Crash: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance by Sophie Sawyer Read Free Book Online Page A

he asked her.
     
    “Where’s her regular nurse?” I demanded. “Laney? Lacey?”
     
    “Stacey,” he corrected me. “She’s with another patient, so they sent me.”
     
    “Well, I’m un-sending you,” I said firmly. She needed to go to the bathroom, and there was no way I was letting a male nurse anywhere near her.
     
    “Luke, I really have to pee,” Katherine whined.
     
    “Hold it,” I ordered her.
     
    I turned my attention back to the male nurse who glared at me, but retreated. At least he got the message.
     
    “What the hell was that about?” Katherine demanded. “I have to go. Now .”
     
    “Not with a male nurse, you don’t,” I argued with her. “Stacey will be here soon.”
     
    “I don’t care who takes me,” she whined. “I have to go, and I can’t wait.”
     
    She threw the blankets off herself and tried to stand up. Before I could object, her regular nurse charged into the room.
     
    “Hey, hey, lie back down,” Stacey said, pushing her gently back. Katherine’s face was lily white. “Your catheter probably slipped out of place or the container needs to be emptied or something. Let me check.”
     
    Stacey shot a glance at me, and I realized suddenly she wanted me to leave the room, which I did immediately. Whatever she was about to do, I wanted no part of, anyway. I was just glad Nurse Surfer Boy wasn’t involved.
     
    I paced the hallway until Stacey emerged and said, “She’s alright now. You can go back in.”
     
    I headed back into the room and Katherine was staring at the ceiling again. I flicked on the television and turned on a football game.
     
    “Who’s playing?” she asked.
     
    “Carolina and Clemson,” I answered.
     
    “Go Tigers,” she smiled weakly.
     
    “I never figured you for a Clemson fan,” I said.
     
    “Who did you figure I’d root for?” she asked.
     
    “I figured you as more of a tennis kind of girl,” I shrugged.
     
    She laughed and said, “My Dad was a Clemson fan. My blood runs orange. Who you rootin’ for?”
     
    “Roll Tide,” I answered.
     
    “Oh, ‘Bama? Good team. Real good team. Good coach this year.”
     
    “Yeah, but the Bulldogs ripped them apart last week,” I said.
     
    “Did they? How’s the rankings so far this year?” she asked.
     
    “You’re not going to be happy,” I informed her. “Clemson’s like eighth right now I think. ‘Bama’s second.”
     
    “And first?” she asked.
     
    “How ‘bout them Dawgs,” I answered.
     
    “Really? My buddy Chad must be thrilled,” she said. “He went to UGA for two years. Huge fan.”
     
    “Chad,” I muttered, a darkness sweeping over me. “Who’s Chad?”
     
    “Just a friend I hang out with sometimes,” she shrugged. “Just me, and him, and a small group of friends.”
     
    “So no one-on-one time?” I asked, clenching my jaw.
     
    “What exactly are you getting at?” she demanded.
     
    “Are you dating him?” I blurted out a little more harshly than I intended to.
     
    “Chad? No way. Strictly platonic,” she said. “Why?”
     
    “Just wondering,” I shrugged, trying to act as cool as possible. “You know. Making conversation.”
     
    I was so going to hell for the thoughts running through my head about the girl who was about to be family.
     
    “Would it bother you if I was dating Chad?” she asked, staring at me intently.
     
    “Why would it bother me?” I asked.
     
    ‘Bother me’ was not the term for it. Destroy me. Crush me. Kill me.
     
    “I don’t know, you just seem a little concerned about it, that’s all.”
     
    “You’re about to be my stepsister. I’m supposed to worry about you, right?”
     
    “You hardly even know me,” she pointed out. “We met, I nearly died in a car accident, and eight months later we’re talking for like the second time ever.”
     
    “Well, after eight months I kind of feel like I do know you a little bit,” I said.
     
    “How? It’s not like you’ve been here every