Score - A Stepbrother Romance by Caitlin Daire, Alyssa Alpha Page B

fool you’ve just made of yourself at this table. Here’s a hint: his phone is fine.”
    She stared at me like I’d just mortally insulted her, which I probably had, but I was past the point of caring about hurting her feelings. She’d hurt mine, and she didn’t seem too bothered by that fact.
    “Now, please leave,” I continued, mimicking her syrupy voice from earlier. “Try not to hurt yourself when you go. It must be difficult walking around with such a big head.”
    Jessie kept staring at me, but she looked defeated.
    “Um, hello?” Michaela interrupted our staring contest. “Leave, now.”
    Jessie huffed and puffed as she finally got up and stalked off, tottering in her too-high heels as she made her way down the street.
    As soon as she’d turned the corner, Landon burst out laughing.
    “The mean girl, I presume?” Michaela guessed out loud, and I nodded with a small smile.
    “The very one.”
    “Go, Lina!” Landon whooped like some cheerleader at a soccer game. “Bout time you grew a pair, girl.”
    They hugged me and I found myself laughing right along with them. Truth be told, I didn’t think I’d have said anything…not a month earlier, at least. But hanging out with my dear stepbrother was rubbing off on me, and slowly, I was starting to build up my confidence.
    The days of girls like Jessie walking all over me were behind me. I guess Chase wasn’t such a bad influence, after all…
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    H ours later , I went to bed, my head swimming with thoughts as I lay back on the pillow. Chase was nowhere to be seen – probably out with some friends. I’d played with Lily until her bedtime and then gone to bed with Goldie in my arms.
    I couldn’t focus on anything. Not the romance novel I was reading, not the fall TV shows I’d been eagerly awaiting all year, and not my mounting load of college assignments. Instead, I tossed and turned in my huge new bed until finally falling asleep at around one in the morning.
    As it turned out, it wouldn’t be a peaceful night.
    It felt like only moments after I’d fallen asleep that my phone started ringing like crazy. I fumbled on my nightstand while Goldie dashed off to the other end of the room, complaining loudly about the annoying noise.
    “I know what you mean,” I groaned at her, finally locating my phone on the floor and pressing answer.
    “What the hell do you want?” I asked the person on the other end of the line, too busy to even check the caller ID. “It’s the middle of the night!”
    “I’m so sorry, Lina!” Landon’s exasperated voice greeted me and I shot up in bed, my eyebrows already knitting together in worry. Landon never called me like this, and I knew right away something had to be wrong. “He asked us not to call you…but I had to.”
    “Calm down,” I begged him. “What’s going on, Landon? Where are you? Is everyone all right?” My heart was already next to bursting out of my chest, my hands shaking as I tried to hold the cellphone close to my ear.
    “It’s Chase,” Landon admitted dejectedly. My heart sank to my stomach.
    “Don’t kill us, Lina…Michaela and I went to one of his fights tonight. I know that’s horrible, we’re terrible people…we just wanted to gawk some more. Don’t hate us, please.”
    My mouth set in a line, but I didn’t question him about it. I needed to know if Chase was okay first. “What happened?” I asked.
    “Well, he won the fight in the end,” Landon said. “We spoke to him before it started, and he remembered us from when we came here together the last time, so he let us watch from the front row.”
    “And then?” I was getting impatient.
    “Then…the other dude beat him up pretty bad before he got taken down. Chase is bleeding from his head, but he claims he’s okay, and his little entourage have fucked off to God knows where. He won’t let us call an ambulance, because he thinks he’s totally fine. He said he just needs to get home, but he can’t really drive with a