Free My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking Page B

something in his pocket, and the Jetta beeped loudly, announcing the fact that it was unlocked. “So how does that work?” I asked, opening the car door. “Your pheromones only react to people that would be sexually attracted to you anyway? How can they possibly know that?” Jack stood outside until I could finish my question, then he just got in the car, and I knew that was his official answer to that.
    “You probably shouldn’t say anything to you brother,” Jack said once I’d gotten in the car. He started it, revving the engine for a second, then pulled away from the curb. “If he hasn’t told you yet, then he’s probably not ready for you to know.”
    “He isn’t gay,” I repeated firmly. “He’s only fourteen.”
    “Oh, right, cause when you were fourteen you didn’t know you were straight.” Jack rolled his eyes.
    “How do you know I’m straight?” I countered. I mean, I am straight, completely 100%, but he didn’t know that. “That would explain why I’m not attracted to you.”
    “You are attracted to me.” He kept his eyes straight ahead, and adjusted the stereo, so She Wants Revenge would start playing softly out of the speakers. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be in the car with me. It’s just not the same as it is with them.”
    “Whatever,” I grumbled and crossed my arms again. Then I softened a little as I thought about Milo, and all the weird little things he did that I had always just chocked up to him being younger than me and more responsible. “So… you really think Milo’s gay?”
    “Yeah, he’s gay,” Jack replied definitively. “And before you ask, yeah, it’s something I know. I can’t explain it, but I just know. Like the way a lion always knows the weakest zebra in the pack.”
    “Are you comparing being gay to being weak?” So, I was just coming to terms with the probability of my brother’s homosexuality, but already I felt defensive about it. Milo was my little brother and probably the only person in the whole world that really cared about me. No matter what, I’d always love and protect him.
    “No, I’m comparing my uncanny ability to detect things to that of a lion,” Jack clarified. I was still kind of sulking, reeling from the fact that both my mother and my newly discovered gay brother wanted to do bad, bad things to Jack, but he wouldn’t hear of it. “Hey, you know what would cheer you up?"
    “I can only imagine,” I said dryly.
    “Playing Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade.” Without warning, he flipped the car into a u-turn across three lanes of traffic.
    “That doesn’t sound that great.” It didn’t really, but Jack thought it was the greatest idea ever, and that managed to convince me somehow. I was starting to realize that my feelings seemed to be mimicking his, and that should alarm me, but he wasn’t alarmed, so I was kind of incapable of being alarmed.
     

Chapter 4
    Neither my mother nor Milo said very much about Jack, which I found rather odd. Jane had been exploding with the urge to prattle on about him since the moment she saw him, but she did have much less self-control than most people. And in Milo’s case, he was probably trying to keep his feelings about Jack’s visit under wraps. I had gotten home very late from hanging out with Jack, as per usual. After the arcade had closed, we had loitered at a Blockbuster, before deciding that neither of us wanted to rent anything, then drove around for awhile before finally dropping me at home. Mom was gone at work, and Milo had gone to bed, so there was nothing to be said then.
    When I finally roused the next day, I immediately went to talk to Milo about Jack. I hadn’t expected him to expound very much, but his very clipped, “He seems nice” did not do the night justice. I wanted to inquire further, but I bit my tongue. The fact that Milo was apparently hiding something so important from me made me feel uncomfortable, and I didn’t really know how to proceed with