Page 3 of Rebel

A wicked smile stole over his face. He cocked his head to one side, a silent invitation. He wanted me to fight? That couldn’t possibly lead to anything good. This was nothing like the annoying jerk in the bar. Of course, if this guy tried to hurt me, I had no choice but to fight. He knew that. He enjoyed it.

Gritting my teeth, I summoned my courage. “I am not fighting you. Let go of me.”

He stroked his thumb along the pulse in my neck, pressing against it. “Show me that fire you’ve got inside. Burn me, baby.”

The sheer delight in his eyes was enough to piss me off. This was a game to him.Iwas a game to him.

That helped to chase back my nerves enough for me to react. I brought my leg up to kick him in the balls like I’d done to the jerk in the bar. Ready for that, he blocked my knee, his smile growing.

“Come on now,” he laughed. “Did you think that was going to work on me? You can do better than that.”

“Rebel,” called the beaten man from down the block where Casper pinned him on his knees. “Please. I’ll do anything.”

He glanced over at the two men, giving me an opportunity. I took it.

My fist crashed into his face. Pain slashed through my hand. Blood gushed from his nose. I’d managed to catch him off guard, loosening his hold. Using all my strength, I shoved him away and ran.

My phone pinged as I rounded the corner. My ride had arrived. Without looking back, I ran full speed to the car parked near the bar, flinging myself inside. The driver shot me a curious look but didn’t ask any questions.

Might be time for Athena and me to find a new hangout. I never wanted to risk seeing that crazy asshole ever again.

CHAPTER TWO

STORM

“Eat the fattest bag of dicks,” I muttered under my breath to my shithead brother as he shoved past me.

The jerkoff almost tripped me on his way to the house. Lazy bastard carried a box filled with towels while I struggled along with dishware. Mom’s new husband, Larry, had offered to pay for movers to take care of this stuff. She’d insisted that it would be good for Chase and me to help do our part.

Moving into Larry’s house felt like a punishment I didn’t deserve. Mom made the choice to marry the rich fucker after only knowing him a year. She jumped into this way too fast. On one hand, I didn’t blame her. She’d been doing the single mom thing for years, barely scraping by with her job answering phones at the local car dealership. I wanted her to be happy. Still, they’d moved awfully fast.

“What was that?” Chase turned back to me, a facetious grin on his stupid face.

Unafraid of my brother, I repeated myself, louder this time. “Eat the fattest bag of dicks. Do you need me to say it again?”

Chase was only a year older than me. In a perfect world, we’d both have moved out by now. Unfortunately, rising rent costs and insane tuition prices kept us both at home. Chase hated it as much as I did, maybe more. Now that we were stuck under Larry’s roof, we both felt a renewed urgency to get out.

Not that Larry’s roof was all that bad. His house was in the good part of town and large enough to fit our apartment at least a dozen times. I wasn’t used to polished hardwood floors or a living room big enough to feel like a small movie theatre. It was a little daunting.

“Kiss my ass, brat,” Chase fired back. He shoved into the house ahead of me, swinging the door shut with his foot so it closed in my face.

My temper surged. Once I put this box down, I was going to punch that idiot right in his ugly face. As I struggled to open the door with a box of dishes in my arms, Larry appeared. He opened the door, quickly reaching to take the box.

“Here, let me help with that. Why don’t you take a break? Grab a drink from the kitchen. There’s water, pop, lemonade, iced coffee. Whatever you want.” Larry’s smile was grossly genuine. It would have been easier to hate him if he wasn’t so damn nice.

An injury lawyer with a successful practice, Larry had met my mother when she’d sought an attorney after being T-boned by a driver who ran a stop sign. Once her case was settled, he’d promptly asked her out. I knew that I should be happy for her. On some level I was. Change was hard though. This had all thrown me for a loop.

Chase had been all in with Larry from the start. He was eager to move from the dumpy apartment building we’d lived in for the past few years to the flashy side of town. Although Mom’s settlement hadn’t been huge, it had been enough for her to pay off her debt and buy both Chase and I our own used but decent cars. Since we couldn’t afford to stay on campus in the dorms, we needed a solid ride.

Now that we were moving only a few blocks from our new university, I’d mentioned the dorms again. She shot me down, citing that we didn’t need to live on campus when we were so close. Ugh.

“Thanks.” I offered Larry a forced smile, strolling past his office off the entryway and through the living room to the attached kitchen for some water.

I wasn’t sure why it was so hard to be around him. It had been Mom, Chase, and me for so long. Part of me resented Larry for changing our dynamic.

Mom was in the kitchen tidying up the counters. Her auburn hair was tied in a disheveled braid, stray strands escaping. She hit me with one of her parental glares as I entered. “Can you not instigate with your brother today, Storm? It’s our first day here. Larry doesn’t need to listen to you two swear at each other.”

I searched the cupboards until I found the glasses. While filling my glass with water, I rolled my eyes, choosing not to engage with her. The kitchen windows looked out onto the back deck and the yard. A nice furniture set with a gas firepit overlooked a sprawling hot tub and a gazebo.

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