“Luka. I know you’re mad at me, but can you let me in? We need to talk,” I whisper into the door. I’ve been knocking for ten minutes. I see his truck outside in front of the garage, so I know he’s here. I’ve also seen movement behind the curtains in the window. It’s been almost five weeks since he left my house. Five miserable weeks and I hate that I’m here. I wish I didn’t have to be.

“Luka’s not here,” Mr. Parish says, coming out in his fancy suit. I watch as he adjusts his jacket and tie before even bothering to look at me, and when he does, the look makes me nauseated. He doesn’t like me. He hates me. He hates my whole family. That’s never been a secret. The only difference between now and when I was dating Luka is that now I’ve given him reason to hate me. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to speak with Luka. It’s urgent.”

“I think you’ve had your nails dug into my boy enough. Luka wants nothing more to do with you and I, for one, couldn’t be happier. You need to go back across town to the white trash family you belong to. Luka won’t hear any more of your lies.”

“You don’t understand, Mr. Parish. This is important.”

“Your mother was in the local police station today trying to have my son arrested. What could you possibly have to say to my boy? You and that damned hippy mother of yours need to stay away, Lotus Petal, or so help me God, I’ll make it my mission to bury you—all of you. Christ, I can’t even fathom my son talking to a woman who doesn’t even have a real damned name.”

“What? Mom wouldn’t do that. Luka’s not to blame for this! He didn’t know!” I feel the tears and panic welling inside of me. Why would Mom do that? Why would she make this whole situation worse?

“You’re damned right he didn’t know, and now that he does know just how much of a liar you are, he wants nothing to do with you. He’s even asked me to get a restraining order on you. He wants you far away from him.

“A restraining order? But he can’t do that! I’m pregnant, and we have to—”

“My son is gone today signing his papers to go for training at Quantico. He is going places, and nothing you do will keep him from that. You try to pin him as father to that low-class spawn you’re carrying and it will be the last thing any of your family does. You got a brother, right? Wanting to move up in the state police department in Dallas? Or how about that brother of yours, the star football player? He’s looking to go free agent, right? He’s thinking he has millions to put in his pocket. You mess with me, and I have enough connections, none of that will happen.”

“But… Luka deserves to know about his baby.”

“If it’s even his. Women like you spread their legs for anyone, looking for someone to keep you up. Try it and see what happens to your brothers’ careers. Not to mention the mortgage application your mother filled out for that big farm she’s trying to fix up.”

I step back as he disappears back in the house. I know he’s probably watching me through the windows. I hate that I’m crying, but I can’t stop the tears.

I’m all alone.

* * *

Present:

“Black, I’m not so sure about this,” I whisper into the mirror, looking at my reflection. When I say I’m not so sure, I mean I’m terrified this is a horrible idea that is going to backfire.

“Damn, my baby sister is a stone cold fox,” Black says, looking me over.

“And it just got weirder,” I mutter, shaking my head.

“Hey, if you got it, flaunt it.” He shrugs.

“I don’t think that’s the kind of attitude a brother should have with his sister,” I mumble.

“Normally I’d agree, but we’re going to have to pull out the big guns to get Luka to cave.”

“He might not,” I whisper, my biggest fear.

“One look at you in that dress and he’ll cave, baby sister. He’ll cave.”

He’s trying to be reassuring, I know, but I’m afraid this is all hopeless. Seeing Luka out with Tani scared me. Even after I left, I never truly imagined him with another woman—which is stupid, I admit it, but it’s true. Luka is mad at me. He has so much anger inside, and it’s directed at me. Even though he tries to keep it hidden, there are times I see it and feel it coming off of him in waves. He doesn’t know the real reason I left and probably never will. Still, he hasn’t left Mason. He’s still here and barely talks to his father now. What if I can have him back? What if I can have Luka after all this time? If there’s the slightest chance, would it be so wrong to grab it?

Which brings me to Black’s plan. Step one happens to be: make Luka jealous—which brings me to what Black and I are doing right now.

Black is getting me ready for a date—that I don’t want to go on. He showed up tonight carrying a large box, and I should have known I was in trouble by the look of pure glee on his face. He reminded me of a kid in a candy factory. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why the damned box was so big. There’s absolutely nothing to this dress. It’s so short! The minute I sit down I’m going to be flashing my girl bits everywhere. It’s tight and black with no sleeves, barely covers my boobs, leaving way too much cleavage to the naked eye—and it’s backless. I’ve seen pillowcases with more material than this dress. I feel almost nude, and for someone like me—whose body isn’t exactly swimsuit ready—that’s not a good feeling.

“One look at me in this dress and they’ll call Luka to come get me and throw me in jail for indecent exposure!” I complain.

“All the better. We won’t have to depend on word of mouth. He’ll see it himself—close up.”

