Anti-Stepbrother (6 page)

Sooo
uncomfortable. I wanted to squirm. I could feel the attention from Avery and her friends. “Uh, I mean, why would I?”

He arched an eyebrow. “This is my house. My party. And here you are.” He took another drink. “That is why you’re here, isn’t it?”

Avery cleared her throat, her arms folding to mirror my stance. “She came with me.”

Marcus just stared, but his amusement was now evident, just like his brother’s.

“She lives on my floor,” she added, shifting her feet.

“The floor where you’re an advisor?”

“Yes.”

His eyes fell on her water bottle. “Setting a good example already, huh, Av?”

She flushed. “Like you have any place to say anything.”

He indicated me with his beer. “You know who her brother is, don’t you?”

I corrected, “Stepbrother,” but it didn’t matter.

Avery rolled her eyes. “Again, like you have any place to say anything.”

That got a reaction. Marcus had been all easygoing, slightly cocky, but now any trace of humor vanished. A flash of anger sparked in his eyes. “We used to be friends, Av.”

She snorted. “Right. Because friends screw each other over.”

His eyes darkened. Smoke could’ve come out of his eye sockets. I was getting heated just watching the two.

“Okay.” Shell stepped up, a disapproving glint in her eyes. “We’re separating the two of you before a full fight ensues.” She took hold of Avery’s arm. “Marcus, it’s been a lovely party. Thank you for letting us come here, dance our asses off, and get drunk, but it’s time to head out.”

Marcus said something, but I began to tune them out. Avery was going willingly with Shell. There wouldn’t be a fight.

My eyes followed Marcus. I didn’t intend to look for Caden. I didn’t even like him. I’d named him Asshole for a reason. But somehow, I’d been aware of him the entire time. He was like a bug, always buzzing at the periphery, nagging at my concentration. I’d half expected him to step in, take over the situation, and pull his brother back like he had at the fraternity house. He’d done none of that. He wasn’t even still sitting in his lawn chair. He now stood with another group of people, like he was part of their conversation, but he wasn’t. The beer bottle was gone, and his arms were crossed over his chest. A girl even put her hand on his arm, but he wasn’t paying attention.

He was watching me.

Our eyes caught and held, and I frowned.

There was no hostility, not like the other night, just a slight flicker of amusement—like he was finding me funny, or the situation funny. I glanced behind me, but there was nothing comical there. Wait—I started to look back at him, but whipped around again.

There was nothing behind me
at all
. The girls were gone.

Shit
.

I had no idea how to get back to the dorm. I started back to the front of the house. The girls weren’t there. They weren’t in the living room, kitchen, or bathrooms. They weren’t upstairs or downstairs. I went back to the backyard for one last futile attempt, and again, nothing.

Then I felt him.

He came to stand next to me, his hands in his pockets, and looked over with those eyes that could see through me. “They took off while you were glaring at me.”

“I wasn’t glaring.” I didn’t think I was, anyway. A headache formed behind my temples. I lifted a hand to rub at my head.

One side of his mouth curved up. “You were, but that’s fine.” His eyebrow raised. “You need a ride back?”

I sighed. “We had a buddy system.”

The other side of his mouth lifted, and the distinct feeling that he was laughing at me washed over me again.

“Come on.” He gestured toward the street. “I’ve had one beer. I can drive, and I’m heading out anyway. Trust me enough for a ride?”

I held my breath. He’d been laughing at me earlier, now he was outright making fun of me? I weighed my options. I could call a cab and hope the driver knew where my dorm was, or walk and try to find it myself. A third option was calling Kevin. A part of me wanted to do that, and I reached for my phone. What if he didn’t answer? I let go of my phone. I didn’t want to test that theory.

My last option stood in front of me.

I nodded. “After you.”

Caden/Asshole drove a Land Rover.

I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t that.

And it was clean. I paused after I opened the door and could only stand there. It was impeccably clean.

He’d already gotten inside. “Please don’t tell me the leather offends you.”

“It’s so clean.”

“Yeah?”

I had no clue what came over me, but I broke out in a “Ta-daa!” and my arms lifted like heaven’s gate had been thrown open. A full choir and orchestra played out in my voice. “Behold the gloriousness!” Then I dropped my arms and was met with silence.

He tilted his head. “How much did you drink?”

Yeah, maybe it was the booze. Shrugging, I got inside. “Sorry. I’m just surprised,” I explained as he pulled away from the curb. “Kevin’s car is always a mess. The floor of the front seat where my feet are supposed to go is his personal garbage can. He throws everything there. I always have to move a bunch of junk aside so I can get in.”

“He doesn’t clean it for you?”

I shrugged again. “He cleans it for his dates.”

“Not even for his mom?”

“If they go anywhere together, they take her car. Nope. Just his dates.” I was rambling. I sat on my hands.

He noticed. “What are you doing?”

“I do this when I feel like I’m saying stuff I shouldn’t, and I’m only doing that because I’m nervous.” I blinked a few times at him. “You make me nervous. Though that’s better than being enraged.”

“I
enrage
you?”

I nodded, then thought about it, and my head bobbed down as my shoulder jerked up. “You did earlier, but I don’t know why. I think it’s just you. I call you Asshole in my head.”

“You what?” We stopped at a stoplight, and he looked fully at me. “I didn’t do anything to you.”

