Score - A Stepbrother Romance (8 page)

I looked up to find Chase stripping off his leather jacket. It was probably his only protection from the weather; the material making all of the raindrops bounce off it. He wrapped the kitten in it gently and held her tight, and seemingly on an impulse, he took my hand in his…

I felt warmer right away.

We ran as fast as we could. Chase clutched the kitten to his chest with one hand and helped me along with the other, making sure I didn’t trip and fall in any puddles. It was only a short distance to his car, and in a few moments, we’d piled inside the Lexus, both of us out of breath.

Chase flashed me a victorious look, and my insides almost melted.

“Got her. Better take her home and make sure she gets something to eat, and warm her up as well,” he said, starting up the car.

He was soaking wet, and his white T-shirt was plastered to his skin, making his ripped stomach plain to see. We’d probably both die of pneumonia in a few days, but looking at those big blue eyes of his made me have absolutely no regrets.

I took the kitten from him, placing her gently on my lap. The engine revved, the car seats began heating up, and right then and there, I knew that the whole day hadn’t been so awful. Even though the rain was still bucketing down, we were warm and cozy in the car, with soft music playing in the background.

I unwrapped the kitten from Chase’s jacket and checked her all over to make sure she was all right. She was definitely a female cat, and she was still shaking and complaining about her horrible day with loud meows.

“Poor thing,” I muttered as I held her close.

“We’ll get her sorted,” Chase promised me, his eyes on the road. “I promise, Lina.”

For a moment, he looked in my direction, his gaze focusing on mine. Butterflies took flight in my stomach from the simple gesture, and I smiled, my stupid way of apologizing for storming off.

“Thank you.” My voice was barely above a whisper as we drove onto the highway.

Chase returned the smile, his eyes floating back to the road a second later. Feeling strangely bereft, I looked down at the kitten on my lap. She was starting to dry up, and although she was settled in my arms, she was still meowing up a storm.

I felt something warm on my leg, and I looked over to find Chase’s hand resting on my thigh. It wasn’t raunchy or seductive, even though he was pretty close to my inner thigh. It was just sweet, tender and caring.

It also made me ache for more.

S
omething had changed
for the better…and I had a cat to thank for that.

Never thought I’d utter a sentence like that, but there it was.

Ever since we’d rescued the poor little kitten from the alley near Brett’s house, Lina and I had wordlessly declared a truce. The kitten had desperately needed our help, and we’d needed to work together to provide that help, forgetting about any childish problems we’d ever had with each other. It had taken the two of us to convince Nina and my father that the kitten—whom we’d named Goldie due to her greyish-blonde patches—could stay, and we’d needed to take her to multiple veterinary appointments to get her dewormed, treated for fleas and vaccinated.

Lina didn’t roll her eyes or glare at me every time she saw me like she used to, and she actually spoke to me now. Real conversations, not just the occasional witty insult in the hallway. Hell, she’d even hung out with me a couple of times in the last week, watching as Goldie dashed around my bedroom, hunting pieces of dust and pouncing on all of my shoes.

I had to say, as much as I’d been turned on in the past by Lina’s scathing insults and haughty looks in my direction, I was enjoying being her friend far more.

Well, maybe we weren’t exactly real friends yet, because I was pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to want to fuck a friend’s brains out. But shh…that could be our secret for now. If she only ever wanted to be friends with me, then so be it. Besides, our parents had been so happy to see us getting along, and I didn’t want to spoil that for them.

I was seriously turning into a pussy little bitch because of Lina and this kitten, though—no pun intended. I’d gone to a scheduled fight the other night, and with every strike, jab and chokehold I’d put my opponent in, I’d thought of nothing but Lina and Goldie, even though my mind was supposed to be focused on victory and the roaring cheers of the crowd. I’d still won, but I hadn’t cared anywhere near as much as usual.

All I’d wanted was to get home and be with them.

Fuck, what was wrong with me? I was losing it, and pretty soon my lack of concentration would probably result in me losing matches…all because of a girl and a cat.

Little Lily was absolutely loving having the cat around, though, and I had to say, I was starting to feel slightly betrayed. Goldie had taken to sleeping on her bed every night instead of with me or Lina, and Lina and I would always tuck the two of them in and make jokes about how Lily had stolen our precious kitten from us. It was all in good fun, of course—they were totally and utterly adorable together, all curled up under the blankets together with Goldie’s velvety nose pressed up against Lily’s shoulder.

Right now, it was a little after midnight, and I’d just drifted off to sleep after finishing up an exhausting day of strenuous workouts and two major assignments for my college classes.

I was woken by a strange rustling sound only moments later, and I rubbed my eyes and rolled over to see Lily standing beside my bed, clutching a doll. She’d really taken a shining to me since moving in, and she’d woken me up a few times in the middle of the night after having nightmares. Usually I’d just make her a hot chocolate and read her a book until she drifted off again.

