by Kylie Walker
She shrugged. “A little.”
“Show me what you got.” They headed over toward the pool tables as the front doors opened up and people from the race began to pour in. Sam hadn’t even thought about Conrad and Kyla showing up here, but there they were now as big as life. Kyla was so close to Conrad as they came in the door there was barely any light between them. Shawn, Beau, Drew, Casey and Stew were all with them as well. Shawn had a pretty blonde with him and Drew was listening to something a young Hispanic guy with a lot of tattoos and muscle was saying. She looked fascinated either by his words, or the fact that he looked like a young Andy Garcia, Sam wasn’t sure which. “Aw, they crashed our party,” Hector said, “Don’t worry though, if you want a little private time later I have a room in the back.” Samantha had to consciously control the eye-roll she wanted to give him. Instead she reached up for one of the pool sticks on the wall and said,
“Rack ‘em.”
Hector laughed again but he did as she asked. While he was doing that she looked back over toward the bar. Conrad was looking at her now and his eyes went from her to Hector just as Kyla reached up and moved his face back toward hers with her hands. Demanding little slut.
“Okay Mama, break ‘em.” Sam walked around to the other side where the white cue ball lay against the green felt. She bent at the waist and lined up her shot before pulling back her right arm and taking the shot. Three balls dropped into different pockets, two stripes and a solid. Hector roared. “She’s not just a champion racer, she’s a pool shark!” Sam grinned at him.
“Lucky shot,” she said.
“Right…” Hector was smiling and looking impressed. A few of the other MC guys from Kyla’s crew had gathered around the table to watch. As she walked around the table to take her next shot her eyes caught Conrad’s. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched her. He looked as proud of her as he had at the race tonight and no matter how much she didn’t want that to affect her…it did.
CHAPTER 19
For the first hour that Sam played pool, burying one fool after the other, Conrad watched her from across the room while fighting off Kyla’s not too subtle advances. He’d finally just told her straight out that they’d already given it a shot and it didn’t work, he wasn’t in a place in his life where he was willing to try it again. The thing he found strange was that only a few weeks ago he would have been at least willing to have sex with her. He knew Kyla and he knew she’d be willing to sleep with him even after he told her they weren’t going to re-visit the relationship. But strangely no matter how many times she brushed up against him, kissed him or pressed her breasts into his chest, he hadn’t felt anything. Looking across the room at his step-sister as she crushed a bunch of hard-core bikers under her racing boots was oddly enough what was turning him on.
Kyla eventually got tired of being turned down and set her sights on another racer. Conrad felt relieved and he went over and took a seat near the pool tables to watch Sam. He was amazed that after watching her first game against Hector that any of them would have challenged her, but one after the other they stepped up, lay their twenty-dollars down and got in line for their chance at humiliation. He figured it didn’t hurt that all she was drinking was water while most of her challengers were on their fourth or fifth drink already, but the fact remained that she was good no matter whom she was playing and watching her was one of the sexiest things he’d ever seen. Especially since the guys had all been trying to distract her all night with subtle and even not so subtle sexual innuendos that hadn’t fazed her in the least. She let them down gently or sarcastically, depending on the guy and the come on. Bottom line was that she gave as good as she got and best of all in Conrad’s mind, she didn’t seem to be interested in any of them.
He watched her finish demolishing her latest victim and on impulse he sat down his beer, stood up off of his stool and said, “My turn.”
Samantha looked up at him with those sexy blue eyes and sat her stick down. Pressing her hands into the table and stretching her back and neck she said, “I was thinking about calling it a night.”
Conrad grinned and pulled a stick off the wall. “Afraid?”
Sam snorted. “Hardly,” she said. “I’d just hate to ruin your run tonight. You beat the girl on the track, but you won’t beat this girl.”
He didn’t want to beat her. Hell, he didn’t even want to play pool with her. He wanted to pick her up and carry her into that back room that Kyla kept trying to take him to…but he kept going back to the fact that she was his step-sister. He could justify the first time they were together because neither of them knew…but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to justify it if it happened again. He pulled out a twenty and lay it down on the table and said, “Put your money where your mouth is hotrod.”