I bristled, remembering the first time we met. I echoed his words from my memory, “‘Something wrong with you?’ That’s not the nicest thing to say to a girl. Especially one that just got her hear—” I clammed up.

Oh dear God. I’d almost spilled the beans to him.

“I mean…” I had nothing to cover that up. It really was the booze speaking. I couldn’t even attempt a redirect, so I just sat in humiliating defeat.

The light turned green, and we started forward again. He threw a sideways glance my way. “You mean that wasn’t a nice thing to say to a girl whose heart was just broken? Did I get that right?”

“No.”
Yes
. So much yes.

He grunted, taking another turn, and I saw the top of my dorm approaching.

“That’s what I thought,” he said.

He knew I was lying. He knew a whole lot more than what I’d just lied about. And I couldn’t do anything. Panic rose in me as I imagined how upset Kevin would be. I’d covered for him. He was counting on me, and I just blabbed to the guy who seemed to be one of his enemies, or rivals, or something. Or the brother to one of his rivals/enemies/whatever. Kevin always had those.

Although, the guys who’d wanted to pummel my stepbrother in the past were usually boyfriends from other schools. Kevin must’ve had some sense of self-preservation because he’d steered clear of the girls with the big boyfriends at our high school. And now that I was thinking about it, he’d always made sure he had friends bigger than he was. There’d been a few close calls, but once his friends had showed up, the fight suddenly dwindled. The guy had backed down, or Kevin got away.

“Huh.”

“Huh what?” the asshole asked.

“What?” I glanced over and saw that he was watching me again.

Then I saw the rest. We were at my dorm. He’d parked right in front of the main entrance.

“Never mind. Thank you for the ride.” I grabbed for the seatbelt, but he caught my hand, stalling me.

“Wait a minute.”

Good Lord. I gulped. The touch of his hand sent tingles through me. That snake tattoo was right there, so close to me. I pulled away hastily.
What was that?
But then he was talking, so I tried to focus. All the other sensations and emotions that he’d unleashed should be shoved down. Way down.
Way,
way down.

“What?” I asked.

He shook his head, exasperation showing across his face. He held his hands up, like he was surrendering, and he leaned back in an exaggerated manner. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk about your stepbrother.”

I flushed. He’d given me a ride back, and he knew I was lying about Kevin. So hearing him out was the least I could do. I sat back, releasing the door handle. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.” My eyes cut to the side as I said, “I know you weren’t going to hurt me.”

He waited, studying me. I almost flushed again. I wasn’t looking at him anymore, but I could feel his scrutiny. He was acting like I was a feral animal, just waiting for the right opening to scurry away. I wasn’t. I had some decency, even though I was acting like an idiot. But that was him.
He
made me act like a nervous, rabid bat. I wasn’t like this with other people. I was normal, sane. Fuck, I was almost boring.

Not with Asshole Caden, who I was starting to think maybe wasn’t that much of an asshole. He wasn’t acting like one anymore, and maybe he hadn’t been when I’d first labeled him as such. I
had
been acting weird, and he’d really only just asked me if something was wrong.

If a girl asked me that question, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. But it had been him, and that question coming from a male someone who was obviously strong, muscular, gorgeous, and self-assured—holy shit, Asshole Caden was confident with an extra layer of authority too. It rolled off him in waves, very sexy and alluring waves, and I couldn’t believe I was having these thoughts.

My gaze jerked to his. “What were you going to say?” A traitorous blush warmed its way up my neck. I prayed it didn’t spread over my face.

He gentled his tone. “Why are you covering for your stepbrother?”

“You mean for your fraternity brother?”

He didn’t reply, only clenched his jaw.

“I can’t say anything.”
I can’t say what you want me to say.
“Call it family loyalty?”

“So you
are
covering for him?”

I held my breath. “What?”

He leaned forward a tiny bit. “Was he with Maggie?”

He was testing me. He didn’t know for sure. Realizing that, I kept my mouth shut. I would not incriminate myself.

I started to open the door again. “Uh, thanks for the ride. That was nice of you.”

“Wait.”

I opened the door enough to clamber down. I shut it and had to walk around the front to go into my dorm.

He opened his window and called out, “He’s not worth it.”

I was close to ten feet away from him, but I stopped and looked back.

His eyes bore into mine. “Whatever reasons you have for being loyal to him, he doesn’t share the sentiment.” There were no doubts. No questions. Nothing in Caden’s statement besides dead-set resolve.

The wind picked up, sending shivers through me. “What are you talking about?”

He put the Land Rover into drive. “He wouldn’t have your back. Guys like him never do.”

Claudia was coming out of Avery’s room when I got upstairs.

Her eyes skimmed over me. “You’re back.”

She didn’t smile. I took note of that. I didn’t smile either. “Yeah.”

“Listen,” she said as she started toward me, sliding her hands into her back pockets. “Avery was your buddy, and, well, she was upset. She and Marcus dated last year. They broke up, and two months later he was with Maggie.” Her disdain came through loud and clear when she added, “I don’t understand why Avery won’t stop saying she’s Maggie’s friend. The girl’s a bitch.”

I frowned. What was I supposed to do with that? “I feel bad for Avery, but I was told you guys don’t leave your friends behind. You left me behind.”

She stared at me.

I stared back.

She should’ve had some reaction, but there was none. I guess that told me everything. She wasn’t going to apologize, and I wasn’t her friend. I nodded to myself.