Losing Nuka (Litmus Book 1) (5 page)

I shouldn’t be doing this now, this is crazy.

Is this really happening? I wish Declan were here.

Taking a deep breath in, I tell myself to calm down.

“Come into the informal living room,” Brett says. “I’ll go wake her up.”

The foyer leads off into three directions. There’s a staircase to my left and another to my right, each leading upstairs to two different hallways. Brett walks down the three steps in front of us to the split-level. I follow and we continue into a living area on the left and a small kitchen on the right. By the size of this house, I’m guessing this is one of many kitchens here.

“Take a seat,” Brett says. I wander over to the plush cream L-shape leather couch and sit on the very edge. I think it’s obvious I’m not too comfortable because Brett shakes his head and laughs at me before walking off. “I’ll be back down soon.”

My leg starts bouncing uncontrollably.

“Calm down,” Drake says, sitting on the other side of the couch from me. “I know this is probably hard for you—”

“Hard? I’m about to meet the person who turned me over to the Institute when I was just one year old. She abandoned me, what’s to stop her from doing it again? How can you be so sure she even wants to see me? How—”

“She’s been looking for you, Nuka. Why would she do that if she didn’t want to see you?”

I shrug. I don’t have an answer for that. “So do you guys live here too?”

“Brett does. I’m out at the house you were at yesterday. It doesn’t get used very much by the family anymore, and someone needs to look after it.”

I nod as Brett re-enters the room. He goes to the fridge and pulls out two bottles of water. He brings one over to me, taking the other for him.

“Drink up, it might sober you up a little.”

“I think I’m completely sober now.” Fear, anxiety, and nerves have pretty much ensured my sobriety. Looking at the water reminds me of how much I’ve had to drink tonight, which reminds me my bladder has been screaming at me to be emptied.

“Can I use a bathroom real quick? I kind of drank a lot.”

“Kind of?” Brett scoffs. “You were downing them like there was no tomorrow.”

“You know, at first I thought it was charming that you were watching me tonight, now I’m realising it was just plain creepy.”

Both of them laugh. “You’ll have to get used to one of us watching you from now on,” Drake says.

“What do you mean—”

“Come on, I’ll show you where the bathroom is,” Brett says.

I follow him through the kitchen, down more steps into a laundry area, and he points to a door on the other side of a row of washing machines.

After peeing forever, I catch a glance at myself in the mirror and realise how bad I look. My mascara has run from sweating, my skin is a weird pasty colour, and my eyes are bloodshot from the alcohol. I really wish the guys had let me go home and meet my mum another day. I’m not exactly going to make the best first impression.

After splashing water on my face, I start to fix up what I can of my makeup. I run my fingers through my hair and head back out to the living room. My heart thunders as loud as my heels clacking on the tile floors when I hear a woman’s voice has joined the two guys’.

My eyes find her golden hair immediately when I enter the room. Brett notices me first and gives me a reassuring smile. My mother follows his gaze, and the room goes suddenly quiet. Eerily quiet.

She’s wearing a gold silk bathrobe that’s tied around her tiny waist. Her blonde hair that matches mine flows down her back. I’m surprised at how young she looks. She has to be in her early forties, but she looks at least ten years younger.

I approach the room cautiously, trying hard not to stare at the ground, but my eyes keep finding their way there as I drop them from her gaze.

She slowly walks up to me, her hands finding my shoulders as her eyes search mine for recognition.

“Lavender? Is it really you?”

-5-

MY SISTER

“Lavender? My name is Lavender?” My eyes widen when I realise how judgemental I sound; Cade seems angry at my reaction. “Sorry. I just didn’t expect my name to be so …”

“Feminine?” Brett finishes for me.

“Exactly. My dad changed my name to Nuka,” I tell her.

“So Brett was saying,” she replies, her voice thick with suspicion and disapproval. She removes her hands from my shoulders. “Why are your eyes purple?”

Brett starts laughing, I assume at the fact she asked the same question as him.

I glare at him while answering her, “It’s … uh … it has to do with my ability.”

“Right, you can heat things? You were always unnaturally hot as a baby.”

“My best friend always jokes about me being a walking microwave. The radiation levels in my body are higher than any normal human could withstand, but because of my ability, it doesn’t harm me. It did, however, cause my eyes to turn purple when I was a teenager.”
You’re rambling, Nuka. Shut your mouth.

“I see,” she says curtly.

The four of us stand silently. My eyes keep diverting between Brett and my mother until the front door opens, startling me out of my imaginary tennis match. The sound of the door is soft and quiet, but so are we so we all hear it.

There, trying to close the door as quietly as possible before tiptoeing her way to the left staircase, is someone I can only assume is Sasha. She’s young, has the same colour hair as me—although she has a pink and blue thin stripe running down the right side of hers—she’s in a sequined mini skirt and a top that doesn’t leave much to the imagination. She’s also carrying her giant high heels to avoid making noise on the tiles. I have no doubt in my mind this is my sister.

