Nightstruck - Jenna Black Page 0,64
“She was pretty mad at me for refusing to go with her.”
I didn’t know exactly how much Luke knew about the events of last night, but I knew my dad had told him that Piper had been with me and that she’d wandered off. I wondered if he blamed me for it, if he thought I somehow let her leave, but I didn’t know how to ask him.
I shook my head. My crush on him notwithstanding, I had no right to feel awkward around him. Not now, when his girlfriend was missing, presumed dead. He was more unavailable than he’d ever been, and I should treat him like I’d treat any fellow human being, instead of like a boy I’d been crushing on forever.
It was almost four when Dad left, and though we still had about forty-five minutes until sundown, I went ahead and double-checked the locks on all the doors and windows. I also made sure our supply of flashlights, Coleman lanterns, and batteries would be in easy reach even if I was fumbling around in the dark.
“I should probably go ahead and cook some dinner now, in case we lose power later,” I said, half under my breath. I had a habit of talking to myself when I was alone in the house, and I hadn’t fully grasped that I wasn’t alone until Luke answered me.
“You don’t have to cook for me,” he said. “I can just eat a sandwich or a TV dinner or something like that.” He shook his head. “I should have brought food. I just didn’t think of it.”
I waved off his concerns. “I’d be cooking something for myself if you weren’t here, so it’s no big deal.” Though if it were just myself, I might have gone for another grilled cheese and tomato soup dinner, which is one of my favorite comfort meals. “I haven’t been shopping for a while, so I’m going to have to improvise, but I’ll put something together.”
Luke offered to help me, but our kitchen was tiny, and it was hard enough to move when Bob was constantly underfoot. It seemed the lower the sun sank, the clingier he got. Although, to be fair, I had defrosted some ground beef and was making a hamburger casserole that would have kept him riveted night or day.
At about four forty, with sunset only minutes away, I stuck the casserole in the oven and went upstairs to get the SIG. Dad had suggested I keep it with me at all times once the sun went down, and he’d even loaded up some extra mags for me, just to make sure I had plenty of firepower.
Luke’s eyes widened in surprise when I came back downstairs with the gun in one hand and the extra mags in the other. I guess Dad had never mentioned to him that I’d be packing. I hoped he wouldn’t turn out to be the kind of macho dipshit who thought it was his duty as the male to take the gun and guard the helpless girl. But then, if he were that kind of guy, I probably never would have had my little crush problem. There’s nothing that turns me off more than a sexist asshole.
Luke got over his surprise quickly and grinned at me. “That is totally hot,” he said, then blushed crimson and shook his head, gaze dropping to the floor. Which meant he couldn’t see me blushing, which was a good thing. “Sorry,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “That was totally inappropriate.”
I guess he felt guilty for saying something flattering to a girl when his girlfriend was missing. Or maybe I was so firmly entrenched as his honorary kid sister that it felt kinda gross to describe me as hot.
Not that it was me he’d said was hot, at least not per se. I would never register on a guy’s hot-o-meter all by myself. It was the chick-with-a-gun image he was reacting to, and I had no cause to feel that little stirring of warmth in my belly.
“No problem,” I assured him. “I really hope we don’t need this, but better safe than sorry.”
I sailed past him into the kitchen, trying to act as if his words had had no effect on me whatsoever. I’d only put the casserole in the oven about five minutes ago, but I cracked the door to check on it anyway, just to have something to do and to give the moment of tension time to fade