Book of Luke (Book 2) (10 page)

I laughed nervously. “That was my best
friend.”

The guys still stared at me. Luke’s eyes did
a quick roll down my body.

Actually, so did Troy’s.

Luke turned to him. “Want to join us
skiing?”

Troy looked at his watch. “I’m out of here
at noon.” He spoke with a light accent; I was assuming French. And
damn, it’s almost as hot as he is!

Luke nodded. “Staying around here?”

“Nah,” Troy said. “I’m a tumbleweed blowing
in the wind. I was actually planning to move to the northwest.
Flying out of here this coming Thursday.”

“Where in the northwest?”

Troy shrugged. Then he laughed. “Alaska!
Need a roommate? I could use one.”

Luke pointed a thumb at me. “She’s moving me
to British Columbia.”

Troy glanced at me. “You don’t say! That’s a
pretty sweet spot. That’s sort of in the northwest, right?”

Luke grinned. “North of northwest, actually.
You’re part Canadian, you really don’t know?”

Troy shook his head. “I’m French-Canadian,
from Westmount, Quebec. Never been to British Columbia.”

Luke chuckled. “Well, there’s more snow
there than there is in Quebec.”

Troy’s eyes widened. “Sweet! I’m going to
need a roommate, though. I spend all my money on ski passes and I
work at gift shops.”

And yet—much like my boyfriend—he’d be
rolling in dough
if he ever stepped into a
modeling
agency
.

Luke raised his eyebrows. “You’re looking
for a roommate now, or later?”

“Both. I need to live somewhere that’s not
with my parents.”

Luke rubbed his chin. “My stepdad just redid
the basement. He added a mother-in-law apartment that he’s planning
to rent out.”

“No shit!” Troy grinned. “Count me in! At
least until you graduate!”

“Yeah,” Luke said, giving him five. “Hanging
out again will be awesome! And the slopes are quite nice
there!”

Troy gave him two thumbs up. “That’s what
really matters, eh?”

“Yup.”

They seemed to have run out of things to
talk about, because they were both eyeing me.

“What?” I said, suddenly nervous. I bit my
tongue.

“It’s nice seeing Luke with a girl. He’s
always single,” Troy said.

I didn’t know if I’d heard right. “Why was
he always single?”

“Luke’s kinda picky,” Troy said, patting him
on the back.

He’s
picky?
And he chose
me
.

It’s like one of the wonders of the
world!

I grinned like an idiot.

“Well she’s cute,” Luke breathed, making me
even more nervous.

“Quite a catch!” Troy grinned devilishly.
“Does she have a sister?”

“No,” I blurted. “But Luke does! And I think
she’s in love with you!”

They laughed.

“My sister’s taken,” Luke announced. “She’s
got baggage, too.”

I bit my lip.

“Ah, yeah?” Troy looked interested.

“Yeah, she’s having a kid with my best—”
Luke caught himself and cleared his throat. “With my friend, he’s
a… a best-selling author.”

“No shit!” Troy knitted his eyebrows.
“What’d he write?”

Luke shrugged. “Stuff.”

The door jingled and we moved aside for a
customer who came straight to the counter.

Luke pulled out his phone when it beeped. He
glanced at the screen, and his eyes suddenly locked with mine.
“What’s wrong, Beautiful?”

I shook my head in dismay.

He just stared at me.

The customer left and Troy spoke French to
the old lady in the background—I’m assuming his boss. “Luke, I can
go early.” He went for his coat.

“Awesome!” Luke said, eyes narrowing at me.
“Let’s do it.”

~ ~ ~

“That’s Matterhorn,” Luke breathed on a peak we’d
taken the ski lift up to, pointing to a pyramidal peak in the
distance. “Not very high compared to Denali,” he said. “But still
pretty impressive.”

I snapped a picture with my cell phone. “How
high is it?”

“About 14,700 feet,” he said. “Give or
take.”

It was a bit cooler at that elevation; it
felt like it was about ten degrees up there. We wore dark
snowsuits, but our jackets were unzipped. Well, except for
Troy’s—his was zipped. But he’s not used to insane temperature
shifts, and he doesn’t wear sandals in thirty degrees like we
Alaskans do.

That’s when my cell phone buzzed. I was
expecting Lilly, but I was greeted by Dad.

