Chapter 18

CHAPTER18

“Please stop,” Chloe said as she stood there, rubbing her temples with her fingertips and-

“Shhh, I’m fixing it with my mind,” Katie whispered as she pushed her glasses back up her nose, her intense gaze never wavering as she tried to will their father’s old Jeep back to life.

“We should have let Uncle Nick sell it when we had the chance,” Chloe said, taking in the black Jeep that their father bought a few months before the accident from the layer of dust that covered it to the tires that could probably use some air and found herself wondering how they were going to fix this.

“I don’t want another car. I like this one,” Katie said as she went back to doing whatever it was that she was doing.

“We might not have a choice,” Chloe said as she shifted her gaze back to the hood that she’d been trying to figure out how to pop open for the last half-hour.

“How come you’re not going to the dance?” Katie asked as she climbed onto their father’s old workbench.

“Because this is more fun,” Chloe murmured absently as she opened the driver’s side door to look for anything that resembled a latch.

“Than going to a dance?” her little sister asked, sounding curious as Chloe gave up trying to find the latch and started pressing buttons, pulling on anything that would move and-

“What did you do?” Katie demanded when Chloe pulled on something that she probably shouldn’t have and caused a sound that didn’t sound promising seconds before the Jeep made a groaning sound and began rolling towards the garage door.

“I don’t know!” Chloe said, trying not to panic, but it was a quickly losing battle with the Jeep rolling faster and everything.

“Stop it!”

“I’m trying!” she said, rushing to shove the stick thingie that she never should have touched back and-

Nearly sighed with relief when she heard the heavy sigh seconds before she found herself being picked up and moved out of the way so that the teenage boy who normally annoyed the hell out of her could jump into the driver’s seat and throw the Jeep back into park before it had a chance to make this night even more memorable. That was followed by Cole reaching down and pulling a small lever, the sound of the hood popping open, and Chloe wondering why he wasn’t at the dance.

“Your Jeep’s dead,” Cole announced as he set what she was assuming was the emergency break before he climbed out of the Jeep and made his way around to the hood.

“Surprisingly enough, I did manage to figure that one out on my own,” Chloe said as she watched Cole, who definitely wasn’t dressed for the dance, focus his attention on the battery that she was pretty sure was dead.

“Why are you trying to drive a stick shift?” Cole asked, throwing her a questioning look as he double-checked the cables attached to the battery.

“Because that’s how the Jeep came?” Chloe said, watching his lips twitch as he started checking everything else.

“Your uncle’s truck is an automatic,” he pointed out.

“And?” Chloe asked as she watched Cole shift his attention to the shelves lined with everything that her father bought for the Jeep.

“He should be teaching you how to drive a manual,” Cole pointed out as he grabbed a bottle of oil off the shelf and checked the label.

“He’s not teaching her how to drive,” Katie said before Chloe had a chance to say anything.

“He doesn’t need to,” Chloe bit out with a glare aimed at the little traitor that better not say another word if she wanted ice cream tonight.

“And why’s that?” Cole asked, throwing her a questioning look as he placed the oil back on the shelf and grabbed the bottle of windshield wiper fluid. When Katie opened her mouth, Chloe leveled a look on her little sister that had her quickly rethinking whatever she was about to say and had her closing her mouth with a pout.

Once she was assured that her sister wasn’t going to say anything to make this worse, Chloe asked, “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the dance?” hoping to distract him into letting this go.

“Probably,” Cole murmured absently as he added windshield wiper fluid to the Jeep. “Why isn’t he teaching you how to drive?”

“Because I’m planning on paying for lessons myself,” Chloe said with a look of warning that had her little sister grumbling to herself.

“I see,” Cole murmured absently as he tossed the empty bottle in the trash and grabbed another bottle of liquid off the shelf and added it to the Jeep. “And how exactly are you doing that without a job?” he asked, throwing her a questioning look that had her swallowing hard and-

“She’s planning on teaching herself at night when Uncle Nick isn’t here,” the little traitor said, earning a glare.

“I see,” Cole murmured again, looking thoughtful as he watched her for a moment. “What else?” he asked Katie as his gaze remained locked on Chloe, making it really difficult not to squirm under that intense gaze.

“She wanted to go to the dance tonight,” Katie said with a firm nod.

“And the reason she isn’t going?” Cole drawled as he continued watching her.

