Lady Luck by Lane O'Neil

Author:Lane O'Neil [O'Neil, Lane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

27

VINH

You didn’t expect a knock on the door, especially your houseboat door, thirty minutes before midnight.

Unless your brother is Liem Lott.

I unlatched the door to let him in, but he made no move to leave the dock.

“Good morning,” he greeted before making a show of surveying the darkness around us before amending, “Well, close enough.” He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his rain jacket, the sleeves hiding his tattoos and the hood obscuring his half-shaved hair, and said matter-of-factly, “We need to get in the Rav and go to Bree’s.”

I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, but it wasn’t that. I rubbed the back of my neck. Rain usually helped lull me into a nice, deep sleep, but this evening’s persistent rain had made me edgy, and I hadn’t been able to sleep.

“It’s one thing for you to show up at my door close to midnight, Liem, but I don’t think Bree would appreciate it.”

He nodded along. “You’re right. I would never interrupt her sleep, especially right now. Girl is tired. She won’t be there.” He shifted his weight between his feet, seeming a bit agitated, which set off alarms.

“Liem.” It came out sharper than I’d intended, so I softened my tone and asked, “Come in and explain what’s going on.” I stepped back as he nodded and stepped inside out of the rain. “What happened?”

He dragged his shoes over the welcome mat. “I’m not really sure, but definitely some good stuff—and maybe a little bad too. I think.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Dezi called me.”

“Your friend from school?”

His head bounced between his shoulders in a semblance of a “kind of” gesture. “Yes. Cody Desmond… Bree’s BFF.”

Maybe I would’ve been able to connect Liem’s dots if he put them in the same place, but it was like he was handing me pieces of puzzles and a tin full of dominoes. Also, was it literally impossible for anyone to go by their actual names here?

My brother spotted my growing agitation and wisely boxed up all those disjointed pieces and put them away. “Okay, that doesn’t matter right now. But yes, my friend from online school is also Bree’s Cody. He’s from here.” He smiled warmly as if this was the best thing to happen since he discovered the motion theater pods at Willows, the honky-tonk-themed casino down the road.

“I was at Willows”—called it—“when he called and said he needed me to go to Bree’s and get her wallet. I don’t know what happened, but they’re on the way to the hospital, and—oh!” He brushed by me and plodded through my open bedroom door to head straight for my chest of drawers in the corner, where he started pulling out clothes. “They both need a change of clothes too.”

“Liem.” My tone was sharp by design this time. “Did you just say that Bree’s going to the hospital? Is she hurt?” I pulled on some jeans and a rain jacket while he stuffed the clothes he’d gathered into a backpack I’d never seen before.

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