Toxic - Luke Hemmings

Chapter 68

Luke's POV

I tried calling Izzy back too many times to count, but it just kept going to voicemail. I didn't know how she found out I was out selling again, but I guess she'd known for some time. I shouldn't have kept trying to hide it when she called me out, and now I was paying the price for that. She was probably thinking of every way to lay into me that she could for when I walked through the door.

There was no reason valid enough to excuse the fact that I was lying about it. The only reason was because I just couldn't have her tagging along, and I knew she would want to. But, then I'd have to explain why she couldn't come, and she could never find that out.

I got an earful from Calum most of the drive home, and I just let him go off since I really did deserve it. I managed to make a fucking disaster out of this, and he didn't even want to cover for me in the first place. By the time we were pulling into the drive way he had given up trying to talk to me.

The first thing I noticed, though, was that Izzy's car was gone. I jumped out of my car and raced to the front door, and when I opened it I saw Sophie bawling her eyes out as Ashton held her. All three of them turned to me with different emotions written all over their faces. Sophie was purely heartbroken, while Ashton just looked disappointed. When I looked up at Mike, he was already coming at me.

"Do you wanna tell us all why she's scared of you?" He got within a foot of me, and I furrowed my eyebrows at the question.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, looking around at them to figure out what had happened.

"She left because she was scared of you coming home." Mike said through gritted teeth.

I took a step back and brought my hands to my hair, coming to terms with what he'd just told me. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and went to call her, but when I brought my phone to my ear Mike turned around and walked into the kitchen. It went to voicemail again, so I dialed it one more time as he came back over to me with Izzy's shattered phone in his hand.

"That's after she chucked her phone across the room." He said, letting me take it to see how fucked the screen was.

"What have you been doing to her?" Sophie asked, pulling away from Ash and attempting to wipe her tears away.

"I haven't touched her." I said, not believing that I was having this conversation.

"That's bullshit. The way you grabbed her in the dining hall, how much worse is it behind closed doors?" Mike asked, and I looked at him with hurt in my eyes. I didn't realize they thought of me this way, as an abuser.

"I see red, sometimes! I haven't hurt her, though!" I shouted, defending myself even though I didn't really have the right to. I did rough her up at times, but I honestly couldn't control myself when I got that mad.

"No, you just threatened her enough to stay in line!" Sophie shouted back, and I had to hold myself back so I didn't get in her face and prove their point. I ran my hands through my hair again in an attempt to divert my anger.

"And what about lying to her, huh? She's been running around for weeks for your birthday and you've been leaving her behind to go do what? Sell?" Mike asked, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they got to the core issue here.

"She was going to beg me to come, and I don't want her anywhere near it anymore." I said, pacing around the living room while I ruffled up my hair.

"You couldn't have just told her that?" Sophie asked as she approached me.

"Hindsight's a bitch, so yeah, that would have been better I see that now." I said angrily, looking at her while she grilled me.

I heard Calum chuckle from his spot in front of the front door, and when we turned to him he was shaking his head and heading up the stairs. If he fucked this up for me I didn't know what I'd do, but I was just glad he excused himself before he started opening his mouth.