Wild Open Read Online Free PDF Page B

going back.
    “Quit moping,” Luka called, busily clattering around in the kitchen. “Can you wash the dishes? I want to take a shower before Bryce shows up.”
    “Fine,” Leah said, hauling herself off the couch. Washing the dishes was technically Luka’s job, but whatever. She would do it just this once.
    The doorbell rang fifteen minutes later, just as she was stacking the last dish in the drainer. Luka was still in the shower, so Leah dried her hands and went to answer the door.
    “Hello, space case,” Bryce drawled, handing her a bottle of wine. “Where’s the kingpin?”
    “In the shower,” Leah said. She stood aside to let Bryce in the house. “You could go say hello.”
    “I couldn’t! You would be too scandalized.” Bryce grinned at her. “In the mood for anything in particular?” He set down his bag and bee-lined for the kitchen. Leah didn’t even bother telling him to make himself at home anymore; he was there so much that Leah was tempted to make him start paying rent.
    She sat on one of the tall stools at the pass-through counter. “I don’t know. Something with cheese in it.”
    “Right, comfort food,” Bryce said, nodding. “Luka told me you had a rough day.”
    “I’m so glad the news has made its way around the knitting circle,” Leah said sarcastically. “You and Luka are like little old gossiping ladies.”
    “Harsh words,” Bryce said. “You need some wine.” He pulled out a glass and filled it almost to the brim, and handed it to Leah. “Drink up.”
    Leah sighed and took a sip. It was pretty good wine. Bryce always managed to find the one $10 bottle that tasted like it had been chosen by an expert sommelier. Not that Leah would know the difference. She had cut her teeth on box wine. Usually room temperature box wine.
    She sat there and drank her wine and watched Bryce pulling things out of the cabinets. The shower had cut off, and she heard drawers opening and closing in Luka’s bedroom. He’d be out soon. She said, “Will there be dessert?”
    “Always, my dear,” Bryce said, and then Luka came down the hallway, damp hair dripping on his T-shirt, and he and Bryce did their disgusting “I haven’t seen you in five hours” reunion ritual, which involved more groping than Leah felt comfortable witnessing. Luka was her brother . It was gross.
    They were adorable now, all starry-eyed and in love and shit, but Leah had been there to witness the calamitous beginning of their relationship, when Luka spent months insisting that he was completely, 100% heterosexual and sleeping with every woman between the ages of 18 and 50 that he could charm into bed, and Bryce lost more weight than he could afford to lose, and there had been lots of yelling after shows and stony silences in the van.
    And then Corey. A fun time all around.
    Not.
    Whatever. Life went on. And now they were deliriously happy, and served as a constant reminder to Leah that she was utterly, incomparably single and would likely remain so for the foreseeable future.
    She would never say anything about it, though. She didn’t want to burst their bubble.
    It was nice to see Luka so happy.
    Bryce made decadent, over-the-top macaroni and cheese with truffle oil and ciabatta bread crumbs, and molten chocolate lava cake for dessert. Leah drank two huge glasses of wine and watched Bryce and Luka move around the tiny kitchen so easily it seemed like they had some sort of unconscious spatial awareness of each other’s bodies. Luka was the sous chef, or Kitchen Bitch, as he called it. They were an effortless team, Bryce short and stocky, his red hair cropped short, and Luka reaching over him to open one of the upper cabinets. An odd couple. But they fit.
    In the morning, maybe she would start seriously looking for a new band to play with. Maybe Luka was right. She had never loved anything as much as she loved being on stage. Her office job was fine, but it didn’t make her chest feel like it was too small to contain