Page 67 of Love Bites
Talon cleared his throat, clearly catching on to my meaning. "I'll see if there are any rooms for rent in the area."
"Please do." I leaned in to give him a kiss and then I stood from the bench. "I gotta go check on my little brother. Let me know what Aldrich finds out. And... take care of yourself, okay?" He and his partner had basically committed treason the night before. If they were found out...
"Don't worry. We'll be careful." Talon took my hand and squeezed. "I'll be in touch."
"You'd better be." I exhaled, not wanting to let go, but doing it anyway.
Being away from my vampire after living together for so long was going tosuck.
* * *
Back at Elena's, I found Luke in the living room, sitting on our sister's blue couch, staring at the wall as if looking anywhere else might make the universe fall apart. His eyes were red, but he wasn't crying anymore. Remy was sitting with him, talking in a hushed tone of voice, but he stopped when he noticed me enter the room.
I gave him a small wave and then sat on the couch next to Luke.
"Lucky?" I said. The name managed to get a reaction out of him.
He groaned. "Don't call me that. I'm not feeling very lucky."
I draped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close. "I know." Lucky had been Dad's nickname for him when he was very small, claiming Luke wasso lucky to be here with us now.Dad's weird way of trying to make us focus on the positive. Luke hadn't appreciated it at the time, and he didn't now either, but what kind of big brother would I be if I stuck to nicknames heliked? "I heard about Damian."
"It's my fault."
I squeezed his shoulder. "It's really not."
"You weren't there!"
No, I hadn't been. I'd been too late.
“I was there,” Remy cut in. “And I’ve been telling you it wasn’t your fault.”
Luke glared at our brother, the expression taking me aback. It was rare for Luke to look at anyone that way. He was possibly the least hateful person I knew. “You shouldn’t have held me back,” he said sharply.
“I’d do it again,” Remy said, not impressed by Luke’s display of hostility at all. “If I hadn’t, they would have taken you both.”
“I don’t care!”
I squeezed Luke’s shoulder in a poor attempt to make him calm down. "If anything,” I said, “this is my fault. I was the first to realize that vampires are real. I should have remembered all of Dad's advice that moment and I should have taken it seriously. I should have made sure that vampires couldn't get onto the property. But I was too busy making out with one of them to think of taking precautions."
Luke shook his head. "It's not your fault. It's not like you wanted any of this."
"Did you?"
"It doesn't matter. Damian was trying to protect me." In his voice, I could hear the sound his heart made as it shattered for his friend.
"Oh, Luke." I rubbed his arm. "Anyone would have wanted to protect you."
"He said he would be right behind me. Remy dragged me to the office with him. When I managed to get past him to check... Damian was already gone. Why would they take him?" He looked at me as if I had all the answers. "He's got nothing to do with any of this!"
"I don't know why." I didn't see how Damian could be of any use to the coven, and if that was the case... I swallowed hard, wondering how to tell my little brother that he wasn't likely to see his best friend again. I glanced at Remy who met my gaze with one of sympathy. I understood why he’d dragged Luke away from the scene. I would have done the same thing.
"I invited him over to show off my new dice," Luke told me with a sad smile. "They arrived yesterday. The set you ordered me. The one that glows in the dark."
"I still don't understand what you're going to do with those. Who ever plays in the dark?" I asked if only to distract him from his friend's fate.
“That’s what I said,” Remy agreed.
"They're awesome dice, okay? You two wouldn't get it."
