Luke's POV

"Shit, I'm sorry Lys." I breathed out as I bent down to pick up the glass with her.

"It's fine. I've got it." She snapped back, swiping her hand across the floor to grab the last bit and accidentally slicing her finger on it.  She sucked in a sharp breath as she sat back on her knees, clutching one hand in the other as she looked down at the blood beginning to pool on her skin.

"Lys?" I pressed but she remained still, staring down at the blood as it ran down her finger and dripped onto the floor.

"I don't understand you." She said finally, her voice low and quiet. Her eyes remained on her finger as she spoke to me. "One minute you love me being around, the next you're insulting me. Then you get mad because one of your friends is being nice to me. If Calum decides, for himself, that he wants to be my friend then that has nothing to do with you. I don't understand why you're under the impression that I'm deciding this for them or demanding them to be friends with me. Had Cody not commented on your daughter's lunchbox we wouldn't have spoken. I'm not forcing myself into your life. I've been content without anyone in our lives for a long time." As the blood dripped onto the floor once more, she finally rose and run her finger under the tap before wrapping it in gauze and wiping up the mess on the floor without another word or gaze in my direction. In the back of my mind, I was still torn. I hadn't had anyone in my life since Olivia, she had been an angel in all of our lives and losing her had changed us as a group as well as me as a person. Calum was really close to Olivia too, more than Mike and Ashton - who, don't get me wrong, adored her but Calum really connected with her. Now he's up to no good again. He was becoming close to the next woman I had in my life and everything in me told me this would end up the same way. It was all too similar. 

"I..." I breathed out. How much of this could I even tell her without scaring her off? She didn't know anything about me, not really. Other than the fact I was a grieving father who had close friends. "It's complicated. At the moment, I don't even understand myself."

"Well, you need to start." She scorned me, as if she were talking to her child. "You're not doing yourself any favours by acting this way. So, make up your mind... You either want Cody and I around or you don't." She turned her back on me for a second, before sighing and turning to face me again. Her tense stance softened as she breathed out, contemplating if her next words were going to be worth the trouble. "I like having you and Kira around. I like your friends. I know this is a tough time but at some point, you've got to move on. I'm not saying you need to find a new wife, or forget about Olivia, but you need to be there wholeheartedly for Kira. She needs all of your attention, not what you choose to give. It took me fucking forever to work that out when my brother died and Harry left me and I regret it every day. Don't be like me." As she turned back again, I grabbed her shoulder and spun her back to face me. She looked surprised, unsure as to what my intentions were, but I pulled her into a hug. At first, she straightened where she stood, her arms remaining by her side before she finally seemed to give in and put her arms around me too. For a moment, we were silent as we hugged making sure words didn't ruin the moment.

"Thank you." I finally whispered into her ear, her face turning towards me as she tried to look at me and gauge my facial expressions. However, from the outside it probably looked like we were going to kiss - which is exactly what I gathered from Michael's facial expression as he rushed into the room with his phone to his ear. His speedy walk skidding to a halt as his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Lys and I sprung apart, probably making ourselves look guiltier as he gawped for a few more seconds before shaking his head and continuing with what he said.

"Sorry if I... interrupted?" Michael said, sounding hesitant as both Lys and I looked embarrassed. Nothing had even happened but it felt like we'd been caught. "I spoke to Roy, he confirmed that he'd seen Ivy around over the last few days. She's definitely back." I closed my eyes as I let out a heavy breath. This woman really knew how to fuck up my life and she was back to do it again. She'd stalked us so intently that it didn't take long for her to learn our favourite hangouts, Kira's nursery and Olivia's workplace. Who knew what she would come up with now? Memories flooded back, albeit blurrily, about last night's alarm at my house.

"Ash!" I shouted, causing Mike and Lys to jump. He came scrambling in the room with his eyes wide, wondering what the emergency was. "Did Ivy come to my house yesterday?" I needed Ashton's honesty right now. I needed to know how bad this really was. He glanced over at Lys with his eyebrows furrowed before he nodded at me.

"I think so. To be honest, we were in such a rush that I didn't fully take it in. Kira had your phone, she'd called Alyssa to help you both. We rushed over, tried to talk to you and before we knew it the alarm was sounding. We all just got in the car and drove off." Ashton tried to fill me in without too much detail for now, not wanting to cause me to break down and stress too much. 

"Did she follow you? Take down the license plate? Realise there were other people in the car?" Panic set in as the memories of Ivy came back to me, one hard hit after another. Ashton shook his head, shrugging. "So you could have just led her here? She'd know we were all in this house?" My anxiety set in, breathing increasing in rate as I imagined her sneaking into this house and kidnapping Kira or Cody, using someone to get information out of us and to make my life a misery again. Had she been stalking Calum to prevent her getting arrested? Was she going to find ways around everything we had put against her? As my eyes widened at Lys, and she gulped down a nervous feeling, the doorbell rung and echoed through the house.

"My sister isn't back yet." Lys whispered. "Who could that be?"