“Hey, Dad,” I breathed into the phone.
“Isn’t it late there?” I swear he was calling me in the middle of
the night.

“I wanted to check on you. Burke said you
were asleep when I called last night.”

“Yeah,” I lied, wondering when he’d called.
“I’m on a ski trail with Luke now.”

“Is Burke there?” Dad demanded.

“No,” I reiterated. “I’m on a ski trail with
Luke. And a friend of his.”

“Is Luke behaving?”

I rolled my eyes. “We’re on a ski trail,
what could he possibly be doing?”

“Let me know if he misbehaves!”

Luke and Troy talked softly, eyeing me. I
half liked the attention; the other half wondered what they were
saying.

The presence of the hunky Monsieur
De La
Fontaine
made me anxious. I was afraid this guy would decide he
doesn’t like me, and sway Luke to look elsewhere.

Sadly, he wouldn’t have to look far.

I’m sure it was all in my head, but it felt
like my every move was being judged.

And yet, I’d
still
snapped a
picture of this guy in front of my boyfriend!

“Adonia!” Dad pulled me back to reality.

“There’s reception here?!” I shrieked. We
were standing on a mountain, and it just occurred to me that I was
using my phone. From this mountain.

Out in the middle of freakin’
nowhere
.

The guys grinned.

“Adonia, stop rambling and tell me when
you’ll be back at the hotel,” Dad demanded.

“I don’t know, Dad. Tonight.”

“Well I will be calling Burke’s cell phone
again, make sure it’s not too late.”

“Dad, I’m half a world away—you’re giving me
a curfew?”

“You know it, sweetie!”

I groaned. From the conversation I could
tell my mom was asleep—she would not have let him get this far
without scolding him for being downright ridiculous again.

“I have to go now, Dad. I have two guys
waiting for me,” I said, just to mess with him.

Yeah, it’s like I was
begging
to be
grounded. But for once he could not do anything about it, and I
kind of felt like he deserved it.

“
Two?”
he asked in a panic. “Who’s
the second guy?”

“A friend of the first guy’s,” I said.

“Is
he
behaving?”

By this point I’d rolled my eyes so much
they started burning calories. “
Yes
, Dad, he’s behaving,
too.”

“Let me know if he misbehaves!” Then he
said, “Be careful, sweetie. I love you.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

“
I love you
, sweetie,” he repeated,
like it would kill him if I didn’t say it back.

“I love you too, Dad,” I grumbled.

He hung up, thank
God
.

Speaking of which…

Luke waved a pole at me. “Ready to go,
Beautiful?”

Troy put on his goggles, but Luke seemed
content with just his baby blue scarf. I inched my scarf up my
face. “Yeah,” I breathed, joining him by his side. “I’m ready. Just
take it slow,” I added.

He looked at me naughtily, and I smacked him
playfully. “This is kind of scary. Sharp rocks and stuff,” I
said.

He wrapped an arm around me and squeezed.
“We’ll go slow.”

Troy inched toward the trail and started
speeding down. Luke was on his tail within seconds, and after a
hesitant look down, I followed them.

The snow was quite deep—considerably deeper
than what I was used to in Alaska. We glided along, though, and
before I knew it I was having a whole lot of fun.

“Stay back!” Luke hollered about a third of
the way down. “Don’t follow, stay back!”

I plunged my poles into the snow and came to
a halt. “Why?” I asked, though I doubt they heard me.

Looking at them from that angle, it looked
like they were surfing. They skimmed along, an ocean of snow
parting for them as they passed through it.

Luke made a sudden turn. He bent down,
leaned his entire body far forward and went off a cliff!

“
Oh my God!”
I shrieked, my body
rattling as Troy followed.

They hit the snow a few hundred feet below
and came to a stop.

“You guys are
insane!
” I screamed
through tears, gaping down at them.

They laughed and exchanged a high-five.

Luke pulled his scarf down to his neck.
“Sorry if I scared you, Beautiful!” His words echoed.

I gripped my heart. Not only did that scare
the crap out of me, but it impressed the hell out of me, too! “I
can’t believe you did that!”

Luke waved at me like it was nothing. “Ever
heard of heli-skiing?! We’ve done that, too! Helicopter drops you
off on a tall peak and you jump from there!”

