Stepbrother Unsealed(16)

He sounds so cold. Jesus, is this what he's like when he's upset? I talk toward him cautiously, reaching for his shoulder, trying to soothe him. He's a total bastard, but maybe I hurt him more than I realized, struck something evil stirred up inside him by Evie's antics earlier tonight.#p#分页标题#e#

“It's going to be okay, Chris. This doesn't have to be weird or awkward. We can learn to deal, right? We made a big mistake last night, but it was an innocent one! Nobody knows. Nobody but you and me ever have to.”

Snarling, he shoves my arm away. It's so fast and sudden it scares me. I'm surprised it doesn't hurt. He rips the heavy balcony door open, stopping its momentum like it's nothing in his strong hand, before it crashes against the wall.

“I don't need your damned pity, and I sure as shit don't need your advice. You're right, it doesn't have to be like this. I'm getting the fuck back to base tomorrow so I don't have to stare at a chick all summer who's too afraid to fuck me. I've never had a problem getting pussy between tours. I want yours, but don't you ever think I need it.”

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

Every sentence bruising my ears stabs deep like hateful arrows. I can't think of anything else to say before he lets himself out.

Oh, shit. Not again! He's going to...

I rush forward, afraid he's going to slip and break his legs catapulting between our balconies. I push through the screen and call after him, but it's too late.

He's already jumped, hit the other side, and he hoists himself up. I watch his enormous body jump up over the stone banister like it's nothing. He lands safe like an Olympic gymnast, and he doesn't look back before he disappears inside his own room, completely ignoring me.

I retreat back to my bed and flop down, only after latching the balcony door this time. I want to beat the shit out of my pillow, but I don't. The noise would probably slip through our shared wall, and I can't stand the thought of the smug, broody bastard smiling at how bad he's pissed me off.

I hope to god he follows through on his threat to go back to his base. Evie setting up our summer rooms was a big fucking mistake.

After about an hour, I'm somewhere between rage and sleep, emotionally exhausted from the last twenty-four hours. My brain won't stop running through everything he's ever said to me.

The horny threats, the arrogance, the teasing, the attraction. Even the mundane details flash through my mind, everything I know about him, tiny bits and pieces. I feel like I still know nothing.

I've sworn to give Evie a chance for dad's sake, but I know she's bad news. I wonder what it was like growing up with her.

Are all his asshole, sexaholic tendencies just symptoms of the poison she's left him with?

I shake my head, trying to fit the pieces together. I shouldn't try. The best thing that can happen to us is distance – cold, clean space.

But it isn't so easy. Something about watching him go, leaving like this, shocks my heart worse than anything that's happened.

I'm worried for Chris. Worried for myself. Worried for dad.

If Evie turned him into the man he is, an ego-filled jackass who thinks he's got the world on his shoulders because he's in the SEALs, what will she do to my dad before this train wreck of a marriage withers?

Hell, how am I supposed to get anything done on my summer thesis now? Professor Thosser won't stop breathing down my neck. He's going to expect at least an outline in another two weeks, and I'm gobsmacked for ideas, good ideas that could make or break my whole future.

Something about the last thing Chris said echoes in my head. I've never had a problem getting pussy between tours.

Just what was he doing overseas before coming home? Had he killed people, blown things up, watched as his own men died?

He's a rare breed. A modern day warrior living a life I can't imagine. I'm not sure why I want to, but I do.#p#分页标题#e#

Then it hits me. I bolt up out of bed, walk over to my desk where I've got my laptop, and open it. I search through articles, and it doesn't take long to find it.

The big raid in Kirkuk. It was all over the news in May, and we talked about it in my international politics class before the final.

US special forces took out several brutal terrorists, but they'd also gotten in the middle of an Iranian operation sneaking across the Iraqi border on their way out. Iran and the United States exchanged fire for the first time in decades. When the dust settled, there were three servicemen killed – probably SEALs – and the wreckage of several high tech gliders was revealed to the world for the first time.

It almost caused a war. A SEAL Team was definitely involved in the raid, and the military held it close to their chest, deflecting the media's attention to the war threat, which diminished after the US and Iran came to terms.