Based: A Stepbrother Romance (Extreme Sports Alphas) (23 page)

I clenched my jaw. Aubrie looked at me, concerned. “Fine. Go ahead. Finish it,” I said.

Brie paused for a second, looking at me, and then turned back to Jess. “So anyway, he was drunk. I told him I was going home, but he said we should hang out. I said no, thanks and started walking away. He pressed and I said no again. That’s when he grabbed me.”

“Describe what he looked like.”

“Drunk, obviously. Sweating a little bit. His eyes were wide open, a little crazy. Honestly, he scared the hell out of me, made me uncomfortable. Even before he grabbed me, right after he started talking and I realized he was drunk.”

“Had he ever made you uncomfortable before?”

“No, not at all.”

“What happened next?”

“His hands grabbed my arm. He was being really rough and pulled me back toward him. I yelled, told him to get off me. He didn’t look like he was listening, just kept telling me to wait a minute.”

“What did you think he was going to do?”

“I didn’t know. Honestly, I had never been in a situation like that before. I was just hoping that yelling would attract some attention and scare him off.”

“It attracted attention all right,” I mumbled.

Aubrie gave me a look and then turned back to the cameras. “That’s when Lincoln showed up.”

“Were you afraid of Brent at this time?”

“Yes, I was terrified.”

“Did you think he was going to hurt you?”

“I don’t know. I thought that was possible, yeah.”

“What happened next?”

“Well, once second he was pulling at my arm, his eyes crazy, and the next he dropped to the ground. I looked up and Lincoln was standing there holding his cane like a baseball bat. He hit Brent again in the body. I guess he had hit him the first time in the knee. Anyway, he hit him again and Brent dropped to the ground. That’s when Lincoln grabbed me and we walked away.”

“What did you think at the time?”

“I was scared, but relieved. I was also confused. I didn’t know that Lincoln was looking for me, so I didn’t expect him.”

“Were you afraid of Lincoln?”

“Not at all. I was worried he was going to kill Brent, but then he didn’t.”

“Why did you walk away with him?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

“Why do you think Lincoln saved you?”

She paused. “Wouldn’t you?”

“Maybe, maybe not. I might not have broken the guy’s kneecap, especially if I was on parole,” she said.

I rolled my eyes at Jess.
I knew you were a coward
, my look said.

“That’s not Lincoln, though. He doesn’t do anything half way.”

“Explain that,” Jess prodded.

“I don’t know.” Brie paused, thinking. “It’s like, you watch him talk to someone, or he’s talking to you, and you’re the only person in the entire world for him. Or all those pinball machines in our game room, he set the high score on every single one.”

“So he’s intense?”

“Intense isn’t the right word. I mean, he is, but it’s much more than that.”

“He really made an impression on you.”

“Yeah. When someone does something like that for you, it means something.”

“So I want to ask you this again. Why do you think he did it?”

“Because he couldn’t have done anything else. He’s Lincoln. If he sees something, he does something. He’s not the kind of person to get help. He is the help.”

“One last question. Where did you guys go?”

“Not far away. We mostly just walked around. He made sure I was okay. I was pretty shaken up about it, so he helped calm me down. Then we went back.”

“Okay. Thanks, Aubrie.”

“That it?” I asked.

“From her, yeah.” She looked at Brie. “Do you mind sitting here while we ask Lincoln some questions?”

“Sure, whatever.”

“Okay, Lincoln. How did all that make you feel?”

“Pissed off, mostly. I’m not a fan of reliving painful memories.”

“No, specifically what Aubrie just said about you. How did that make you feel?”

I looked at Brie, at her wide eyes and pouty lips. I wanted to grab her face and kiss her hard, run my hands along her body. I wanted to feel her curves and skin and breathe in her smell.

It felt like coming home, when she said that about me. It felt better than breaking a world record. Better than anything else had.

“It felt like she reads too much,” I said, grinning.

The crew laughed, but Jess and Aubrie didn’t.

It wasn’t like I could say what I really wanted to say out loud. Not on camera, at least.

“In your words, why did you do it?”

“I saw a guy hurting a woman, so I hurt him. Is it really that complicated?”

“You risked a lot for her.”

I paused.
I’d risk everything for her,
I thought.

“That never occurred to me. It wasn’t like I took the time to make a pros and cons list in my head. I saw what needed to be done and I did it.”

“Okay. How about you tell me what happened from the beginning?”

I walked her through everything, starting from when I first arrived at the event. I talked about signing autographs and acting like I gave a fuck about the charity event. I talked about Misty, about how Aubrie left so abruptly. I talked about wanting to check up on her since she didn’t look like she was feeling well.

“That’s perceptive of you, considering you only saw her from across the room,” Jess cut in.

“I have great eyesight.”

She made a face. “Okay, so what happened next?”

I told her about hearing Brie yell and moving as fast as I could. I talked about smashing my cane into the guy’s leg, and again as he fell. I didn’t mention how fucking good it felt to hurt the piece of shit.

“Then we walked away. I talked to her while she cooled off, and that’s it.”

“That’s it,” Jess repeated. “Pretty simple.”

“Exactly.”

“Did you know Brent before that night?”

“Sure. He stuck his fucking camera in my face every day. You could say we were intimate.”

The crew laughed nervously.

“Did you sense anything like this from him?” she asked.

“Nope. Not at all. I liked him, before that night.”

“Okay. Last question. How did it make you feel, seeing Brent grabbing Aubrie?”

I laughed. “Seriously? What kind of question is that?”

“Just answer.”

“It made me feel fucking angry. What did you think I’d say? Made me fucking hard?”

“Thanks, Lincoln. That’s it.”

I sighed. “Really, we’re done?”

