Score - A Stepbrother Romance

by Daire, Caitlin

  I was thankful for that.

  The conversation veered off in another direction as we chatted about life at college and how different it was to high school. A few moments later, Michaela and Landon were busy cooing at some photos of Goldie I’d taken on my phone when someone butted into our conversation with a syrupy-sweet voice I knew all too well.

  “If it isn’t lovely little Lina! I was just sitting over there behind you guys…I thought I recognized that voice!”

  I looked up into piercing blue eyes. Of course. It was Jessie Bond, the mean girl from the party. I sighed inwardly, my heart already picking up its pace. I’d mentally prepared myself for seeing her again, and it was probably good that she’d strolled up to me right now while I was with my best friends. At least they’d stand up for me if I couldn’t do it myself.

  “In the flesh,” I replied, fighting an eye roll.

  She pulled up a chair at our table and sat her butt down while the three of us stared at her in shock. I was pretty sure Landon and Michaela recognized her from when I’d told them about her behavior at the party, upon which they’d subsequently Facebook stalked her, and they gave me some seriously weird looks. I just shrugged in return.

  Jessie grinned at me, and I prepared for the onslaught…but I was more shocked by what followed than I would’ve been if she’d actually insulted me.

  “So, Lina,” she purred. “I’m totally sorry if you got upset the other day at Brett’s party. You know I was kidding, right? All in good fun.”

  I stared at her incredulously. She couldn’t be serious. She’d been so awful to me that night that I’d ended up storming out of the party and into the rain outside, with Chase on my heels, and she was trying to say that it had all been ‘good fun’? Then again, what she’d said wasn’t a real apology, anyway. It wasn’t ‘sorry I was horrible to you,’ it was just ‘sorry you got upset,’ as if she couldn’t stand to take any responsibility for her own actions.

  “Erm, right,” I replied with a small nod, waiting for her next words. Sure enough, there was something else on Jessie’s agenda, and she didn’t waste any time telling me about it.

  “By the way,” she said. “When you see Chase, tell him to fix his phone. I keep texting him but he never responds. Obviously it's broken."

  She flashed me a smile and reached for a piece of bread in the basket the waiter had just deposited on our table.

  Then I did the unthinkable. I smacked her hand away from the food.

  She gave me such a horrified look that I nearly burst out laughing on the spot, but instead, I did something even more unlikely…I stood up for myself.

  “Tell you what, Jessie,” I said. “You leave right now, and I won’t tell Chase what a fool you’ve just made of yourself at this table. Here’s a hint: his phone is fine.”

  She stared at me like I’d just mortally insulted her, which I probably had, but I was past the point of caring about hurting her feelings. She’d hurt mine, and she didn’t seem too bothered by that fact.

  “Now, please leave,” I continued, mimicking her syrupy voice from earlier. “Try not to hurt yourself when you go. It must be difficult walking around with such a big head.”

  Jessie kept staring at me, but she looked defeated.

  “Um, hello?” Michaela interrupted our staring contest. “Leave, now.”

  Jessie huffed and puffed as she finally got up and stalked off, tottering in her too-high heels as she made her way down the street.

  As soon as she’d turned the corner, Landon burst out laughing.

  “The mean girl, I presume?” Michaela guessed out loud, and I nodded with a small smile.

  “The very one.”

  “Go, Lina!” Landon whooped like some cheerleader at a soccer game. “Bout time you grew a pair, girl.”

  They hugged me and I found myself laughing right along with them. Truth be told, I didn’t think I’d have said anything…not a month earlier, at least. But hanging out with my dear stepbrother was rubbing off on me, and slowly, I was starting to build up my confidence.

  The days of girls like Jessie walking all over me were behind me. I guess Chase wasn’t such a bad influence, after all…

  * * *

  Hours later, I went to bed, my head swimming with thoughts as I lay back on the pillow. Chase was nowhere to be seen – probably out with some friends. I’d played with Lily until her bedtime and then gone to bed with Goldie in my arms.