Drake swears under his breath.

“Who was on Sasha duty tonight?” my mother asks.

“We were kind of held up in your other pressing matter,” Drake says, running one of his hands through his hair, while gesturing to me with the other.

“And she didn’t have a scheduled outing planned,” Brett adds.

“Sasha, you get your butt in here, young lady,” our mother yells at her.

Now it’s Sasha’s turn to swear. She walks into the room—more like stumbles really—her head held low.

“You know you’re not allowed out without one of your guards with you,” my mother says in a surprisingly calm tone.

“I know,” Sasha says, her head still down.

“Where were you?” our mother asks.

“At a friend’s house,” Sasha answers.

Wearing that? Yeah, right.

“Okay, well, you should go to bed now. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

That’s her punishment?

Sasha nods, and as she turns to walk away, I don’t miss the smirk on her face. She doesn’t acknowledge me as her eyes finds mine but more stares at me like she’s saying, “Yep, I rule this house.”

The guys were right—she is a spoiled brat.

“So that was my sister,” I say as she heads up the stairs and disappears.

My mother turns towards me. “Sorry. I should’ve introduced you, but I didn’t want to reward her after her behaviour. You can get to know each other at a more reasonable hour.”

“Uh … okay.”

“Can I get one of the boys to drive you home?” she asks.

That’s it? She’s met me, now she’s sending me on my way?

“I don’t really have a home,” I mumble as I look down at my feet. And I can’t really go back to Dec’s tonight—he’s probably with Cassia, no doubt. When I look up again, all three of them are looking at me blankly.

“You don’t?” my mother asks.

“That would explain why we followed you for most of today looking for apartments,” Drake says.

“You followed me then, too?” I ask, a little pissed off.

“They were just doing their job. I asked them to do it. I was wondering why a young woman and a cop were looking for me. Part of me was hoping it was you, but the purple eyes threw everyone off. I thought it couldn’t have been you.” She purses her lips in thought. “You can … I mean … we can put you up here if you need it. I’m sure it will be fine with Jonas. Uh … my husband.”

“Thank you, but I don’t want to impose.”
Not that I really have another option right now.

“It’s no trouble. Brett, can you take her to one of the rooms in your wing, also find one of the maid’s supply rooms and get her some toiletries and things?”

Brett nods at her.

“Drake, you’re off the clock now, but I still expect you to be back here at 7:00 AM for your day shift. You’re welcome to stay too, save having to drive all the way back to that shack you live in.”

She refers to that giant house I was at yesterday as a shack? How much money does this woman have?

“I’m going to go back to bed.” My mother leaves the room and heads up the right staircase without even so much as a goodnight.

“That’s it?” I ask myself more than the guys. I turn to them. “Why do I get the impression that could’ve gone a lot better?”

“What, were you expecting long-lost reunions of hugs and apologies? Hate to say it, but you’ll be waiting forever if you want her to be that type of mother,” Brett says. “But I guess you’re staying here now, so come on, I’ll show you where to go.”

I say goodnight to Drake as Brett leads me through to the other side of the living room to a hallway. I can’t get over how massive this house is.

“I don’t think she likes me,” I say, practically whispering.

Brett stops walking and turns to face me. “She’s probably tired from us waking her up, and Sasha didn’t help things. She probably just needs to get over the shock of her long-lost daughter suddenly being here. She’ll be more civilised in the morning.” He doesn’t look overly convinced of that. “Maybe.”

He starts walking again, and I follow. He points to a door on our left. “Bathroom.” We continue to walk until he stops in front of me, and I slam into his back, not paying attention to where I’m going. He lets out a painful grunt and jerks his body away from mine.

“Sorry,” I whisper. I step forward and lift his shirt, gasping at the sight of raw, burnt flesh in the shape of my handprints on his back.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, shaking his shirt free from my grip and opening the linen cupboard in front of us. He grabs a brand new toothbrush still in its packaging, toothpaste, makeup remover, and wipes.

“This is all kept in a cupboard? Do they have unexpected guests often?”

“Sometimes,” is all he says.

“Well, are there any first aid things or antiseptic in there for your back?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll sort it.”

“I did it to you, the least I can do is help fix it,” I say, pushing him out of the way and looking in the cupboard.

“Really. It’s okay. I’ve dealt with a lot worse.”

My eyes narrow as I turn to look at him. “What
is
this place?”

“You’ll have plenty of time to discover that yourself,” he says with a cryptic half-smile. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”

We’re silent as we start heading back up the hallway and turn right down another.

“I’m actually a little surprised she’s put you down here with me,” he says.

“Why’s that?”

