ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (262 page)

“Beginner’s luck,” Conner said with a sarcastic laugh. I breathed a sigh of relief when his face remained soft, after all I had been an unwilling listener to the events that proceeded the last time someone damaged his bike.

“Again,” Conner said sternly and I nodded. Slowly I started the bike up again, repeating the instructions over and over again in my head.

This time Conner kept his hands on the bike, running beside me as I covered my first few yards, the bike shaking all the while, begging me to push it faster. I picked up speed, just enough so that Conner could still keep up. My hands gripped the bars tightly, my knuckles white under the pressure as I carefully navigated the field clumsily but without any major problems. While it wasn’t quite as exhilarating as being on the bike at the hands of Conner it was still something amazing to be controlling the beast myself.

“Nat, stop!” Conner shouted loudly making me jump in my seat. Panicked I took my eyes off the path and turned awkwardly in the seat to face him.

Conner was trailing behind, his hand barely brushing the back of the bike. The bars twisted under my grip and the bike swerved to the side; I tried desperately to twist it back to the front, to force the bike forwards instead of the path it was taking to the side. My fingers found the break and I squeezed it tightly causing the bike to violently skid. Just as I was sure it was all over and that I was going to have to explain a sportbike crash to my dad, Conner caught me. He pushed the bike back, forcing it to stay standing, keeping me firmly in place on the now still bike.

My head crashed down against the bars as I let out a sigh of relief, as far as I could tell I was alive, I was ok. As Conner kicked the stand out of the bike I once again took his hand and he helped me off the bike. I dragged my helmet off my head and collapsed on the ground next to it, running my hands through my now extremely messy hair. “Well that went awfully,” I sighed as Conner came to sit beside me, a large grin on his face.

He put him arm around my shoulder and pulled me gently into his side, I leant against him happily, feeling his warmth calm my still slightly racing body. As awful as I had been it was still a thrill, one I would never have believed had I not tried it. “Actually I thought it went pretty well,” Conner said casually, holding me closer to him.

I pulled away to stare at him, to spot the humor in his eyes or the smirk that I was sure would be on his face, yet as I looked at him all I saw was a smile, and a genuine smile at that. “Did I hit you with the bike?” I asked unsurely, perhaps he was concussed or something.

“I don’t think so,” he laughed, patting down his arms and legs “yep I’m all here,” he smirked. I batted him arm in annoyance at his teasing.

“Why do you ask?” he asked, sounding curious now.

“Because it seems that you’re clearly suffering from some kind of injury. I don’t know if you witnessed any of the last two minutes or so but I’m pretty sure I was close to ending up in that hedge,” I scowled, pointing to the hedge the bike was parked just a couple meters from, one I was very close to finding myself soaring head first into.

“I would never have let that happen,” Conner said sternly.

“It didn’t seem that way,” I stated.

“Did you end up in the hedge?” Conner asked quickly making me frown; maybe he really did get hurt.

“No…” I said, my voice trailing off.

“Well looks like I succeeded then doesn’t it,” he said happily as a large smile broke out across his face.

“Big-headed,” I muttered sarcastically.

Conner stared at me, an elaborate shocked expression covering his face. “Me? Big-headed?” he gasped loudly and I couldn’t help but laugh as his mouth popped open.

“The day I end up in the hedge is the day I’ll prove you wrong,” I stated with a smile. By how I had attempted to drive today I knew I would probably be lucky to hit a hedge and not a brick wall.

Chapter Six

It was an unspoken agreement that every morning at six, or a couple minutes past six in my case, we would meet in the garage and go riding together. We never spoke until we were alone, it wasn’t that we avoided each other away from the bikes, more so that we we’re just never in the same place at the same time. The arguments were getting worse in the house and our time together, however quick the hours may fly, were starting to become a kind of safe haven. We both heard the arguments, we both knew what was coming but we never spoke of it.

Summer was passing by quickly and as my dad spent more and more nights on the sofa I knew that our morning rides wouldn’t last much longer. I was learning fast though and as I climbed out of bed for what must have been our twentieth lesson I was worried. It was the same worry I had felt the last three or four mornings, a worry that it might just be our last ride together. I dressed quickly as I thought about our time together, I was growing to like Conner, more than I had ever expected to. There was just something about him, he was big-headed, sarcastic and mostly a jerk but he never failed to put a smile on my face, even when I had only had a couple hours of sleep.

Fully dressed I jogged down the stairs and snuck past the now increasingly familiar sound of my dad snoring on the sofa. I checked in on him and wandered out to the garage, something that was second nature to me now. Stood against the work bench with a helmet and jacket waiting in his arms was Conner.

“You know it never fails to amuse me that you can’t be on time,” he chuckled as he handed me my jacket.

“You know it never fails to amuse me that you are always stood here waiting,” I retorted as I snatched the jacket from his hands and slipped it over my hoodie.

“Somebody got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Conner teased with a smirk, I wouldn’t expect anything less from him.

“At least I went to bed,” I muttered, fastening my still far too big jacket.

“There’s no sleeping in that house,” he said with a frown as his smile disappeared.

I shrugged, he was right in a way, my sleep pattern was almost non-existent but then getting up before six every morning wasn’t exactly helping. I moved around to the bike, letting my fingers trail across the polished metal; however much we rode it, however much mud ended up on it, it was always sparkling. A couple of minutes passed and I realized I was still stood by the bike alone. Concerned I looked back to Conner where he stood at the other side of the room, staring off into nowhere, a dark frown seemingly engraved on his face.

I walked back over to him, stopping just in front of him; he barely even seemed to notice. “What’s wrong?” I asked quietly as fear formed in the pit of my stomach.

