into bed, not challenging her to a battle of Mario Cart. Apparently Luke became single minded once the sun went down, if the past two days were evidence. Darkness outside meant video games inside in his mind. And who was she to judge? Before yesterday she had never jumped on a tramp. Today she would play her first video game. It seemed unfair to judge Luke’s passion without trying it herself.
“You awake?” Luke asked, giving her arm a pat in the dark car. “We’re almost home.”
Home. She liked the sound of that, even if she didn’t like the location. “Yes, I’m awake.”
“I don’t know how your jet lag is doing, but—What the hell?” he spat, then slammed on the gas.
“Luke?” Rori asked, tensing in her seat and gripping the door. “What’s going on?”
He turned into his own driveway even as he kept his eyes on a black SUV in the Cannon’s driveway. Whoever it belonged to, Rori was sure that Luke wasn’t a fan.
“Stay here,” he snapped, and burst from the car.
Yeah, right. Like that was going to happen. This was the first time Rori had seen Luke’s temper and she needed to know what had set him off.
Luke covered the distance between the two houses with surprising speed and pushed through the Cannon’s front door before Rori was even out of his driveway. A heart beat later, she heard Luke yelling.
Luke—puppy dog, happy-go-lucky Luke—yelling.
That got her feet moving a little quicker. Even still, she wasn’t half way to the house when Mike sprinted past her and straight into his parents’ house.
“Out!” an authoritative female voice yelled. “No fighting in my house, boys.”
Rori was guessing that was Mrs. Cannon. It took only a few moments for her orders to be obeyed when a man Rori had never seen before launched out of the front door and fell back onto the lawn. Unlike anyone else Rori had met in Luke’s hometown, the man reeked of money. Lawyer money, by her guess. But if the other guy was a lawyer, Luke didn’t seem worried about litigation when he barged out of the house after him.
“You are not welcome here!” he yelled.
“Not your house, not your call,” the other guy said smugly. Luke lunged, and Mike stepped in and held him back.
“I had the same reaction at first,” Mike said to Luke as Kris came to their side in the doorway. “But Kris can date who she wants. It’s her life.”
“Date?” Luke roared. “Are you kidding me?” He turned to Kris like a Judas.
The other guy laughed. “Yeah, Kris thought it best not to tell you at your party. She thought it might put a damper on the evening.”
Luke lunged again, harder this time. Mike held on harder.
“Go ahead,” the man taunted. “Hit me, Foster. I’ll sue your ass for everything.”
Americans and their lawsuits. Rori fought the urge to roll her eyes.
Kris stepped past Mike and Luke and walked to the other man on the lawn. “Can we call it a night, Caleb? I think Luke and I need to have a little chat.”
“Yeah,” Caleb said, making a point to press himself against her as he kissed her goodnight. “You do that. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Rori watched Caleb’s arrogant stroll to the SUV and noted that it wasn’t until the car was half way down the street that Mike let go of Luke. Rori could have never imagined the level of venom in Luke’s eyes as he looked at Kris and snapped, “How long?”
“Two weeks,” she said without apology. “He’s different now, Luke. We can’t judge someone forever based on what they did when they were kids.”
“Kids?” Luke scoffed. “You say that like he wasn’t eighteen years old at the time. People don’t change that much in a few years, Kris. No way you’re dating him. Not on my watch!”
Kris kept her cool. “No offense, Luke, but it’s not your call.”
“Like hell it isn’t! He’s only dating you to piss me and Mike off. Banging you is the best way to add insult to years of injury, right?”
Kris’s cool disappeared in an instant. “Fuck you, Luke.”
“Yeah? Fine. And I guess I’ll leave fucking you up to Caleb,” Luke said, storming back toward his house and calling over his shoulder. “By the way, you missed a button.”
Rori glanced back at Kris before following after Luke and saw that he was right. The center button of her blouse was unbuttoned, a fact that Mike didn’t seem all that happy with. Nor did Mrs. Cannon when