Crush (3 page)

I gripped a spoon tightly as it occurred to me that my earlier failed hookup might be about to walk into my life…as my stepbrother.

Holy crap
.
No.
My mind quickly entered a phase of stark denial. Surely there were other guys named Bradley who happened to be pre-med students at USM. And surely those other guys just so happened to be staying at this resort at this exact moment in time.

Right?

Wrong. Totally wrong. Even as I desperately wished for that to be true, Brad the sexy pool jerk wandered over to our table, and as our eyes met, only two words entered my mind, playing over and over.

Oh, shit.

CHAPTER THREE

BRAD

Seriously? The hottie who’d left me in the pool only an hour ago was going to be my new stepsister? Well, shit.

It was a strange turn of events, and not exactly one I was happy about for a number of reasons. Firstly, I’d made a total fool of myself
—
or should I say tool
—
by being a dick to Mia, and now here she was, staring across the dinner table at me with narrowed eyes as our soon-to-be-wed parents smiled soppily at each other.

I hadn’t meant to act like such a fucking douche earlier, but my head had been so clouded with lust that I hadn’t been thinking straight. Of course I wasn’t actually going to try and force her to stay in the pool with me; I’d just been so hot for her that I’d desperately wanted her to stay. But I’d fucked up. I’d come across as an entitled jerk and totally freaked her out, and now she probably thought I was some sort of creepy sex offender or something.

I was used to having chicks drop their panties for me in a heartbeat, and I’d have had Mia’s in my pocket by now if I hadn’t been such an ass.

It was just so hard to let her go once I had her in my arms. I’d been watching her for a while earlier, unable to believe that such a hottie was within walking distance of me by the pool. There were a lot of hot chicks at the college I went to, and believe me, they were up for anything. But none of them were in the same league as this girl. She was magnificent. Her skin glowed, her eyes were warm and friendly, and she was rocking the sexiest curves I’d ever seen. Even under the towel she had wrapped around her waist, there was no mistaking the outline underneath. She was sex on legs, whether she knew it or not. I couldn’t even remember the last time a chick had grabbed my attention like this.

Right by the balls.

She’d seemed quite shy at first, but I’d managed to get her to take a swim with me, and I’d become so caught up in those eyes of hers that I hadn’t been able to keep my hands off her...and she’d definitely responded in kind. When she’d said she had to go to some dinner thing, I’d totally forgotten that I was meant to be meeting my Mom for dinner too. It just hadn’t occurred to me until after she’d stormed off, and even if it had, I doubted I would have cared. I loved my Mom and all, but shit…girls like Mia didn’t come along every day.

And then I’d gone and called her a bitch. Well, bitchy. Same thing. Fuck, what the hell was wrong with me? I hadn’t meant it at all. The words had just slipped out of my mouth when she’d yanked her arm away from mine and hissed at me to let her go. That was no excuse, though. I was an asshole, and I felt like shit about it.

Oh well. That was definitely over now. I’d screwed it up, and now she was going to be my fucking
stepsister.

I guess it was actually pretty lucky that she’d blown me off, otherwise both our parents would have come looking for us and found their kids hooking up with each other in the pool. Now that’d be the definition of awkward.

The other pressing reason why I wasn’t too happy at the moment was the fact that my Mom was getting married. Again. Hadn’t she been through enough when it came to men? She had the worst fucking taste in the entire universe. They all seemed nice at first, and then it always blew up in her face.

My biological father had left her when she was only seven weeks pregnant with me. She hadn’t told me much about him over the years, other than that he’d seemed like a nice guy…until he wasn’t. The next guy was exactly the same. While trying to raise me as a single mother, she’d worked her ass off at a dead-end job, scrimping and saving to try and give me the best life possible, and when I was twelve she’d met Vince Marin, my first stepdad. I’d hoped he’d be the last.

He’d seemed nice at first too; a respectable accountant with a daughter the same age as me. They were married within six months, and it only took that long for me to realize he was a total asshole. He wasn’t physically abusive, but he was sure as hell emotionally abusive. He treated his daughter, Amanda, like a princess, while at the same time he acted like I didn’t exist. He frequently berated my Mom, and on more than one occasion, she’d had to hold me back before I socked him in the fucking face. She’d always tearfully say that he was a nice guy deep down, but the way I saw it, he was a piece of shit.

