I kept my head down and worked at the shop and kept my grades up. I aced all of my AP classes and things looked great for college.
“You could pretty much have your pick, Carter,” my counselor told me. “You’ve really applied yourself the last couple of years and your grades are fantastic.”
“Thanks.”
“What do you want to do with your life?”
That I wasn’t sure of. I still thought about finally calling my mother and going out to visit her in California. Maybe I’d learn to surf and get baked on the beach. I could go to school out there. It would get me away from the bullshit going on at home.
“I don’t know yet.”
“You need to make your mind up, Carter. Time’s passing quickly and before you know it, you’ll be done here. You need to get some applications filled out. Settle on a major. You have such a bright future ahead of you.”
“I’ll think on it, Mrs. Abernathy,” I promised her.
And I did. For years. I thought about the life I didn’t get to lead.
The events that extinguished my future culminated on December fourth of my senior year. We’d just had a little snow and the roads were terrible. Brielle had left me at school – again - so I walked home. I burrowed deep in my coat and regretted that I hadn’t worn my beanie to school. Wind whipped around me and cut through the fabric of my jacket, leaving me shivering. The walk home wasn’t long, but it was just annoying to have a car and not have use of it.
Brielle had reminded me, again, that morning, about the brakes in the car. “I’m having to stomp them hard again, Carter!” she whined. “Can you replace them?”
“If you’d stop riding the brake they’d last longer. I’ll do them this weekend at the shop. Just drive carefully.”
“Yeah, yeah, I will.”
Maybe what happened next was her fault, or maybe it was mine. That’s something I never got figured out. I heard a horn honk and I looked up from the sidewalk to see Brielle and Lisa driving by.
She flipped me off and I returned the motion. I could see her laugh and it made me smile a little, even though I was frozen thanks to her. Lisa had found a job at a local convenience store part time, and she took on the late shift most nights. I assumed that’s where they were going.
Just as I turned my gaze back to the sidewalk, I heard what sounded like something scraping. I looked back just in time to see the car fishtailing on the road. “No!” I yelled, running toward them.
It was too late. Hell, there was nothing I could've done anyway. I wasn’t a sparkly vampire that could stop cars.
The car slid back and forth, I could see her trying to put the brakes on. The brakes that weren’t working right. I screamed again, “No!” My words couldn’t stop the car. Nothing could, short of God, and I guess homie was busy that day.
They shot off the side of the road and the car slammed hard into a lone pine tree.
Crunch.
Running across the street, I slipped on the black ice forming on the poorly salted roads.
“Carter!” Brielle screamed and I jumped down the shoulder of the road, skidding on the snow-covered rocks. The car was fucked up, the whole front was squashed in like a broken accordion, pleats and all.
Jerking my phone from my pocket, I dialed 911 clumsily with my frozen fingers. “There’s been an accident on Broken Neck Lane. You can’t miss it. The car hit the tree. There are two people in the car. I’m here with them.” Hanging up, I tried to pry open Brielle’s door. It was bent and I couldn’t get it open.
“I wasn’t careful,” she wailed.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I attempted to pacify her, but she wouldn’t be soothed.
“Mom’s not moving, Carter!” she shrieked, blubbering harder.
“Hold on, let me go check on her.” I ran around the back side of the car and I tried to wrench open Lisa’s door. It was bent just like Brielle’s.
That’s when I noticed that Lisa wasn’t wearing her seat belt, and she had blood trickling from a massive gash on her forehead. Running back around to Brielle, I tried to keep her calm. “Listen, the ambulance is on the way, do you hear the sirens?”
“I wasn’t careful. I wasn’t careful,” she babbled on repeat.
“She’s going to be okay.”
Brielle reached over to shake her mother again. “Carter, she’s not moving!”
“You have to stop trying to move her. Please. Let the paramedics get here.”
“Call your dad,” she begged me, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. “Call him, tell him to get here.”
“Okay.” I did as she asked, calling the shop and telling my father the last thing I ever wanted to tell him. “Dad? You need to leave the shop.”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“Brielle and Lisa were in a wreck.”
Silence stretched over the line. “Carter, where?” he asked finally, his voice barely a whisper.
“Broken Neck Lane. The pine tree.”
“Fuck,” he mumbled, and hung up. I’d never heard my father use that word. Ever.
Paramedics arrived on the scene and pushed me back. The fire truck came next and I sat huddled in my coat on the sidewalk while they worked on the car. Dad pulled up minutes later and he jumped out of the truck.
“Lisa!” he screamed, and I tried to catch him and hold him back. I didn’t want him to see her like that. He pushed past my grasp and kept on running. Two paramedics had to grab him.
“You can’t go to the car.”
“Lisa!” he screamed again hoarsely.
“Dad, let them do their job,” I begged, tugging at his arm.
“Carter, what happened?”
“I was walking home and I saw them driving by. Brielle honked and flipped me off. I flipped her off in return and she laughed. I looked away and I heard this sliding sound. The car fishtailed and then it went off the shoulder of the road.”
