Score - A Stepbrother Romance (6 page)

Why? I had no idea. All I knew was that it sparked this dark, visceral reaction in my mind, putting me in a foul mood and making my hands shake even more than they had earlier.

“Go, please,” I mumbled. Chase cursed out loud.

“Fuck…you’re such a tease, Lina Diaz,” he growled at me. “Someday, you’re going to get in trouble.”

“I can take care of myself,” I retorted, shooting him a defiant look.

“I’m sure,” he snorted.

“God, I hate you.”

“Oh, do you?” he asked, lips curving into a smile. The fact that I amused him made me even angrier.

“Yes, that’s right. I do,” I replied. My words were filled with venom, an impulse reaction because I was so angry with him for indiscernible reasons. “If you were on fire and I had a glass of water…I’d drink it!”

Chase burst out laughing and I almost followed suit, my ridiculous comment making me want to giggle. But before I could do that, he stepped closer to me again, looking me right in the eye.

“If you had a glass of water,” he growled. “You’d pour it on yourself, because you’re so hot for me, princess.”

Before I could respond, he walked out on me, grinning from ear to ear. He left me standing in the middle of the bathroom with flushed cheeks.

The worst part?

He was totally right.

I
wanted
Lina more and more every day.

I hadn’t even known that was possible, but when she’d almost kissed me in the bathroom during the media lunch that day, I’d realized that it was. I’d realized it yet again the next day when I’d seen her nervously chewing on her lower lip as she checked out her class schedule for the upcoming semester, and I’d wanted her even more. The whole thing was doing a number on my head, because I knew she didn’t exactly return my feelings, and there was nothing I could do about that.

I wasn’t usually the type of guy to get hung up on a chick. I think the last time I’d been hung up on any girl was in the third grade when a girl named Mia had refused my offer to share my lunch with her. Even then, I’d gotten over it by the next afternoon.

But this time? Nope. There was no getting past this one. I’d spent the last few weeks jerking it to thoughts of Lina, as much of a basement-dwelling neckbeard as that made me sound like.

I could’ve been out getting laid. No, scratch that. I
should’ve
been out getting laid, but instead I’d secluded myself to either home, classes or the gym, picturing Lina the whole time instead of concentrating on my lectures or training. The only time in the last two weeks in which I hadn’t been fantasizing about her was during my last fight. Even then, I’d stared out at the crowd in between rounds, hoping that the next time I looked, she’d be there, watching me with that same fascinated look she’d had on her pretty face the first time I ever saw her.

I could see her in my mind’s eye again as I leaned back against the wall in the back row of the Humphrey lecture theatre, ignoring the droning voice of my economics professor. Even boring macroeconomics crap couldn’t shake the flashing fantasy
. Lina was pressed up against the wall, her arms above her head as my hands held them there, roughly pinning her in that position. I pushed one knee in between her legs, forcing them open as she gasped, and my lips were on her skin only seconds later, kissing her, licking her, tasting her. She was sweet and a little salty from the sweat, and she begged me to kiss her mouth, longing for me as much as I longed for her. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and her breaths were coming fast and shallow, yearning for me to slide my hand down the front of those faded blue jeans she always wore. I wanted to make her come, and I knew she wanted it just as bad…

I shook myself out of my fantasies again and jotted down some notes from the screen down at the front of the room.

Oh yeah, I had it bad…

After the media lunch the other week, things around the house had quickly descended into more chaos. My father and Nina were still busily making preparations for their wedding, and they’d scheduled it on the worst possible day—right at the end of exam week for me and Lina, when we’d probably be tired as fuck. It would be doubly bad for Lina, seeing as it was her first semester, and she was already being thrown in the deep end as it was, considering she hadn’t even thought she’d be attending college anytime soon.

I’d tried to show her around campus on her first day, but she’d stiffly told me she didn’t need help and then taken off in the direction of one of the main quadrangles. I’d known she was going the wrong way for the class she had, but she hadn’t wanted to listen, and by the end of our first week, she seemed to have figured it all out by herself anyway.

I really didn’t get her at all. She was confusing as hell. It was like she was hot for me one minute and freezing cold the next. There seemed to be a pattern to it, though; I’d get close enough to see and feel just how turned on she was by me, and then she’d shove me away like I had leprosy before it could actually go anywhere. Women, right?

Oh well. Nothing I could do about it. She obviously had some sort of intimacy issues, and she’d have to deal with them in her own time.