During my earlier teenage years, I’d lashed out and started smoking pot, drinking, and getting tattoos as part of some ridiculous rebellion. In my immature teen mind, I’d figured if I started acting out, she’d somehow come to her senses and realize that the way he was treating us both was awful.

Of course that hadn’t worked, because he’d had his hooks right in her, and it had taken him cheating on her with his secretary to make her finally leave him. By then I’d already picked my grades up, applied for college and left to study, but I was still glad she’d finally broken free of him. I was glad I’d managed to break free of my rebellious mindset, too. It had been totally pathetic. I still did my fair share of drinking at college, but I was never going to touch a joint or a cigarette again, and I was staying the hell away from getting any more ink. The only way a tattoo gun was gonna go near me ever again was if I found something worth marking myself with. Until then, I was concentrating on graduating with the best damn grades possible and then getting into the best med school that I could.

Everyone always assumed I’d chosen a study path that led to medicine because I wanted to help people. That was true, but only partially so. Sure, I wanted to help sick people and possibly advance the field of medicine, but the prospect of all that sweet money didn’t hurt either. Yes, that made me sound like a total dickwad, but let me explain. I didn’t want the money for myself. Hell no. I didn’t care if I was broke forever. I wanted the money for my Mom, so I could support her the same way she’d supported me all those years as a struggling single mother. Vince had helped her financially while they were married, but it had come at a high personal cost for her. I didn’t want her to ever rely on some prick of a man ever again. Not when I could help her instead.

But now here she was, with yet another fiancé.

Michael Williams sounded nice from what she’d briefly told me, and he looked like a nice guy, too. Apparently he was a lawyer-slash-activist, and I guess that made him at least somewhat of a decent person. But like I said earlier…they always seemed nice at first. Who knew what kinda shit this guy had going on? I didn’t know him from a bar of soap, and I didn’t trust him one bit. At least not yet.

“Wonderful to meet you, Bradley.” Michael’s voice boomed out as he reached across and extended a hand to me. “This is my daughter, Mia.”

I shook his hand and said hi, barely able to take my eyes off Mia the entire time.

My Mom’s sharp gaze spotted the flicker of recognition in Mia’s eyes as she stared back at me across the table, and she raised her eyebrows.

“Have you two met before?”

Mia’s eyes widened as she took a sip of water to buy some time, and my pulse doubled. I wanted to lie, but my Mom had put up with enough of my bullshit when I was a teenager to know what I sounded like when I lied. I guess I could tell the truth…just not the whole truth.

“Err…yes,” I said. “We met at the pool earlier.”

Mia almost choked on her water and lapsed into a coughing fit as I spoke.

“Well, that’s great!” Michael said, patting Mia on the back as she recovered from the coughing. “You two already know each other! I suppose that helps make this whole thing a little less awkward for everyone.”

No, it didn’t. It made it a hell of a lot
more
awkward. Besides, I didn’t exactly know Mia. I knew what her lips felt like on mine. I knew what she tasted like. I knew what her glorious body pressed up against my chest felt like. But I barely knew her as a person, other than what she’d briefly told me about herself earlier.

Shit. This was gonna be a long evening.

The dinner didn’t get much less awkward after that. I’d been aware of the fact that my Mom had met a guy recently, but I’d had no idea they were already so committed. Seriously, what on earth were they thinking? It was never a good idea to spring shit like this on your kids, even if they were technically adults like Mia and I were. A little warning would have been nice.

Ah well. At least we had a full twenty-three hours to get to know each other a bit more before the wedding ceremony the next day…

              ***             

I woke up early the next morning, hoping to catch a moment with Mia to apologize for yesterday’s behavior before our parents tied the knot in the early evening. Unfortunately, she made sure I never got that chance. Every time I tried to get her alone, she said she needed the bathroom and scurried away, or she would suddenly feign an intense interest in a conversation about cross-stitching or gardening with my mother, leaving me awkwardly standing around waiting.

