TEASE ( A Stepbrother Romance ) By Caitlin Daire

22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cade

My hands clenched into fists as I paced my room, furiously replaying the conversation with Charlotte in my head. What the fuck had gotten into her? She’d come in here looking like she hadn’t slept in a week and then launched into some insane theory about my Dad being a diabolical psycho who’d pay a gunman to shoot his son at his own goddamned wedding, and I couldn’t believe it.

She’d lost her fucking mind.

It wasn’t like Charlotte to be so irrational, though. She was a smart girl, and I knew her well enough to know she wasn’t the sort of person who would buy into conspiracy theories that had zero merit. I absolutely hated to admit it, but that made me wonder if maybe she was right, or at least partially right, about the wedding disaster. While I didn’t think my father would ever do such a thing, I honestly wouldn’t put it past Greg Sanders. He was the most cutthroat political consultant in the country, and I’d heard lots of rumors over the years of the wild shit he’d done to get his candidates elected. He was like Karl Rove on steroids.

But would he stoop this low?

Maybe, maybe not. It was still worth thinking about, though, and I realized how quickly and cruelly I’d dismissed Charlotte over the subject.  I guess I couldn’t be blamed for reacting so badly, though; after all, she’d leveled some pretty terrible accusations against my father. On the other hand, the more I thought about what she’d said, the more I realized she was simply stating things I’d actually wondered about myself.

Why had the security at the wedding been so shoddy? There’d been plenty of security personnel, and I’d seen them checking everyone who came in, so how the hell had they managed to let Felix Adamson slip in undetected? With a fucking gun, no less. It didn’t make sense, unless they were actually just that bad at their jobs….or if someone on the inside had helped Adamson get in.

If it was true that someone like Greg Sanders had orchestrated this whole thing in order to get my father elected, then it would be the political scandal of the century.

But surely it wasn’t true. It was too crazy to be true.

Even so, I needed to apologize to Charlotte. I’d been so pissed at her for bringing all this crap up that I’d made the decision to end things with her, but fuck…it wasn’t what I really wanted at all. I’d acted in the heat of the moment, like an idiot, and now I was regretting every word. Especially the way I’d brought up her father; I should have never done that. I hadn’t said anything negative about him, but still, he’d passed away a long time ago, and it wasn’t right for me to bring him into any arguments we had.

I was an asshole.

I threw on some clothes, then headed down the hall and knocked on her door. As I did so, the door swung open, and I saw that she wasn’t in her room. Her phone was sitting on the bedside table where she always left it, but her keys were gone, and I frowned. Where would she have gone? She didn’t have any classes today, and I was pretty sure she didn’t have any plans with friends for the day. Then again, I’d really upset her—she’d probably taken a drive somewhere to blow off some steam.

I left the house and headed towards town, figuring that was the most likely direction she’d have gone in, and about five minutes into the drive, I saw a set of skid marks on the road up ahead. They looked fresh, and my stomach lurched with worry for Charlotte. I knew it was likely that someone had simply swerved and then regained control of their car rather than anything drastic, but as I approached, the direction of the skid marks became clearer, and it was obvious that whichever car had created them had gone right off the road.

I stopped, my heart pounding. Even if it wasn’t Charlotte, some other person had still likely crashed, and it didn’t look like anyone else had noticed and stopped to help yet. I got out and dashed across the road and looked down, and a chill ran down my spine as I saw Charlotte’s car on its side, with the back end smashed into a tree. It must have gotten turned around as it skidded off the road, and it looked like it had been mid-roll as it crashed into the pine trunk. I ran down the snowy embankment, my heart in my throat.

Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead. Please…

I reached the car to see that Charlotte was on the side which was up in the air, and it was clear that she wasn’t conscious. I quickly set about kicking the surrounding snow into a small snow bank near it, and with a grunt, I then reached up and tried to lower the car back down to the ground. It felt like an impossible task, but it was a small car, and with each attempt, I managed to lower it an inch or so, rocking it back and forth, and soon gravity took over, and the car came crashing down into the snow bank I’d built, which would hopefully cushion the blow for Charlotte a little bit.

When the car was safely on the ground, I opened her door and unclasped her seatbelt before dragging her out and laying her on the ground. She had a pulse, and her chest was slowly rising and falling. I let out a sigh of relief. Thank fuck. Ripping my jacket off, I placed it on the ground near her and rolled her onto it to keep her body from getting too cold, and I stroked her hair out of her face as I checked her head for any serious injuries. There was a bump about two inches above her left ear, but it didn’t feel very large, and I hoped to god it was nothing more than shock which was keeping her unconscious.

“Charlotte…wake up,” I whispered. “Please wake up.”

A strange crackling sound a few feet away made me look up, and I saw that part of the front of her car had caught fire, with flames licking up and down the metal shell. I knew it was rare for cars to catch on fire after crashes, but it could happen if the fuel tank or fuel lines ruptured after a crash and came into contact with the hot engine.

Thank fucking god I’d pulled her out in time.

I yanked my phone out of my pocket and called 911, pissed at myself for not having done it sooner. After I told them what had happened out here and told them to send an ambulance, a delirious moan brought my attention back to Charlotte. I leaned closer. “Charlotte? Can you hear me?” I asked.

“Mm…Cade…”

“Help’s coming, and you’re gonna be okay. I promise,” I said.

“Sorry…so sorry….”

“Charlotte, don’t apologize,” I said as she slowly opened her eyes. “Not now. I was way more of a jerk than you. I’m the one who should be sorry. I should’ve listened.”

I squeezed her hand, and she rolled her head to the side and looked over at the car, which was still partially on fire. “Volvo…” she murmured. “It looks like our last conversation.”

My forehead creased with concern. “Charlotte, you’re not making any sense. You might be concussed. Just stay still.”

She let out a weak, choked-up laugh. “I’m not brain damaged,” she said. “I meant the car’s gone up in flames, kinda like our—”

“Like our last conversation.” I finished her sentence, nodding as it finally sank in. “Shit, Charlotte, you had me worried there for a second. Instead you’re just making god-awful jokes. What are you…me?”

She smiled at my lame quip, and I grinned down at her. “I’m glad you’re okay,” I said.

“I am because of you. You saved me,” she whispered, squeezing my hand back. “Thank you.”

And then she did something totally unexpected. She sat up on her elbows and tilted her face toward me, and her lips pressed softly against mine.

As we kissed in that moment, with her Volvo in flames before us, I knew that no matter what we argued about, and no matter what came between us, we’d always work through it, because we loved each other above all else.

Unlike her unfortunate car, we were going to be okay.