Locke (Rosewood High #0.5) - Tracy Lorraine Page 0,3

my attention despite the fact his eyes are practically burning into my skin.

“Sure did,” I lie. In reality, I sat on my window seat and reminisced on all the dickhead things he and my brother have done to me over the years. Locking me out of my bedroom; damn, even the house one time. Reading my diary when I was at dance class and telling the entire school who I had a crush on. Stealing my toys, giving my dolls an unwanted haircut. The list of bullshit pranks was endless. I was never going to beat them, no matter how hard I tried. They were two legends of the basketball team; no one could touch them. And me? I was just the little sister. The little sister who was no good at sports and mostly had zero coordination. My skills lie in the art department, and while they were both ruling the school along with the football team, I was more than happy to hide behind a canvas.

I take the empty seat at the other end of the table and reach out for a spoonful of rice.

“It’s nice to see you, sis,” Levi says with what I assume would be a roll of his eyes if I were to look up.

“You too.”

I love my brother, I do. But usually when he’s alone. He’s never quite himself when he has company, whether that’s Emerson or anyone else.

“Thank you so much for having me, Gary. I really appreciate it.” His deep rumbling voice vibrates through me and my hand stills on its way toward the chili spoon. My eyes defy me, and I find myself looking up and straight at him.

He might have just spoken to my dad who’s sitting beside me, but his eyes are firmly fixed on me.

My mouth goes dry and I fight to swallow.

“It’s no problem, son,” Dad mumbles around a mouthful of food.

“How are you, Lys? School good?” he asks, but I can’t imagine he really gives a shit.

“Fantastic.” I give him a fake smile and force my eyes away from his intense light-blue ones.

Butterflies erupt in my belly as his stare remains on me. It might be the case that I hate him for all the dickhead moves he’s made over the years, but the fact remains that he’s drop-dead fucking gorgeous and is the only guy who’s ever really interested me.

I used to spend hours sitting on my window seat watching the two of them shoot hoops down the driveway, or keep my light off and peer around the drapes directly into his bedroom at him when he’d forgotten to close his own.

There are two very good reasons that the girls at Rosewood High used to chase him around like a lost puppy: the six-pack and the V lines I’ve had the pleasure of running my eyes over on many occasions.

My temperature starts to increase as I picture him jogging around the driveway with his shirt off, his skin glistening with sweat.

Fucking hell, Alyssa. Fantasizing over him while he’s living in the room next door is the last thing I need to be doing.

“So how was your last week of college?” Mom asks, turning all attention away from me. Both Levi and Emerson chat away about what they’ve been up to and the work they’ve been assigned while they’re here. I hardly listen to any of it. Instead, I eat my dinner and make my excuse of having work to do so I can run away.

“Lys, you’ve got weeks to be doing all that. Why don’t you spend the night with us? We can have a movie night or something,” Dad says, halting my escape.

“Yes,” Mom chirps up. “I bought popcorn and ice cream. It’ll be like old times.”

The excitement on her face means I don’t have much of a choice. “Sounds great. I’m just going to change and I’ll be back down in a bit. Don’t let Levi choose the movie,” I warn, knowing his addiction to scary movies.

Everyone laughs, but no one agrees. Bunch of weirdos; they all love having the shit scared out of them. I, however, prefer to be able to sleep after watching a movie and not sit in the middle of my bed with the light on, scared out of my wits.

* * *

By the time I return, all four of them are sitting on the couches, the drapes are pulled shut and there are bowls of snacks adorning the coffee table, despite the fact we all just ate