I couldn’t blame her. She probably couldn’t stand me after what I’d said to her yesterday. On top of that, this wedding was a huge shock for both of us, and I was willing to bet her mind was reeling from our parents’ announcement in the same way mine was. I had no idea why they’d thought it was a good idea to hide their relationship from us for so long, but there was nothing we could do about that now.

By the late afternoon, I still hadn’t talked to her, but I had managed to spend some time with Michael. So far we’d only chatted about casual things like sport and the weather. He hadn’t displayed any red-flag behaviors yet, but I still wished I had more time to get to know him before my Mom committed herself to him like this. I knew it sounded horrible that I distrusted my mother’s judgment so much, but I was like this from experience. One shitty long-term partner was unfortunate, but two was the beginning of a pattern.

Hopefully Michael would break that pattern. Still, if he turned out to be a prick, I was gonna be there to support her.

At six, I straightened my shirt collar and stepped out of the hotel and onto a deck that led right down to the beach. The large square end of the deck had been done up with decorations; white and lavender-colored balloons, pale yellow fairy lights, and an assortment of flowers. Soft classical music played from large outdoor speakers, setting a solemn mood.

The only people present were a marriage officiant, some hotel staff who were still finishing with the setup, and the four of us
—
me, Mom, Mia and Michael. The four Ms.

The staff had laid down a soft carpet runner midway down the deck, and I followed it with my eyes to see that it led to an arch covered in vines and flowers. Beyond that, the deep blue ocean stretched out to the horizon, which was lit up with purple, red and pink as the sun began to set.

For a tiny wedding, they were sure as hell making it a beautiful one.

Mom was standing under the arch with Michael, and she was staring up at him with a lovesick expression which made me cringe internally. She’d looked exactly like that when she’d introduced me to that asshole Vince.

A sea breeze blew past me as I headed up to the end of the carpet, but it wasn’t the cool wind that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I turned my head over my shoulder to see Mia in a purple dress, giving me the stink-eye from the other side of the deck.

“You’re meant to stand over here with me,” she said as she realized I’d caught her staring.

“Okay.”

I headed over to her and flashed her a smile, hoping the pretty flowers and beachfront venue had at least put her in somewhat of a better mood.

“Nice night for a wedding, huh?”

She pouted her lips like an unimpressed catfish. “If you say so.”

Okay, then. She clearly wasn’t happy about speaking to me. At all. Or maybe it was the wedding she wasn’t happy about?

Mom and Michael were only yards away, still holding hands and staring at each other, and the staff finally left us all to it.

I barely heard the officiant speak. My mind was too focused on Mia and all the regrets I had about the events of our swim session last night. She was standing quite close to me, and her sweet jasmine-scented perfume filled my head as I watched our parents take their vows. I knew she didn’t like me, but it was damn hard to stop myself from wanting to tear that dress right off her.

The ceremony was over before I knew it. That was it. Our parents were married, and our families were joined as one.

The staff had set up a small white marquee down on the sand with a little table and chair set. A royal-icing covered cake sat in the center of the table, and a hint of a smile turned up the corners of my lips as I watched a grinning Michael feed a slice to Mom under the outdoor lamp that lit the area around the marquee. Maybe he was a decent guy after all. It seemed like such a minor thing, but feeding another person cake just seemed so tender and intimate. My last stepdad Vince had never done anything like that, even at my Mom’s wedding to him all those years ago.

I suppose only time would tell where Michael stood.

Strains of music from the deck reached us on the beach, and I took a seat on one of the chairs and watched as Mom and Michael embraced before slipping off their shoes and dancing in each other’s arms. Mia had just finished a piece of cake, and she came and sat down a second later as well.

As she watched our parents dance barefoot on the sand, I detected a hint of melancholy in her expression. Something was bothering her. In fact, I’d noticed it yesterday in the pool as well. Even when she was smiling
—
and believe me, she had a megawatt smile which could light an entire auditorium
—
there was still something sad in her eyes. Something she obviously tried her best to hide behind that dazzling white smile, but couldn’t help letting it seep through occasionally.