by Nicole Dykes
I close the patio door and see Gabby running after her dog, Toby, “Having fun?”
She runs up to me, her little cheeks all flushed, “Yes! But I’m starving! When are they going to be ready with the food?”
I shake my head, “I think you have a couple hours, kiddo.”
“Is that when Hannah is going to be here?”
“Should be.”
“Are you worried she is going to stand you up?”
I look down at my youngest sister, hair in braided pigtails. I’m supposed to be her big, tough older brother. I can’t tell her that I’m terrified Hannah won’t show up today and will just avoid me all together for the rest of our lives. “No way, why wouldn’t she want to join us for dinner?”
She seems to accept my lie and bounces back out to the middle of the yard to play with Toby.
An hour later and Gabby and I are in the living room to escape the cold for a bit, when the doorbell rings.
Michael bolts up out of his seat on the couch and races to the door. I try to play it cool and stay put until I hear, “Luke it’s for you!”
One. Two. Three.
Okay, three seconds is long enough, I get up, feeling Jax’s eyes on me. He’s not going to make today easy on me, that’s for sure.
I walk to the door, my nonchalant persona in place and Michael runs back into the living room.
Hannah is still standing in the foyer with her heavy coat on, “Hey, how was your drive?”
Her shoulders go up in a brief shrug, “Good, long and boring, but not terrible and the traffic wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
Why don’t you ask her about the weather next, make this the blandest conversation ever? “Can I take your coat?”
“Oh yes, please.”
She unzips her coat, revealing a sexy, tight, black sweater dress she’s wearing with leggings, fitted perfectly to her exceptional body.
Shit, my cock is ready to work now.
I help her remove the coat and clear my throat. “Um, dinner should be ready soon.”
“Oh great, I can’t wait.”
Just tell her you love her. Tell her you don’t want Nick or any other son of a bitch putting his hands or anything else on her.
“You wanna go watch the game in the living room?”
Pussy.
When we reach the living room, I introduce Hannah to Trevor. He’s the only person here that she hasn’t already met and when Cassie hears Hannah is here, she finally gets off of the phone with whoever the hell she’s been talking to all day.
With my hopeless sister, it’s probably that asshat, Brent. When the hell will that girl learn?
So, here’s hoping there is no drama and I can keep myself from driving Hannah further away.
Hell, maybe even pull her closer to me.
Chapter 49
Hannah
I excuse myself from the living room and go into the kitchen to greet Brooke, Alex, and Dylan. Luke stays in the living room to watch the game, but Cassie joins me.
Brooke and Dylan are flying around the kitchen, trying to get all of the food prepared and Alex is sitting at the small table in there, drinking a glass of wine.
She notices me first and jumps up, “Hannah! You made it!”
I laugh, because I think she may have had a little too much wine already, “Hi, Alex!”
That gets Brooke and Dylan’s attention. Dylan gives me a quick nod hello and Brooke walks over to me to give me a big hug.
She’s a hugger.
“I’m so glad you made it. It’s been way too long.”
“Thank you so much for having me.”
“Oh, any time sweetie. Hopefully, we can all keep our crazy at bay.”
I wave that off, “You don’t have to hide that from me, I have plenty of my own. Do you need any help?”
“Absolutely.”
I help with what I can in the kitchen and soon we are all sitting down for a Thanksgiving feast. I’m sandwiched in between Luke and Cassie.
Jax is sitting directly across from me and he’s sitting next to Trevor, who apparently is Alex’s brother. I silently wonder why he wasn’t at the wedding, since the rest of Alex’s family was there. Alex’s father even walked Brooke down the aisle.
Of course, when Luke introduced us, he did mention that Trevor is the lead singer of a band, so maybe he had a prior commitment.
In the midst of my thoughts, my brain turns to total mush when Luke scoots into the table and his thigh grazes mine.
I suck in a sharp breath and he quickly moves his leg away from mine.
How the hell does he still have that kind of impact on me?
I’ve been hanging out with Nick a lot. When his hand brushes mine or we touch in any way and I feel nothing, but Luke’s leg barely comes in contact with mine, and I melt.
The idle chit chat at the table is so warm and inviting. I’ve never been in an environment like this one.
Luke is talking with Jax, Dylan, and Adam about a motorcycle Luke just finished and I notice a new tattoo on Luke’s forearm. It’s a beautiful, complex piece and takes up most of his right forearm.
I’ve never really thought tattoos were that sexy before, but holy hell it’s hot on Luke. I guess he’s starting to really fall into this new lifestyle. It makes sense, every guy around here is practically covered in them. And while they all make the tattoos look good, Luke’s looks damn good on him.
And then I see it, in the middle of the tattoo, kind of hidden by the intricate design and barbed wired around a nest, inside of the nest, there is a very distinct, red cardinal. The St. Louis Cardinals have been my favorite baseball team since I can remember. Lucas hates them. It’s then I know that at least that part of the tattoo is some sort of symbol pertaining to me.
Luke must sense me staring because his attention turns to me, and he whispers, “You okay?”
I can’t believe he had something permanently tattooed on his body about me. “Yeah, I’m fine, just listening.”
