Chapter Four
"This is sooo stupid!" Nerissa whines as the four of us make our way down the hallway towards the dining room. She's lingering towards the back, dragging her feet along at a snail's pace as if trying to slow us down. I hadn't thought that out of everyone she would be the one who's less excited than me to meet someone new.
Madeline rolls her eyes before crossing her arms. "What a way to thank the guy for taking us in."
"I didn't ask him to let us stay here!" Nerissa shoots back, clenching her hands into fists down at her sides. "I could be lounging next to a hotel pool right now!"
"Or you could be at school! Would you rather be there?!"
"At least there I would get to be with my friends instead of you losers!"
"That's no way to talk to your elders!"
"You're seventeen! You hardly count as my elder!"
"It's still a year older than you! And that's just physically! Mentally I'm at least ten years older!"
"So you're saying mentally you're fifty?!"
"No, I'm saying that mentally I'm at least twelve!"
Nerissa opens her mouth to retort, but Greyson cuts her off before she gets the chance. "Can we please not argue?" he practically begs. "We don't want to repay Luca's kindness by disturbing him with your petty cat fights every five minutes."
"Then tell her I'm right." Nerissa hisses over at my younger brother.
Greyson glances over at me, his blue eyes wide, pleading for a bit of help which I give wholeheartedly. "We're not taking sides. But you both are going to have to be a lot more pleasent if you don't want to get in trouble."
"Oh yeah?" Nerissa rolls her eyes and brushes some of her long, sandy blonde hair over her shoulder. "And what would you do? You're not my mother."
And thank god for that. "No, but I'm still the one left in charge, and I won't hesitate to take away your phone for the rest of the week."
"You can't do that." she doesn't say that as a panicked yell, so much as if she were simply stating a fact. "My mom's calling me everyday."
"You can use it to speak to your family, but not friends."
"I'll just tell her you took it away and you'll get in trouble."
"Go ahead," is all I say. There's no point in telling her that I've already been given permission to do so from her mother. She told me that I could do anything I feel necessary to keep Nerissa in line while we were here somewhere in the middle of Nebraska. "See how much I care."
We've reached the kitchen by that point, so I immediately shut up. I don't want to scare Luca by making him think we can't handle our own family. That would certainly be a good way to get him to kick us out. Luckily, Nerissa seems to follow my lead-for once-and shuts her mouth as well.
The doors are open to reveal an obnoxiously long table-seriously. I don't understand why Nerissa is complaining. There's almost definitely an indoor pool here she can lounge by-set with almost every food under the sun. I find myself feeling like I'm walking in on one of those freakishly large family Thanksgiving get togethers where they have to rent out an entire building just to fit them all.
At the very end sits Luca Cabot, his short black hair dripping wet as if he's just showered. Or gone for a swim. Probably the latter, as I can sense the faintest wiffs of chlorine. Just my luck too. He's apparently one of those athletic boys who do stuff like that (swim laps in the pool, run laps, ect.) when they're stressed out. Despite being the absolute least athletic person I know, I can't help but find stuff like that horribly attractive.
"I see you've managed to find your way," he offers the nicest smile I can imagine, must to my amazement. I can hardly manage to force a smile after five minutes of Nerissa and she's family. "I would've sent a butler, but I wasn't sure if you'd feel too comfortable with that."
He. Has. A. Fucking. Butler. Somewhere up in South Dakota, I can almost hear Isla's heart bursting. If the two of us aren't married by the end of the week, she's definitely going to up and drive down here, herself.
"Thank you for the concideration." I force out, doing my best to hide my sudden horniness.
He motions to the many chairs that are lined up on either side of the table. We all take our seats-Madeline and I on his left, and Greyson and Nerissa on his right-before figiting slightly, awaiting permission to begin eating. Once Luca reaches out to grab a tray of what appears to be ham, we take that as our que to begin digging in.
"I was just kidding about the butler thing," Luca smiles over at me, causing me to start.
"Really?" I can feel my eyes grow wide at him. I can't help but feel a bit relieved. The last thing I needed was for him to actually be that sort of rich.
"Yes. I'm not that well off," he chuckles, "Just a cook and a house keeper, I'm afraid. But it was totally worth it to see the look on your face."
A cook and a house keeper is still more than anyone else I know has, but I don't say that. I'll leave the being rude to my cousin, who's too busy texting furiously on her phone to pay any attention to the rest of us. Somehow I doubt I will end up having to take that away from her before the day ends.
"I've never met anyone with a butler." I admit, putting a timid smile on my face.
"I figured." his tone almost seems to be making fun of me, causing me to scowl lightly. "But enough of that." he turns away from me so that he's addressing the rest of my family as well. "After dinner I'll take you on a tour of the house. Everything will be at your disposal, but I must ask that you please refrain from going into the basement."
I don't bother asking why. It's probably his room or something. Besides, it's not like it's really any of my business, or like I'll be put out. The place is big enough already, keeping one floor from us won't really hinder anything at all.
"Why?" Nerissa asks, finally glancing up from her screen.
"Nerissa," Madeline hisses over at her.
"No, it's alright." Luca laughs, waving his hand dismissively. "It's really just no place for kids. That's where Maxine-she's the house keeper-keeps all her cleaning supplies. She doesn't like people going down there."
This seems to relieve my cousin's curiosity as she promptly turns back to her cellphone. I, however, feel a sense of uneasiness wash through me. He'd said it like it was no big deal, but I can't help but get the sensation that he was lying. And if that were so, then what really is down in the basement?