“Into the kitchen,now.” Brodie’s alpha tone wasn’t something we heard often, but it made everyone heel, even the humans.
“Sometimes I forget she’s a teenager,” Kye murmured as the girls did as Brodie had ordered.
“How about we go sit on the couch and everyone calms down?” Rian suggested.
It was then that I felt the body against my back and the arms around me, much like Kye had done with Brodie only moments before.
I didn’t know or care which brother it was, but I knew it was what shook me out of whatever I’d just gone through.
That had to mean something, right?
Chapter Five
Max
Iloved being home. That was kind of a mind blowing thought to have, still. Not only that home was a place, but that it wasthishouse. It got to me sometimes, and Ben sensed it, moving his foot where he sat on the couch to push his toes under my thigh.
Luca lifted his head from his book. “You okay?”
I nodded and smiled, then went back to petting Holden’s cat, Cindy. She liked to be petted but only when she wanted it.
The house was quiet. Brodie and Kye had taken Carys and Lina to Erie for the day, and Rian and Holden had gone to his house for some private time. We all knew what that was code for. I felt myself blushing a little at the thought.
There was a cult documentary Ben was watching on the TV, and I’d been kind of following along. Mostly I just enjoyed having him and Luca with me on the same side of the U-shaped sectional.
Suddenly Ben twitched his toes in a purposeful way that made me glance at him. He flicked his gaze to Luca and back to me. I frowned, then realized that Luca was humming.
My eyes widened, and the corner of Ben’s mouth lifted minutely.
We went back to cat-petting and documentary-watching and said nothing.
It was the first time we’d heard Luca hum anything since he’d arrived months ago.
In the next week or so, one by one, everyone heard the humming. We just made eye contact with each other and stayed quiet. The one thing that had worried us all was the fact that ever since he came to stay with us, Luca hadn’t shown any interest in music. Whenever Carys burst into song to sing along to something that was playing on the playlist, Luca smiled slightly but didn’t comment.
I’d scrubbed the few playlists we had regularly on in the house to make sure none of Luca’s music was on them. The last thing we needed was for him to have to hear himself during his better days when he’d had everything.
“Marissa wants you to call her,” Rian told Luca one morning while the vampires hung out in the kitchen with the rest of us while we had breakfast.
Luca groaned but went upstairs to his room where he’d left his phone. Battling the avoidance, much?
I finished my bacon and scrambled eggs, grabbed my two slices of toast, and gulped down my coffee. Then I got out of my chair and squeezed Ben’s shoulder.
I followed Luca just in case he needed support.
As I jogged up the stairs, I could hear him moving at the end of the hall. As I got there, he was coming out of his room and looked surprised, then relieved, to see me there.
“I was going to go to your room,” he said, surprisingly sheepishly.
“I came to see if you needed company.” I bit into a piece of toast and shrugged.
“Please,” he breathed out the word, then led the way to the room where he’d been sleeping with Ben and me every night ever since he was turned.
He went to sit on the armchair by the window, and I shrugged again, then sat by his feet.
His breathing hitched, then he said, “Actually, can we… can we do this the other way around?”
Sensing that something about the request was making him feel vulnerable, I rolled back to my feet and stepped aside so he could slide to the floor. I didn’t make eye contact with him, giving him the emotional space in case he needed it.
