Blindsided - A Stepbrother Romance Novel by Kylie Walker

whatever the fuck the shrinks call it. The car is ready. This isn’t about my personal shit that I’d appreciate you not talking about in front of everyone.” He looked at Shawn then and said, “Tell him the GSR is ready Shawn, you saw it.”
    “I saw it this afternoon,” Shawn said. He looked reluctant to be dragged into the conversation but he said, “He’s right, the transformations are sick.” Beau started to smile again and Shawn looked at him and said, “You did say you were still trying to figure out why it was throwing oil though, did you figure it out?”
    “I worked that out,” Beau said quickly.
    “How?” Conrad asked.
    “I worked it out,” he said again. “Listen, in the past two weeks I replaced the engine with a granite black motor. I enlarged the headers and now with the turbo chargers affixed to the front of it I can get ten times the output. I can beat whatever this guy is driving and that’s all I’m looking to do here, trust me.”
    Conrad was ready to say something else when he was interrupted by the doorbell. Casey got the door and came back with three pizza boxes. She sat them down on the table and suddenly everyone was reaching across everyone else and grabbing a slice. Sam actually felt relieved. The tension in the room had been becoming uncomfortable. She watched as Conrad reached over and took two pieces of pizza. He laid one on a napkin and handed it to her. “Thanks.” He winked at her. In the past she’d completely blow a guy off for winking at her. When Conrad did it though, it set her insides on fire.
    When they all had their mouths full except for him Conrad said in an even tone, “Listen Beau, we don’t talk about the shit you’re going through at home but…”
    “That’s right, because it has nothing to do with here and now.”
    “I have a bad feeling it has everything to do with it. You’re pissed at the old man and you have every right to be, but running a car that isn’t ready…”
    Beau sat up straight and tossed the piece of pizza he was holding onto the coffee table. “What the fuck makes you think it’s not ready? When have I ever run a car that wasn’t ready?”
    “Like I said, the last time you volunteered to race a newbie was when the old man put that scar on your head,” Conrad said softly. It was like he knew it needed to be said, but he really didn’t want to.
    Beau stood up and knocked his pizza and beer to the floor as he did. “Fuck you, man!”
    Shawn reached up and put his hand on Beau’s arm. Beau knocked it off. “Fuck you too!” he said to Shawn, “You saw that engine and you know it’s fucking ready. You’re just too far up Conrad’s ass to admit it.” He headed for the door and Conrad called after him. He didn’t stop. Conrad stood up and Shawn said,
    “Let me go after him.”
    Conrad still had that worried look but he nodded at his roommate. Shawn got up and grabbed his keys off of the counter and another piece of pizza. “I’ll go with you,” Drew said, slipping on her shoes. The room was dead silent as the rest of the crew watched them go. Once they were gone Conrad said,
    “Shit. I’m sorry guys but you know how he gets. I’m not going to give him the okay to race a car that’s going to blow up on the track and kill his ass.”
    Stew and Robert didn’t say anything but Casey said, “We have to get him out of that situation.”
    “He’s here three or four nights a week, but he always goes back,” Conrad said.
    “Because he doesn’t want to leave his mother alone with that piece of shit,” she said. Sam listened quietly and the similarities to her previous life made her sick to her stomach.
    “We can’t fix his problems, Case. All we can do is make sure he doesn’t kill himself.”
    “Right, we keep him alive so that scumbag sperm donor of his can kill him.”
    “Casey,” Robert spoke softly and rested his hand on hers. She jerked it away and stood up.
    “Is this meeting over?” she asked Conrad.