“God dammit. You were right, she shouldn’t have been driving the car. My God…”
“Dad, we can’t do this. Let the paramedics get Lisa and Brielle out of the car and to the hospital.”
“I can’t live without her, son. She has to be okay.” My father pulled me into his arms and he sobbed on my shoulder, dampening my coat.
“She’ll be okay, Dad,” I promised him. I didn’t know if she would be or not. I just said what you were supposed to say to people going through bad things.
It took some time, but the firemen got Lisa’s door open and they put her onto a stretcher. Dad cried harder. “I have to go in the ambulance. Carter, you drive my car. Be careful. I can’t have you hurt, too. Promise me.”
“I’ll drive like an old lady going to church on Sunday, I swear,” I joked, trying to lighten the situation.
He didn’t smile but instead nodded and dashed across the street to the ambulance. They pulled away and Brielle’s door opened next. Blood stained her coat, but for the most part, she looked okay, and she was coherent.
“Are you riding with?” the paramedic asked me as they loaded her on a stretcher.
“I’ll follow in the car.”
“Drive slow, kid,” he told me.
I climbed in the car, following as closely as I dared behind them. Road conditions were worse and I fishtailed two or three times, but I managed to keep it on the road. I parked in the free lot at the hospital and jogged through the falling snow to the emergency room doors.
“I’m part of the Travis family. Can I see my dad and stepmom?”
“You have to wait until they’ve been evaluated by a doctor. We’ll call you,” the older woman at the front desk told me.
Pacing the floor, I clock-watched. Hours passed and still there was no word. I freaked out. “Come on, please, tell me something about them?” I asked the nurse again.
She sighed. “I can’t. I don’t know anything.”
“Carter!” my dad called my name and I turned to see him coming out of a set of swinging doors.
“Dad!” he wore scrubs and
that gave me a moment of pause. “What’s going on?”
“I need you to call Brielle’s father. She’s ready to be discharged.”
“And Lisa?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and blew out a breath. “She’s in surgery,” he choked out.
“Shit. What’s wrong?”
“Bleeding on the brain. The damn woman wasn’t wearing her seat belt. She hit the dash hard and they’re trying to get the swelling down. It’s not looking good.” Tears filled his eyes and he blinked them back. “I’m scared, Carter.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Me either. I’m praying to everything out there that she’ll make it through this. I can’t lose her.”
Hugging him tight, I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed hard too. It couldn’t hurt. Even though God had been too busy to stop the car, maybe he wouldn’t be too busy to save her life.
“I’ll call Brielle’s dad. I guess I can get his number from the phone book?”
“Call his office. If you can’t reach him, then take her home. Drive safely. The roads should be salted by now but that doesn’t mean fly. And for Christ’s sakes, wear a damn seat belt.”
“I will, I promise. Be with Lisa. Stay strong.”
“Always. It’s all I can do. I love you, Carter. Don’t forget that.” He kissed my forehead, something he hadn’t done since I was five or six.
Pulling away, I turned to the receptionist. “I need a phone book.”
“Sure thing.” She flopped a big phonebook up on the counter.
Flipping through the pages I searched for the name Harper. Ed Harper, Attorney at Law. Perfect. Digging my phone out of my pants pocket, I dialed the number and hoped he’d answer. Chances were good that he had gone home for the night, but maybe not.
There was no answer, even though I tried several times, and left messages. He would get them tomorrow.
Chapter Fourteen
“Carter?”
Brielle stood beside me. She seemed impossibly small and fragile. A small cut on her forehead was bandaged but otherwise, she seemed fine. I had to make sure. “Hey, are you okay?”
Her eyes were haunted and she nodded slowly. “Your dad signed the papers so I could go home. Can we go home?”
“Sure. Where’s your coat?”
“There was blood on it,” she whispered.
“Wear mine.” I shrugged it off and settled it around her shoulders. She smiled up at me gratefully and caught my hand in hers. Her fingers felt frozen. “Come on.”
“My mom’s in surgery.”
“I know.”
“I did that to her. I wasn’t being careful. I was being a bitch to you. Again.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine, I should’ve changed the brakes.”
“Don’t be stupid, you had school. I should’ve been driving slower, not singing to the radio, paying attention. Instead, I was laughing because I was making you walk home alone in the snow.”
We stepped outside and I released her hand to jam my hands in my pockets. “Do you want to wait here, I’ll get the car and come around for you?”
“Okay.”
Hauling ass through the lot, I unlocked the car door and slid behind the wheel. Starting the car, I turned on the heater and the lights before backing out of my parking spot. Driving carefully, I pulled up beside her under the awning in front of the hospital doors. She opened the passenger door and sat down slowly.
“Seat belt.”
Slowly, she buckled in. Silence filled the car’s interior as I crept home. The roads were better, but I didn’t want to chance hitting some black ice and wrecking. Thirty minutes later, I pulled into the driveway and shut off the ignition.
“Let’s get inside. Are you hungry? You know I make a mean spaghetti,” I offered.
She shook her head and crawled out of the car. “I need you, Carter,” she whispered weakly, swaying on her feet.
“I’m here,” I told her, sliding my arm around her waist.
“You’ve always been here.”
