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I return his smile with one of my own.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lara
My whole body shakes, pulling me from the edge of sleep, when a cold breeze whooshes around the inside of the car. It’s still dark outside, but it’s different now, less intimidating. Maybe because I know it’ll be getting light soon.
Coldness has seeped in deep, leaving me exhausted enough to rest a little while I wait for someone to leave the house and notice I’m out here. Either that or I’ll be out here long enough that I can walk home.
I glare at the open car door, but like the last ten times I’ve looked at it, I just can’t muster the strength to get up and close it.
After clambering back into the car, I curled up onthe back seat facing the open door and haven’t moved since. My teeth may be chattering, but my ankle and upper body are still throbbing.
The sound of tires crunching against the ground perks my spirits, and relief floods my body. I don’t even know who it is, but all of the stress and pain of the night hits me all at once.
I blink back tears. A car door closes and then another. Two male voices float over. I don’t even care who it is. I just need help.
I open my mouth to call out, but nothing happens.
A blurry figure walks around the car, another close behind. Just as the second person reaches out to close the back door on their way past, they do a double take.
Kaleb!
My breath leaves me with an audible whoosh.
“Hi,” I croak out.
If I wasn’t so fed up, I’d laugh at the way his eyes widen and his jaw drops.
“Michael!” he calls out, his voice a few pitches higher. “Lara.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Michael answers, coming closer. “Enough about Lara. My patience only goes so far, Kaleb.”
Anything else he planned on saying gets lost when Michael rounds the car door and sees me. For the first time since meeting them, it’s easy to believe that they’re brothers. While they look nothing alike, theirmannerisms mirror each other. Wide-eyed and open-mouthed, they stare as blood drains from their faces, only to appear a second later on their flushed cheeks and necks.
Michael recovers first.
“Princess, what are you doing out here?”
I ignore his question and concentrate on his earlier words. “You guys were talking about me?” But my words are choppy, the cold still stealing some of my breath.
Michael frowns. “Remember, I don’t like asking twice, and nothing about this is funny. Why are you still out here?”
Fine, be like that.I pout at him.
“Because you said to stay in the car,” I tease.
But Michael’s face falls. He goes from worried to devastated in under a second. Shouldering Kaleb out of the way, he places both hands on the seat, slowly sliding them forward until one sits at the edge of the seat and the other under along the seam of the seat, stopping when both are on either side of my hips and he’s braced his weight on his elbows.
“Tell me you didn’t stay in the car at the end of October with the door open just because of what I said.”
He looks devastated, genuinely hurt that he may be the reason I’m out here.
It hurts knowing that I put that look on his face. Swallowing hard, I lick my lips, my mouth suddenly very dry. “I didn’t,” I tell him, shaking my head.
His eyes immediately darken, and Kaleb lets out a strangled sound, throwing his hands up as he turns away.
Oops.
