Save Me: a Stepbrother Romance (23 page)

“Jump,” Cal ordered.

 “You’re crazy.”

“Yes, I am.  Now jump.”

“I am not breaking my neck.  You will not cart my corpse to the morgue in a prom dress.”

His overdramatic sigh came from the dark bushes below me.  I couldn’t even see him.  I was
not
jumping.

“Do you trust me?” his voice asked.

I sighed.  Ugh.

I tumbled out of my window with about as much grace as someone in a ball of pink taffeta could manage.  My converse kicked through the air as I plummeted to my demise, my curls blinding me as the wind blew them in my face.

“Oof!”

Cal’s strong arms wrapped around me as we tumbled back into the bushes.  My shook the dizziness from my head.  I had knocked Cal flat on his ass, but as far as I could tell, we were both alive.  I smiled down at Cal and rubbed a smudge of dirt off his cheek with my thumb.  Considering how things in our lives had gone so far, that was a definite accomplishment.

“Come on, Pink,” he said, setting me on my feet.  He ran his fingers through his hair as he shook his own head. 

And then he looked at me for the first time.

“
Jeeeesus
, Pink.”

His jaw was slack again, and his eyes searched me up and down.  The same starstruck look he had given me when he had first seen me in Maneater. 

He shook his head.

“I’ll have to beat the boys off with a stick.”

“If I don’t die on the way there,” I said, eyeing the bike.  Once again… pajamas was easy.  Prom dress, not so much.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, taking my hand.

“Ugh.  You know I do.”

He grinned crookedly.  “Good.”  He kissed my hand.  “Then I hope you won’t be too mad about this.”

Before I could fight him off, Cal had swept me off my feet and over his shoulder.  I slapped his back as he laughed a delicious deep chuckle.  He patted my ass as it struggled in the air. 

“Cal, goddamnit!”

“Sorry, sweetheart.”  His tone was very not sorry.  I huffed and crossed my arms from my undignified position tossed over his shoulder.  “Now hold on tight.  I don’t want to ruin that dress.”

“You.  Are.  Terrible.”

“And you’re beautiful.”

He gave my ass a playful spank. 

The bike was parked behind the bushes, allowing us a quick getaway with Mom none the wiser once again.  He set me right side down on the bike, and I gathered up my skirts and dignity.  He mounted the bike and drew my arms around him.

“You really do look beautiful.”

“You’re an asshat.”

“You’re so sexy when you’re mad.”

“I will murder you in your sleep.”

He kissed my cheek. 

Then he hit the gas.  The bike took off with such a jerk that I nearly fell off the back, and a breathless gasp escaped my throat.  Cal caught my arms and wrapped them around him, saving me from a pink silk wrapped doom in the middle of the street.  I pressed my body against him as tight as possible, mortified at the idea of death by deranged prom date.

“Converse?” he asked as we hit the road.  “You’re wearing tennis shoes to a dance?”

“Not so beautiful now, am I?”

“You’re always beautiful, Pink,” he said, locking our fingers together.  “Now, come on.  Let’s go to prom.”

“Name?”

“Natalie Harlow.”

“And yours?”

“Callum.  Callum Gatlin.”

The chaperone’s eyebrow raised, and his fingers fumbled with the clipboard.  He looked from me—my hair frazzled, muddy Converse on my feet, and a ruffled pink dress clinging to my scrawny body—to Cal, who was looking as cool and perfect as ever in his black t-shirt and jeans.  Still, not the tux the chaperone was probably expecting.  I could already hear his thoughts now: 

Nat Harlow? 

With Cal Gatlin?

Impossible.

But lately, it seemed like we were doing a lot of impossible things.  The chaperone shrugged after checking the list of senior names one last time.  “Thought you would have been expelled by now,” he said to Cal.

“Oh, I’m not the bad one.  Haven’t you heard yet?”  Cal asked, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me to him.  “This one is a troublemaker now.  Got herself
suspended
.”  

The chaperone rolled his eyes and pushed us through into the crowded gym. 

“You’re terrible,” I whispered.

“Me?”  His eyes widened as he gestured to himself innocently.  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.  I’m not the one who got suspended, Nat.  I think you’re beginning to be a bad influence on me.  What if you smudge my flawless reputation?”

I pushed his arm playfully.  He swept me up by the waist to kiss me.  I could feel a blush creep across my face as he did.  The room was dark, only lit by flashing strobe lights, and the music was deafening.  The throngs of people were all crowded together, bending to scream in each other’s ears over the music.  I knew no one could see or hear us.

