Anti-Stepbrother

“I was up late too.”

Oh, dear God. When did Avery turn into a private dick?

“I don’t know. Late. Like, four in the morning.” Keep it as close to the truth as possible. I learned that from watching Veronica Mars. “How late were you up?”

“Not that late.”

Finally. She said that begrudgingly, and I was going to take it and run with it. I cocked my head to the side. “Oh yeah. It might’ve been later than that.” And now I was going to add another truth to further distract her. “I’m nervous about seeing Clarissa too.”

“You are?”

I glanced down and saw the concern in her eyes. Sinking down next to her, my knees folded, and I hugged them against my chest. “It’s been a while. Plus, she’s going to meet everyone too. That’s nerve wracking.”

“Your other friend is coming too, isn’t she?”

“I think so. She’s flying in tonight.” Or was it Saturday morning? Then I remembered I was supposed to let Clarissa know when we were rolling in. “I’ll be right back.”

I was hurrying away, my phone in hand, when Caden called my name.

I turned around. “Yeah?”

“Come on. We’re heading out.” He was heading toward the Land Rover.

“I gotta call—”

“Call on the way.”

Well, okay then. I started back, and Marcus cut across my path, heading for his truck. Our eyes caught and held. He slowed, but not enough to come to a complete stop.

As we passed each other, he said, “Thanks.”

I nodded. “No problem.”

“Huh?”

Avery stood next to me, also going toward the cars.

I would’ve freaked, because my smoothing skills are nonexistent, but Marcus rolled his eyes and pointed to his truck. “You riding with me or what?”

“I didn’t know if you wanted me to.”

“Yeah.” He said it like she should’ve known from the beginning.

She perked up and rushed away, calling over her shoulder, “Let me grab my bag quick. Be right there.”

The weird exchange between Marcus and me was effectively forgotten.

He turned around to walk backwards. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’d suck if you were ever interrogated.”

I bobbed my head up and down. “Yep. Probably why my high school years were boring. No one wanted me to be an accomplice for anything.”

He grunted, chuckling before rotating around and heading to his truck.

“What was that about?” Caden asked as I climbed in.

Shitters. “Hmm?”

“Don’t even try to lie to me.”

I shut the door and grimaced. From the pot to the fire. “If you think hard enough, you’ll be able to figure it out.”

“Why don’t you tell me?”

“Because I don’t want to be a narc. I made a promise.”

“To keep a secret from me?”

“To not rat out your brother.”

“From me?” His eyes darkened.

“Please, Caden. Just think about it so I don’t have to feel like a crappy promise-keeper.”

The beginning of the caravan started to pull out of the parking lot, and Caden put the Land Rover in drive, falling in line. He cast me a look from the side of his eye. “I don’t like idea of you having a secret with my brother.”

“That’s why I’m telling you to think about it.”

And after a second of silence, he said, “He was at the hospital, wasn’t he?”

I didn’t say anything.

“The coffee cup on the windowsill. That was his.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny.”

He swore. “Okay, okay. You’re not a rat. Congratulations, but don’t keep a secret from me again.”

I stared at him, momentarily shocked. He’d said that with an underlying vehemence that made my stomach twist.

“Yeah,” I said. “No problem.”

“Promise.” He cut his eyes to mine. “It’s important to me.”

My mouth fell dry. “I promise.”

He nodded, his shoulders relaxing. “It just occurred to me—what are you like when you travel?”

I beamed at him, turning on his radio. “Eighties music, baby. Don’t tell me you didn’t light the fire.”

He groaned. “This is going to be one long ride.”

But he was smiling, and that made me smile too.

I fell asleep.

Blame it on my sex life, which is what I told Caden when he woke me. He’d rolled his eyes in response, but I saw the small grin. We hadn’t talked about what happened between us. We’d fallen asleep afterward, and then it had been a mad rush since we woke up. He’d driven me back to finish packing while he did the same.

I’d paused right before getting out of his Land Rover to go into the dorm. I wasn’t sure what to do. Kiss him? Casual wave? Wink with a sexy suggestion for later? I’d had no clue, so I didn’t do anything. Caden had reached over, but he’d only rubbed my arm.

So. Okay. That was more than he’d done before, less than what we’d done two hours earlier, but okay. And that was it. We hadn’t talked about it since, and I was now sitting in his Land Rover at Dubrois College, watching as the guys took everything inside a house.

Correction.

I watched as Caden took things inside. There were others around, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him.