“This is the employee’s quarters.”

“Oh.”

“It’s probably just for the night. We did kind of ambush her, and it is an ungodly hour. She probably wants to make up a special room for you upstairs with the rest of them, which will take time to set up.” I appreciate him trying to rationalise my mother’s so-called odd behaviour for me, but it’s not necessary.

“She probably just doesn’t trust me and that’s understandable. Her security team bring in a random, purple-eyed freak off the street in the middle of the night who claims to be her daughter.”

Brett laughs before stopping and opening a door on his right. “Here you go. I’m at the end of the hall if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” I say, taking a tentative step towards the room. As I walk by him, my shoulder and arm lightly brush up against his chest, and a shiver shoots down my spine as my heart beats frantically.

Really? After everything I’ve gone through with Brett tonight, I still have a crush on him? Ugh.

“Nuka?” he says, grabbing my arm gently and turning me to face him.

“Yeah?” My voice is annoyingly breathy.

“It goes without saying that what happened with us … it can’t … I kissed you because I had to. You know that, right?”

Ouch.
“You
had
to?”

“I needed to distract you. You were already trying to flake on me. It shouldn’t have happened. It can’t happen again. Especially now I know who you are. I kind of need this job.”

“Right.” I nod. “Got it.” Crush is officially
crushed
.

“Besides, I don’t actually like being used to make another guy jealous. I’m not into high school games.”

I gape at him. “At the bar, you said—”

“I needed to get you into the alley where Drake was.”

“Oh.”

He goes to walk away but quickly turns back. His mouth opens to say something, but he hesitates, his mouth shutting as fast as it opened. “Goodnight, Nuka,” he finally says.

“Goodnight.”

***

Going to sleep is no easy task. The whole night keeps replaying over and over in my head. The almost kiss or whatever the hell that was between Declan and me, then making out with Brett in the alley, Drake holding me at gunpoint, both of them kidnapping me, and finally meeting the woman who abandoned me as a baby … it’s like the night is on a loop. I just can’t get it to stop.

When I do finally get to sleep, it only feels like a few minutes before I’m awoken by someone sitting on the end of my bed, staring at me.

“That’s a little creepy,” I say as I sit up.

“Is it true?” Sasha asks, her golden hair shining in the sunlight filtering through the window. “Are you my sister?”

I smile. “Apparently.”

“Why are your eyes purple?”

“
Really
? You too?” I roll my stupid purple eyes. “It’s because of my ability. I’m Defective. It caused my eyes to change colour. They used to be hazel like yours, actually.”

“My eyes didn’t change colour when I got my ability.”

“What? You’re Defective?”

She nods. “It’s why Mum paid for my tattoo to cover up my mark. Of course, she wasn’t expecting me to get half a sleeve and my whole shoulder done.” She grins as she turns to show me her back—her pale pink pyjama singlet showing off a flower tattoo with pink shaded petals and black outline taking up nearly her entire shoulder blade and green vines reaching out from the flower, with smaller flowers coming out of the vines. It trails down her arm to the inside of her elbow where her Defective tattoo should be, which is covered by another flower. It’s so obvious and big that I begin to wonder why I didn’t notice last night. “That was fun coming home to her reaction—totally made it worth it.”

I laugh. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, she sent me to the Institute. I think I’d rather the tattoo.”

“Mum of the year, hey?” Her face casts a sad smile before looking at me with questioning eyes.

“What?” I ask.

“What’s your ability?”

“What’s yours?” I snap back. Talking about my ability is not something I like to do. Probably has something to do with being forced to go to a normal school.

Sasha smirks, getting off my bed to go stand by the window. The sad-looking, yellow-leafed plant sitting in a pot on the terrace slowly starts turning a healthier shade of green, and the buds slowly grow and begin to open. She turns her focus back to me. “It’s not the coolest, I know. Mum always says it’s because I used to play in the garden a lot when I was a kid. Pfft.” She shakes her head. “Yeah, Mum,
that’s
why I developed an ability—because I liked to play outside. I’m like a glorified gardener. It kind of sucks.”

“But it certainly explains the tattoo. How old were you when you—”

“Nine … okay, seven. I kept it from Mum for as long as I could. As far as she knows, I was nine. You?”

“Well, I was sent to the Institute when I was one.”

“
Damn.
” Sasha whistles.

“Give me your hands.”

She comes back over to my bed, sitting opposite me. I heat my hands and place them on top of hers.

“Whoa. That’s cool, so much better than my lame ability. Anyway,” she says, suddenly switching topics, “Mum and Jonas are going to be out all day today. You and I are meant to do something together. I was thinking breakfast and some shopping.”

“Oh,” I say, clearly disappointed. “I thought … maybe …”

“Mum’s not exactly the ‘bonding’ kind of Mum. I hardly ever see her.”