But it was still a dangerous, delicious thrill to kiss my own stepbrother in public.  Especially if that stepbrother was Cal.

“Oh.  My.  God.”

My head whipped around.  I could hear the faint sound of Cal’s deep, rumbly laugh by my ear through the pounding bass of the pop music.  I squinted my eyes through the darkness, just barely making out a brunette bobbing on her feet with wide eyes and a wider smile.

“Oh.  My. 
God
!”  Jess cried.

“Hush!” I screamed over the music.  I could barely hear my own voice, but panic was starting to take over.  Jess and Cal ignored me.  Both of them had stupidly giddy smiles smeared across their faces.  “Jess, are you tipsy?”

“Knew it,” she sang.  “I.  Knew.  It.  Knew you were together, called it ages ago.  Incest is the best, right?” 

“Step-incest,” I said, swatting her away.

“Bahahaha, this is great.  Nate’s face is going to be—”

“Nate is here?” I asked, freezing.

“Duh, Nat.  He’s on student council, remember?  It’s kind of a rule that he has to be here?”

Crap.  I didn’t expect that.  I should have, but in the haze of romantic midnight getaways and sex in motel rooms with my bad boy stepbrother, it may have slipped my mind.

Cal’s arm squeezed around me.

“You shouldn’t worry,” he whispered.

“I know.  I’m still going to, though.”

“Hm.  I’ll have to distract you then.”

“Cal—no!”

It was too late.  Cal had grabbed my arm and was pulling my helpless body onto the dance floor.  A few stares followed us, which I knew he loved.  Behind us, Jess was bouncing on her toes, screaming something about “oh my god, so romantic.” 

He wrapped his arm around my waist.  “Come on, sweetheart,” he said into my ear.  “I bet I can distract you.”

Yes.  Yes he could.

Cal was a crazy good dancer.  I had never expected it from him, but I guess it made sense—he loved drinking, women, and being a slut, all of which readily accessible at clubs.  After every dance, he would pull me to his chest and yell something sweet into my ear. 

“They’re watching you,” he said once.  He nodded at a gaggle of boys chattering amongst themselves as their gaze followed me, twirling along the dance floor with Cal’s arms around me. 

“They probably think you kidnapped me.”

“They think you’re beautiful.”

“Ugh.  Stop.”

“It’s true, Nat.”  He pulled me closer for a kiss.  “You’re beautiful all the time, of course.  But right now?  Drop dead fucking gorgeous.”

I rolled my eyes at him.  He grinned and kissed me again.

There may have been a few drinks in between there, too.  Not that perfect Natalie Harlow would agree to a little shot of the vodka her stepbrother had smuggled in in a water bottle. 

No, definitely not. 

It was approaching midnight again, and the party had begun to draw down.  By now, Cal was covered in sweat.  My Converse had been kicked off and were sitting in a chair at the other end of the gym, ready to be stolen by one of the many drunks around us.  Jess had been flitting from boy to boy, seeking out her next victim for the night. 

She had invited me once or twice, but the idea of being with anyone but Cal just made me laugh. 

I was his, I realized. 

I was always his.

“Are you ready to go, sweetheart?” he asked, kissing my forehead.  I was swaying in his arms, my cheek pressed against his warm chest, basking in his scent as he led me across the floor.  A slow song.  One of the last of the night.

“Mm hmm,” I mumbled.  The thrill of sneaking out, wild dancing with the man I was desperately in love with, and booze that I most definitely did not accept from said man had finally gotten to me.  Cal’s fingers laced their way into my hair again.

“Alright, come on.  I’ll carry you.”

“Don’t,” I mumbled into his chest.  “People will see.”

“Good.  I want them to know who’s protecting you.”

Gently, he lifted me up, carrying me in his arms like a princess.  We stopped by the door to grab my shoes and give a goodbye to Jess, who was as definitely not drunk as I was. 

“Nat—” she slurred.

“Do you have a ride?” Cal asked, frowning at her.  Jess was a sloppy drunk, and she wasn’t good at hiding it.

“Chill,” she said with an over dramatic eye roll.  “This one is driving me home.”  She jabbed a thumb at a junior girl who was watching her with a distinct air of hero worship.  “But I’ve got to—gotta tell you—crap, what was it?”

“Nate,” said the junior softly.

Ugh.

“Oh yeah.  Your psycho ex saw you.” 

“And where is he?” asked Cal tightly.

“Gone.  He left.”

The tension in Cal’s shoulders relaxed.  Well, that was … odd.  Things were finally working out for Cal and Nat.