A knock at the front door draws my eyes, but I don’t bother answering. It seems just about everyone in town has a key. Instead, I take a pitcher of sweet tea from the fridge and move to the cabinets for a drinking glass.
“Aww, hey, Lainie.” Wrapping his strong arm around my neck, my –biological– brother pulls me in for a rough hug, unintentionally grazing his belt against my ribs. “How are you doing? Word’s spreading that you’re not feeling well.”
I push him off and turn back to my tea before he realizes he hurt me. “Of course word is spreading. No one in this town knows how to mind their own business.” I swing my arm out and smack his stomach as an afterthought. “And don’t call me Lainie, jerkoff. You know my name.”
Luc pours his own tea and follows me to the living room in his work uniform – navy blue pants, navy blue button up shirt. ‘Lenaghan’ on the breast pocket above the plastic ID card that states his credentials as emergency services and his employment by the state. “You’re really not feeling well, huh? You were the sister with the least attitude, and now look at you; hitting and being mean. We all know you lash out when you don’t feel good. But I even mentioned it to Bear; I said you were pale.”
Shrugging, I sit on the couch that Iknowmy brother and Kari do dirty things on, and lift my aching ankle to the coffee table. “Just a weird cold. No big deal.”
Sitting down beside me, he throws his arm over my shoulder in a pretend hug;pretend, because what he’s actually doing is wrapping his arm around until his palm rests on my forehead.
Lucky for me, my sort-of-doctor overdosed me on hydrogen peroxide, so I’m confident of my infection free status.
“You’re not warm.” He lays his palm on my cheek. “But you’re still pale. You shouldn’t work so much, Jess. You’re always inside, always buried under a pile of paper. Sunlight is good for you. Vitamin D is important. You make me worry.”
I close my eyes and lean back into his embrace. He’s not really hugging me, but I take the comfort, anyway, because I haven’t stopped shaking since the first moment Lance’s calloused hands touched my skin two nights ago. “I didn’t eat much the last day or so,” I admit. “Make me a big dinner, then I’ll get a full night’s rest. After that, I should be back to normal.”
The front door swings wide. One of my best friends in the whole world, with a face covered in innocence and freckles, Kari walks in in scrubs and wild hair, and stops with a kind smile when she notices us. Dropping her bag to the side table, she wordlessly moves to the couch and drops into my brother’s lap like she’s been doing it all her life.
Their relationship is still somewhat new –to the rest of us.But I think it’s been going on in secret for a hell of a lot longer than any of us knew.
“Don’t mind me,” I huff and scoot aside when her leg slams against mine. “I don’t mind. I wasn’t sitting there.”
Grinning, she wraps her arm around Luc’s neck and presses a tender kiss to his temple. While he’s busy with his eyes closed and his arms wrapping around her waist, her spare hand comes to my forehead, then my cheek. “You’re so pale, Jess. You’re not feeling so well? You catch mono or something?”
Luc’s eyes snap open. “Who’ve you been kissing, Jessica?”
A criminal.“Just a bug, but don’t worry, I won’t die today.”Because of the criminal I maybe kissed a tiny bit.“What are you guys doing tonight?”
“We just got off shift,” Kari says easily. “I’m sleeping for sixteen hours straight, then I’m starting a week of nights.”
Luc nods. “What she said. Sixteen hours down, grub, work.”
Scoffing, I lean forward and grab the TV remote for something to watch other than my brother’s relationship. Flicking it on for distraction, since I don’t want to focus on my stitches, either, I turn to the news channel and groan at the sight of Abel Hayes.
The media know that he’s no good. The police know. Everyone knows. But no one can catch him, since he’s squeaky clean on paper. Flicking over to the cartoon channel,Kim Possiblerepeats come on and take me way back to middle school. The sounds of normalcy, the voices of my childhood relax me enough that I toss the remote down and lay my head back with a grunt.
The tickle of my shirt on sensitized skin, the coarse rub of my bandage covering, the knowledge I have a mark thatwillscar, leaves me with an odd tingling in my belly.
I’ve been marked.
And I don’t know why it leaves me with butterflies, instead of nausea.
Turning with a frown at the soft giggles beside me, I watch my best friend’s tongue dart out to tap my brother’s lip.
There’s that nausea I was missing.
“How’d you guys get your work schedules lined up so perfectly?” I slap Kari’s leg when they ignore me. I’m three seconds from going back to bed. I wouldn’t mind sixteen hours down, either. “Your bossknowsyou guys are together, right? How’d you convince them to line you up?”
“We save lives together,” Luc responds without pause. “We make magic when we can communicate and get shit done without speaking.” He flashes a smile that looks just like my daddy’s. “We’re more valuable together than apart. We didn’t have to convince anyone of anything. They know it. We know it. And now we get to make out in the supply closet during our breaks.”
“Ugh.” I slap Kari’s leg when she giggles. Climbing to my feet with a groan, I take my half-full glass of tea and move toward the hall. “Don’t be noisy. Don’t be weird. I’m going to my room. Call me out for dinner. Other than that, I’ll be sleeping my cold off.”
“Jules said she and X were coming over.”
I drop my head back and groan. “I knew that. I forgot. Call me out when they get here. Or not. Whatever. If I’m asleep, don’t wake me up.”
“Yeah, you sure need your beauty rest.” Luc slides Kari around on his lap until she straddles him. “Go away now. Things are gonna get weird, and mom will kill me for giving you nightmares. Can you lock the front door? I don’t have time for Marc to walk in on us again.”