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“Yeah, but that will take time. I don’t even have the insurance money yet, and who knows how long it’ll take to find a new car that looks the same?”
I stepped closer to him, needing to calm the panic flaring in his eyes. Fuck, he was so tense. Ready to explode any second. Carefully, I stretched out my hand and placed it on his arm, my fingers curling around his bicep. “Hux. We’ll sort it. We can make up a story about the car being in the garage for some reason to buy us time.”
His eyes met mine, his expression wary. “We?”
I nodded, lightly squeezing his arm. “Yeah. We.”
I still didn’t know what was going on between us or whether we even liked each other or not, but the aftermath of his car crash would be forever imprinted on my mind. There was no way I would let him face this alone.
13
HUXLEY
Yesterday had been…weird. I’d woken up, only concerned with making coffee. The next thing I knew, my stepbrother had his dick in my ass. Then I’d come harder than I could ever remember coming in my life, and just as I was basking in the afterglow, my dad had called and dropped the bombshell that he was coming home tomorrow—or today, now.
I dragged my plectrum across my guitar strings, the twang of the notes sounding loud in the quiet. I wasn’t even in the mood to play, but I wanted to try and relieve some of this tension that was giving me the headache of the century.
Cole had fucked me.
We’d agreed it was a one-time thing to get it out of our systems, but here was the problem. He’d fucked me so good, I was already craving it again. What the fuck was that all about? I didn’t even like him. Much. And more importantly, he was now officially my stepbrother, despite the fact that neither of us had a say in our new relationship status.
Cole Clarke.
He wasn’t even my type. Aside from girls, I generally went for boys that were more like me. Fuckups. Outsiders. Not interested in toeing the line. Not that Cole was squeaky clean—in fact, I was more or less certain that he wasn’t, based on the way that his A-level results had been subpar, his antagonistic temperament, and the fact that he smoked weed like a fucking stoner. But he was a good boy in my dad’s eyes. A suck-up, as far as both our parents were concerned.
And…there was also the fact that he was fucking hot. There was no way that I could deny it. I’d had a hard-on for Cole Clarke for way too long, and I needed to get over it. Now. Yesterday would never, ever be repeated.
My fingers flew across my guitar strings, and it took me a moment to realise that I was playing “Strawberries & Cigarettes” by Troye Sivan. Fucking strawberries. I’d never be able to eat them again without thinking of Cole. It still didn’t stop me singing the lyrics, though, even if Cole was on my mind.
Maybe I had a problem.
There was a knock on my door, and I groaned, my head thumping against the wall behind me. The one person I wanted to avoid, and of course he was here.
I hadn’t even answered Cole’s knock, but he entered my room anyway. I did my best to ignore his sexy-as-fuck body, clad in loose black football shorts and yet another faded T-shirt that stretched across his pecs. This time it was a navy colour, and even though it made no sense to me, the colour managed to make his brown eyes pop beneath his thick lashes.
He hovered in my doorway. “Hi. Uh. Your dad and my mum will be back in a few hours. I tried to tidy the house, but do you want—”
His words were cut off by my mouth. Somehow, and I didn’t know when, I’d laid down my guitar, climbed to my feet, and walked over to him. And now my hand was curved around the back of his neck, holding him in place while I kissed him.
I was kissing Cole.
His hands gripped my hips, his touch like a hot brand. I’d never had a kiss like this in my life, and never from someone I thought I hated up until very, very recently. Everything I’d ever done with anyone prior to Cole coming into my life had been based on mutual interest.
But now it was Cole, the person who’d been antagonising me for months.
And he was giving me the best fucking kiss I’d ever had.
“Fuck.” He ripped his mouth away from mine, breathing hard. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
He didn’t? I didn’t. My brain scrambled for a reply, but I didn’t have one.
Eventually, my brain rebooted. “Our parents come back today. We need to make sure that the house is sorted. Show me what’s left and I’ll help you.”
It was a good enough excuse to avoid talking about what had just happened, and I was horrified that I’d kissed him so easily. Focusing on something else was what we both needed.
Cleaning up the rest of the house took a couple of hours. After we’d done the inside, we ended up in the garden, where I helped Cole drag the patio furniture back into place. The early evening sun bathed the patio with its rays, and as I watched Cole’s muscles flexing, the sunlight caught his eyes, and my breath caught in my throat.
“Cole. Come here.” My voice was low.