“I hope he’s not too close, because any minute now my boobs are going to pop out of this tight fabric. If he’s standing too close, my nipple will probably put his eye out.”

“I’d rather not comment on my sister’s nipples—”

“Now you’re going to get all politically correct?” I ask, shaking my head.

“Of course, if they do, try to aim at his mouth instead of his eye. It will be half the battle.”

“I think I hate you,” I mutter.

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game,” he teases with a smirk. “Now I think you need to wear your hair up like this more often,” he adds, standing back a few steps to look at me.

My hand comes up to the back of my neck self-consciously. “Uh… why?”

“A man likes it when a woman wears her hair up. Gives us ideas.”

“Can I ask what kind of ideas?” I have to know what he says next—even if I’m a little afraid to hear it. All this time, I thought Black was the sane sibling in my family.

“We see a good-looking woman with her hair up, and all we can think about is getting her somewhere and taking it down.”

“That could be a problem. In fact, Black, I think we need to call all of this off. It’s a waste of time.”

“Why would you say that, Petal? Talk to me. I thought you loved Luka.”

“I do,” I sigh, feeling miserable.

“Then I don’t see the problem. Unless you’re okay with the man you love moving on to another woman.”

“Of course not, but maybe she could make him happy. Maybe I’m—”

“Petal, you really need to stop. You and Luka love each other—”

“He—” I start to deny it, but Black wraps his hands around my shoulders and holds me still while his eyes bore into me through the reflection of the mirror we’re standing in front of.

“He does love you, Petal. A blind man can see that. A man doesn’t go without having a woman in his life for over a year unless he’s still carrying a major torch for his ex.”

“He’s dating Tani,” I whisper, my biggest fear. “Maybe I’m too late.”

“It was one date, and he spent most of his night with you and our family. But I’m not going to lie to you, little sister. You are running out of time. If you want Luka, you’re going to have to fight for him like you never have in the past.”

“I’m scared, Black.” I admit the cold hard truth, and I let my guard down enough that I know he can see the fear in my eyes.

“You don’t have to be scared, Petal. Whatever happens, you’re not alone. I’m right here with you, and I have your back.”

“I know… it’s just… there’s so much history between Luka and me.”

“Luka doesn’t know the real reason you went through the divorce, does he?”

“No. I wouldn’t do that to him. I had already ruined so much for him.”

“That sounds like his father talking, not you. Petal, you need to ask yourself something. If Luka wanted to get rid of you and wanted another life so much, why is he still here in Mason a year later?”

Before I can answer, the doorbell rings. Black and I are alone at the house tonight—which rarely happens. Mary is out on a date, Cyan’s out God-knows-where, and Jansen took Mom out to dinner. Which is good. The last thing I need is for my family to see me dressed like I am and to quiz my date. I may not want to go out with the guy, but I don’t want my family to embarrass the crap out of me in front of him either.

“I’ll go answer the door. You put on those hooker shoes I brought that go with the dress.”

“Umm… Black, I can’t wear these. I’ll kill myself in them!”

“Nonsense. You’re a woman; walking in heels is second nature.”

“In your world, maybe. Where did you get these anyway?”

“Oh, the whole outfit was left over in the evidence room at work.”

“Wait. The evidence room?” I ask, and suddenly I’m scared for a completely different reason.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I had them cleaned.”

“Oh. My. God. Whose dress am I wearing, Black?!!”

“Now, Petal…”

“Don’t you ‘Petal’ me. When you said hooker shoes, did you actually mean a hooker’s shoes?”

“Hey. Hookers are people too, Petal. Besides, it’s not like she’ll need them anymore,” he points out, backing away from me and heading for the kitchen.

“Please tell me she didn’t die in this dress,” I whisper, holding my head down and pinching the bridge of my nose.

“Does that really matter? It’s not like she was shot or stabbed…”

“So she did die…”

“We’re all going to die someday,” he calls from the kitchen.

“How did she die?” I cry out.

“Don’t worry, there’s no slashes in the dress from a knife or bullet holes. She was strangled.”

“I’m going to strangle you,” I growl. I stomp over to my closet, intent on finding a dress that I could wear on this crazy date. “There’s no way I’m wearing this damned dress. I can’t believe my idiot brother and I thought he was the smart one in the family…” I’m muttering away, mostly under my breath, violently shoving clothes out of the way.

“Petal?” Black has the gall to be smiling.

“I’m going to kill you, and there’s going to be bullet holes involved!”

“Petal, sweetheart, you have company.”

“Your buddy will just have to wait until—”

“It’s Luka,” Black says, and my stomach feels like it drops down to my feet. I stand there in shock as my brother walks to me. “Told you this would work. Remember, aim the nipple towards the mouth,” he whispers in my ear.

As soon as I learn how to speak again, I really am going to kill him.