“Chase? Wake up, please.”

She reached out and prodded my shoulder, and I groaned and sat up. “What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream again?”

She shook her head. “Goldie did a wee on my bed. I’m scared.”

I sighed and swung my legs over to the side of my bed before turning a lamp on. “It’s okay, Lily, don’t be scared. I’ll change your sheets and put the dirty ones in the wash. You can just sleep in one of the spare rooms for now, or I can put you in Lina’s bed with her.”

“I’m scared because it looked like there was blood,” she said, hugging her doll tighter against her chest.

“What?”

My blood ran cold, and I followed Lily down the hall and into her room to see Goldie curled up on the side of her bed. Weak mewls escaped her mouth every few seconds, and Lily tentatively patted her as I stepped closer to the spot where she’d peed.

Lily was right. There was a little bit of blood mixed in with the wet spot, and I swore under my breath. “Shit.”

“I heard that. That’s a bad word,” Lily said. “Is Goldie sick?”

“I think so,” I said. “You keep patting her for now, okay? I’m going to wake Lina up, and we’ll take her to a twenty-four hour vet clinic. Can you do that?”

She nodded. “Okay. Please ask the vet to make her all better.”

“Will do.”

Lina’s bedroom door was unlocked, and I quietly pushed it open before turning her light on. She grumbled and called out to me.

“What are you doing?”

“Goldie is sick. She peed on Lily’s bed, and there’s blood.”

She sat bolt upright. “Oh my God.”

After following me into the other room, she hugged Lily and then stroked Goldie’s furry little chin, tears glistening in her eyes. “Poor baby. She’s already been through so much.”

“I know. I’ll be back in a sec.”

I raced into my room and grabbed my wallet and car keys. “Here,” I said, passing them to her when I returned. “Do you wanna take her to that clinic on Oak Street? It’s only fifteen minutes from here. Put everything on my credit card.”

“Aren’t you coming?” she said, looking up at me with wide eyes.

“I would, but someone’s gotta clean this up and put Lily back to bed. I thought you’d rather be with Goldie than clean up cat piss.”

She gave me a tight smile. “Thanks, Chase,” she said softly. “I’ll grab her cat carrier and a blanket to put in it.”

“No, she can have mine!” Lily demanded, grabbing a small blanket from the little sofa that sat on one side of her room.

Lina smiled and thanked her, her face lighting up as she looked down at her little sister. I could see in her eyes that she was still deeply worried about Goldie, and I was too. I had no idea what could be causing her to pee blood, and I desperately hoped that the vet could help her before it was too late. That gorgeous little fur-ball had really grown on me, and I hated the thought of losing her.

Lina headed out with the kitten, and I stripped Lily’s bed down and threw everything in the washing machine. As I was waiting for that to finish, I took Lily into one of the spare rooms and tucked her into the bed, making sure she had plenty of her dolls and teddy bears to sleep with.

“Here you go,” I said. “Here’s Paddington Bear as well. They’ll all make sure you have good dreams, and when you wake up, Goldie should be home.”

“Do you promise she’ll be better?” she asked, looking up at me through sleepy brown eyes.

I didn’t want to make a promise that I wasn’t sure I could keep, but I didn’t want to break Lily’s heart either, so I squeezed her hand and ruffled her hair. “The vet will take the best care of her that he or she can. Now try to get some sleep, okay?”

“Okay. Night-night, Chase.”

I smiled and watched her close her eyes before turning the lights out and heading back downstairs to the laundry room. The sheets and blanket were still going in the washing machine, and I sat and waited, almost nodding off again until a beeping sound alerted me that it was finished. I tossed them all into the dryer and then finally headed back up to my room to find my phone.

How’s it going?
I texted to Lina.

She responded ten minutes later.
It’s not as bad as we thought. Bacterial infection, but it’s easily treated. I’ll be home soon with meds for her.

Thank God for that.

As I waited for her to return, I shook my head as I realized just how far removed I was from my normal life at the moment. Usually at this time of night, I’d be out with buddies or picking up girls to take back to the hotel room I always hired, not sitting around waiting for an animal to get home from the vet.

The reason I’d always booked out a hotel room on those nights was twofold. Firstly, I couldn’t bring home a string of girls when the house was being watched by media douchebags half the time, and secondly, I did it so that when I screwed the aforementioned girls, they couldn’t track me down again after I was done with them.

Something inside me stung as I recalled what a dick I’d always been. I’d treated so many girls like expendable garbage, and I didn’t want to be like that anymore. I didn’t even care if that made me sound like a pussy to other people. Fuck it, if that’s what being a total pussy was about, then bring it on.

Lina knocked on my door half an hour later. “You still awake?” she asked softly.

“Yeah. How’s Goldie?”

