Page 101 of Luck of the Draw

“Good,” she said, bracing herself for the worst. He was drinking abeer. It was onlynoon. On aWednesday. Atwork. She cast a glance at his face, and his mouth was contorted into a disgruntled frown. He didn’t exactly look like someone who was about to proposition her. “Are you okay?”

“No,” he grumbled.

She crinkled her brow and squinted at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Lemme ask you something.” He shifted on the couch to face her more directly, resting the beer on his knee.

Skye’s defensive walls shot back up. “Okay?”

He glanced over his shoulder at the group and then looked back at her as he lowered his voice. “Are youwithRiley, or are you just like hanging out with him or whatever while you heal up? I sort of heard about the situation with the mugging or whatever it was, and I know you’re from out of town or something, so I didn’t know if you were likewithhim.”

She shifted away, her hackles up, and she leveled him with her gaze. “I’m notwithBrennan. I’m just staying with him while I heal up. But I’m notwithhim.” She leaned toward him, eyebrows high on her forehead, and she lowered her voice while still sounding as threatening as someone as small as her could be. “And I don’t care if youthinkyou fucked me before, it’s not happening again.”

“Holy shit, dude.” Luke recoiled, inching his entire body away from her while he lifted his hands like a white flag of surrender, holding the beer with his index finger hooked around the neck of the bottle. “I swear to fuck that’s not what I was about to say.” He darted his gaze toward the front of the house and then looked at her again, waving his hands frantically and sloshing the beer. “I don’t think that. I’ve never seen you before Riley brought you here, and I definitely,definitelywasn’t about to ask for that.”

Skye stared him down for a second, studying his face and wracking her brain for what that guy had looked like. He’d had a tattoo of an American flag and the black silhouette of a military helicopter on his shoulder. “Roll up your left sleeve.”

Luke squinted, one half of his upper lip curling up. “Huh?”

“Do you have a tattoo on your left shoulder?”

He hastily shook his head while grabbing the neck of his plain gray t-shirt, tugging it down to display the top half of his sculpted right pectoral muscle. A tattoo of a cartoon bulldog wearing a USMC hat peeked out. “Only one I’ve got.”

Skye narrowed her eyes, staring at the tattoo for a second.

She would’ve remembered that.

For God’s sake.

It was beyond time to get to the library.

“Sorry.” Skye sat back again, folding her hands in her lap and casting her eyes downward. “That was a fucked-up thing to say. I’m really sorry, Luke.”

“It’s okay.” He let go of his shirt and scrubbed his close-cropped, medium brown hair with his fingers. “You know, if some choad needs to be taught a lesson, me and Connor and—”

“Nobody needs to be taught a lesson.” She gestured for him to go on. “What was the question?”

“It’s kind of an embarrassing favor, actually.” Luke exhaled long and loud before swigging the beer. “And I was gonna ask you, but I couldn’t ask you if you and Riley were actually a thing.”

Even if he wasn’t the other guy, this still sounded a little shady. Skye internally braced again. “What’s the favor?”

“So, my ex-wife is getting married next Saturday,” he explained. “And she invitedmeto her wedding.” He cocked his head and screwed up his face. “Like, what the hell, right?”

Skye curled her upper lip in distaste. “That is kind of shitty.”

“Right?” He shook his head and swigged the beer again. “She says she doesn’t want us to have hard feelings. Like, my older brother’s invited and everything. Like, we’ve all known each other since friggin’ grade school, right? So everybody is old friends, and everybody’s still old friends even though we got divorced.” He paused, huffing loudly again. “So anyway, that brings me back to my embarrassing favor that I wouldn’t be asking for if you and Brennan were a thing.”

Skye shook her head. “We’re not a thing.”

“I was wondering…” He stretched his mouth into a grin so wide it morphed into a painful grimace. “Would you go to the wedding with me? Like, you wouldn’t be myactualdate, you could just show up with me so it wouldlook likeyou were my date.”

“Oh.” She paused as she looked at the far wall. Brennan probably wouldn’t like that even though they weren’t athing. He still had feelings, and she’d rebuffed them, and it would just be inconsiderate. Not to mention, it was just a little too much like all the shit she was desperately trying to get away from. “I don’t think that’s a good—”

“Why not, Skye?” Brennan was suddenly standing at the doorway of the back living room, casually leaning against the wall and scrolling through his phone. “It’s just a harmless favor. And like you said, we’re not a thing.” He put the phone in his pocket and cast her a flippant glance; eyebrow cocked like a pistol. Skye’s stomach plummeted. He squared his eyes on Luke. “Wanna borrow my car, too, Corporal?”

“Well, shit.” Luke cringed and then took a long pull of beer. “Looks like I’m gonna die in my sleep now.”

Brennan laughed abrasively as he slipped his hand into his pocket. “Nah, brother. It’s all good.” He pulled out a key fob and lobbed it at Luke, who caught it like a torpedo to his chest. “You kids knock yourselves out.” He turned to stroll back down the hall toward the front door. “I’m going to lunch with the parents-to-be if y’all want to join us.”

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