Page 3 of Her Brother's Best Friend

She whimpers into my back. “I can’t go in there, Luke. I can’t face my parents right now.”

“Is there somewhere else?”

She’s silent for a second before she moves off my back and sits up on her own. “My apartment, but that guy... he’s my roommate’s brother-in-law.” Cassy dissolves again and molds into my back.

I’m at a loss. Cass is right about her parents. They will ask questions seeing the state she’s in. There’s Kyle’s, but what I did to the punk is nothing compared to the beating Kyle will inflict, and I can’t run the shop alone while he’s locked up for manslaughter.

There’s no other way around it.

Cass is coming home with me.

2

Cass

Iwake to a smell I don’t recognize. It’s pleasant and rich, like damp earth and pine trees.

Then it hits me, and my eyes fly open, and last night comes rushing back. I’m in Luke’s bed. Dark blue sheets cover me. I’m still in my jeans and tank top, but my shoes are gone, and my hair is loose.

The other side of the queen bed is still made. I can smell Luke on the sheets, but it’s obvious he didn’t sleep here last night. I push up on my elbows to get a better view of the room, but my one arm throbs in pain and I fall back to the bed. Just as I feared, my forearm has four perfectly round blue bruises. I’m sure Joe is waking up with worse.

“Cass.” There’s a knock on the closed door. “You awake?”

It’s Luke. I don’t want to see him. Last night...I...I throw a hand over my eyes and roll over to my side. If he hadn’t been there. Hadn’t seen us in the parking lot. My body shivers under the covers.

The door opens even though I don’t answer, and Luke walks in wearing a flannel button-up over a dark shirt and carrying a coffee mug. The smell reaches me, and I hold my stomach between my arms to keep from gagging. I love coffee, but after last night nothing will sit on my stomach.

Luke sets the mug on the nightstand by his bed and stands over me for several seconds before he says anything. “Cass,” his voice breaks. “This guy...did he…” Luke hesitates, and I know where he’s going.

“No,” I answer without turning to look at him. “That was our first, and last, date. He didn’t get to do anything else.”

I hear his breath release. “Shit, Cass. I was going crazy all night, worried.”

“I’m fine,” I whisper, wishing I was telling the truth. Then I remember Luke’s comment about opening the shop for my brother this morning and judging by the light pouring in the windows, it’s close to time for him to leave. I push the covers off and sit up too fast. My head spins, and it takes both of my hands on either side to stop it.

Luke is by my side in seconds and leans me into his chest. “You shouldn’t be up.”

“You have to get to the shop.”

“I already called your brother and--”

Before he can finish I shoot up straight and stare into his grey eyes. “You didn’t tell him?”

Luke’s hand comes down on my shoulder and calms me. “I should have, but I didn’t. He doesn’t need to know yet. But I do. What the hell were you doing with a guy like that, Cass?”

“It was a blind date. I didn’t know the guy was going to be such a jerk.”

Luke shakes his head and scowls at me. “Does your brother know you’re letting people set you up with losers?”

I’m hot. Luke may have saved me last night, but that doesn’t give him the right to plow into my personal life like he has a stake in it. “My dating isn’t any if Kyle’s or your business.”

A harsh laugh rides up his throat. “The fuck it isn’t. What do you think would have happened if I hadn’t been there last night, Cass? You think telling that guy no would have stopped him from raping you?”

I bristle at the anger in his words. Why does Luke always have to be so harsh to me? I hate him for it. “What do you want me to say? You know what would have happened as much as I do. Are you asking for a play by play?”

Luke stands and paces the room, and I tuck my legs into my chest. He’s right to be angry. I’m angry at myself. But dating is hard enough without worrying every guy out there is a creep.

“I want you to have some fucking feelings about your safety,” He growls at me. His thick arms are tense and the veins in his upper bicep pop. I can’t take my eyes off the full sleeve of ink covering one arm until it disappears under his shirt.

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