Page 73 of The Hookup
“Luke.” They both turned to see a man and woman standing in front of them.
“Travis,” Luke said, stiffly. The man held out his hand but Luke refused to take it, the action causing a ripple of discomfort between the group. She had no idea who these people were. The man, tall and dark-haired, had more than a passing resemblance to Luke’s father. The pretty and svelte woman standing next to him stared back at her.
“I’m Travis,” said the man, calmly ignoring Luke, and offering his hand to her instead. She had no option but to take it, even though she sensed the animosity rolling off in waves from Luke’s body. “Luke’s brother.”
Luke’s brother?Shock spiraled through her. Luke had a brother? He'd never mentioned it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said, and hoped that she had managed to successfully mask the surprise announcement
“This is my wife, Maggie,” Luke’s brother said. She acknowledged his wife and the two of them shook hands while Luke’s face was turned the other way. Kay jabbed him in the ribs, but he didn’t turn around. He was purposely refusing to acknowledge them.
“Hi, Luke,” the woman said, pointedly staring at Luke. The situation was getting so embarrassing that Kay was compelled to jab him in the ribs again. “Luke!” she said sharply.
This time he turned his head. “Maggie,” he ground out, squeezing Kay’s hand for comfort. Catching the hard edge to his voice, Kay looked up at him. A fake half-smile was plastered to his face, but he didn’t shake the woman’s hand or kiss her on the cheeks.
“You look well,” the woman commented. “It’s good to see you again, Luke.”
“Is it?”
“Let’s keep things civil,” his brother said. “For Amanda’s sake.”
“Let’s hope Amanda doesn’t get married again,” Luke replied. “Otherwise we'd have to do this all over again.”
Kay looked at them, trying to connect the dots and failing.
“We’re on the same table,” Maggie said to her.
“Oh,” Kay replied, forcing a smile. She had no idea what this meant, or what Luke would say, but a polite smile from her seemed to be fitting. Maggie seemed equally as uneasy, as the two men beside seemed desperate to avoid the conversation.
“Are you staying at the hotel?” Maggie asked her. “Silas blocked out a whole floor for family.”
“Uh, no, I don’t believe we are.”
“We’re not,” Luke stated.
“There you go. We’re not.” She gave Maggie an apologetic smile.
“That’s too bad. Well, we can catch up at the reception.”
“We’re not staying,” Luke replied.
“Not even for the reception?” Kay asked. Since when had he changed his plans?
“That’s low,” his brother said. “You don’t have to take it out on Amanda.”
As she looked from one brother to the next, and saw the way their faces twisted in hate, Kay wondered what exactly was going on.
Luke fixed his brother with a cold stare. “I’m not.”
“Don’t do that, Luke,” his sister-in-law interjected. “Amanda will be upset.”
“She’ll understand,” he growled.
Kay squeezed his hand gently, and even though she knew she’d wouldn’t have much chance of getting him to change his mind, it was worth a try. “Why don’t we stay for a while?” To leave now would only make things worse—though things already looked pretty bad to her. “Your sister looked so happy to see you.”
“No.”
“But we’ve come all this way and it’s your sis—”
“We’re not staying,” he ground out, touching his neck. She noticed he’d done that a few times today. “What’s wrong?”
