luke had been working for him since Thanksgiving.
Someone knocked on the door, and Luke said, “Just a sec.” He jumped up from the bed, left the blanket behind, and pulled a T-shirt over his head before opening the door.
Slate stood there, looking over his shoulder as he said something to Nick and Connor down the hall. When he turned back to Luke, he said, “I’m an idiot.” He stepped past Luke into the bedroom and started pacing.
“Why?” Luke asked. “What happened?” Slate felt like the little brother Luke had never had, though he was technically older than Luke. He closed the door and watched his friend go back and forth.
He’d done this in prison too, when he needed a couple of seconds to work