“Katie, I swear to god that I will beat you,” Chloe managed to get out between clenched teeth as she leveled a glare on her little sister.

“Not with witnesses,” Katie pointed out as she pushed her glasses back up her nose.

“Cole doesn’t count,” Chloe bit out as she moved to put the electrical tape hung up behind her sister to good use.

“I’m ready,” Cole drawled.

“For what?” Chloe absently asked as she found herself debating her options, tape her sister’s mouth shut or-

“To negotiate my terms.”

* * *

“What the hell am I doing?”Sebastian said, feeling sick to his stomach as he dropped down on his desk chair and-

“I’m glad you asked,” came the murmured announcement from the closet where he’d been forced to shove the little bastard an hour ago.

“Don’t,” Sebastian said, rubbing his hands roughly down his face as he sat there wondering what the hell he was thinking.

They were just friends and-

He wanted more, Sebastian finally admitted to himself as he dropped his hands away and slowly exhaled. Mikey meant the world to him and he was terrified that he was going to do something to push her away. He just wished that he knew how she felt about him.

God, it would be so much easier if he knew that she felt the same way, Sebastian thought as the closet door was thrown open seconds before Jonathan hit the floor with a pained grunt. That was followed by a satisfied sigh as Jonathan rolled over onto his back and began working his duct-taped hands out from behind his back and under his legs as he said, “Now, where were we?”

“You were leaving me alone so that I wouldn’t be forced to hide your body in the attic,” Sebastian said as he watched his brother tear the duct tape off his hands with his teeth.

“That doesn’t sound like me,” Jonathan said with a satisfied sigh and a sad shake of his head as he pulled the duct tape off his wrists and focused on the duct tape securing his ankles together. “What’s the plan?”

“To gag you next time,” Sebastian said as he glanced down at his watch and realized that he had to leave soon.

“That does seem like a solid plan,” Jonathan murmured in agreement as he got to his feet with a satisfied sigh and made his way across the room so that he could drop down on his bed. “How are you going to do it?”

“With violence,” Sebastian absently said as he tried to figure out how he was going to do this. He-

“Just kiss her,” Jonathan said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.

“And if she only sees me as a brother?” Sebastian asked, watching as his brother seemed to think that over.

A moment later, Jonathan nodded slowly as he said, “Then, you should probably duck after that kiss.”

“So, your plan is for me to risk getting my nose broken?” Sebastian demanded as he got to his feet so that he could…god, he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He just knew that he needed to move before he lost his mind.

“It’s a solid plan,” Jonathan said as he got comfortable.

Shaking his head, Sebastian said, “I’m not going to kiss her,” as he began pacing the small bedroom.

“Look, you’re overthinking this. Just tell Mikey how you feel and find out if she feels the same way,” Jonathan said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.

“And if she doesn’t?” Sebastian asked, watching as his brother pursed his lips as he seemed to think that over.

For a moment, he didn’t say anything, and then finally, Jonathan said, “You still have me?”

“How in the hell is this helping?” Sebastian asked as he watched his brother reach between his bed and the wall and pull out a bag of M&Ms.

“I’m giving you hope,” Jonathan said as he shoved a large handful of candy in his mouth.

“By depressing the hell out of me?” Sebastian demanded, shaking his head in disgust as he reached down to grab his bag only to frown when he spotted the football cleats on the floor. “I thought Mom said that you couldn’t play football this year,” Sebastian said as he threw his brother a questioning look.

“She changed her mind,” Jonathan said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal while Sebastian found himself wondering how he managed to pull that off.

It took his brother forty-five minutes to get to Radcliffe Academy, which meant that it took three hours out of their mother’s day to bring him back and forth to school. Add that on top of running her own business and looking after them, she really didn’t have a lot of time to run Jonathan back to school for late-night practices, games, and team meetings, which were all requirements for Radcliffe Academy’s junior varsity football team since the varsity team got the fields right after school for practice.

“Is Dad bringing you?” Sebastian asked as he threw his bag over his shoulder and double-checked that he had his iPad.

“No need,” Jonathan said with a satisfied sigh and a pointed look at the door. “You’re going to be late for your date.”

Biting back a sigh, Sebastian headed for the door as he said, “It’s not a date,” and-

“But you want it to be!”

-decided that he could be a few minutes late.

“Wait. Why are you closing the door?” came the nervously murmured question as Sebastian dropped his bag on the floor and reached for the roll of duct tape.