Caspian had always been attractive but for some reason, it had never affected me like this when we were younger. Probably because that wouldn't have been appropriate.
Now it was overwhelming and made my body tighten in places it shouldn’t. I’d argued with myself about which was more cliche, lusting after my former stepbrother, or lusting after a rockstar.
A harsh ringing blasted through the speakers, startling me. Caspian jumped awake, bleary eyes swiveling around in a panic. He jerked over to me and put his arm in front of my chest as if protecting me from an oncoming crash. Quickly, I pressed the answer button on the car’s screen before either one of us had to listen to the loud noise again.
“Ava!” My mom’s voice came through like a shrill cry. I winced and began mashing the volume button on the steering wheel so we wouldn’t go deaf. Caspian collapsed in a sigh, finally accepting we weren’t about to crash.
“Hey, we’re nearly there,” I said, happy to have something to do for the final drag of the ride. My energy reserves were running empty after staying up all night.
“Please tell me you didn’tdothings with your stepbrother while in high school?” She asked in anger. My eyes bulged and I darted my gaze to said previous stepbrother, sitting right next to me. My face flamed as he looked at me with his own wide eyes of shock. Wait, why did he look guilty? He shouldn’t look guilty! Also, there was something very attractive about a guilty-looking rock star.
“Mom,” I gasped, mortified. “No. Just, oh my god,” I whined wishing I could cover my face but I had to make sure I didn’t run us off the road.
“Well that isn’t what everyone else is saying,” she snapped. I groaned. That picture taken of us beside the mansion two days ago was blowing up on social media. I was shocked. Sure, maybe it looked a little suspicious but we weren’t actually doing anything so who cared?
Everyone, apparently.
I hadn’t known this before but, Caspian was well known to have no known lovers and not date. We didn’t talk about those types of things. The one time I mentioned dating life he’d hung up and I was so surprised by his reaction I never broached the topic again.
Apparently, his love life was a huge thing to certain fans. A great mystery that left devotees clinging to every potential scrap of information. So much so that no one was even talking about the girl who killed herself at his concert.
The media had also found out we were ex step siblings. The stupid picture of us was a huge deal. A talk show even argued about it.
And me? I’d been receiving death threats via social media.
My mom decided on a different tactic, to my horror.
“Honey, it’s okay to tell me. Caspian was a very attractive boy and—”
“Please, mom. Stop,” I ground out, My eyes slid to Caspian who was smiling at me like the cat who got the cream while he pulled his dark hair into a bun.
“I don’twantto believe it but you cried so much when he left—”
“Mom,” I snapped. “Shut up.” My teeth ground together and I squeezed the wheel. My eyes slid to Caspian. He had a pained expression on his face. Great, just great. He was uncomfortable but was he really that surprised? One day he was everywhere, the next he was gone. I’d thought we were best friends. Then he just left and never came back.
He cleared his throat while my mom was berating me about my tone. She stopped mid-word.
“Oh,” she said, realizing he was in the car with me and heard everything.
“Oh,” I said back sarcastically before sighing.
“Hello Caspian,” my mother said awkwardly. He started to talk but I spoke louder.
“I’ll call later,” I rushed out before smashing the end call button. Then I sagged in embarrassment.
My eyes slid to the truck beside me and the truck driver was looking directly at me. His mouth was spread in a jeering smile. I tapped the brake. I’d rather go slow than play sex eyes with him.
He drove away and unfortunately the car behind him sped up to my side. I could see movement from the car and sighed, looking over to see the guitarist and drummer of Caspian’s band waving at me.
Theyhatedme. Even from here, I could see the sharp, unfriendly angle of their flat smiles and their cool eyes glaring.
They were here to mess things up and get Caspian to come back as soon as possible. I hadn’t expected so much drama this year. It was supposed to be photography and camping. You couldn’t get more laid back than that. Except now I had the whole world, including my mom, talking about Caspian and me having sex. Then I had his band breathing down my neck in anger for something I couldn’t control.
“Maybe we should have just told her,” Caspian said and I jerked my head to him.
“Told her what?” I asked, my voice a little too high-pitched. He winked and remained silent.
“Told her what!” I repeated. We hadn’t slept together. Well I mean, we hadn’t had sex. Technically we had slept together—a lot actually—since I was sneaking into his bed most nights. My face flamed and I hunched down in my chair, barely seeing over the driver’s wheel. Caspian just chuckled, a smooth sound that tickled my senses.
