Losing Nuka (Litmus Book 1) by Kayla Howarth Read Free Book Online Page A

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