Heart Broke (Hard Rock Roots Book 8) (37 page)

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Authors: C.M. Stunich

Tags: #Romance

BOOK: Heart Broke (Hard Rock Roots Book 8)

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“She's setting you up?” he asked, face all a-scowl again. “On your moving day? What if this guy is a freak and he starts stalking you or something?” I ignored my brother's overprotective urges and tried to keep my mind from correcting me.
Step. Stepbrother. Not brother.
As if I needed to be reminded.

I reached back and scooped my hair into a messy ponytail, snapping a hair tie from around my wrist to hold it in place. Sweat was already beading on the back of my neck and my palms were moist with nervous energy. I closed my eyes for a brief second, pretending Flor's body heat wasn't warm and comforting against my right arm.

“This guy is Addi's boyfriend's brother. She's known him for three years, Flor. Back off.” I opened my eyes, plastered a welcoming smile on my face and moved forward to meet the guy. Flor's hand on my upper arm froze me in place. He'd been careful, ridiculously careful, not to touch me since the night we shared our single and only kiss. And I mean
careful.
He didn't push me playfully anymore after that, didn't grab my arm to stop me from leaving during a fight, didn't even let his leg brush mine when we sat in the back of a car together.

I looked over at him with a puzzled expression and found the same mirrored on his perfect face. He dropped his hand and stepped back.

“Abigail,” Addi said, drawing my attention back around. I was sure my pupils were huge and my lips parted, that I looked half-paralyzed with the emotions that were boiling up in my belly. Well, maybe not emotions. Maybe they were hormones and maybe, just maybe, they weren't from my belly, but my – “This is Patrick's brother, Dorian.” I reached out a hand, letting my eyes meet the new guy's. They were green, like Flor's, but not as intense, more like a new sprout than the thorn of a rose.
I want to get punctured; I want to bleed.

I swallowed back the dark thoughts swirling in my brain.

“Nice to meet you,” we said in unison and then smiled shyly. Flor was suddenly there at my shoulder, ruining the moment like he'd done so many other times with other boys. I swear, after that night, that kiss, he took up the brother mantle and he ran the gauntlet with it. He intimidated new dates, threatened exes, and essentially made my dating life a living hell. I was even under the suspicion that he still thought I was a virgin.

Dorian glanced over at my stepbrother, his pale throat moving in a nervous swallow as he released my hand and reached out for Flor's. The two men stared at each other for a long moment before Flor put a wicked smile on his face and shook his hand.

“How's it going?” he asked, like he actually cared – which I knew for a fact that he didn't, not unless this guy's intentions had anything to do with getting me into bed. And then his only mission was to make sure that didn't happen. I appreciated the idea that he cared enough to take an interest, but it felt like too little, too late. His familial concern did nothing to replace that empty, icy ache he'd left me with. “I'm Abi's brother.”

“Stepbrother,” I corrected while Addi rolled her eyes to the frigid autumn sky.

“They've been living together since they were five,” she told Dorian, wrinkling her nose a bit at the nervous beads of sweat popping up on the man's pale forehead. He had bright red hair, like his brother, and thin pink lips. But, unlike his younger sibling, he had nicely muscled arms, a wide sexy chest and an obvious six pack.

“Since Abi was five; I was eight,” Flor corrected and then turned away, satisfied that he'd screwed up the meeting well enough that Dorian wouldn't even consider asking me out on a date. I narrowed my eyes as I watched him hop back into the truck and then turned back to Dorian, reaching out to loop my arm through his.

“Can I get you something to drink?” I asked, guiding him towards the steps to our apartment. “I ran to the grocery store this morning and stocked the fridge full of stuff. If you want it, I probably have it.”

Dorian cast yet another glance towards Flor and then smiled down at me, letting me guide him into my new house and my new life.

Whether Flor liked it or not.