Page 114 of Bad Luck Club

He knew only too well just how much Blue had looked forward to seeing Adalia’s show, and taken that from her too.

“Yeah, we got separated,” he muttered.

“Haven’t you heard of cell phones?” the woman asked with a furrowed brow. “You can reach anyone anywhere now.”

Great, even Blue’s neighbor was on him for not calling her.

“Thanks for the tip,” he said with a wave, then retreated to his car.

Where the hell was she? Two of her best friends were in New York, and he didn’t have the first clue where Harry lived, although he felt fairly sure he was unlisted, given his paranoia. She wouldn’t have gone to her mother. Where would Blue go to find comfort?

And then he knew.

Blue must have gone to Bear, the man who was like a surrogate father to her. He’d bet anything he would find her there. Rather than head straight to the Cluster, he made a stop at a year-round costume shop. Maybe it was a bad idea, but Adalia and Iris were forever talking about the grand gestures in those romance movies they watched. He wanted to do something like that for Blue. Since everyone in the club had worn a cape at his first meeting, he hoped that wearing one tonight would show her that he accepted the club and the people in it. That he was all in with anything she wanted. That he would never, ever berate her for her art or for being different.

If the cape didn’t work, he’d find a boom box somewhere and try that next. He had to show her he was sorry because words were cheap. They weren’t nearly enough.

The bored teen behind the counter shook his head as he rang up the cape. “These things have been selling like donuts at a stoner party lately. Must be a full moon.”

Lee felt his cheeks heat, but he didn’t give in to the temptation to make up an excuse to make himself look good, like he was dressing up to visit a kid’s hospital.

Once he’d made his purchase, he headed for the Cluster. The road to the house was narrow and winding, and more than a little nerve-racking at night, but he was bound and determined. He’d expected to find the house mostly deserted, to find Blue having a sit-down with Bear and Cal, and maybe Harry, but when he rounded the curve and saw the house up ahead, the gravel driveway was full of cars and Hawaiian music drifted from inside.

The luau was supposed to be next week. Had he gotten the night wrong?

One thing was certain—it was supposed to be her going-away party, which meant they wouldn’t have the party without her. Pushing out a sigh of relief, he opened the bag from the costume store and donned his purchase.

With his heart in his stomach, he walked up to the front door and knocked, not only worried about her reaction but about the rest of the club too. They were fiercely protective of her, something that endeared them to him, but it also meant he would have to run a gauntlet to get to her.

The door opened, and he found himself face-to-face with Harry, who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a plastic lei. He had a thick layer of zinc sunblock on his nose, as if he expected one of the lamps to burn him, and Buford was cradled in his arms. Lee knew Harry had been watching Blue’s rabbit, but why was the rabbit at the Cluster? More importantly, how was Buford handling all this noise and chaos?

“What are you doing here?” Harry asked, glaring at him like he was a dog turd Blue had just scraped off her shoe.

“I need to see Blue, Harry,” he said softly. He tried to step inside, but Harry blocked his path.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to seeyou, Sleeper Agent.”

Sleeper Agent?

Lee shook it off, focusing on the rest of what Harry had said. “If I could just talk to her, then I can explain—”

“Explain?” Harry said loudly, then stepped outside and shut the door behind him. “How can you explain hurting her? Blue’s one of the kindest, most thoughtful, andgoodpeople I know. You might look good in a cape”—he gestured at Lee’s attire—“and sure, she went through a vampire phase like everyone else, but you messed up.”

“I know,” Lee said, his heart breaking all over again. “If I could do things differently—”

“But youwouldn’tdo them differently,” Harry said in a sad voice. “You would still break her heart.”

Would he? Harry was making him doubt everything. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her any more than he already had. Then he looked down at Buford. The rabbit’s stomach was resting on Harry’s forearm, his legs hanging loose. The rabbit’s eyes were wide with fear. “You’re holding him wrong.”

Harry glanced down. “What?”

“His back legs are hanging,” Lee said, reaching out and tucking in his legs. Harry stepped back like he thought Lee was going to give him a wedgie, but at least Buford looked more comfortable.

“He feels insecure like that,” Lee continued, “and he already feels insecure about everything else. He gets scared pretty easy, and…well…he can probably feel the tension between us. I don’t want to upset him.”

Harry’s determined look wavered. “How did you know that? About his legs?”

Lee knew that Buford was special to Blue, and that he was practically scared of his own shadow, so during his two-hour drive day-tripping to Hickory a couple of days ago, he’d asked Siri to tell him everything she could about Flemish Giant rabbits. He didn’t want the not-so-little guy to be scared of him, and Siri had told him they felt insecure when their back feet dangled. “I did some research about how to connect with him because he’s important to Blue.”

---