“What?!” I screeched.

The guys laughed.

“Scared of heights, mademoiselle?!” Troy
removed his goggles and grinned up at me.

I laughed. “Yes, actually! How’d you guess!”
I looked around for a way down that
wasn’t
crazy, skied
carefully around a steep bend and finally found a decent slope.
Within minutes I’d reached them.

“Are you okay?” Luke wrapped an arm around
me.

“I’m okay
now
,” I said, shoving my
head into his chest.

He inched my mouth up and kissed me briefly;
briefly
because Troy was there, I’m sure. “Boy am I glad you
can follow directions!”

I laughed. “You know how I feel about
cliffs. I had no choice!”

Troy looked at me again, the same way he did
in the gift shop. His eyes rolled down my body.

Yeah, I’m sure it’s just my
imagination.
It had to be. Because with that coat and snow
pants, I wasn’t exactly shapely.

~ ~ ~

We brought two pizzas back to the hotel at eight,
after Luke finally decided he was done jumping off cliffs.

“How was your day?” Burke asked as we walked
into the room my dad paid for.

Luke gave him a thumbs up. “We thought we’d
let you take the suite tonight. And we brought you a pepperoni
pizza!”

Burke put down the book he was reading and
joined us at the counter. “This entire pizza is mine?” he asked in
disbelief.

“Except for this slice,” Luke said, grabbing
one. “It’s the only pepperoni I’m getting tonight!”

Burke smiled. “You got her extra
cheese—very, very nice! That’s her favorite, I heard.”

“He’s the perfect boyfriend!” I gushed,
though I don’t think they realized how much I really meant it!

Luke winked at me and sat on a bar stool. “I
don’t know about ‘perfect’ but I try.”

I chuckled and held my head.

“Did you have fun skiing today, young lady?”
Burke asked, taking a bite of his pizza.

“Yeah, I liked it,” I said. “Troy came with
us—you know, Luke’s friend?”

Burke nodded and dabbed his mouth with a
napkin. “Yes, I met him before.” He looked at Luke. “How is he
doing?”

“He’s good,” Luke said. “He’s looking for a
roommate. I told him he can use your mother-in-law apartment for a
while.”

Burke snapped his fingers. “Brilliant! Until
you move out, yes?”

Luke nodded. “With my girl here.”

“Ah, but sometimes people have more than one
roommate. It is cheaper for everyone, yes?”

Luke looked at me. “I guess.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about living with
two gods. I guess most girls would be ecstatic, but I thought it
kind of crowded; and maybe a bit weird, because Troy’s awfully hot,
too.

Luke’s phone beeped again. He pulled it out
of his pocket. It was tilted so I could see only part of the
screen—the part with the red bikini.

A bikini!

I only got one
horrifying
glimpse,
before he chuckled, moved and typed something.

My spirits sank into an abyss. Cheese pizza
felt like it had solidified in my stomach, and it began to
hurt.

My entire
being
began to hurt.

I guess I should have seen it coming, or
expected it at some point; better now than later, when I’d be even
more
devastated, right?

I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach;
like someone knocked the wind right out of me. Breathing was a
task. I didn’t think I’d done anything worth losing him for.

Why does he
hate
me?

“Why are you trembling?” Luke asked,
unsettled.

“Huh?” I said, confused. And when I realized
I was, I tried to stop.

His phone beeped again, and he looked at it.
But his focus turned to me, and I think he noticed that I looked at
it, too.

Through tears.

I rubbed my eyes before they could begin
flowing. “I’m so tired,” I lied, my voice shaky. When I glanced
back at him, he was still staring at me.

“I can go and let you sleep, young lady.
Would you like that?” Burke asked with his gentle smile.

“You don’t have to,” I breathed, gripping my
stomach. “I’m going to go take a shower. I’ll be a while.”

Luke watched me cross the room for a change
of clothes. I was too upset to even confront him about it, and
after the way I felt the last time we broke up, I didn’t even want
to think about that.

I grabbed my clothes and—for some unknown
reason—hugged Burke good night. I just needed some form of
reassurance, even if I risked breaking down. The sobs were in my
throat, and I tried not to let them out.

He hugged me, hesitatingly, like wondering
what the hell got into me. I hugged him like my dad.

For once, I really missed my father.