I’m temporarily snapped out of my shock when Trevor remarks, “So Hannah, how do you like K-State?”
“I love it there. Is that where you went?”
He laughs at that, “Oh hell no, I didn’t go to college, but my band played in Manhattan last year.”
Alex, who has to be at least a bottle deep in wine by now, excitedly says, “Yep, my big brother plays all over nowadays. It’s why he couldn’t be at Brooke’s wedding.”
I knew it. “Oh, that’s too bad.” I quickly turn back to him, “But awesome about the success of your band.”
I hope Alex is okay. Her boyfriend, who was at the wedding, doesn’t seem to be here. Brooke grabs her hand to comfort her I think, and maybe to quiet her, slightly.
When we have all finished our meal, Brooke and Dylan bring out dessert, but both stay standing.
Dylan happily holds Brooke’s hand, “Alright, so I don’t want to drag this out into a long speech or anything.”
Brooke interrupts him, “But we have some amazing news that we want to share here with everyone that we love.”
I examine Luke’s face to see if he has any idea what the announcement is. The cocky look stationed there tells me he might have a clue.
Luke is grinning, “So what is it?”
Brooke bites her bottom lip, and practically bounces up and down with giddiness when she says, “We’re going to have a baby!”
The joy is spread from person to person around the huge dining room table that Brooke and Dylan are going to be parents.
That is one lucky kid.
The rest of the time at the table is dominated by the future little Monroe. Then afterward, everyone helps to clean up except Brooke, who was ordered to go rest after preparing the massive feast.
I smile as I see the guys helping out just as much, if not more so, than the girls.
So different from the way I grew up.
When everything is cleaned up and put away, we all convene in the living room and play a game of Trivial Pursuit be
fore people start slowly filing out.
I look at the beautiful, decorative clock on the wall and it’s almost eleven o’clock. I really should get on the road.
I don’t want to leave.
Reluctantly, I stand and thank Brooke and Dylan for having me and say my goodbyes to everyone left.
Luke walks me out to the front porch, “Well, thank you very much for inviting me. It wasn’t anywhere near as crazy as you described holidays with your family, though.”
He laughs and takes a seat on the porch swing, “A little let down by the drama-free night?”
“Maybe.”
He reaches for my gloved hand and pulls me down next to him on the swing, “Yeah, well they were a little off their game tonight. But the pregnancy announcement was something right?”
I’m sitting way too close, I can smell his delicious, subtle cologne, “Yeah, did you know?”
“I had a hunch, I mean she’s been avoiding alcohol and hanging out with Alex, because they usually have a bottle of wine together monthly, and she’s been sick a couple of times. Brooke never gets sick.”
I fold my arms, trying to keep warm, and to be honest, trying to avoid the close contact with Luke, “Well, you’re going to be a fabulous Uncle.”
He groans, “Oh, that poor kid.”
“That’s exactly the opposite of what I was thinking.” His arm is covered now, but my mind drifts to that sexy new tattoo. “When did you get a tattoo?”
His lip turns up into an arousing smirk, “Which one?”
There’s more than one? “The one on your forearm.”
“Oh, last week.” His voice is low and raspy, “You like it?”
I nod, stupidly, no words will come out. Ask him the meaning of the Cardinal. Do it.
Instead of asking him to tell me more about the tattoo, I’m momentarily saved when I see that it has started to sleet. That’s just great.
It’ll make my drive so much easier. “I should probably get going.”
He looks out at the falling sleet, “Or you could stay. I have a guest room in my condo, I can give you a tour.”
I don’t think he meant that to be sexy, but somehow it was. A tour sounds damn good right now, but I’m finished making huge mistakes. I’m living for me now and hooking up with Luke would be an enormous screw up that we would never come back from.
Or maybe he is just worried about the bad weather and is offering me his guest room to stay the night.
“I should really get back tonight.”
I stand and he follows, standing incredibly close to me. It’s freezing out here, but my body feels like it is on fire.
And just like that, I’m begging him, in my mind, to just kiss me already.
I want to feel his lips on mine, his rough hands all over my body, to find out just how many tattoos he has now.
He moves his body even closer to mine. My mouth has gone completely dry. Okay, this is it, he is going to kiss me.
He whispers in a sexy voice, his lips oh-so-close to mine, “Are you sure you can’t stay?”
No.
“I shouldn’t.”
Unless you give me a damn good reason to.
But he doesn’t. Instead he just pulls me into a hug, wrapping me in his strong arms. “Please be careful on your way home, Hannah.”
He pulls away, the distance is too much and I give him a weak goodbye before walking out to my car.
Why do I constantly let him turn me into this pathetic girl just hoping he will notice me? Everything else in my life is so perfect.
The only thing that is imperfect is my relationship with Luke.
He’s so deeply embedded in my soul, how am I supposed to move on?
Chapter 50
Luke
Back to real life.
Hannah left to go back to Manhattan last night. It was so damn good to be in the same city as her again.
She sent me a text to let me know that she made it there safely, but that’s it. We are just friends that occasionally check in to make sure the other is still breathing, but no details.
