“Busted,” I said, trying not to laugh.
“I don’t want to put you down though.” Caleb’s strong arms kept me hooked against his hip.
A man with curly dark blond hair stood next to Sister Tobias. He turned quickly and my heart stuttered to a stop.
“Caleb.” I gripped his arm.
“Maybe you can help me referee. They’ll probably be too interested in seeing a pretty girl to try to knock down the pins.”
No. No, this was not happening.
Not here. Not now.
“Lu?” Caleb frowned at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Crap.” I turned around, but there was no way to escape.
“What?”
“You gotta go do the thing.” I headed over to the food tent and wished it was full of alcohol. All of the booze. Maybe a lake of it for good measure.
“Luna,” Caleb called after me with an exasperated grunt as he chased me up the hill.
“Luna, is that you?”
My shoulders hunched at the sound of his voice. One I hadn’t heard in years. “Shit. Shit.” I spun around to face him with one hand on my hip. With the other, I pushed my windblown curls out of my eyes. “Hey. How’s it going?”
“How’s it going? That’s all you’re going to say after three years?”
God, his eyes were still the same. Squinty and so blue.
Blue like my own.
I tipped my head back to stare at him straight on. “How’s tricks, Xavier? Is that better?”
“Luna?”
Caleb
from the back and my past standing there big as life from the front. I had nowhere to go. I was tempted to bend at the waist and just breathe from between my knees, but that would show weakness. And I was definitely not showing weakness in front of my brother.
“Who’s this guy?” Caleb’s hand went to my lower back. The heat of his skin made my skin sing.
“Mr. Beck!” Sister Tobias called again.
“Just a moment, Sister.” Caleb’s voice carried. But Sister Tobias was not happy in the least. She went off in a huff.
“Go, Caleb. I can handle this.”
“Handle this?” Xavier’s eyebrow spiked and he shook his head. “Some things never change.” He held out his hand to Caleb. “Nice to meet you. I’m Xavier.”
When Caleb didn’t reach for his hand, I sighed.
“Caleb—”
“Xavier Hastings,” my brother said tightly. As if that would mean anything to Caleb, for fuck’s sake.
“Hastings?” Caleb turned me to face him. “Who is this guy?”