Free Killing Lucas by Dominique Eastwick

didn’t release her or even look at anything but Kiloran’s face, frustration etched on every inch of his handsome face.
    “It must have been my Sherman charm.” Trenton picked up the yelping puppy at his feet. “Did I interrupt something?”
    “You damned well know you did. What are you doing here?”
    “Tony thought you might need my truck.”
    “Why would I need your truck?”
    “For—”
    “Trent!” Kiloran shook her head frantically. “It’s a surprise .”
    “Oops.” Trent sounded as concerned as he was contrite—which was not at all. Instead he sat down and started digging through the basket. “Is there any normal, nongirlie, non-frou-frou food in here? I’m starving.”
    “If our mother wasn’t the same woman, I would ask you if you’d been taught any manners.” Lucas slapped Trent’s hand away from the food, picked up the basket, and handed it to Kiloran. “So Tony said I might need your truck, and you drove four hours—”
    “Three.”
    “My mistake. Three hours on the off chance I might need your assistance?”
    Trenton continued to stare at the basket. Taking pity on him, Kiloran pulled out a ham-and-cheese sandwich from the basket. “Thank you, Kil. And yes, I did just come on the off chance.” He finished with a mouth full of food. “By the way, good to see you again.”
    Kiloran giggled and threw a napkin at him. “Goodness. You haven’t changed a bit, Trent.”
    “You didn’t have to feed him.”
    “I know, but he’s like a small child; always better to keep them fed.”
    Trent stopped midbite and looked at them. “I can hear you two.”
    Kiloran handed him a bottle of water, then handed Lucas a sandwich before digging out the salad she had ordered for herself. Settling next to Lucas she smiled. “There’s plenty of food. I wasn’t sure what you would want, so I ordered a few sandwiches.”
    “Oh I think I love you,” Trenton mumbled crushing up the paper from the first sandwich and going in for another. “So you two are really back together? Have to admit, I had my doubts but after walking up on that little bit of PDA, they’ve all been wiped away. If only the images of you two making out were so easy to get rid of.”
    Lucas glared at his brother. “Call next time.”
    “I would if you ever carried your damned phone.”
    “I have it right…” He touched his front pocket then his back. “Damn it.”
    “See?”
    “So does Mutt here have a name yet?”
    “Fenway,” Kiloran put in as quick as she could.
    “No,” Lucas said at the same time. Trenton howled in laughter and jibed his brother about being whipped, while Lucas grumbled back something equally rude.
    Trent and Lucas fell into brotherly banter, Lucas playing the annoyed older to Trent’s annoying younger brother. Watching them made Kiloran miss her family in Ireland. It had been years since she’d returned home, for the same reasons she’d pushed Lucas away. A glimmer of hope grew; just maybe she would finally be able to go home and see her family again without fear for their safety.
    Lunch passed too quickly for her taste. Kiloran needed this nice bubble not to burst, a small bit of crazy normalcy in a sea of chaos. For thirty minutes she didn’t think about anything other than listening to the two brothers, laughing while she stroked the sleepy puppy next to her. It was wonderful.
    Trenton roused Fenway, chasing him until the puppy decided he’d had enough and splayed out where he stood, refusing to move. “This is not going to be cute when you’re fifty pounds, Fenway.”
    “His name is not Fenway, Trent, and stop telling people it is.”
    Snatching the dog up from the ground, Lucas stomped ahead, leaving Kiloran and Trent laughing in his wake. Trent stage-whispered. “It’s going to be Fenway.”
    “I know, but don’t tell him that.”

    At what point should he just give in and call the dog Fenway? Lucas had no idea. What he didn’t want to see was the smug look in their eyes. And