Sam smiled and peeled a twenty off of the wad she had taken from the other guys. She lay it down next to his and said, “Rack ‘em.”
Conrad did as he was told and stepped back while Sam lined up her shot. While she was distracted he let his eyes travel over her body. She was still dressed in her racing shirt and jeans. She didn’t have any skin showing other than her long slender arms and the sexy part of her neck he could see underneath her hair. She didn’t have on any make-up that he could see. She was effortlessly sexy and she seemed to have no idea which turned him on even more. He’d take her over a scantily clad Kyla any day. He was so mesmerized by her that he actually jumped at the sound of the balls scattering. She sank two, both stripes and then rounded the table. As she bent down to line up that shot visions of stepping up behind her and putting his hands on those sexy hips danced inside Conrad’s head. He kept trying to chase those thoughts away, but without much success.
“Ten in the corner pocket,” she said. Conrad clenched his stick and suppressed a groan as he watched her stretch out and as effortlessly as she looked sexy, she made the shot. “Where did your girlfriend go?” she asked him, straightening up. He had to re-direct his eyes back to her face and for a second he didn’t process what she said.
“My what?”
“The pink racer,” she said. Conrad detected a note of sarcasm…or maybe jealousy in her voice. Shamelessly he hoped it was the latter. He leaned back into the wall and said, “You mean Kyla? She’s around here somewhere.” He didn’t confirm or deny that she was his girlfriend. He knew it was wrong because he’d already decided he couldn’t have Sam no matter how badly he wanted her, yet he wanted her to want him.
She curled her lip for just a second and then it was gone. She leaned in and took another shot. That time he got to admire the delicate curves of her backside and his hands itched to touch them. She missed that shot and he smiled inwardly with the satisfaction of knowing that he’d gotten to her, just a little bit.
When she straightened up he grinned at her and she rolled her eyes. God, those eyes are sexy. He walked around the table looking for his shot. When he found it he stood back and analyzed it for way too long, just to annoy her. She finally cleared her throat and said, “We’re not getting any younger here.”
He turned so he was facing her and she looked up at his face. It took every fiber in his body not to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to do more than kiss her and the pool table was looking good for that…if there weren’t fifty other people in the room, and if she wasn’t his step-sister. Damn it! Instead of kissing her slowly he ran his tongue along his bottom lip and said, “I don’t like to rush things unless I’m behind the wheel.” He thought he saw her shudder and with a smug satisfaction he said, “Six in the center pocket.” He took the shot and easily made it. He moved to the other side of the table then and missed that shot, on purpose. He enjoyed watching her shoot more than he wanted to win.
He watched the cue slide through her fingers as she aimed and called her shot. His breaths slowed as he watched her take her time before sinking it. She sank the rest of them one or two at a time and when she finished she stood up and a slow, sexy smile spread across her face. Picking his
money up off the table she added it to the wad and said, “You get to choose the game next time. I’m not heartless enough not to at least give you a chance to redeem yourself.”
Conrad grinned, stepped closer to her and with his lips close to her ear he said, “What about wrestling? I’m pretty good at that.”
**
Conrad was wiped out and ready for bed two hours before he finally left the clubhouse. He wasn’t willing to leave until Samantha did. Hector was buzzing around and although he seemed like a nice enough guy, Conrad knew for a fact he had done hard time. He was also sucking down the beer and getting more and more friendly and touchy-feely with her. Samantha seemed to do okay fending him off by herself, but Conrad stuck around…just in case. He tried to tell himself that his concern was for his step-sister, but the misery he was in for a while after that pool game begged to differ. He wanted her. It was wrong, or at least he thought it was. He also didn’t want anyone else to have her. The thought of any of these guys with their hands on her gorgeous body made him sick to his stomach…so he stuck close and basically cock-blocked for her all night. When she finally dragged an obviously stoned Aaron out by his ear Conrad was exhausted, but relieved.
