Blindsided - A Stepbrother Romance Novel by Kylie Walker Read Free Book Online Page A

break down the door and wring her neck. Conrad put his hand on his friend’s arm and said, “Come on, let’s go.” Shawn’s muscles were stiff but he turned and stormed off the porch and Conrad followed him. When they got back in the car Shawn said,
    “This is my fucking fault.”
    “How do you figure? Did you feed his drunken ass father alcohol or beat the shit out of him?”
    “No, but I told him not to come over last night. I turned my back on one of my best friends for pussy that doesn’t even want me.”
    “Knock that shit off. You can’t control the fucking universe.” Conrad was already turning onto the freeway to head back toward the clinic.
    “Look who’s talking.” They both went silent and ten minutes later Conrad had them parked in front of the hospital. They went into the walk-in clinic and even though the place was packed they saw their friend’s long legs stretched out across the aisle as he leaned back into a seat with an ice pack over his right eye.
    “Beau.” He opened his left eye and looked at Conrad. Sitting up straighter he actually grinned.
    “What are you doing here?”
    Conrad could feel his blood boiling as he looked at his friend’s bloody face. He’s usually not violent but he’d love five minutes alone with the asshole that would do this to his own son. He took a deep breath and said, “We had some questions about the torque.” Beau laughed and the two friends took seats on either side of him and they all waited together. None of them mentioned what happened to him and none of them would, but Conrad would make damned sure Beau was sleeping on their couch tonight.

CHAPTER 7
     
     
     
     
    Samantha watched out the window of the truck as Pasadena rolled past. She’d never been out of Arizona so when they were on the freeway through part of Los Angeles she’d felt a bit overwhelmed. Pasadena at least looked less intimidating. The houses are nice but not huge and most of the lawns are neatly manicured. Things were definitely greener here than in Arizona. Where they had gravel and Joshua trees in their front yards, these people had green lawns and flower bushes.
    The trip had been slightly awkward. Aaron slept most of the way. Sam had pushed him into a cold shower and made him drink several cups of coffee before Luke showed up. She didn’t know what it was her brother was on, but it had kicked his butt. He stayed awake long enough to help them load the truck and then he’d climbed in the back seat and passed out again. Luke hadn’t asked why he was so tired. Samantha had a feeling Luke knew a druggie when he saw one, but he didn’t say anything. He spent most of the drive singing along with the radio, sitting quietly, or asking Samantha questions about herself. She opened up about the racing and the Mustang, but she wasn’t ready to give him anything more personal than that.
    He turned off on one of the quiet, green little streets and into a driveway that was about twenty feet long. They pulled up in front of a double garage attached to a grey stone house with white trim and big double oak doors. There was a large shop that sat back behind the house and Samantha could see several classic cars parked around the outside of it. Luke put the truck in reverse and backed it up until the trailer was parked in front of the shop. He killed the engine and looked at his daughter. “This is home,” he said.
    “Thank you for doing this.” She looked over her shoulder at her brother and said, “He’s had a really rough go of it.”
    Luke nodded. “So have you, partially thanks to me. So you don’t have to keep thanking me. I’m only doing what I should have a long time ago.”
    “I found the letters you wrote me on the day Mom died. I owe you an apology for not believing you that day three years ago. I’m sorry.”
    “Samantha, you don’t owe me an apology, I’m the one who owe you one. I cheated on your mother, did she tell you that?”
    “Yeah, she was bitter about it