“Still pretty weak, but she’ll be fine by tomorrow. One problem, though…”

“What’s that?” I asked, watching as she unlatched the cat carrier’s door before gently lifting Goldie onto the end of my bed.

“We need to feed her a little bit of this medication once every half hour for the next few hours. Too much at one time will upset her stomach. So it looks like we’re going to be up all night.”

I’d been dead tired, but seeing Lina made me perk right up again, and I grinned. “Well, it won’t be the first all-nighter I’ve pulled because of some pussy.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Oh, come on. That’s the best you could do?”

“Gimme a break. It’s almost two in the morning.”

“Fair enough.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a little bottle of medicine and an eyedropper. “Okay, so we fill this little dropper up to this mark here, and then we just drop it in Goldie’s mouth. It doesn’t taste great, so she might struggle a bit, but we have to make sure she swallows most of it.”

“All right.”

“I’ll give her the first dose so you can see. The vet said it’ll help her swallow if we gently massage her throat.”

“Okay.”

Goldie hissed and glared as Lina gave her the first dose of medication.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Lina said, gently rubbing her. “I’m so sorry. I promise you’ll love us again when you’re all better.”

Goldie stared at us with a baleful expression on her face before curling back up into a ball, and Lina sighed. “I guess we should do something to pass the time. Do you have any movies?”

“Yeah, heaps. What do you feel like watching?”

“Hmm…I dunno. As long as it isn’t some violent action movie.”

“Aw, c’mon, I was totally gonna suggest Rambo,” I said with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. “I still don’t get you. You’re meant to be this preppy rich boy, yet you’re obsessed with action and fighting and all that junk.”

“Junk, huh?”

“You know what I mean.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I do. I should be wearing sweater vests and attending golf tournaments, right? Maybe smoking a cigar with my friends from the yacht club, or doing lines of coke off high-class escorts?”

She snorted with laughter. “Something like that. So why do you do that whole fighting thing, anyway?”

“I dunno how to explain it, really. I just love it. Just this feeling I get when I do it; all that adrenaline running through me. Makes me feel alive, if you know what I mean.”

“But aren’t you worried your Dad will find out? Or the media? I mean, when I first saw you there, there must have been almost a thousand people watching. Surely someone will realize who you are, if they haven’t already.”

I shrugged. “I was worried at first, but no one’s caught on so far. Only person who knows who I really am is my cousin, who trains me. And you. Most of the people who go to illegal fights aren’t exactly the sort to read the papers and follow politics, y’know?”

“Well, you should be careful, especially with this election campaign. It could really screw things up for Peter—sorry, your Dad.”

“I’ll be careful. I’m doing less fighting now anyway. It’s kinda the off-season for it, and I’ve got all my classes too, so I’ve gotta concentrate on them.”

“Yeah, I suppose. What year are you in now?” she asked.

“Second. How’s it going for you, anyway? All settled in?”

She nodded and scooted up further on my bed, our movie plans all but forgotten. “It’s going really well. I was so nervous when I first started, but I know my way around campus now, and I’ve made some new friends.”

“But not Jessie Bond and her little cronies, I assume.” I instantly felt bad for bringing it up, and I waved my hand at her. “Sorry.”

She chewed on her lower lip before replying. “No, it’s fine. I’m over it now. She’s just an immature bitch. I mean, who acts like that after high school?”

“No shit. She’s fucked. She’s been after me for ages, but even I wouldn’t sleep with a bitch like that.”

“Implying you’d basically sleep with anything that moves, as long as they aren’t a stuck-up bitch?”

She stuck her tongue out at me, and I chuckled. “Smartass.”

“I suppose if you did hook up with her, it’d be like a ‘sleeping with the enemy’ type of thing.”

“How so?”

“Because her father is running against your Dad in the election, right?”

“Oh, right. Yeah. Anyway, back to college…have you figured out your major yet?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. I’m taking all the compulsory core classes like we all have to, but I’m also taking Intro to Biology and Intro to Genetics this semester. Next semester I’m doing more of the same.”

“What major is that for?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “Sounds pretty intense.”

“Biomedical science,” she said. “With a minor in genetics.”

“Wow. So what, you’re gonna cure AIDS one day, or something like that?”

“Yeah…something like that,” she said softly, looking down at the duvet. “I actually want to help research a cancer cure one day. I’m just so glad I’m getting to study it all now. I have to say, I was kind of wary of your Dad at first, but he’s given me all these opportunities I wouldn’t have had for years.”

I grinned. “Yeah, he’s an asshole sometimes, like most politicians, but he’s got his good points. So why are you so interested in cancer research?”

She hesitated. “Um…I don’t know if you know this, but my father…he died three years ago. He had cancer. I kept thinking if I went to college one day and helped with that sort of research, maybe I’d be able to help stop the same thing from happening to other people and their families.”