“What about Storm?”
“Lucas is here.” He dug my car key from his jacket pocket and handed it over.
The Jeep was still unlocked, so I got in and revved up the engine, which heaved and sputtered from the cold. This would probably be its last winter.
Liam climbed into the passenger seat.
“Did you get hurt, too?” I pulled out of the driveway and onto the shoelace road that wrapped up the hill.
“No. Lucas got the brunt of it.”
He was quiet after that. Two minutes later, we were parked in front of my house.
As I killed the engine, he said, “Nikki, wait.”
I looked away from the softly glowing bow window of the living room.
“You’re a sweet girl, Nicole Raina Freemont.”
“Thank you?” Yeah, it came out as a question.
“Too sweet for me.”
My stomach felt as cold as when Adalyn and I had dared each other to slurp snow our first winter in fur. “Okay.”
“Also too young.”
I bristled because, what the actual hell? “Too young for what?”
He frowned. “For me.”
“I’m nineteen.”
“Exactly. A teenager. You haven’t even been to college yet.”
“I have a job. I don’t need college.”
He tried to reach out and touch my arm, but I pulled it out of his reach. “Nikki, don’t take this the wrong way. I’m sorry if I mislead you into thinking I might be interested.”
Wow.Punch me in the heart again, why don’t you?“Got it. Loud and clear.” I lurched out of the car and strode over to the house before Liam had even gotten his door. After removing my boots, I strode into the living room where Mom was curled up on an armchair, reading a book, while Niall lay on the couch.
I thought he was asleep, but his brown eyes met mine over the blanket pulled up to his shoulders.
“Hey, Pinecone.”
Shoving aside my festering displeasure at Liam’s words, I knelt by my brother’s side. His hands were bandaged, and he sported butterfly stitches over a long gash beneath his eye.
I must’ve looked about ready to cry, because he said, “I heard the ladies dug facial scars, so I went and got myself one. What do you think?”
I shook my head but smiled, then licked my lips, because a tear hit them. “I’m glad to see the sense of humor has made its return.” Another tear trickled out.
Niall raised one of his bandaged hands to my face but winced.
“Niall, you have to rest them,” Mom admonished him.
He rested it back on his chest just as the front door opened. Imagining it was Liam, I got up and pressed a kiss to my brother’s forehead. “Tomorrow, you, me, the TV, and the couchallday. Sounds like a plan?”
“A fucking great one.”
