by Emily Rose
Miles responded without looking away from the road, “I used to own a Camaro and the guy I bought that car off of also had this one, but I kept this one parked at his place and drove the Camaro a lot more.”
It was a strange thing to hear about Miles’ past life. Talking about the car was a simple thing, but it gave me a tiny bit of hope that Miles wasn’t just a bad guy.
“What happened to the Camaro?” I asked, honestly curious.
At this question, his eyes changed and I knew I had hit a topic that he wasn’t fond of discussing, but he answered anyway. “Someone took it,” he said in a strange, almost pained voice.
“Oh,” it was all I could say, because clearly, he wasn’t going to explain and I wasn’t about to push for more information on that subject, so I went for something else. “How old are you anyway?” I asked.
Miles smirked as if this question was funny to him. “Older than you.”
“But how old? Like when is your birthday,” I asked.
“July 4th,” he said.
I wanted to groan at his vague answers, but instead, I pushed back. “What year?”
He sighed heavily before shifting the Chevelle into gear as we took off from the red light we had been sitting at. “1993,” he said.
I blinked, surprised. Suddenly, I felt incredibly young, even if I was turning 17 in a few months.
It didn’t take us very much longer to get there though and for that, I was a bit thankful even if my nerves shot through the roof as he pulled into the parking lot, easing to a stop directly in front of the school. To make matters worse, it was right between classes, so students filled the yard all around me and I saw that almost all of them had noticed Miles’ car too.
“Oh God,” I whispered when I saw that Lucas stood with his friends near one of the trees in the yard and he too had noticed the car.
“Your boyfriend doesn’t like me,” Miles said this more as a statement rather than a question.
I looked over at him with my hand on the door handle and saw that he was watching Lucas stare his car down like he was trying to use X-Ray vision to see who was inside. “Uh, Luke is… protective,” I said and then chuckled at the awkwardness of my own answer.
Miles looked away from Lucas and met my gaze before he responded. “I know I don’t really know you or your boyfriend, but I’ve been around longer. I’ve seen a lot of shit, I’ve done a lot of shit, and during that time, I learned the difference between protective and jealous. Your man isn’t protective. He’s jealous. I’ve been the protective one and the jealous one, but I learned the hard way that jealousy doesn’t keep the girl… and neither does protectiveness honestly,” he said.
I held his gaze steadily and I saw the honesty behind his words. He wasn’t just giving me real-life advice. He had actually lived it, whatever it was and that single thought prompted my next response before I had a chance to think about what it meant.
“I’m sorry that you lost someone, Miles,” I said lowly.
He watched me, but he didn’t respond and I didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, I got ready to step out of the car, but at the last second, I saw him. Josh stood a few feet away from Lucas and his eyes were focused on the car also. Every nerve in my body lit and I must not have hid it very well, because Miles spoke again.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
I looked back at him and my voice stalled. I wanted to tell him that nothing was wrong, but it was clear that he had already caught onto it. Miles shifted his gaze from mine to who I had been staring at, before I saw that anger I had seen earlier return to his eyes.
Without explaining a single thing to me, he opened his door and spoke, “Come on,” he said.
My heart fluttered. “I thought you weren’t supposed to be seen.”
“Oh well,” he said and then got out.
I knew this was not going to end well, but I did as I was told and stepped out of the car, keeping my gaze away from peering eyes as Miles took position a foot or two behind me.
I took a deep breath and started toward where I had seen Lucas, but then I lifted my gaze and I wished I hadn’t.
The first set of eyes I noticed was Lucas’ and the amount of anger I saw burning in them was almost chilling. It was clear that he was not happy about me being with Miles.
I shifted my gaze from his and met Josh’s, except he wasn’t watching me. Instead, he was studying Miles and I could see a small smirk starting to play across his lips like he thought this was the funniest thing in the world to him.
And when we got within a few feet of him, he spoke. “Look everyone, Lesley has a bodyguard,” he said.
To my surprise, Miles completely and utterly ignored him as he continued to follow me until we got closer to Lucas. When I reached him, I debated on explaining things right then and there, but Miles beat me to it as he spoke directly to Lucas who looked like he could lose his shit at any moment.
“I know you don’t like me and personally, I don’t give a fuck, but I expect you to do your part in protecting your girl. She needs you and I shouldn’t have to tell you that,” Miles said, not pulling any punches in calling Lucas’ behavior out.
As I stood between their towering heights, I looked up at Miles as he held Lucas’ gaze firmly. I wasn’t the type of girl that needed a man to protect me, but at the same time, if Josh were to try to hurt me, I knew from my first experience with him that there was no way I could stop him. He was a lot bigger than me. Not saying I wouldn’t fight, because I would. I would fight my little heart out, but in the end, the truth was that Josh would win that battle. There was no question about it.
“I don’t need your advice. I know what I need to do,” Lucas said.
“Then do it,” Miles said before he turned his back on Lucas and started back toward his car without another word.