He said good-night to everyone once they were gone and just as he was about to step into his car Shawn yelled at him from the doorway, “Conrad, wait up!” He waited and when Shawn reached him he said, “Hey man I haven’t had a chance to talk to you the last couple of days. Sam told me about your step-dad. I’m sorry man that sucks.”
“Thanks…why did she tell you?”
Shawn looked hurt as he said, “Because I’m your best friend and I’ve been trying to figure out what the hell was going on with you for the past week. I’m surprised that you didn’t tell me.”
“Sorry man, I guess I just wasn’t ready to talk about it.”
“Can I ask you something without pissing you off?”
Conrad smiled. “That depends; do you need me to pay your part of the rent again this month?”
“Nah, I got that,” Shawn said with a grin. Turning serious he said, “I was just wondering if it’s all about Luke being sick. I mean, I’ve noticed the way you look at Sam. It has to really suck to find out you’re kind of related to her.”
“Technically we’re not related,” Conrad said, surprising himself.
“Right...but it would still be weird, right?”
“I don’t want to talk about any of this,” Conrad said, slipping into the Charger.
“Okay, but if you do just know that I’m willing to listen.”
Conrad nodded. He couldn’t talk about it if he wanted to. He hadn’t been able to sort through his own feelings enough to understand and verbalize them. All week he’d waffled back and forth between grief at finding out Luke was sick and despair at finding out he was somehow related to the only woman he’d really wanted in years. Sometimes he wondered if God was going to keep punishing him for what he did to his brother forever. Maybe it’s no less than he deserved. “Thanks Shawn. I’ll see you at home.”
CHAPTER 20
“Good morning!” Conrad strolled into the kitchen at Luke’s house looking like he’d just won a million dollars which was a contrast to what the rest of them looked like. Sam had just gotten out of the shower before fixing breakfast and her hair was still wet and stuck to her head. Aaron was staring down into his bowl of cereal after getting a two hour lecture from Sam on Saturday on the evils of marijuana and not speaking to her since, and Luke looked a little nervous, probably because today was his first day of chemotherapy.
“What are you doing here?” Sam asked him almost simultaneously with Luke saying, “Good morning.”
“Good morning, Luke.” He smiled at his step-father and then turned back to Sam and said, “That’s the way you greet a person in the morning.”
She pasted a fake smile on her face and said, “Good morning Conrad. What are you doing here?” After his hot and heavy flirting on Friday night there had been nothing. No phone calls, no text message, nothing. Now he strolls in like he owns the world and the sight of him, although as hot as usual, pissed her off. “I’m taking Luke to the hospital today.”
Conrad’s lips twitched but thankfully for him he didn’t smile. “I know. I’ll be here to take him tomorrow. Today I’m here for him.” He pointed at Aaron. Aaron dropped his spoon in his bowl and with a mouthful of Frosted Flakes he said,
“Huh?”
“Where are you taking him, and why?” Sam asked. She glanced at her father’s face. He was trying to look innocent but she had a feeling he’d already known Conrad was coming.
“I have an interview and time trial with Sanders Motorsports next week. I have the speedway for a few hours today and I need a helper.”
Sam cocked an eyebrow. She had a hard time believing none of the crew was willing to help him. She looked at her brother’s face. He looked completely intimidated and in that second she decided that it might just do him some good to spend some time with a guy like Conrad who had his shit together and wasn’t out stealing cars and smoking dope. “You better get dressed then, Aaron.”
“What about work.”
“I talked to Lee and told him you wouldn’t be in today.”
“I don’t get a say in this?”
“No!” Sam and Conrad spoke at the same time. Luke lost his battle with the smile. Aaron left his cereal bowl on the table and stormed down the hallway toward his bedroom. When he was out of earshot Sam looked at Luke and said, “Was this your idea?”
“No, actually it was Conrad’s.”
