Unleashed (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) (123 page)

I pour myself a glass of water, call out to him from the kitchen.

“What?” he asks, popping his head in the door. “I’m trying to get a work-out in.”

“Why don’t you just go to the gym?”

“I already did?”

“So what are you doing?”

“Cardio.”

“But you were doing pull-ups.”

He grins. “Try doing fifty and see if your heart doesn’t start going.”

“I got a letter from Dad today.”

His head, having just disappeared, reappears in the doorway. He wipes sweaty hair to the side. “And?”

“He quit his job.”

“No shit,” Chance says, coming into the kitchen and taking my glass of water from my hand. He gulps it all down, runs another, and gives it back to me. “Did he say why?”

“No. Just said that he didn’t want to work there anymore.”

“Did he ask you if you were going home at Christmas?”

“He did.”

“What will you tell him?”

“I haven’t thought about it yet,” I say. “Have you heard from your mother?”

Chance shakes his head. “Not since she called to tell me about the annulment.”

“You should talk to her.”

“Yeah. I will.”

“I mean soon.”

“Cass.”

“Okay,” I say, putting up my hands. “There’s one other thing that came up.”

“Oh?”

“Well, it seems I got the dates wrong.”

Chance leaves the kitchen, and I follow him out into the hallway. He jumps back up to the pull-up bar, and begins counting rapidly with each lift.

He’s wearing nothing but compression shorts, but they’re bright green and he looks absolutely ridiculous in them.

“What dates?” he asks between breaths. Each time he pulls himself up, it’s like I can see every single tiny muscle in his body ripple.

“For the start of term.”

He laughs mid-pull-up. “You? Dates wrong?”

I frown. “I know, right? I could swear I double-checked.”

“So, how much more time until your first day of school? God, I wish they made you wear uniforms in university here.”

He pulls-up especially hard, then claps his hands over the bar, before gripping again and lowering himself. I just watch him for a short while as he does it again and again, leaning against the opposite wall.

“Two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” he cries, letting himself down.

“Well, since we have time, I was wondering if you wanted to go on one more trip.”

He comes up to me, panting, takes the glass of water from my hand again and empties it. “Where?”

“Australia. Melbourne.”

He cocks a brow up. “Why?”

“Well, I know someone down there. We were pen pals when we were kids. You remember that? The whole pen pal program the school did?”

“Honestly,” Chance says. “No.”

“Well, anyway, her name’s Rose. She says she can get us an apartment to rent for cheap. And flights are cheaper right now.”

“Jesus Christ, it’s like twenty hours flight-time, isn’t it?”

“Well, I’m kind of interested,” I say. “We’ve got enough money, and when I get back I’ll be getting a part-time job, anyway. Plus, you’ll be fighting soon.”

“Sure,” he says, nodding. “Why the hell not? Anyway, there’s a fighter out there I’d like to watch.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, underground guy, been the best in the country for years. His name’s Pierce Fletcher.”

“Well, we could also go see some natural wildlife out there. Penguins, koalas, kangaroos that kind of thing.”

“Fuck it, let’s do it,” he says, coming closer to me and sliding his arms around my waist.

“Ew, you’re covered in sweat.”

“Shower with me.”

“I wasn’t going to until this evening.”

“Do it now. You never know, it might be fun.”

He takes my hand, starts pulling me upstairs. He’s got a hard-on now, and it just looks so stupid in those tiny, green compression shorts.

The End