I watched him and even though Josh was still mouthing off in the background, I was completely oblivious to what he was saying because there was something about the way Miles shifted his gaze over his shoulder, fixating on Josh before he got back in his car that sent a chill straight down my spine.
The sound of the roar of the engine filled my ears as he took off, driving out of the parking lot a lot slower than I expected him to. And that was when it hit me. I wasn’t sure if it was this moment or the look Miles had given Josh, but suddenly I remembered who I had seen write like the handwriting on Josh’s locker.
It had been Dare, but that wasn’t the only thing I had learned. When I had first noticed Josh standing outside among the dozens of other students, there was no way Miles could have known who I was looking at.
Which told me that Miles must have already known what Josh looked like and he could easily be a part of whatever game Dare was playing.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lesley
“We need to talk.”
That was the first thing Lucas said to me after Miles left, but considering the bell had rang and we had class, that conversation hadn’t happened yet.
It wasn’t until later that evening when I was sitting in the passenger seat of his car with Noah in the backseat and Lucas driving us toward Noah’s house that I felt my anxiety kick in. The ride was so quiet, even Noah didn’t say anything, which was unusual for him and that didn’t help at all. I wasn’t sure if it was me that he was upset with, or if he knew Lucas was pissed and he just didn’t want to bring anything up yet.
Either way, I hated it.
As I stared out the window of Lucas’ car, he turned down Noah’s street and we pulled to a stop in front of his house. Instead of getting out on my side, Lucas stepped out and pushed the seat up, so Noah could get out.
Before he got out though, he spoke. “I’ll call you later baby girl.”
I looked over at him and saw that he wore a friendly smile. “Ok.”
Noah got out then and headed toward his house, while Lucas shoved the seat back a little harder than was needed and got back in. I jumped when he slammed his door and shifted int
o gear, taking off like a bolt of lightning. For the longest time, he didn’t say anything, and I was getting to the point where I couldn’t handle his silence anymore.
“Luke, I’m sorry,” I said bluntly and glanced over at him, but he wouldn’t look away from the road as he turned onto Main Street again.
“For what?” he asked and shifted the Mustang into a higher gear.
I sighed heavily. He was going to make me admit it. That was always what Luke did when he was pissed. He liked hearing what I did wrong, but at this point, the only thing I did was ride with Miles back to school.
“I know you don’t like him, but he was just giving me a ride back to school,” I said.
Lucas shifted again and the engine roared in tandem with his anger. “Do you honestly think that’s what I’m pissed about?” he asked as he tightened his hands on the wheel.
I shrugged, even though he wasn’t watching me. “I don’t know, but I assumed.”
A laugh escaped him, but it held absolutely no humor. “No, Lesley, I’m not pissed that he brought you back to school. I’m pissed, because you don’t seem to take anything I say into consideration. I told you that I didn’t trust him and I still don’t. I care about you though, but you seem to want to trust him,” he said.
My heart ached, because I had hurt Luke. I could see it and hear it in his voice, even if he wouldn’t admit it and I understood where he was coming from. Hell, even I wasn’t sure if I could trust Miles, but at the same time, I always seemed to fall right into place with him.
For some reason I had yet to figure out, I always forgot about how dangerous Miles might be when I got around him, even if the nervousness was still there.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered as I looked away from Lucas and tried to sort through what I actually thought of Miles freaking Conrad.
Lucas took a deep breath before he spoke, “Lesley, I know he’s your stepbrother. I know you’re going to be around him. I know all of this, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be cautious when it comes to him. What do you actually know about the guy anyway? Tell me one thing about his past that you know,” he said.
The first thing that came to mind was the fact that Miles used to own a Camaro, but that wasn’t a deep secret of his past. Anyone, a stranger, could tell you what car they used to drive, but that didn’t mean you knew their story or them. Lucas was right. I didn’t know Miles at all, even if I wanted to believe that we were beginning to become somewhat friends. He might not think that way at all. He might just be doing all of this, because I was his stepsister and he thought it was his job now.
I had no idea and then I thought about the fact that I knew, without even having to ask him about it, that Dare was the one who painted Josh’s locker. And then that look Miles gave Josh as he left only added to my suspicion. There was something going on and it involved my family somehow. That right there should be enough red flags for anyone to feel the need to run in the opposite direction, but I couldn’t help myself from wondering and running toward those little red flags. I was playing a dangerous game; one I knew I should walk away from as quickly as I possibly could.
“I need to ask you something and I know it’s going to sound ridiculous, but I need you to be honest with me,” Lucas said as we pulled to a stop in front of my house and he put the car in park, turning his gaze on me for the first time since we got in the car.
I watched and waited for him to continue.
He took a deep breath before he spoke, “Is it the fact that he’s your stepbrother who you know nothing about, or is it the simple fact that he’s older that attracts you?”
