Anti-Stepbrother - Tijan Page 0,24
to me. “Hey, Caden! Are you joining the cause?”
He shook his head, looking between us, then at me as he answered her. “No, just need to find my brother. His phone is off. I knew he was doing this with you guys.”
She glanced down at her clipboard. “Uh…his group is supposed to cover the Rose Creek neighborhood. No surprise there. You could head up there to find him.”
“Okay. I’ll do that. Thank you.”
“Is something wrong?”
Caden shook his head. “No. That’s fine. I’ll track him down.” He glanced at me again, lingering one more time.
Jill noticed. “Oh, hey—” She jerked her head toward me. “Do you mind a stowaway? She got left behind by her buddies. She can hop in with the others if you find them.”
I closed my eyes a moment. The burn of humiliation went up a notch.
Caden grinned. His cold look lifted, just a bit, and he pointed to the passenger door. “That’s fine. Hop in, little Matthews. This is starting to become our thing.”
Jill regarded me, her attention suddenly more focused when she realized Caden knew me.
I felt my face getting red, and I shook my head, backing away. “Nah. That’s okay.” I pointed over my shoulder. “I should get some studying done.”
“Summer.”
Caden’s voice stopped me. I wanted to make my escape. The thought of being in his vehicle again, in such close proximity with him, had sent a whole host of sensations through me. I had knots in my stomach, and stupid butterflies doing somersaults around them, but as much as I tried to make my legs leave, they didn’t move.
“Get in.”
It was a softly worded command, but those two words had more power over me than my own brain did. I found myself going around the Land Rover and getting in. As I shut the door, I saw Jill get in her truck, still watching me.
I’d come to this event a nobody, but suddenly, with the acknowledgement that Caden Banks knew me, I knew I wouldn’t be a nobody for long. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that or not. Girls who were somebody were also targets. Maybe I still wanted to be a nobody?
“Why’d you do that?” I asked Caden as he pulled away. “And it’s Stoltz. I’m not a Matthews.”
I couldn’t keep that question in. A touch of panic settled at the bottom of my stomach, lining my insides, and I couldn’t get rid of it. I knew I was overreacting, but I couldn’t shake the look that Jill and everyone else in her truck had given me.
Maybe I liked being boring after all. I could be invisible.
Caden threw me a frown, turning at an intersection. “Say what?”
I twisted in my seat, facing him, and ignored all the other emotions going on in me. It was him. He made me crazy. I only acted like this in his presence. “They were all looking at me. Why did you do that?”
He gave me a crazy look, like I’d grown two heads. “What the fuck’s your problem?”
A new, more-alarming sensation dipped low in me, all the way down between my legs. I was attracted to him. I slammed back into my seat. I couldn’t be attracted to him. He was Asshole Caden. Granted, he was my asshole, and that was the wrong thought too. I took a breath. I had to calm down.
I had to be reasonable.
“Now people know that I know you.”
“Is there something wrong with knowing me?”
“Yes.”
“What? What was I supposed to do? Pretend you weren’t there?”
“Yes.”
“You might not like me, but I’m not a complete dick.”
“You’re an asshole.”
He grunted, turning onto the interstate. “Don’t hold back, Stoltz. Tell me what you really think.”
“I—” was being the dick. Not him. “I’m sorry.” I sighed. “I’m not used to this.”
He glanced over at me. “What are you used to?”
Being invisible. “Kevin was the popular one in high school. I…”
“Wasn’t?”
I nodded. “I wasn’t an outcast or anything, but I wasn’t what he is, or was back then. I just was.”
He gave me a half-grin. “If it makes you feel better, the only people Kevin’s popular with here are girls who want to cheat on their boyfriends.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Touché.”
He chuckled, and I closed my eyes. His laugh slid over me like a warm caress, and a tingle shot through me, giving me an excited buzz low in my stomach. I pressed a hand there, trying to calm my nerves.
“You shouldn’t do things like that,” I told him.
“What?”
“Laugh like that.”
“First you didn’t want