He stayed silent for a few seconds longer until his face changed and he smiled down at me; the fact that the smile didn’t reach his eyes concerned me more than his silence. His eyes didn’t shine as brightly as they normally did, the green was still and the colors didn’t swirl in the way I was used to seeing them move. “Nothing,” he said simply with a fake causal tone that didn’t fit him.

Conner moved to pass by me but I held my arm out quickly, pulling him back to face me. “Conner, please,” I pleaded in a whisper as my fear built. He was never like this; he was always the carefree Conner I knew with a hint of jerk that I didn’t hate as much as I let on.

He brushed my hand away roughly. “It’s nothing Nat, let’s go,” he said, his voice cold. Sighing I followed him, doing my best not to press whatever it was that was bothering him. It was probably his lack of sleep; I was actually starting to wonder if he ever even left the garage.

When I turned back to Conner he had already pulled the bike out of the garage and was waiting to shut the door behind us. I smiled half-heartedly at him, hoping he would return it but his face stayed as cold as it had been moments before. “Conner,” I tried again as I took a step towards him. He paused by the door, his hand loosening slightly.

“Don’t Nat, please. It’s getting late, let’s just ride while we still have the chance” he said sadly, his face dropping.

“Why?” I questioned.

“What do you mean? I thought you liked to go riding?” Conner asked quickly, confusion tearing at his face.

“Why are we doing this Conner?” I asked, taking another step towards him.

He stilled at my question, eying me warily as his body tensed. When he didn’t say anything more I took another step towards him, closing the space between us. I looked up at him, took in the frown that marked his face, barely hidden by the soft stubble that lined his strong jaw. He didn’t move, but his eyes watched me intently, there was a sadness there that tugged at my heart.

“Nat…” Conner whispered softly.

A door opened behind us and smashed loudly against the wall, cutting Conner off before he could continue. His mouth dropped open and his eyes bulge in shock. As much as I didn’t want to I turned to follow his line of sight, to see the person I knew was there but wished with everything that I had wouldn’t be.

“Dad,” I whispered.

“Natalie, get inside,” he shouted, his face a bright red. His eyes were full of anger and something else, something that looked far too close to betrayal.

I froze as my heart raced. “No,” I whispered, “No,” I said again, louder this time. Conner moved forwards, putting himself between me and my Dad as his body tensed and his muscles flexed.

“You,” my dad shouted, pointing at Conner, “leave now” he demanded. I looked between them terrified at what was about to happen, Conner made no move to leave and the red in my dad’s face deepen.

“I let you bring sportbikes into my house and you repay me by trying to kill my daughter,” he screamed.

“She’s fine,” Conner said, his voice was calm but his body told a different story, “I would never let her get hurt,” Conner said, louder this time. I believed him, I knew he would never let me get hurt, he had always been there; he had always been there to stop me falling.

“Dad…” I started, but he held up his hand to stop me. He took a few steps forwards but Conner stayed firm, his hands flexed at his side.

“Stop,” I shouted. I placed my hand on Conner shoulder and he turned to me, hesitantly taking his eyes off my fuming dad.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered as my hand trailed down his back and I took a step around him and towards my dad. Conner let me leave and I didn’t turn back, I couldn’t turn back. My heart thundered against my chest as I fought back the tears and then I was gone, leaving Conner behind me.

As I had feared Conner had been wrong and as I slumped down against my neighbor's wall I watched the last removal van drive away, not even two months had gone by. The spot next to me lay vacant as it had done in the three hours I had spent sat in the freezing cold alone. I stood up and walked towards the house, daring not to look into the garage that I knew would be as empty as it had been weeks ago. What hurt the most though was what was left unsaid; there was so much I wanted to say to Conner, things I would never get a chance to share. Conner was gone and there was nothing I could do about it.

Chapter Seven

The night had been the first quiet night in a long time and yet I got even less sleep than normal. Every time I shut my eyes I saw Conner; I saw his excitement as we rode, I saw his sarcastic smirk but worst of all I saw his eyes, watching me, keeping me safe. I had woken at a quarter to six, the same time I had woken up every day for almost a month. It was natural now; it was a part of my life that I didn’t want to end. The excitement I had felt when I woke was short-lived, the remnants of a dream. 

I couldn’t let it go; I couldn’t let it end so soon. I climbed out of bed and got dressed, slower than normal, relishing each moment before my dream would end and I would find an empty garage, one that was once so full of life. I snuck down the stairs, skipping the creaky one and checked the living room. I waited but no snores came from the room, I should have been happy, happy that the arguments had ended, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile. I walked on, through the kitchen and towards the little door that led to the garage.

With a deep breath I pulled the door open, the lights flickered on around me and for a second I had kidded myself that he might be there, that the lights would already be on and that he would be playing around with one of his bikes, our bikes. The room was emptier now than I had imagined it would be, the door was still open from yesterday, nobody had come to close them, it seemed that even my dad didn’t want to shut the door on the life that we had led for just a few short weeks.

I walked forwards, letting my hands trail aimlessly across the work bench as I stared out into the room. My fingers hit something, something that didn’t feel quite right. Confused I stared down at the strange fabric, daring not to let myself believe that it was truly leather; yet as I stared at the blue fabric there was no lying to myself. Slowly I picked up the leather jacket; it was the exact same shade as the blue bike I had first admired, the bike I hoped one day I would have been able to ride.

I let my fingers trace the rough lines of the leather before I slid arms through the jacket, it fit me perfectly; it was perfect. “As late as ever it seems,” Conner whispered, making me jump. I spun around to see him behind me, a blue helmet gripped tightly in his hand and a smile unlike anything else plastered on his face.

Before I could stop myself I wrapped my arms around him and as his arms snaked around my back, holding me close, I knew I didn’t want to be anywhere else but in his arms. “Well I would hate not to leave you waiting,” I chuckled against the warmth in his chest.