Toxic - Luke Hemmings

Chapter 20

Izzy's POV

"You must be Izzy." One of his brothers came up to me and reached out to shake my hand. "I'm Brett."

"It's nice to meet you." I said quietly. For some reason his brothers were scaring the shit out of me. The other one came up to me after, his sleeves scrunched up to his elbows to reveal the tattoos that covered him, too. I could now see that Luke definitely wanted to follow in their footsteps throughout his teen years.

"Jaime, it's nice to meet the girl who got Luke's attention." He smirked at me and shook my hand, lingering for a noticeable amount of time.

"It's nice to meet you, too." I gave him a small smile, trying to remain friendly even if my nerves were shot.

We followed them into the kitchen, Luke not letting his hand leave my body. He moved it to the small of my back, walking right next to me and directing me to sit at one of the bar stools around the counter. Seeing him next to his brothers was odd, especially Jaime. They looked almost identical.

"So, you go to school together?" Jaime asked, sitting down across from me on the other side of the counter. Before I could answer, Luke spoke up for us.

"Yeah, our rooms are right next to each other." He brushed Jaime off, grabbing a beer for himself out of the fridge and pouring me a glass of some kind of sparkling drink. He slid the glass over to me, and I was glad that I actually liked it.

"What are you studying?" Brett tried to make more conversation, only this time it was directed only to me.

"Bio-med." I smiled shyly, watching as his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"No shit. Yeah, Luke here is a chemistry nerd. It's fitting he'd find someone similar." Brett chuckled, seeming proud that Luke actually found interest in such a topic. I looked to Luke and saw him eyeing Jaime. I felt like there was something he wasn't telling me about all of this, but I couldn't ask him in front of them.

"He's better in lab than I am. I always have to rush to catch up to him." I indulged in this topic, thinking it was an amazing thing to be good at such a hard subject. He should be proud of himself for being so naturally gifted.

"You don't say. I'm glad we're getting our money's worth, then." Jaime said, taking a sip of his beer.

"Yeah, I bet you are." Luke retorted, jaw tense and eyes cold. His brothers were paying for him to go to college?

"That's nice of you to put him through school." I said optimistically, hoping I could steer this conversation in a positive direction.

"Yeah, it is nice. Thank you, Izzy." Jaime thanked me, but it was more sarcastic than anything, like he was trying to make a point to Luke. I just tried to smile back, but it probably didn't look like a smile.

"What's dinner?" Luke interrupted, changing the topic completely.

"I had Vanessa go pick up some stuff." Brett said, going into the fridge to grab himself another beer.

"Vanessa?" I asked carefully, wondering if it was maybe one of their girlfriends. Neither of them had wedding rings on, so I knew it wasn't a wife.

"I like to call her my house manager. She just takes care of things for me." Brett explained. I nodded in understanding, and then turned to see Luke still standing at the corner of the island. He looked the most uncomfortable I had ever seen him.

"Oh, okay." I smiled.

Small talk and a lot of short awkward silences later, Vanessa came back with a shit ton of food and set it all up on the dining room table. We made our way in, Luke and I sitting on one side while Jaime and Brett sat on the other. Luke's hand found my thigh and squeezed it gently, only when I looked up to him he was staring between his brothers with a tensed jaw. What was I missing here?