Hunting Lust (Orion the Hunter Part Three) (26 page)

I lifted my head and was rewarded with the most brilliant smile.  He shook his head as he continued smiling.  “I don’t know how the hell you’ve done this.  It is fabulous.  Perfect in fact.  If I was going to live here, this is just what I’d choose.”

I smiled with relief.  “Really?  I was actually just thinking the same thing myself.  This place has more of my own tastes and preferences than anywhere else that I’ve done.  This apartment will always be special to me.”

I would start on the next apartment on Monday.  I couldn’t wait.  The last week or so had been a brilliant week.  From the boy’s concert, meeting Joe, Tommy and Bill, completing the apartment and no more trouble from whoever had been causing Lucas problems.  I dared to hope that we’d seen the last of them.  The only fly in the ointment of my happiness was Angel.  Chad had managed to find out that she had gone back to her parents.  She still wouldn’t take either of our calls.  I’d called her mother but I’d had the phone slammed down on me, the instant I said my name.

Lucas got waylaid by Bob Dawes, the site foreman, about something to do with the courtyard.  I said that I needed to pop by my apartment to collect some more of my things.  Lucas said that he would catch me up.  It was a cool, breezy day so I walked quickly back to my apartment.  I had a quick catch up with James, telling him that Lucas would be along soon and then made my way up.  As I let myself in, I felt a wave of sadness.  It was as though I could actually feel the loss of Angel.  I really hoped she’d calm down and come back.  Poor Chad was a wreck – the guy was being punished for doing nothing wrong.  I just hoped that he kept the faith for a little longer.  The band had so many female groupies throwing themselves at them now that I feared he might give in to temptation, one of the nights.

I was just walking back into the living room with a bag packed with my belongings when I heard a knock on the door.  That’ll be Lucas, I thought.  I opened the door and turned to walk back into the room without looking who it was.  Instinct told me to turn around when I heard the door close.  I did and was faced with a stranger.  He was tall, dark and cruel looking.  Handsome in a way but the lines of his face were too harsh – his lips were too thin.  But most of all, the cruelness came from his piercing, cold gray eyes.

“Who are you and what do you want?” I said, sounding far calmer than I felt.

“Let’s just say I’m a friend with a common interest,” he said.  Even his voice sounded villainous.

“I would like you to leave now please,” I said, backing away a step.

He stepped forward to maintain our distance.  “I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say, and show to you.”

“I very much doubt that.  You are trespassing on private property and I’ve asked you to leave.”

He smirked.  “What are you going to do? Scream for your flatmate? Oh yeah, that’s right, she isn’t here.”

The butterflies in my stomach were quickly turning into vultures.  “Look, what do you want?”

“I have some information that I think you should be aware of.  Your boyfriend isn’t who you think he is,” he sneered.

“Lucas?  You’re here about Lucas?” I asked incredulously.  This just didn’t make any sense.

“If you can ever call him that.  It isn’t his real name, you know.  Just an alias that he operates under.”

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish.  Operating under an alias sounded very sinister.  But then loyalty kicked in and common sense prevailed.  “I don’t believe you.”

He held out a copy of a birth certificate in the name of Luke Milton.  I looked at it and shrugged.  That didn’t prove anything.  It could be anyone’s birth certificate.  Then he passed me another document.  This one recorded a legal name change – from Luke Milton to Lucas Hunter – dated 12 years ago.  He then showed me a photograph of a young boy, around ten years old, in school uniform staring moodily at the camera.  There was no doubt in my mind that it was Lucas. On the back was handwritten Luke Milton in ink that was faded by the passing years.

Okay, so Lucas had changed his name.  I recalled that his parents had died when he was young – perhaps his name was changed when he was adopted.  No, twelve years ago put Lucas at around eighteen years old.  I figured that was probably the youngest age that you could apply for a name change yourself.  Minors would need their parent/guardian’s permission.

“So what if he was given a different name at birth,” I challenged. 

“Ah yes, but aren’t you curious to know why he changed his name?”  He shot back.

I suppose I was, a little.  But I would rather ask Lucas himself than ask this creep.  So I said nothing.

He took more documents out of the wallet he was holding and thrust them in front of me.  Here we have a juvenile record for juvenile assault and battery.  He was sentenced to a juvenile detention centre for 12 months.  A pretty harsh sentence for a juvenile, wasn’t it?  That’s because he almost killed another kid.  Do you know why?  It was a fight, for money?  That’s all his motivation is and has always been.  Money.  That poor kid did nothing wrong, except take on a challenge in a fair fight.  But Lucas has a temper and he lost it for no reason.  The hospital report is here that lists the whole catalogue of broken bones and internal damage that Lucas did with no provocation.  He was lucky to escape with his life.  If they hadn’t managed to stop Lucas, he would have been up on a murder charge.