  I couldn’t focus on anything. Not the romance novel I was reading, not the fall TV shows I’d been eagerly awaiting all year, and not my mounting load of college assignments. Instead, I tossed and turned in my huge new bed until finally falling asleep at around one in the morning.

  As it turned out, it wouldn’t be a peaceful night.

  It felt like only moments after I’d fallen asleep that my phone started ringing like crazy. I fumbled on my nightstand while Goldie dashed off to the other end of the room, complaining loudly about the annoying noise.

  “I know what you mean,” I groaned at her, finally locating my phone on the floor and pressing answer.

  “What the hell do you want?” I asked the person on the other end of the line, too busy to even check the caller ID. “It’s the middle of the night!”

  “I’m so sorry, Lina!” Landon’s exasperated voice greeted me and I shot up in bed, my eyebrows already knitting together in worry. Landon never called me like this, and I knew right away something had to be wrong. “He asked us not to call you…but I had to.”

  “Calm down,” I begged him. “What’s going on, Landon? Where are you? Is everyone all right?” My heart was already next to bursting out of my chest, my hands shaking as I tried to hold the cellphone close to my ear.

  “It’s Chase,” Landon admitted dejectedly. My heart sank to my stomach.

  “Don’t kill us, Lina…Michaela and I went to one of his fights tonight. I know that’s horrible, we’re terrible people…we just wanted to gawk some more. Don’t hate us, please.”

  My mouth set in a line, but I didn’t question him about it. I needed to know if Chase was okay first. “What happened?” I asked.

  “Well, he won the fight in the end,” Landon said. “We spoke to him before it started, and he remembered us from when we came here together the last time, so he let us watch from the front row.”

  “And then?” I was getting impatient.

  “Then…the other dude beat him up pretty bad before he got taken down. Chase is bleeding from his head, but he claims he’s okay, and his little entourage have fucked off to God knows where. He won’t let us call an ambulance, because he thinks he’s totally fine. He said he just needs to get home, but he can’t really drive with a bleeding head injury. Even he admits that. So we said we’d drive him home, but I wanted to call you first and let you know what’s happening.”

  I heard grumbling in the background and Michaela talking in a soothing voice, so I figured Chase was well enough to speak, at least. It still hurt badly though; the worry for him cutting into my body like a knife.

  “Just pick me up at home,” I told Landon. “We’ll convince him to go to the hospital. Isn’t there a doctor there, for fuck’s sake?”

  I hardly ever cursed, and the words felt weird coming off my lips. I could tell Landon sensed my unease as he rushed to explain it all.

  “There is, but he’s helping the other guy. He’s in even worse shape. Chase’s coach usually helps him out too, but he’s sick today,” he said. “He says he shouldn’t have even been fighting tonight.”

  “Just pick me up,” I said again. “I’ll wait on Central Avenue. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. We’ll get him to a hospital as soon as possible…and Landon?”

  “Yeah?” his voice was tired, and I could tell he was freaking out, too.

  “Just take care of Chase, please.” My voice almost broke, and I knew from Landon’s response that he was doing his best, whether or not Chase thought he needed it.

  We ended the call and I rushed to
pull on some sweatpants and a top. I laced up a pair of boots and shushed Goldie as I sneaked out, her wide eyes following me out of the room.

  I ran all the way to Central Avenue, even though it was just a few blocks away. As soon as I turned the corner, I could see Landon’s car waiting for me, the engine still going, and once again, I ran as fast as I could.

  I slammed the door behind me as I got in the back seat and faced the person next to me.

  Chase was practically unrecognizable. He had a huge cut on his forehead, right near his hairline, and the thing was hemorrhaging blood, coloring his face in scarlet tones. He looked like an extra from Night of the Living Dead.

  He gave me an apologetic grin, and I thought I’d slap him on the spot.

  “Where do I go?” Landon asked from the front seat, driving off of the sidewalk and pausing at a stop sign.

  “The hospital,” I said without hesitation, glaring at Chase. At least he was alive, and he didn’t look that badly hurt…though I could only see his face, and he was clutching his chest in a weird way. “And step on the gas.”

