Unleashed (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) (58 page)

We walk together along the beach, not really talking, just thinking.

To me, it’s pretty crazy, all of this, but it doesn’t
bother
me as much as it bothers Cass. Maybe it’s the ick-factor for her, but I just don’t feel it.

We had no way of knowing… and even if we did know, would it have stopped anything?

“What happened to your mother?” I ask, breaking the quiet. She snaps her head at me. I figure I’d better go first. “My father left while my mother was pregnant. I met him once, couple of years ago. He was back in town, looked me up. Told me he was my dad.”

“And?” she asks me.

“I told him to fuck off.”

“You know, he might have realized he made a mistake.”

“Like I give a shit about giving him absolution.”

“Did he say anything?”

“Yeah, tried to tell me not to behave the way I was. He got up in my face about it, too.”

“Oh,” she says, and she wrings her hands. “It was like that.”

“He tried to grab my arm when I turned to leave, tried to ask me to reconsider. It was a bit pathetic.”

“But maybe he really did make a mistake. Maybe he had regrets.”

“People got to own their mistakes, and own their regrets. I wasn’t about to make his life easier for him. What’s in it for me?”

“You could have formed a relationship with your real father.”

“Twenty years too late for that, Cass.”

I pull out a cigarette and light it, and we continue walking for a bit in silence. The sounds of sail lines slapping metal masts on catamarans rings in the air.

“My mother died when I was seven. She had a cancerous tumor on her spine. It came really quickly, like, one minute she’s healthy and fine and it’s like nothing is wrong, and the next she’s in hospital, weak and withering away. From the moment she was diagnosed to the day she died was only a little over six months.”

I feel a thump in my chest. “I’m sorry, Cass.”

“To be honest, I don’t really think about it that much.”

“So it’s just been you and your dad ever since, huh?”

“Yeah… until now. I don’t know why he’s suddenly married your mother. They only just met. It’s crazy, if you ask me.”

“Right time, right place, right drinks, right atmosphere, anything can happen. Hey, they were in Vegas, right?”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

I shrug. “I don’t understand it, either.”

“You know, technically, last night we were already…
family
.”

“That doesn’t bother me,” I say truthfully. “It’s just a technicality. You’re not my real sister, we had no way of knowing. Shit, why fucking waste time worrying about it?”

She doesn’t reply, so we just keep on walking.

“I’m going to England in a few days. It’s something of a holiday. Dad and I sorted it out before he went to Vegas. I’m going to see my campus.”

I’m not sure why she’s telling me this, so I just listen.

“Now I just can’t wait to get away. From you, from here, from this.”

I lick my lips.

“It would be so much simpler. I would have less to worry about, less to consider.”

“Can’t run away.”

“I want to. I’m thinking about just staying there, in the UK, for summer. Somehow, you know? Make it work. So I don’t have to come back
here
. So I don’t have to come back
home
.”

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out. It’s a text from my mother:

Chance, pack a suitcase. We’ll be joining Kyle and Cassie for their trip to England. Ciao!

I can’t help the grin from parting my lips.

Cassie looks at me, and says, “What?”

I hand her my phone, shaking my head. This day just keeps getting better and better.

“Looks like you and me are stuck together for a little while yet, Cass.”

She just looks completely horrified.

“Oh my God,” she groans.