“Come inside and let’s get you warm.” I almost had to carry her inside, but we got through the door.
“Take me to bed, please,” she sagged against me.
“Okay, you need some rest.” Sweeping her into my arms I cradled her to my chest and carried her up the stairs to her room. Kicking open her door, I used my arm to flick on her light and I carefully placed her in bed and pulled off her shoes. “Do you need anything?” I asked.
Her arms twined around my neck and her eyes were glassy with tears. “You. I need you.”
“I’m here, it’s all right.” Squeezing her tight, I rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head.
“Make me forget, just for a little while. Please,” she purred in my ear, her teeth nipping my ear lobe. Shivers coursed through me and I fought to maintain control. This was not going how I had planned. I should've just dropped her off in bed and left her alone.
“I don’t think we should do this. You’ve had a really bad day and you’re tired.”
“Don’t you want me?”
“You know I do. But not like this. I don’t want you to regret this.”
“I won’t regret it, Carter. You’re the last person I’ll ever regret having sex with. I need you to help me forget. Just for a little while. You told me you’d always be there for me. Be here for me tonight. Please,” she begged again, and I squeezed my eyes shut and warred with my inner demons. It almost felt like I would be taking advantage of her.
Her lips pressed against mine and I was lost. I tasted her tears on my tongue and I wanted to make them stop. I needed to make her feel whole and if that meant giving her my virginity and making love to her right that minute, I’d do it. I’d do anything in the world for Brielle Harper and she knew it. Cupping her face gently in my hands, I kissed her sweetly.
Brielle had none of my tenderness. She pushed me back on the bed and climbed on top of me before kissing me again, rough and hard. Her tears peppered my skin and I tried to slow her down, to soothe her frantic pace, but she wasn’t looking for soothing and sweet like I’d imagined our first time.
She pulled back and peeled her T-shirt off. “Unhook my bra,” she ordered, and I reached behind her to fumble with the hooks. Her breasts spilled out of the thin lace and I grabbed her hips to shift her higher so I could suck her nipples.
If I’d seen it being done on a late night cable porn, I did it. Her moans spurred me on. I assumed I did it right. She didn’t tell me otherwise.
Within minutes we were both naked on her bed, writhing around in her cotton candy pink sheets. Her hand gripped my dick and she toyed with my shaft. I was close to coming and I pulled her hand away.
“You have to stop.”
She froze and stared at me. “I’m your first, aren’t I?”
I swallowed nervously and nodded. “Yeah.”
“God dammit, I’m not supposed to be.”
“You didn’t make it easy to find a girlfriend,” I reminded her.
“Then I’ll have to make it memorable.”
Anything with Brielle Harper would've been memorable, but she kept her promise. That night would be something I’d remember the rest of my life.
Her pace slowed and she kissed me softly, nibbling at my lip and then kissing down my neck. “I need you,” she whispered.
“I’m yours.” It was true. I had always been hers.
She straddled my lap and rocked her wet pussy against me. “I need you.”
“I don’t have condoms.” I blushed in embarrassment.
“I’m on birth control.” She reached between us and slid the head of my dick slowly between her lips, moaning hoarsely as she rubbed her clit.
Hissing in pleasure, I entered her for the first time. Her pussy was hot. Almost unbearably so. She sank down on my dick an inch at a time and her muscles sucked me in. I felt like exploding just from half a stroke inside her. “I’m gonna come,” I choked out.
“Then come. We�
��ll do this again. You need this as much as me.” She moved again and I slipped in and out of her wetness. My hands found her hips and I shuddered as I came almost immediately.
“Brielle!” I cried, digging my fingers deep into her flesh.
“Carter,” she whispered, kissing me again. “How was that for your first time?”
“So fucking good,” I groaned and she chuckled.
“Now you’re going to make me come.”
“Like behind the church?”
“That will work to start with...” She slipped off my lap and rolled to her back, spreading her legs and holding her arms out for me.
Following her lead, I entered her embrace and kissed her. She took my hand and placed it back on her mound. This time, I was on my own. She trailed her fingers over my shoulders, and I slowly rubbed between her lips.
She broke the kiss and took my hand again, placing my fingers against a hardened nub. “Rub my clit, it feels good.”
I did as she asked, swirling one way, then the next. When she hissed and arched her back, I did the same flickering motion again and her head lolled on the pillow. “Don’t stop.”
Biting my bottom lip I flickered her clit harder, swirling and darting, back and forth. She gripped the blankets and arched up off the bed, sobbing my name. “Carter!”
I was hard again, and I shifted between her legs, entering her with one fluid stroke.
It felt like coming home. I made love to her, worshipping the time we had together. I didn’t know what would happen tomorrow, or the next day. All I had was that night and her in my bed.
She taught me about love that night. I tried to help her forget about life. I dozed off eventually, I was completely spent, and she curled up in the crook of my arm.
“Carter?” she mumbled sleepily, and I glanced over at her, opening one eye slightly.
“Yeah?”
“I love you.” My heart skipped a beat and I took a moment before I replied.
“I’ve always loved you…”
Evil Stepsister Page 8