Maybe it was because our parents were getting married. She probably felt like it was some awful, forbidden thing for us to hook up, but honestly, I didn’t get the big deal. We weren’t related, and we’d only just met, for Christ’s sake. It wasn’t like she was my adopted sister who’d grown up with me and formed a real sibling bond with me over the years. Sure, other people might think it was weird and gross, but I sure as fuck didn’t.

My economics lecture finally ended, and I yawned and trudged out of the theatre, trying to remember if my next class was at two or two-thirty. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember. Maybe the punch I’d taken to the head during my last fight had knocked all my brain cells out. That would certainly explain my terrible memory and my current preoccupation with a girl I barely knew.

Yup, that had to be it. Brain damage. That was my story and I was sticking to it.

I reached into my pocket to grab a folded copy of my class schedule, and as I gazed down at it, I kept walking and then collided with someone coming in the opposite direction.

“Shit, sorry,” I said, jerking my head up. “Wasn’t watching where…oh, it’s you.”

Lina was standing before me. Her cheeks were flushed, just like I’d been picturing only minutes earlier…only she wasn’t half-naked, and she had an angry expression on her face. Somehow, that made me want her even more, and my cock stiffened in my pants as heat rushed to my groin. Thank God for loose jeans…

“Why are you always bumping into me?” she complained, bending down to pick up a notebook she’d dropped.

I grinned. “It takes two to tango, princess. We keep bumping into
each other
, not just me into you. So I guess we both need to watch where we’re walking…or maybe it’s a sign from the universe.”

She slid her notebook into her tote bag and then folded her arms, looking up at me with narrowed eyes. “Oh, yeah? A sign of what? That we should give each other concussions?”

“Maybe. Or maybe we’re just meant to be together,” I teased, although I was only half-joking.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re about as bright as a black hole and twice as dense. How many times do I have to tell you I’m not interested?”

My grin grew wider. “Oh, but you are. Ever heard the saying ‘actions speak louder than words’?”

She reached up and pinched my arm. Even though she was obviously doing it as viciously as possible by her standards, it barely even stung. It was like a Chihuahua attacking a bear.

“How’s that for an action to show how I feel about you?” she asked, fixing me with a haughty look.

“Did you…did you seriously just
pinch
me? Are you six?”

Her cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of pink. “No. I was just making a point.”

“Poorly, I might add.”

“Shut up.”

She made to walk away but then turned back to me, a sheepish expression on her face. “Uhh….by the way, where’s the Bayliss Building?”

“Oh, so you need my help now? Tsk, tsk.”

“Forget it. I’ll find it myself.”

She turned around again, and I grabbed her arm. “Wait, no. I was kidding. Hold on, I’ll draw you a little map. Bayliss is kinda hard to find.”

“Thanks,” she said softly. Despite her uncharacteristic gratefulness, she brushed her sleeve off where I’d touched her as if I were a known carrier of the Bubonic plague.

I grabbed a pen out of my pocket and scribbled down a crude map for her on a spare piece of paper. As I drew it, she shuffled nervously in her spot before finally speaking up again. “So…are you still doing that whole illegal fight thingy?”

“Fight thingy?” I said, arching an eyebrow.

“You know what I mean. The fights you do. I mean, it’s all a big secret, right?”

“Yeah, for obvious reasons. My Dad and all.”

“Right. So are you still doing it?”

“Yeah, although the next one isn’t for two weeks.”

“I see.”

“Wanna come?”

She wrinkled her nose. “No. I don’t think it’s really my kinda thing. I don’t even understand why you do it.”

I leaned closer, making a big show of sliding the map I’d drawn for her into her front jacket pocket. “So what is your thing?” I asked, my face only inches from hers.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled.

She looked like she was about to say something else, but we were distracted by the arrival of a friend of mine, Brett Gedei, who’d been walking past and just spotted me.

“Hey, man! Haven’t seen you around much,” he said, slapping my shoulder.

“Yeah, been keeping pretty busy,” I replied. “How’s it going?”

“Same old, same old,” he replied. His eyes were no longer on me; they were slowly roaming over Lina, looking her up and down like she was a piece of meat.

Instinctively, I took a step closer to her, and he grinned. “So who’s this? Finally got yourself a girlfriend?”

“Nah, she’s my…”

He cut me off. “Oh, wait, I saw something in the papers. You’re the new stepsister, right?” he said, still staring at her.

“Not yet,” I replied before she could answer. “Our parents aren’t married yet.”

