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I pressed my lips against a smile. “And Ruby is Wendy?”
“Tinker Bell.”
“Ah.” Made sense. But Peter Pan was probably the last character that came to mind when I thought of Reid. He was too…bulky. Too strong. “Where is Ruby, anyway?”
Reid grimaced. “Smoking outside.”
He didn’t specify what she was smoking, but if Reid wasn’t by her side, it probably meant it wasn’t cigarettes. Reid wasn’t a prude by any means, but he was studying to get into the police academy and had always tried his best to follow the rules. I was pretty sure he didn’t even drink until he officially turned twenty-one earlier this year.
“Anyway,” Reid said, changing the subject. “Why are you hiding out here in your little crochet nest all by yourself?”
“Crochet nest?”
He gestured to the yarn and the pillows I had tucked behind me and under my arms. “I’ve known you since you followed my baby sister home from kindergarten. You like to get yourself all comfy, surrounded by things that make you happy…Lark nests.” He chuckled.
I blew out a breath. He wasn’t wrong. “I’m avoiding the party.”
He nudged me with an elbow. “How come?”
I paused, not sure how to answer that question. I glanced down at my crochet project and all the soft, squishy yarn that had taken me weeks to find the right fiber and color of. Crochet did make me happy…yarn made me happy. But those were just things in the end. A temporary happiness.
“Lark?” Reid said my name as a concerned question, but before I answered, a loud squeal made me jump as two people darted into the living room.
Thea squealed again as her boyfriend Xander chased her, finally hooking his arms around her waist and pulling her against him.
“I told ya you couldn’t escape, you naughty mermaid.” Xander nuzzled his face—his soaking wet face—against Thea’s, and she giggled.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” she said, but she was all smiles as she pulled her face away from his drenched one. “I promise never to dunk your head in the bobbing for apples tank ever again.”
“You’re damn right.” Xander shook his head, sending droplets of water spraying from his sopping hair.
Thea gasped. “Stop! It’s freezing!”
Goose bumps raised along her exposed skin. Of course she was freezing. I was surprised she’d lasted this long in her costume. I’d made her a shell-shaped bralette and a mini shirt with a scalloped crochet stitch that resembled scales. She looked drop-dead gorgeous with her long, dark hair in an intricate braid adorned with seashells. But it was the end of October in Ohio and damn cold. That outfit barely qualified as clothes.
Xander placed a kiss on Thea’s cheek, and she finally took her gaze off him. That’s when she noticed me…and her brother. Her eyes widened briefly before they narrowed on Reid.
“You weren’t invited.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Reid looked about as happy to see her as she was to see him. “I’m pretty sure the flyers and social media invites you’ve been sending around campus say this place is open to everyone.”
“Everyone but my overprotective, pain-in-the-ass brother.”
Reid grimaced. “Trust me, I had no desire to see…this.” He gestured to the way Thea was pressed up against Xander. His gaze bore into the grip her boyfriend had around her waist.
Xander almost immediately let Thea go as he processed what Reid said. “Hey.” He stepped away. “Sorry, Reid. I didn’t see you there.”
Reid’s expression was as hard as stone, and his silence just as heavy.
Xander uncomfortably cleared his throat. “I’ll, uh, meet you back in the kitchen, Thea.”
Thea sighed as Xander backed out of the room.
“You are so annoying.” Thea groaned, cutting her brother a rivaling glare.
“Love you too, sis.”
She rolled her eyes, ignoring her brother as she looked back at me. “Is this where you’ve been all night?”
