Page 17 of Will Bark for Pizza
“I came right over, before you could finish making camp. Did you think no one would find you here when the store opened?”
“Before I could—” I shook my head, already exhausted with my brother. Five minutes had to be a new record. Clearly, my calluses had softened with disuse. “Does it matter if someone finds me here?” I fired back. “There’s a reason we have keys.”
“Youdon’t have a key.”
I covered my face with both hands and groaned. I needed an iced coffee stat. It wasn’t fair I was being forced to face my brother on low caffeine levels. My lower back ached from a rough night on the floor, my stomach was rumbling, and I felt like I could sleep for two days if everyone would just leave me the hell alone. Why did I keep running into irritating men?
“Can we not do this right now?”
I stuffed the few loose items I hadinto my duffle, including the clothes I was wearing when I fell into Ghost Lake. I couldn’t decide whether this confrontation was better before or after a near-drowning experience.
I shuddered at the memory of the pondweed wrapping around my foot when I went under. For a moment that felt like an eternity, I was certain I was going to die. That Husker would be floating around solo on a paddleboard, and no one would even know I was in the lake.
“Why are you here, Kira?” Luke asked, his tone gentler.
“You wouldn’t understand.” I’d tried to tell him once, about my Mom dreams. But he scoffed as if I were crazy.
“Well, whatever the reason, you can’t stay here.”
“Who put you in charge?”
It was Luke’s turn to groan, and he scrubbed a hand over his face.
Small wins.
“I wasn’t planning to move in,” I said, meaning to lighten the mood.
“Did he hit you?”
“What?”
“Where’s The Asswipe?”
It took me several beats to realize my brother meant Travis, and the glacial layer around my heart thawed a sliver.
“We broke up,” I told him.
Though Travis never actually hit me, I didn’t know what Luke would do if he found out he cocked a fist right at my face the day I came home from Colorado last summer.
“I hope you mean that.”
The words hit me like a blow, but I couldn’t pretend I didn’t deserve it. I lied before when it came to Travis, especially to my family. I thought I was protecting someone I cared about. But it turned out, I was just stupid.
“Why is Dad selling the bookstore?” I tried again as I rolled up my sleeping bag. I had half a mind to leave it behind in case the eight-legged demon invited a friend over when I wasn’t looking. Did Charlie have friends, or did she just eat them for a snack?
“You’ll have to ask him.”
An answer I should have anticipated.
“Right.”
“How long you staying?” he asked, arms folded again as he leaned in the doorway. It was obvious he wasn’t going anywhere until he followed me out of the building.
“Haven’t decided.”
“Typical.”
Defensiveness rose in my chest, but I forced myself to take a couple of deep breaths before I spoke. My brother knew how to rile me up on the best days. On the days I had shitty sleep and drowning nightmares, I was extra susceptible to his bullshit.