“Right. Well, I’m Brett,” he said, holding out a hand to Lina. “Old friend of your new brother.”

She shook it, giving him a shy smile, and Brett finally looked back at me.

“Anyway, I was gonna text you. I’m having a party at my place this weekend. Friday night. You in?”

“Sure,” I replied. I didn’t have a fight this weekend, and going to a party would be a good way for me to blow off steam. I could ditch the healthy diet for the night, have a few beers, and hopefully find some girl to bury my cock in and take my mind off Lina for once.

“What about you?” he asked, looking at Lina again. “If you’re not busy, you should come too!”

My hands coiled into fists by my sides as I pictured her showing up at the party. No. Fucking. Way.

I knew most of the guys who went to Brett’s shindigs, and I knew exactly what they were like. They went to the parties hoping to do just two things: get fucked up, and find a girl to fuck. I didn’t want Lina going anywhere near that kind of scene. She was too innocent, too vulnerable. She’d be easy prey for a sleazy jackoff.

She probably wouldn’t want to go, anyway. She didn’t seem like the type of girl who liked to party all that much, so I guess my worries were needless.

But even as I thought that, I saw her nod and smile. “Sure,” she said. “I don’t really know anyone on campus yet, so that’d be fun.”

“Yeah, you can meet some new college folks, have a few drinks,” Brett said, flashing her what I assumed he thought was a panty-melting smile. “So you’re a freshman, huh?”

“Uh-huh.”

The thought of her hooking up with Brett made my stomach roil, even though he wasn’t the worst kind of guy out there. He was actually pretty decent, but still…no way was I gonna let him sleaze onto Lina.

He looked back at me. “All right, well you know my address. I’ve gotta run now, but I’ll see you guys there on Friday. Oh, and it was nice to meet you, Lina.”

He winked and then strode away, and I narrowed my eyes at Lina. “You’re not going.”

“Huh?”

“To that party. You’re not going. No way.”

She crossed her arms. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. I don’t want you hanging around people like that.”

“You mean people like you?” she asked.

“Er…yeah, I guess. It’s not safe.”

“Please,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “You just don’t want me to steal your friends. But don’t worry, I’m sure they have enough room in their hearts for the both of us.”

She placed her hand over her heart as she spoke, her voice tinged with sarcasm, and an idea finally struck me.

“Fine. You can go. I’ll text you the address, but you’ll have to find your own way there. I’ve got something to do on Friday before the party, so I can’t drive you.”

Like hell I was going to give her the right address. I’d give her one on the other side of town, and she’d think it had been cancelled when she showed up and found a quiet, empty street.

“Fine. I wasn’t going to ask you to take me anyway,” she said. “I do have other friends, you know. I’ll invite them, and we’ll drive there together.”

“Okay, cool. I’ll see you at home later,
sis
.”

“Bye,
bro
.”

She strolled away without another word. On the one hand, I hated watching her walk away from me, but on the other hand…by God, did I love staring at that ass…

F
riday arrived quickly
, and I spent the early evening hanging out with Tripp at his place. If I stayed at home, then Lina might see me leave, and if she happened to be leaving at the same time, she’d realize I’d given her the wrong address.

Oh man, she was gonna give me hell when she realized what I’d done, but it was for her own good. She’d make friends at college eventually, and hopefully they’d be the decent kind of friends, not the sort who tried to make her do multiple keg-stands so they could get her wasted and take advantage of her.

Sometimes I wondered why I even hung out with the people I did, but then I remembered that I was just like them. At least I had been, once upon a time. I’d definitely never been the kinda guy who only thought about one girl, but look at me now…

I headed to the party at eight-thirty, and as I stepped into Brett’s house, I saw that it was already in full swing. Heavy bass pounded from the speakers on the side of the lounge room, almost making the whole house vibrate, and scantily-clad girls had themselves draped over the arms of guys in shirts with popped collars. Jesus, when did that look come back in style?

I grabbed a beer and headed over to a group of guys I knew, and as I caught up with my buddies, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.

I’d recognize that ass anywhere.

It was Lina. She’d just stepped into the room, and she was surveying the place with a confident gleam in her eyes. It was nice to see her coming out of her shell a bit, but what the hell was she doing here?

She turned and saw me, and a cheeky smile turned up the corners of her lips.

“Excuse me for a sec,” I said to my friends before striding over to her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

She feigned an innocent expression. “Huh? I was invited. You were there when Brett asked me, remember?” she said.