  “No fucking way,” Chase shook his head angrily, glaring at me in the backseat. “The media will catch on in a heartbeat, and you guys are making way too big of a deal about this. No one can know about this, guys…just drive us home, Landon, and I’ll stick some antiseptic and Band Aids on this.”

  Freaking Band Aids. Really? Did he honestly think he was that much of a manly-man that a little plaster would fix a cut like that?

  Chase looked right at me. “You should’ve stayed in bed, Lina. I told them not to worry about calling you.”

  “Like hell,” I growled. “We’re going to the hospital, right now!”

  Chapter 12

  Chase

  “No. Just take me home. I’ll be fine.”

  I held my head and looked at Landon from the backseat of his car. He was in the front with Michaela, and Lina glared at me in the back. “Landon, don’t listen to him. Look at him! He needs to go to the hospital!”

  Landon looked back at us, worry etching his features as he looked at my face. “That cut on your forehead is pretty bad, Chase. I think she’s right.”

  Jesus, they were making such a big deal about this. Yes, it looked bad, but I knew what I was doing. I’d been hurt like this before, and Tripp and the doctor who was always at the fights had showed me what to do to patch myself up. The guy I’d fought tonight was in way worse shape, hence why the doctor had taken care of him first. All I needed to do was get this cut cleaned up, douse it with Betadine and stick some plasters on it.

  “I’ll be fine. It looks worse than it is. Seriously, if we go to the hospital, it’ll be all over the news, and they’ll start wondering what happened to me. It won’t take them long to look into it and figure out the truth. I know of at least one reporter who has a whole network of nurses on speed dial. They give him info for cash if anyone well-known comes in.”

  Lina grumbled. “I know you’re worried about your Dad’s campaign, but don’t you think your health is more important? I bet he’d think so too.”

  “Wait…what about your Mom?” Michaela interjected, looking at Landon. “She’s a nurse. She could help.”

  Landon sighed. “She’ll help, but she’ll probably still try to make us go to a hospital.”

  “Well, let’s just ask her,” I said, realizing they weren’t going to give up. My head was aching like hell, and I needed to get it fixed pretty soon. “We’ll tell her I got mugged, and we want to keep it under wraps for now, just so my Dad doesn’t get worried.”

  “Right, as if he won’t be worried when he sees you tomorrow, all bruised and cut up,” Lina muttered. “I knew this would happen. I knew this fighting thing was a bad idea for you to be doing.”

  Landon turned his keys in the ignition and looked back at us again. “So where to? My place or the hospital?”

  “Your place,” I said, and at the same time, Lina insisted on the hospital.

  He rolled his eyes. “Look, guys, we don’t have time to keep arguing. Lina, I know you’re worried, but it’s up to Chase in the end. It’s his body.”

  Lina crossed her arms. “Fine.”

  We sat in silence as we drove to Landon’s place across town, and we piled out of the car and into his house twenty minutes later. Landon went upstairs, and he returned with a harried-looking woman in a dressing gown.

  She took one look at me and gasped. “What on Earth?” she said. “What happened?”

  “I told you, he got mugged outside a bar,” Landon said. “We need you to help patch him up. If he goes to the hospital, it’ll create this big media stink, and his Dad’s campaign really doesn’t need the drama right now. Right, Chase?”

  I could hear Lina muttering under her breath next to me, and I ignored her. “That’s right.”

  Landon’s mother peered at me. “I’ve seen you in the papers. You’re Peter Stryker’s son.”

  “Yep.”

  She sighed. “Okay. I don’t think this is a good idea, but if you refuse to go to a hospital, then I’ll try my best. Landon, run back upstairs and grab the first aid kit from the bathroom. And some towels.”

  “Anything we can do?” Lina asked, gesturing to herself and Michaela.

  “Get a bowl of warm water. The big bowls are in the second cupboard from the right in the kitchen. Now, Chase, you need to sit down and take your shirt off. I’m Ellie, by the way.”

  “Thanks for helping me out, Ellie,” I said, taking a seat on a wooden dining room chair.