I felt sick.  I wondered why he was telling me all this.  I tried to tell myself that it wasn’t true, but my eyes were drawn to the paperwork.  I looked it over.  It looked official enough and backed up exactly what I was being told. 

“Have you ever wondered why he doesn’t socialize much?  Why he hasn’t a string of society girls hanging off his every word?  I’ll tell you why.  Because he’s afraid.  He’s afraid of losing his temper again.  Because he’s lost his temper and hurt every single person who was close to him.  That’s why.  Do you realize the danger you are in Miss Prince?”

None of this made any sense.  I knew that there was still a chance that this was another elaborate farce.  That these documents were fake.  But somewhere deep down, my gut told me that it wasn’t.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

“Let’s just say that I’m unfortunate enough to be related to him. Closely.”

But that made no sense.  Lucas said he had no family.  I looked back at his cruel face.  There were lots of similarities with Lucas, except Lucas’ features were far softer.  Their height and build were very similar, their hair and skin tone was the same.  I supposed they could be closely related. 

“Right, well thank you for your time and for the information.  I shall bring it up with Lucas and see what he has to say.  For now, I would very much like to you to leave now.”

He gave one last nasty smile before delivering his parting shot.  It made my stomach flip and caused bile to surge up my throat.  “Oh and he killed his own mother.  I’m sure he’d be delighted to explain that one to you.  And how his father pined to death after her death.  Yeah, you see what he’s got to say about taking away the people that I loved most in this world.  I know that you lost your parents when you were young too.  Can you imagine someone who would kill their own mother and then stand by and watch their own father give up and slowly die from the pain of losing her?  Well, you should … you’re sleeping with him.”

I felt my legs give way beneath me and I hit the floor.  When I came to, I could hear my name being called over and over.  As I opened my eyes, memories of that cruel face and voice filtered into my mind.  I hastily scooted backwards.  As my vision cleared, I saw that it was Lucas who was calling my name.  I remembered the content of that chilling conversation and I knew I had to confront him.  I pushed myself to my feet and steadied myself with a hand on the wall.  I noticed that the documents I’d been shown were on the coffee table.  I slowly walked over and picked them up.  Yes, they were real.  I hadn’t dreamed it up.

I held out the copy of the birth certificate.  Lucas took it and I watched the color drain out of his face as he realized what it was.  Then I passed him the change of name application. 

“Where the hell did you get this?” he breathed, his eyes boring into mine.

I ignored him and passed him the copy of the juvenile record.  I saw him working the muscles in his jaw and, for the first time, I worried about him losing his temper.  What he might do to me?

He seemed to be able to hold back his temper so I passed him the hospital report on the boy he’d beaten so badly.  I watched his nostrils flare and saw the tension in his neck when he realized what it was.

“I said where the hell did you get this?” he repeated, louder this time.

“I had a visitor.  A relative of yours apparently,” I replied.

That did it.  He looked like he was about to throw up. 

I decided to push my advantage.  “Would you like to enlighten me as to who it was exactly that barged in here uninvited and refused to leave before they’d dumped this on me from a great height.”

He looked at me, well through me really and then said, “That would be my brother.”

I felt like I’d been slapped.  He’d said more than once that he had no family, no siblings even.  I began to wonder what other lies he’d told me.  I suddenly felt anger … no, rage at this stranger that was standing before me. 

“So tell me Lucas, when exactly were you going to tell me that you’d killed your mother?”

I saw him fall to his knees, a tortured expression on his face and I knew beyond any doubt that it was true.  He had killed his own mother.  I desperately needed to get away from him so I grabbed my bag of belongings and just walked away from him.  I heard him sobbing and calling my name but I got in the elevator and pressed the button to close the doors in case he came after me.  I needn’t have worried.  There was no sign of him when the doors closed. 

I exited into the lobby and asked James if he would arrange for Lucas to be escorted from the premises if he didn’t leave and for our door to be locked.  I told him I didn’t know whether I or Angel would be back.  Then I pushed the door and walked out onto the street.  I had no idea where I was going.  I just knew that I had to get away from the monster that was in my apartment.  The monster that I had allowed myself to fall in love with … the
realization made me feel sick.  I clutched my stomach but I just kept on walking. 

*****

Read the final installment of Issy and Lucas’ thrilling journey in:

Hunting Truth – Part Four of Orion the Hunter

Publication due on Amazon Kindle in March 2013.

To request your free personalized authorgraph (digital book signing) for Hunting Lust, just visit
http://www.authorgraph.com/authors/JDChaseAuthor

Thank you for sharing Issy and Lucas’ journey with me.  I am humbled that people enjoy reading what I write. 

I love to chat about books – mine and others.  Come and find me on:

Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6859836.J_D_Chase

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/J-D-Chase/417604931642686?ref=hl

Twitter: @JDChaseAuthor