Burned: A Stepbrother Romance Read Free

teenagers it was some serious D&M action. That was the start of the connection, a connection that has long since been lost.
    Brock slams the hood back down. “Try it now.”
    I swing into the driver’s seat and whaddyaknow, success. “Thanks.”
    He wipes his hands on his jeans. “No problem, but I’m afraid this means you owe me.”
    “Owe you?”
    “Sure.” He doesn’t elaborate. He just strolls away.
    My cell goes off. I pick it up thinking it’s the captain wondering where the hell I am.
    It’s Michelle. She sounds off.
    “Everything okay?” I query.
    “It’s your dad, Maddy.”

CHAPTER THREE
    “Peter Collins?” I throw at a nurse.
    “Room 202.”
    I swing into the room with Brock in tow. I expect to find Dad hooked up to machines, hoses, but he’s sitting there doing a crossword as if nothing’s happened at all. Only his gown and the patches attached to his chest suggest he’s just had a heart attack.
    “Oh, hey, petal,” he says calmly.
    Michelle’s sitting by his side. Her eyes look a little wider than usual.
    I come to the side of the bed and take Dad’s hand, Brock standing by the door. “Jesus, Dad, you gave me a real fright.”
    “You? I’m the one in hospital.”
    “Is it stress?”
    “I don’t know, hon. You know doctors, all mysterious.”
    “Maybe it’s time to cut back on the jerky.”
    He laughs. “Never.”
    It suddenly dawns on me what it would be like to lose my father, my only blood relative left alive. A tear rolls in a hot line down my cheek, falling from my face to the linoleum floor.
    He holds my face. “Maddy, there, there. Come on. I’m fine.”
    “I know,” I sniff. “I just can’t lose you.”
    Dad looks to Michelle and Brock. “Can you give us a moment?”
    The two of them leave and I’m alone with dad. “Maddy,” he starts, taking my hand, “I’m okay, really, but things are… difficult at the moment.”
    “What do you mean? Is it Brock?”
    Dad shakes his head. “Your stepmother’s taken the brunt of that stress, but I’m afraid our financial situation isn’t fantastic.”
    “I thought you’d just been promoted?”
    He looks away, fiddling with a line running across the mattress. “I lied, hon. I was fired, two weeks ago.”
    “Fired?” I can’t quite believe it. Dad’s been working for the same concrete company for ten years. Nothing’s been so stable.
    “And you’re behind, the mortgage?”
    “A few months.”
    “Months?”
    “I owe the taxman, too. You know me, Maddy. I’m no good with this financial stuff, neither’s Michelle. Your mother was always…” he trails off.
    “Did you get a payout?”
    He shakes his head. “They’re saying I was incompetent.”
    The hairs bristle on the back of my neck. I’m raging hard, ready to storm down there in my uniform and set things straight. Dad senses it, squeezing my hand harder.
    “There’s nothing you can do, Maddy. Let us sort it out.”
    “You can’t just let them do that, Dad. You’re entitled.”
    “I know, and I’m going to fight them.”
    I want to press for more details, but then again I don’t want another heart attack on my hands either. “Just rest, okay, Dad. We’ll both take a look at it when you get home. For now, concentrate on getting better.”
    My phone buzzes again. It’s the captain. I haven’t even called in yet. I’m suddenly caught in a hard place, the pull to stay with Dad strong but the need to make him proud even stronger. He does look normal. “I’ve got to go, Dad. You sure you’re okay?”
    “Fine.”
    I go to leave, but he’s still holding my hand. “And Maddy, go easy on your stepbrother, hey?”
    I’ve never quite understood why Dad’s always been so lax on Brock. Maybe he’s the son he always wished he had. Some son.
    “I’ll try.” Like hell.
    I pass Brock on the way back down the hall. Michelle’s MIA.
    For once Brock looks generally concerned, a cup of coffee in his hand I imagine tastes like an ashtray. “Peter