His question took me off guard and I opened my mouth to respond, but then closed it as I tried to process what answer he was looking for. The idea of being attracted to anyone other than Lucas, especially my stepbrother, seemed so very wrong. And because of this, I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t attracted to Miles simply for that reason, but at the same time, it was hard not to notice how gorgeous Miles really was despite the scars that were carved into his skin. I took a deep breath and steadied my gaze with Lucas’ instead of responding.
The look in his eyes went from curious to straight anger and he looked away without saying another word.
“Luke, don’t pretend like you haven’t noticed other girls. I mean come on, it’s only normal for humans to notice other humans, but that doesn’t mean we are going to act on it. I mean, you’re my boyfriend. We’ve been together for a while now and I care so much about you. Don’t you trust me, because even if I know you’ve noticed other girls, I trust that you wouldn’t do that to me?” I said.
He stared out the window in thought until finally he turned to meet my gaze again. “You are right Lesley. I have noticed other girls and clearly, you’ve noticed Miles.”
I blinked and even if I knew it was true, I couldn’t stop the tiny ache that struck my heart at his confession. Relationships were hard anyway, but when the honesty came out, it sometimes made them even harder. But I refused to give up on us. I had been with Lucas for too long and I cared too much about him to just throw it away over something so stupid. We had fights before and sometimes we didn’t talk for days, but we always fixed it.
We worked at it.
“So what do you want me to do? Avoid Lila? Tell her to make Miles leave? What can I do to fix this?” I asked, desperately trying to come up with a solution.
Some of the anger I saw in his eyes faded before he answered. “I don’t know, Les. All I know is that I care about you and I don’t want to see you get hurt,” he said in a genuine voice.
My heart skipped a beat and I leaned over the center console to rest my head on his shoulder. Lucas seemed to release the rest of his anger with a deep breath and then dropped his head until it rested on top of mine. For the longest moment, we sat in silence and during that time, I saw tiny little droplets of rain hit his windshield.
“I really want to tell you something. I know we haven’t said it yet, even after this long, but I need to tell you,” Lucas whispered.
I didn’t have to hear it. I knew what he wanted to say. It had been something on my mind for a long time now. That big “L” word that we refused to say to one another. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel that way for Lucas, but that word scared me. Partly because I was only 16, Luke was my first boyfriend, and I had no idea where my life would be ten years from now. But there was another part of me that feared it, because that word was the last word spoken by my own mother before she broke my father’s heart.
Before she broke my heart.
“I love you, Lesley. I really fucking do,” Lucas said.
And there it was. That word.
Just like that, it was out there and there was no taking it back now. At least not for me. Despite my own hesitation and feelings toward the word, I was surprised at what I felt hearing Lucas say it. My heart fluttered; my breath caught. I was caught between fear and the truth. I wanted to return it, but at the same time, my voice locked up and my heart refused to let me share the moment with him.
“I know you can’t say it and I know why, but I just want you to know that I feel that way for you,” he continued.
I turned my head until my chin was resting on his shoulder and my gaze lifted to his as he looked down at me with so many emotions burning through his eyes. Without saying a word, I closed the few inches between our mouths and my lips connected with his. Like every other time I had kissed him, I tasted mint and something that only belonged to Lucas.
And like every other time he had kissed me, it was slow and gentle as he raised his hands to place them on either side of my face as the kiss deepened. I listened to my heart beat steadily as his lips moved against mine and it was at that moment that he released my face only to drop his hands to my waist where he easily lifted me out of my seat and over the center console until I was sitting on his lap. I wasn’t straddling him, but instead, resting my back against his door with my legs over the console as my lips continued to move with his.
An engine.
My lips broke from Lucas’ and I turned my gaze toward the source of the noise only to see Miles’ Chevelle sitting directly in front of Lucas’ Mustang with the windshield wipers going and the lights glaring toward us. Lucas looked toward the car and I heard a groan escape him as his head fell back to the seat.
“Seriously,” he said.
Before I could respond, the lights of the Chevelle flipped off and my eyes locked onto Miles’ as he sat in the driver’s seat, but to my surprise, he wasn’t alone. Dare, dressed in his usual black clothing, stepped out of the passenger seat. He also noticed me and Lucas, but instead of coming over to the car, he looked away and headed toward the house. I watched until he disappeared inside and then looked back at Miles.
That was when I noticed that Miles was wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled over his head and he hadn’t pulled his gaze off me. Those eerie eyes that were framed in dark lashes, giving them an even more deadly look burned into mine, and the chill that ran over my skin at their intensity felt like someone had shocked me.
For the longest time, we simply stared at one another until I caught Dare coming out of the house out of the corner of my eye.
Again, he ignored me and Lucas entirely.
I watched as he jumped into the passenger seat of Miles’ car instead. They flipped the lights back on before Miles pulled around Lucas’ car, and took off like a cloud of black smoke down the road. Something about this situation, I wasn’t sure what it was, caused my nerves to ignite and I felt the increasing need to call Dare at that exact moment.
“I should probably get inside,” I told Lucas, who had been watching the entire scene unfold the same way I had.
He met my gaze. “What do you think they’re up to?”
