Page 133 of See You There

Dahlia wassurprised how nervous she was as James drove her to the district attorney’s office. He had already explained to her what to expect.

“There’s nothing to worry about. You’ll be great,” James said, as they pulled into the parking garage underneath the courthouse.

When they reached the lobby, Luke was waiting by the elevator doors. Her heart stopped. Even the dark circles under his eyes couldn’t take away from how handsome he was.

James’s phone rang as they approached. He looked down at it with a frown. “Can you go wait with Luke while I take this?”

She really didn’t want to but couldn’t think of a way to get out of it without looking childish.

“How are you?” Luke asked when she came to a stop a few feet away.

Sad. Missing you already.

“I’m a little nervous, to be honest.”

He gave her a sweet smile. “I figured. Even when you’ve done nothing wrong, the experience is a little daunting.”

He looked at James over his shoulder and then stepped close enough that she could smell his aftershave. Her heart pounded and her throat ached with the tears she refused to shed.

Luke leaned close, his breath across her ear sending tingles throughout her body. “They could disbar me for this, but you need to be careful what you say upstairs—who you say was there.”

Dahlia nodded. “I understand.”

Luke stepped back, looking mildly relieved. “Are you excited about the premiere?” he asked.

Small talk. He was making small talk when all she wanted to do was throw herself in his arms and pretend the last day had never happened. “I think so. It doesn’t seem real with everything else going on. Chandler wants us to coordinate our arrival,” she said.

Luke’s jaw tensed. “Are you pretending to be together again?”

“I meant it when I said I wasn’t going to live a lie anymore. As we speak, Elizabeth is putting out a press statement about my past. I originally wanted to wait until after the premiere but… I can’t imagine the studio is going to love it. I think we’ve crafted it in a way that it won’t be damaging to the film. In fact, it might drum up even more interest. Who knows, maybe Matt will actually thank me. Speaking of, have you heard anything else from the GBI?”

Luke shook his head.

This was too easy. It felt so natural to talk to him, to fall back into the patterns. Dahlia forced herself to take a step back. “What is taking James so long?”

Luke looked to where James had been standing. He was gone. “Why don’t we head upstairs? I can cover until he gets there.”

Just then, James rushed back to them. “Time to go. We’re leaving.”

“What’s happening?” Dahlia asked, as Luke grabbed his brother’s arm.

“Your testimony is no longer necessary,” James said.

“Did Hank confess?”

James’s eyes went to Luke and then faced her. “Hank is dead. Apparently, a fight broke out this morning in the prisoner transport line.” He exchanged a knowing look at Luke.

“What does that look mean?” Dahlia demanded.

James phone rang again and he answered it with a frown.

“We shouldn’t talk about it here.” Luke put his hand on her back and steered her back toward the elevator to the parking garage. “Let’s get you back to the hotel.”

“Change of plans, Luke. We can’t take her back just yet. The DA wants to talk to her.”

“About what?” Luke’s gaze was flinty when it met his twin’s “She doesn’t know anything else, and the only person she could identify is dead.”

“They can’t press charges, right?” Dahlia asked.