“We’re done.”

The crew started to break down the lighting, and Brie unclipped her mic. I did the same, looking at her.

“That was painless,” I said.

“Yeah. I guess so.” She didn’t look up at me.

“Thanks for doing it.”

“No problem. I’ll see you later.”

She quickly stood up and walked out of the room. I wanted to reach out and say something, but the crew’s presence stopped me. Even though the cameras weren’t running, I still wasn’t ready to reveal that much. I wasn’t ready to reveal how much I wanted her.

How much I was beginning to need her.

“Lincoln, a word?”

I looked over at Jess, who motioned for me to follow her. With a sigh, I stood up, grabbed my cane, and followed into the other room.

For a brief second, as I crossed over the threshold, I realized that for the first time in weeks my legs didn’t feel like they weren’t about to collapse. I tucked that away in the back of my mind. It was progress.

“What’s up?” I asked her.

“I have what you wanted.”

I stared. I didn’t expect it that fast. I only saw her the night before.

“Okay. Show me.”

She held up a thumb drive. “What you want is a video. It’s on here.”

“You need to give me a little more proof than that before I transfer a fuck ton of money over to you.”

She smirked. “Good. I was beginning to think you were an idiot.”

I grinned. “Appearances can be deceiving.”

She walked back into the other room and returned a second later with a laptop. She opened it up, typed in her password, and plugged in the drive. It contained a single video file. She double clicked it.

I watched as the movie expanded. She made it full screen and turned up the laptop’s brightness setting.

We crowded around the screen. There was no sound, and the image was shaky, but unmistakable. It was a short video shot outside a popular L.A. nightclub that I recognized. Parked maybe twenty yards away was Cliff’s car.

“What am I watching here?” I asked.

“Just look.”

Annoyed, I did as I was asked. After a few seconds, two people walked across the parking lot and stopped, leaning against Cliff’s car. It was dark, and the frame shook, and it was hard to tell who they were. They began to kiss, the guy’s hands roaming around the girl’s ass.

“Are you trying to sell me shitty porn?” I asked her.

She shushed me and nodded at the screen.

I saw the girl’s face first. As they broke apart, she stepped around the car and under a streetlight. She was young and pretty, and I recognized her from some action movie that was popular a year or two ago. I couldn’t remember her name, but she was definitely a minor celebrity.

Right behind her, the guy stepped into the light, and I nearly laughed out loud. It was totally unmistakable.

The man was Cliff.

I watched as he opened the passenger side door for her and then leaned in for a second. They were probably kissing more, but I couldn’t see. He moved back out, shut her door, and then got into the driver’s side. The car pulled away a minute later, and the video stopped.

I looked at Jess. “Where did you get this?”

“Paparazzi friend of mine sold it to me. He figured it wouldn’t get much play with any of the magazines, since Cliff isn’t exactly newsworthy and her fame has plummeted lately. But I figured it might come in handy one day.”

“Great fucking coincidence. When did you get this?”

“A few months ago.”

“And you’ve just been sitting on it?”

“I don’t exactly get a lot of reasons to blackmail my boss.”

I laughed out loud. She was absolutely fucking unbelievable. She already had proof that Cliff was cheating and apparently bought it just in case she ever needed it. She either could tell the future or she was the most paranoid person in the world.

Or maybe she just knew Cliff was a colossal piece of garbage.

“Fuck, Jess. He’s cheating on my mom.”

And that was when it really sunk in. The piece of shit was cheating on my mom. I always had my suspicions, always figured that was why he took long trips all over the place. But I didn’t have any proof of it, and besides, Jules seemed content with what was going on.

“Worth the money?” Jess asked.

“Hell yes it is.”

“Fine. Transfer it now and it’s yours.”

I pulled out my phone, opened my banking app, and set up the wire transfer. It took all of thirty seconds to make Jess slightly rich and me a lot poorer.

She nodded at the confirmation screen and handed me the drive. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

I laughed. “You’re such a devious bitch.”

“I guess. This job, the whole film industry, it’s not easy. It’s all about power and connections. Even making shitty documentaries. Doesn’t matter how pure your intentions are. If you can’t kiss ass and get producers to invest, you’re completely fucked.”

“I guess that’s how you got involved with Cliff.”

“Pretty much. But it looks like I can go make the films I actually want to make now without assholes like him.”

“So we’re done?”

She laughed. “Not yet, but we’re getting there. I’ll still finish your movie. Who knows, I might still get something out of all this.”

“Thanks, Jess. You’ve been a huge pain in my ass, but this really saves me.”

“Sure. Happy to help. I was sick of Cliff’s smug face anyway.”

I laughed and she smiled. It was the first time I had seen a genuine smile from her, and I had to admit that she actually looked pretty attractive. She suddenly seemed light and free and happy.

She nodded once, turned, and walked out.

I was still going to be seeing a lot more of her, but I was hoping something would change. Maybe Cliff was the reason she was constantly hounding me, constantly on edge. Maybe without him pressuring her all the time, we could actually get along.

I wasn’t going to be too optimistic.

As I walked away, shaking my head, I had to formulate a plan. My mother was going to be devastated. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I also didn’t want her to stay with a cheating piece of shit.

I had to talk to Aubrie, I realized. I had to get her opinion. She was the only person I knew that understood the situation.

But more than that, I wanted to be close to her. I had the crazy urge to smell her skin, to kiss her.

Abandoning everything, I walked off to find her.

I
slammed at the paddles, ignoring the sounds that lit up the machine’s screen. Whenever I watched Lincoln play, he made it seem so easy, like the whole thing was an extension of his body. He did that with the piano too, though ever since we started sleeping together he played that less and less.