Pecked to Death Read Online Free Page B

consumed with grief and thoughts for Aunt Abby. Still, the lack of any mention of her personal life made her nervous because it was so out of character for the assembled group.
     
    The scent of hamburger casserole was redolent in the air when Maddie turned to bellow over her shoulder. “Lucas! Supper!”
     
    Sadie took a breath. She had miraculously avoided any run-ins with Luke since they were both in college, but the last one had been cataclysmic. Maybe he didn’t remember. And maybe her dad would suddenly pick up a ukulele and do the hula. The best defense was a good offense, right? That’s what Aunt Abby would say, and Sadie didn’t disagree. So she pulled forth her best pageant smile and turned to face the doorway.
     
    “Still lurking in the cave, Batman?” she asked.
     
    Luke paused in the doorway to inspect her. At first, her poison arrow hit its mark. His eyes narrowed with dislike and apprehension. Then she watched as his smile turned cool and calculating, just like hers. “If it isn’t our very own Sadie Cooper, gracing our presence with her shiny white hiney. Tell us, Sadie, how’s life on the unemployment line? Or are you using your new talent for another sort of work?”
     

Chapter 3
     
     
    There was a brief, glorious second when Sadie imagined herself ramming him in the chest, just taking off like a rabid goat and knocking him to the floor while she stamped and kicked at his head. She had always been able to take Luke, the pansy, and she didn’t think that would have changed just because he was taller and bigger now. But she was a grownup long used to being an actress. So as Maddie flew into a tirade, attempting to shame her son for his rudeness and lack of tact, Sadie smiled, pretending to be impervious to the mortification. Everyone knew about her on-air slip, apparently. Great, just great.
     
    “You say you’re sorry to Sadie right now, young man,” Maddie said, hands on hips. Maybe Luke was as good an actor as Sadie was because he hung his head contritely, but when he looked up at her, his eyes blazed with loathing.
     
    “Sorry, Sadie.” His words oozed remorse. Only the telltale wrinkling of his nose gave him away. Luke always wrinkled his nose when he lied, and he had no idea he did it. He also had no idea how Sadie had always beat him at poker.
     
    “No problem, buddy,” Sadie said with enthusiastic good cheer. Luke hated it when she was fake. In fact, he pretty much hated everything about her. She popped a cherry tomato from the relish tray on the counter and ate it with a subtle wink in his direction. She was rewarded when his hands clenched menacingly into fists. As if Sadie would find him menacing, as if anyone would. “Hey, speaking of careers, congratulations on your doctorate. You’re halfway to being Bruce Banner by now, huh?”
     
    It was a double-edged barb, and they both knew it. Sadie knew through Abby that he couldn’t afford to get his doctorate, and teasing him over his comic book obsession was simply an immature low blow. Maddie looked between them, trying to decide if Sadie was being intentionally mean. Sadie gave her such a look of pure innocence that Maddie’s troubled expression cleared. “Uh, Sadie, Lucas doesn’t have his doctorate. It costs so much money and…well, he’s been working so hard as a teacher.” She shrugged. “He’ll get there someday.” She patted her son’s arm in a way meant to offer up motherly comfort.
     
    “Aw, I’m so sorry to hear that, Bruce. Guess the Hulk is going to have to wait awhile longer to emerge.”
     
    “I’m pretty sure I could show him to you now, if you like,” Luke said. Maddie looked between them with a helpless sort of laugh.
     
    “I never did understand you kids when you started talking comics,” she said. She shuffled off, leaving them to their anger and awkwardness.
     
    “So it’s Lucas now, is it?” Sadie asked. “That does sound much studlier and more doctoral than Luke. Where’s the