Antichrist

The lock on the door jiggles, and suddenly it’s open. I stand straight, clasping the hot mug between my palms. Steam rolls up into the air, but everything stops when Luca’s smile is aimed right at me. The air sucks out of me, yet a smile spreads over my face.

“Hey, sweet.” He drops his keys onto the counter and leaves his bags near the front door. His knitted sweatshirt is a little too innocent, and his jeans probably on the tighter side, but he’s Luca, and Luca feels simple. Like a routine I have known all of my life. I need that.

I jolt forward and wrap my legs around his waist as he catches me, planting a kiss on my lips.

“Hope you didn’t have too much fun without me.”

“I tried not to.”

He is still moving us into the sitting room when my hands are buried in his hair. I lean down to flick my tongue over his ear.

He laughs so hard his chest jiggles against mine as he falls back on the couch. “I’ve been traveling for hours.” He rests his head on the back of the sofa, bringing his finger to the pieces of hair that have fallen to the front of my face. He twirls it around his fingers. “Didn’t you hook up while I was gone?”

I shake my head, scanning his features. Luca isn’t an obvious good-looker. He has brown hair that has been exposed to the sun one too many times, pale skin that seems a little more red around his cheeks, and a nose that has a crooked dent in it, but his eyes? His eyes were his character growing up. They used to be gentle and kind, and when they would look at me (I mean, really look at me), I melted a little inside. Though, that has only happened a couple of times and hasn’t in years. He was everything that Niko wasn’t growing up. But now? Now is different.

Crap. Niko.

“What’s up?” Luca drops his arm beside himself as his brows curve in. “You’re doing that face where something happened and you don’t know if you should tell me.”

I chew on my bottom lip nervously. I don’t know why I’m nervous. Luca and Niko are best friends too, he should be happy that he’s back. “Niko is back in town.”

Luca’s head tilts back, squeezing my hip with his hand. “You sure?”

“Yep. Pretty sure.”

“Huh,” Luca muses, gazing off into the distance.

I know this look too. It’s him trying to figure out what to say to me.

“Well, we should probably catch up with him?”

I sigh, resting my hands on his chest. “Really? Shouldn’t we be mad at him for leaving, especially after Ari?”

Luca shakes his head, but I don’t miss that ghosting of tightness that pulls over his features. “No, sweet. He had just lost his brother too, who knows what he was dealing with. You know how close he and Ari were.”

“Well, that’s the other thing,” I breathe out. “He’s joined The Seven Knights.”

Luca raises an eyebrow. “That surprises you—how?” He taps me on the sharp curve of my hip and I swing my leg off, resting myself back on the sofa.

I watch as he moves to the kitchen. “You know his whole family is the MC. That’s their lives.”

I can hear cupboards closing and opening. He’s looking for the whiskey. When he comes back into the living room, he’s holding a freshly poured glass, passing me one too.

I take it with a smile. “I know. I guess it still surprised me.” My phone starts ringing on the coffee table and I reach forward to answer it, seeing it’s Ma. She and I have remained close over the years. After my aunt died, she took me under her wing and has been like a second mom to me—which is probably another reason why I’m so angry at Niko, because I saw what his absence did to his mother.

Luca rolls his eyes and walks upstairs, leaving me to my call when he sees who it is.

“Hey, Ma.” I’m the only one who is allowed to call her Ma, aside from Niko. “I guess you’ve seen your son.”

“You know?” Her tone is gentle.

She has always been soft to me, but I’ve heard stories about her. She does not extend that same kindness to everyone else.

I blow out an exasperated breath, resting the glass against my lips. “Yup! Saw him with another guy’s throat in his hands last night at Sissy’s. Prick.” I pause, and a few seconds pass before I ask, “Are you okay? You need something from me?”

“Everything will work out, Meme. Maybe now that he’s back, he can scare Luca away.”

I cough on my whiskey, my hand flying to my mouth to stop the contents from spewing everywhere. Ma has never liked Luca, for whatever reason. Even when Niko and I were kids.