Page 159 of Love Bites

BELLA

Iclung to Luke’s arm that night as he drove us down the winding road to the village below Primrose Academy.

“Have you talked to Jon since you got to school?” he asked.

I shook my head, too emotional to speak.

“Thank you for telling me about him,” he said softly. “I want to know everything about you, and about him too, since he’s my brother now.”

I swallowed over the lump in my throat. “He doesn’t even know about the school. And he’s been really down. He hasn’t been responding as much as he used to. I don’t think he’ll want to talk to you. But I’ll tell him about you, of course.”

“There’s no rush,” Luke said quickly. “We have as much time as you need.”

“Thank you for taking me to town,” I said. “I know that’s not how you wanted to spend this night.”

“All I want is to help you shoulder your burdens,” he said. “You know that right?”

I leaned against him and let the waves of happiness wash over me.

Sure, I was conflicted, thinking about my brother’s unhappiness at the same time. But it was impossible to be near my mate and not feel content.

Luke pulled into the main drag of the little village and parked the truck.

“There’s a park,” he said. “We can sit there, and you can call. It should be pretty quiet at this time of night.”

I let him take my hand and lead me down the block and into a small grassy courtyard with a swing set, between a coffee shop and a toy store - both of which were closed for the night.

I sat on a swing and pulled out my phone.

Luke patted my hand, then began to pace out the perimeters of the park. I didn’t know if he was giving me space, or trying to protect me, but either way I was grateful.

Jon and I were usually text people - not phone callers. I hoped that making his phone ring might get his attention.

As we descended the mountain, my phone had gone crazy with all the notifications I’d missed while I was under the blocking magic of the school. But not one had been from Jon.

I touched his contact and held my breath.

He picked up on the second ring.

“Bella?” he said, his voice upbeat.

“Hey, Jon,” I said. “How’s it going?”

“Sorry I didn’t text you back,” he said quickly. “It’s just been…crazy here.”

It wasn’t just my imagination. He sounded happy - like, really happy.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“You know that app I was working on when you left?” he asked.

“Yeah, the one for finding cheap parking in Philly, right?” I asked him.

“That’s the one,” he told me. “Phil and I think we cracked it and we’ve been approached by an investor. I think we’re going to go wide with it. There’s a lot of beta testing first, of course. But it’s a great chance.”

“Holy crap, Jon,” I breathed. “That’s amazing.”

“Yeah, and there’s something else too.” He blew out a breath, as if he wasn’t sure how to say it.

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