At first, I thought it was Cade. My stomach flipped before I could stop it. I turned with a smile already starting, ready to tell him he was going to get us both murdered if my brothers caught him following me into the kitchen after the neck-kiss incident.
The smile died before it formed.
Luke stood just inside the door, one hand still resting on the handle and the house seemed to go silent around him.
Outside, laughter exploded from the driveway, muffled and far away, Cade’s voice mixed with my brothers’ as street hockey started getting set up.
My safe world was suddenly too far away.
Luke’s eyes dropped to the buns in my hands, then lifted to my face.
“Blissy?”
My fingers tightened around the plastic bag until it crinkled loudly in the quiet kitchen.
And just like that, every bit of warmth Cade had left on my skin turned cold.
16
Bliss
I should’ve known better than to let myself feel safe for too long.
That thought hit me almost violently the second I stepped into the hallway and saw Luke leaning against the wall outside the bathroom like something dragged up from the worst years of my life.
Every ounce of warmth inside me died instantly.
The noise from the backyard still carried faintly through the house behind us—music, laughter, somebody yelling near the grill—but it sounded farther away now. Muffled. Distant. Like the house itself swallowed sound whole the second I saw him standing there.
Luke pushed away from the wall slowly when his eyes landed on me, and fuck, even now he could still make my body react before my brain caught up.
Not attraction.
Never that.
He was repulsive to me now, but my body still recognized him as danger before my brain had time to catch up.
My shoulders locked automatically, pulse spiking hard enough I could hear it in my ears while every instinct inside me screamed danger before he even opened his mouth.
Because this was the version of Luke people never saw.
Not the charming former hockey player with the easy smile and polished voice. Not the hometown golden boy everybody defended automatically.
This Luke looked wrong, like something ugly moving underneath his skin already.
“You brought Mercer again?” His voice stayed low, but rage curled beneath every word.
I shut the bathroom door behind me quietly without answering right away because fear only fed him. Luke loved reactions. Loved feeling people shift around him emotionally.
Especially me.
“Yep,” I said evenly.
Luke laughed once under his breath, but there wasn’t anything remotely amused about the sound. “You think I’m patient, Bliss?”
My stomach tightened hard. “Excuse me?”
“You think I don’t see what’s happening?” He took another step closer. “You parading some fucking hockey star around trying to make me jealous?”
