Page 2 of Love Bites
"That's not going to happen," I assured my brother, taking my gaze off the road for a second to glance at him and his sad eyes. Damn it. It was really not fair of him to pull those on me. "I'll think about it, okay? Maybe I'll drop by tomorrow."
"Really?" Luke positively lit up.
"Maybe," I repeated. "How about we catch a movie this weekend?" I suggested, only to distract him.
"What movie?"
"I don't know. Whatever you want."
"Can we just watch a movie at home?" Luke tried.
"You know Remy would talk through the whole thing."
"I guess." Luke rummaged through my glove box as if trying to come up with something else to say. He didn't have much time. I was stopped at a red light right now, but I'd be dropping him off at the family house in approximately five minutes. "Wow, I can't believe you still have this," Luke said, fishing a small wooden stake out of the glove box.
My stomach curled in on itself. "It's a keepsake." I'd completely forgotten that I still had it, but I didn't tell Luke that. My little brother was smiling now, as if my discomfort wasn't obvious on my face. Maybe it wasn't. I pointedly kept my eyes on the road ahead.
That stupid stake...
Dad had pushed it on me. He'd pushed those things on all of us. For our protection. Whatever that meant. Other parents gave their teens awkward talks about sex and then a couple of condoms. Our dad had told us about vampires and how to drive a wooden stake through the heart of one.
Why the hell I'd kept it in my car, I couldn't say. It wasn't like I believed in any of the crazy shit my dad had believed in.
"You still got yours?" I asked Luke.
"Sure." He shot me a grin. "Gotta stay safe, right?"
"Right." Luke didn't believe either, but I couldn't remember him ever getting into a single argument with Dad over it the way the rest of us had. He was probably just smarter than me, little nerd that he was. "This is you," I said as I pulled the car up in front of the house that had been my home for eighteen years.
Luke unfastened his seatbelt, then hesitated, one hand on the door. He gave me a long look. "It would be really good if you came over more, you know."
"You can visit me anytime." Just because I'd moved out from home didn't mean we had to be strangers.
"Are you sure? Your roommate is weird."
I laughed. "He's just a weed head."
"If you say so..." My brother didn't seem convinced. He eyed me skeptically and took a sip of the mocha I'd given him. "Thanks for the coffee."
"Sure."
Luke opened the door and swung one foot outside. "You really don't wanna come in for five minutes? Remy is making his famous lasagna."
Now that was a tempting thought. There weren't a lot of things in this world better than Remy's lasagna. Our older brother worked as a chef and I wasn't surprised that people paid a premium to have him cook for them. Even just the thought of his lasagna made my mouth water. It was almost as if I could taste it on my tongue.
It was almost as if I was seated at the dinner table in our house, Luke and Elena bickering to my right while Remy served dinner and told them to shut up. I pictured Dad sitting across from me, that soft smile he always wore on his lips. The one that made him look as if he knew something the rest of the world didn't and it amused him to no end.
I bit my lower lip.
"Collin?"
"I'm fine." I rubbed my face with the flat of my palm. "I'm not that hungry. I'll just throw something in the microwave later."
Finally, Luke accepted that I wasn't going to move from my car. "Okay," he said, climbing out. "But you know, if you change your mind, there'll probably be leftovers."
Oh Luke. He never gave up hope, did he?
I already had plans for the night, though, and they didn't involve family dinner.
