Don't Jump In Puddles You Can't See The Bottom Of

Chapter 5

Luke's gaze turns to murder and I whirl around in time to see Sun shove Rama out of the way and cringe apologetically toward us.

"Sorry, he was here when we pulled up." She snatches her keys from his hand and curls her lip at him. "He stole my keys."

Tahga follows Sun in, giving Rama a scathing look, and he throws his hands up.

"Okay, sorry?"

"That doesn't fix whatever you just interrupted." Sun snaps, stalking into the dining room and throwing her purse into a chair.

My hand is still on Luke's arm and I feel him inhale and exhale. I squeeze his arm gently. His golden eyes are raging sunset storms and his murderous gaze is still trained on Rama. Sun surveys the situation with a raised eyebrow.

"What did he interrupt?"

Luke closes his eyes and massages the bridge of his nose again, but every muscle in his arms and shoulders stands out, clear to see even though his shirt. After the conversation we just had, his hormones must be raging, not at all helped my Rama invading his territory.

"Did Anika go downstairs?" Sun asks.

Luke nods without moving his hand. In the background Rama says,

"Oh."

Tahga groans and flings the back door open, completely done with the drama raging around her. Sun watches the door close behind her and glances at Rama.

"Why don't you go see if she needs any help?"

We all know she doesn't need help and she's more likely to bury Rama than anything, but she's slightly less dangerous than Luke at this moment. Rama gives a curt nod and follows Tahga out to the back porch. Once the door has closed again, Luke lets out a blowing sigh through his lips and sits back in his chair. Sun helps herself to the coffee and sits on Luke's other side.

"You okay?"

He nods and swirls his now-cold coffee without taking a drink.

"What happened?" She says to Luke, but her eyes flick to me.

"I was just explaining everything about hoarding and humans and that junk."

Sun nods and sips her coffee. "How are you handling this, Anika?"

I start. "Me? I'm fine."

Her eyebrow arches again. "Fine?"

"Yes...? Should I not be fine?"

Sun shrugs, relaxing into her chair. "Not all humans handle coming here as well as you have. We've have some completely freak out after they discover the hoard thing."

"Well, it makes sense." I say, at a loss for words. Cue feeling awkward again. "And I know Luke would never hurt me."

Now it's his turn to raise his eyebrow at me. It's unmistakable that they're siblings. "You weren't scared last night?"

"Well... sort of. Just because I didn't know what to expect and you were acting strange... strange from how I've seen you before. But I wasn't afraid you'd hurt me."

He brings his cold coffee to his lips and I watch him choke down a sip. He glares at the cup and spits a drop of fire into it and it instantly steams.

"I'm sorry," he says.

I realize my hand is still on his arm but it would be awkward to take it off now, so I sit there with my hand sweating and try to talk normally.

"It's okay. Seriously, Luke, it's okay. I should actually apologize to you because you told me not to into your basement and I did."

"Why were you looking for me anyway?" he asks.