There is no part of me that is okay with that, but what the hell can I do?
She’s there, I’m here.
I walk into the main door of Tricked, and greet Carolyn, the really nice, older receptionist, with a nod.
She waves happily over at me from behind her desk, “Good morning. How was your Thanksgiving, Luke?”
Great, until Hannah left.
I wanted her to stay with me. I practically begged her to stay, but she left. “It was good. How was yours?”
“Very nice.”
With that, I take a right turn and head into my garage. I am just about to sit down at my desk to get to work, when Dylan pushes his way through the door, “How does your schedule look today?”
It’s actually fairly light today, but I’m not sure what he wants so I play it cool, “Normal. Why?”
“You want to ride with me to Topeka?”
I look through the orders on my desk. I just finished a couple of bikes this week and can afford to take a traveling day, “For?”
“There is a badass bike there that I’m thinking would be a quick flip. Was hoping to get your opinion on it, since you and your guys will probably be the ones working on it.”
Of course that makes me feel good, my big brother who I have looked up to all of my life wants my opinion. Of course, I know he probably doesn’t need it, but the fact that he wants it is pretty cool. “Sure.”
I let the guys know what they need to work on while I’m gone today and then Dylan and I are on our way to Topeka, which is a little over an hour away.
Dylan’s driving and I play with the radio, trying to find a decent station, “Congrats again by the way. You ready to be a dad?”
His face isn’t as excited as it was last night. He actually has a look of concern, “Of course.”
“Uh oh, was it not planned? Dylan, come on, you surely you know how to use birth control by now.”
He flips on the blinker as he turns to merge onto the interstate, “It was planned, Brooke is going to be an amazing mother.”
He thinks he will be a shitty father. “You’ll be a great dad too.”
“Like ours?”
Dylan and I didn’t really have the same dad in a sense. It was always obvious that our dad resented the hell out of Dylan, because he was so young and the things he gave up. It wasn’t fair to him, but my dad was a pretty good father to the rest of us.
Other than pushing his dreams on me.
“Better—you aren’t him; just learn from his mistakes and do better.”
That brings a marginal smile to his face, “Yeah, believe me, I’m going to try.”
No doubt in my mind.
“So, how did everything go with Hannah?”
I sink down in the seat of Dylan’s truck, “It was good to see her.”
“Right, so I’m guessing you didn’t finally come out and tell her you’re in love with her and beg her to stay, huh?”
Well, I begged her to stay. “Why would I do that? Hannah has a great life going in Manhattan, and she’s going to be a Psych major so she’ll be there longer than the normal 4 years.”
“Well, you could make a long distance thing work. I’m sure that could be kinda hot and it’s only two hours.”
I turn my head to look at him, still in my sunken position, “Why are we talking about this?”
“Because you love her, even Gabby has picked up on that shit. And honestly, I’m a little disappointed that you are being such a pussy about it all.”
“Easy. Jesus, do you guys not have anything else to talk about?”
“I’m just curious to hear your reasons. I had a shitload of reasons not to go for Brooke, but I still fucking went for it.”
“I don’t owe you my reasons, but I have them.”
“Uh huh, I’m sure they are just great.”
He’s goading me and it’s pissing me off, “We are friends.”
“And? Brooke and I are friends.”
“Yeah, now you are, we started off as friends a long time ago. A lot of shit has happened since then. Shit I’m not talking about.”
“That doesn’t sound like a reason not to go for it at all, Luke. If anything, that would make for an epic story. And everyone goes through shit, you just can’t bail.”
Is he fucking kidding? “Really? That’s coming from you? You’re the king of bailing.”
“Hey, I came back.”
“Because you fucking had to.”
Shit, every time I’m around him, I revert back to that angry sixteen year-old kid.
Instead of screaming back at me, he actually softens at that, “Everyone makes mistakes in their lives, Luke. Some we regret and some are the best fucking mistakes of their lives. You need to learn the difference.”
“I can’t make it work with Hannah. We aren’t right for each other.”
He has one hand on the wheel and the other one on his chin like he is deep in thought. “Let me ask you a question, have you slept with anyone since her?”
I groan, now he sounds like Jax, “No.”
“Okay, you guys ended things quite a while ago. I don’t know the exact details, but knowing you, going even a month without sex is a long fucking time. Am I right?”
I nod, “Right. What the hell is your point?”
“My point is, when you get there—where you don’t want to be with anyone else, when you have a chance with another girl, but you end up turning her down because all you can see is the face of someone else—well then, you’re in fucking deep.”
“I can get laid anytime I want to, asshole.”
He lets out a frustrated sound, “Exactly dumbass, anytime you want to, but you don’t fucking want to. Except with Hannah. Am I getting through to you, genius?”
I rub my temples, he’s giving me a fucking headache. “I’m nineteen years old, I don’t want to be in love and get married and have babies. It took you fucking years before you were at that point.”
He shrugs, “I hadn’t met the right person yet. When I did, it was over for me. The only difference is you met yours when you were five.”
“I’ll fuck it up.”
“Yeah, you probably will. As long as it’s not a massive fuck up, she will probably forgive you.”