She looked at Conrad and he said, “I saw how wasted he was the other night and I saw how upset you were. I asked Luke if he thought it might do him some good to spend some time with me and the guys.”
“Okay, well…I do appreciate it. I’m just wondering why you talked to Luke and not me.” They both looked over at the sound of Luke’s chair being pushed back from the table.
Still smiling he said, “I’m going to finish getting ready for my appointment.” Once he was gone too Conrad said, “I’m sorry Sam, you’re right. I should have talked to you. Do you have a second to sit down?”
She looked at the time, “Yeah, a second I guess.” She poured herself a cup of coffee and they both sat down at the table. Conrad’s eyes looked sad suddenly. The light that was in them when he came through the door was gone that quickly.
“My dad has always been a really hard worker. He didn’t spend a lot of time at home, but it was because he was always doing his best to provide for us. We had everything we needed and a lot that we just wanted…we were spoiled and on top of that I was an arrogant punk who just had to look at a girl in high school and she’d practically jump in my bed. We partied, a lot.”
“You keep saying “we”…”
“Yeah, me and Jake, my little brother. Jake was a year younger than me. We had some good times and in my head we were always careful. We drank but we never drove drunk and we smoked a little weed, but nothing harder than that…until that night. We went to a party at this college guy’s house. There was this girl who was a year older than me and I’d been trying hard to get into her pants. She was the first girl who ever made me work for it…”
“This has a point beyond bragging about your conquests, right?”
He nodded and said, “She pretty much told me if I took her and her friend to this party, she’d give it up. So Jake and I took them. I left him alone with these guys I didn’t even know while I was upstairs with this chick. I guess it was an hour or so later we heard a lot of screaming and yelling from downstairs. When we got down there the first thing I saw was my little brother’s blue lips. He had foam running out of the side of his mouth and his whole body was seizing. I was screaming at someone to call 911 and trying to figure out what happened when he just stopped moving. He wasn’t breathing. The 911 operator had us do CPR on him. It was horrible and it didn’t work. When the ambulance got there they pronounced him dead.”
<
br /> “Oh fuck…God, I’m sorry Conrad.”
“Yeah, me too. Jake took some pills these guys gave him. They were playing that stupid fucking game where they all bring what’s in their mother’s medicine cabinet and pour it into a bowl and then take a handful of them at a time. Jake was allergic to Penicillin. He ingested that along with some kind of opiate and some blood pressure pills…they’re not sure exactly which killed him, maybe just the combination.”
“Shit. That’s what worries me so much about Aaron. He’s so impressionable. He knew how pissed I’d be the other night and he smoked that weed anyways. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that. I can’t even imagine. I might just lose my mind if I lost my brother.”
“I’ve barely held onto mine,” he said. He stood up suddenly and said, “Anyways, I see a lot of the same traits in Aaron that I saw in Jake. I’d like to help if I can. Maybe if we get him interested in cars or something we can keep him out of trouble.”
Sam stood up too. She was not only touched that Conrad had shared his story with her; she was overwhelmed that he’d be willing to help Aaron who he didn’t know from anybody. She reached up and hugged him. As soon as she put her arms around him she felt his shoulders and arms stiffen up. She pulled back right away and with embarrassment heating her face she said, “Thank you. I should get ready to take Luke.”
Conrad just nodded and Samantha got out of the kitchen as quickly as she could. She couldn’t figure out why he kept going hot and cold on her. Friday night he was obviously flirting with her and this morning he acted like her touch might burn him. He was making her crazier than she already was.
**
Samantha parked the Mustang close to the main lobby of the hospital. The infusion center was on the second floor according to the pamphlets the oncologist had given Luke. She felt bad every time she looked at his face. She could tell he was doing his best to put on a brave face for her, but the nervousness was apparent in his eyes. She’d spent more than one long night in bed trying to imagine what it would feel like to be told that you’re dying and the only way to possibly prolong it is by putting poison in your veins. It was a lesson in futility. There was no possible way she could imagine it.