Rock Hard: A Stepbrother Romance Page 0,60
money, Becca.”
“Oh my god. You’re not seriously saying you’d bang a young guy for money?”
She shrugged. “Who knows. If I’d do it for free, anyway? I might as well take the money in that case.”
I almost snorted out my sip of coffee and we burst out laughing together. It felt good to finally laugh with her after all the weird stuff that had happened between us. Lindsey had really changed over the years, but I kept getting snatches of her old self underneath the hard outer layers.
“Anyway, how is it living with your parents?” she asked.
“Not bad. I’m barely home anyway.”
“How’s Reid doing?”
“Fine. Can’t complain. He’s barely home too.”
“Listen, I don’t think I ever said this, but I’m really happy your stepmom beat her cancer.”
“Thanks, Linds. I am too.”
“She’s a nice lady. Always was nice to me, at least.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty fond of her.”
She checked her phone and sighed. “Another one?” she muttered.
“What is it?”
“Just another party, like that last one.” She looked at me for a second. “You should come with me.”
I laughed and shook my head. “After last time? No way.”
“Look, I promise I won’t leave you hanging again.” She held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor. Besides, you already said you’d come to another one with me.”
“I don’t know, Linds. I’m not really sure I’m up for a party tonight.” I stifled a yawn, looking away.
“Come on. What else is there to do around here?”
“Nap?”
She nodded earnestly. “Solid point. But how about we both nap after this shift and then I’ll pick you up at eight?”
I sighed. I really wasn’t in the mood to go to a party, but I had been neglecting Lindsey lately. She had gone out of her way to apologize for the first time, and I hadn’t seen her outside of the Blue in a while.
“Okay, fine,” I said.
“Great!” she said, perking up.
“But seriously, if you leave me alone with another creep I will burn down your apartment.”
She laughed. “It’s a deal.”
The rest of the break flew by, and we were back on the floor. I glanced at Lindsey once or twice, and she seemed genuinely excited for me to come out with her. Maybe she really had figured it out from last time and was sorry.
In the end, I never did spit in that guy’s food.
But later on, after my shift was over and I was curling up in bed to take a much-needed nap, I felt a slight tinge of regret.
He was such a fucking asshole. I really should have.
“Hell yeah, party time!” Linds yelled out the window, her little red Miata taking the turns fast and easy.
I laughed. “Where’d you get all this energy?”
“I napped!”
I laughed. She seemed almost manic, bursting with joy. “Don’t these parties get old?” I asked.
“At this point, the party has gone from played out to exciting and back again maybe thirty times.”
I laughed again, enjoying her enthusiasm, but part of me was wondering where she found the energy. She looked as if she were just as exhausted as she was earlier in the day, and her hair was still pulled back in a tight bun, but she didn’t seem nearly as tired as she had. I wondered if she even slept at all, but she must have.
“Like the car?” she asked me.
“Yeah, I do. Where’d you even get something like this?”
“Craigslist, obviously. It’s old but it’s still got some life left.”
I looked around at the tiny little sports car and guessed it was from the mid-nineties, but wasn’t sure. It looked a little beat up, but Linds obviously loved it.
“How can you afford it?”
“Surprisingly inexpensive.”
“Huh, maybe I need to start looking at Craigslist.”
“Hell yeah you do, girl!”
The night was cool and comfortable, and the forecast said it wouldn’t rain. We drove through the mostly-empty roads with the top down, the wind whipping through our hair, and I had to admit that I was already feeling a little bit better. I wished I had seen Reid before I left, but he was still out somewhere. I didn’t want to call his cell for fear of looking like a psycho stalker, so I just left a note for our parents and headed out.
We pulled up to the same spot as last time, and it looked like the exact same party from last time had never ended. As I climbed out of the car, yanking down my skirt as I went, I felt like I was entering some weird time warp.
That was the strange thing about small towns. It