  She pursed her lips as she assessed the damages and then raised her eyebrows. “Well, it’s actually nowhere near as bad as it looks,” she said. “Once it’s cleaned up, I’ll put some tissue adhesives on that big cut on your forehead, and it should heal up without too much of a scar within a week or so. The rest on your arms and chest are just small lacerations and bruises. They’ll be fine.”

  I couldn’t help grinning at Lina as she walked back in, holding a bowl of water. “Hear that?” I said. “I was right. It’s not as bad as it looks.”

  She glowered at me. “Glad to hear it,” she said, her voice stiff.

  Ellie wet one of the towels with the warm water and cleaned all the blood off me, and then she doused me with Betadine. I winced at the stinging sensation as the antiseptic settled onto my skin, and she wiped it away a moment later.

  “Sorry about that,” she said. “Stings pretty bad, I know. But it’s necessary to stop the cuts from getting infected. Okay, Landon, pass me those Band-Aids and adhesive strips.”

  Ten minutes later, she’d put Band-Aids on the smaller cuts and carefully applied several adhesive strips vertically on my forehead, and she stood back and admired her handiwork a moment later.

  “There we go,” she said, putting a large white dressing over the adhesive stitches. “Make sure you keep it clean and dry. If it starts oozing a lot, then I’m sorry, but you’ll need to go to a hospital whether you like it or not. Staph infections are no joke.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  She sat down and stared into my eyes. “Chase, I know you don’t want to cause issues with your father’s campaign, but don’t you think you should at least file a police report about this mugging? You haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t see why the media would get too up in arms about it. After all, you’re the victim in this scenario.”

  “Er…I know, but my father’s opponent might try to spin it and use it against us. They might try to say I instigated the fight or something. Besides, I’m not even meant to be out at bars, seeing as I’m not twenty-one yet.”

  I felt bad for lying to Ellie, as she’d helped me out so much, but I didn’t know what else to say. She wrinkled her forehead and finally stood up again. “Okay,” she said softly. “Feel better soon.”

  Landon picked up his car keys. “I guess I should take you guys home.”

  “Uh-huh,” Lina replied, barely looking at me. She was still pissed as hell at my refusal to seek proper medical help in
a hospital.

  We all got back into Landon’s car, and we drove in silence again. When we arrived home in Highland Park, Lina got out of the car and turned to face her friends in the front.

  “Thanks,” she said softly. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “All right. Talk to you soon.”

  With that, she took off up the path, not even waiting for me. I got out and leaned in the front window. “Thanks, guys,” I said. “For your help, and bringing me home. And thanks for not saying anything to anyone about this. You guys are good friends to Lina. Anyone else would have sold the story to the media for an easy five grand.”

  “No worries,” Landon said. “Don’t be too hard on her, okay? She was just concerned. We knew she would be; that’s why we called her.”

  “I know.”

  With that, I patted the car roof, and they took off. I stepped up the path and into the house, and I found Lina in the kitchen, quietly waiting for the kettle to boil.

  “What are you doing?” I said.

  “Making hot chocolate. I know you always make it for Lily to calm her down. Figured it might calm us down too.”

  “Thanks.”

  She grabbed two mugs out of the cupboard, and judging by the way she slammed them down on the counter, she still wasn’t entirely over what had happened.

  “Careful,” I said. “It’s late. We don’t wanna wake everyone up.”

  “They’re going to see you in the morning anyway,” she said, grabbing the milk out of the fridge. “And you’ll have to explain all those cuts and bruises somehow.”

  “They won’t see the ones on my chest and arms if I cover up with clothes,” I said. “And as for this cut on my head…I’ll just say I fell down somewhere.”

  She glared at me. “I suppose I have to back up that lie as well? Which is it, Chase? You got mugged, or you fell over?”

  “Look, I’m sorry you got dragged into all of this.”

  “I wish I’d never gone to that fight that first night,” she muttered, placing a steaming mug in front of me a moment later. “Then I wouldn’t even know about your stupid double life.”