Page 17 of Stephan

“Hey, a phone is a phone. We can’t all affordthe snazzy new ones with all the gadgets.” I glared across at him,but he didn’t look at me he was watching the road.

“I can afford to buy you a good phone.”

“I don’t want you to spend that much money onme. I already feel bad I agreed to let you buy me a new one. Ishould have not worried, as I said the one you broke cost me thirtydollars.” I was panicking; I didn’t want to be stuck in the carwith Stephan for an hour.

He grinned. “You just don’t want to be in thecar with me for an hour then be at the shops and have another carride home. You were hoping to get a cheap phone and leave me assoon as you had it.”

Damn straight that’s what I was going to do.I didn’t say anything because he’d been spot on. Crossing my armsover my chest I looked out the window. He stayed quiet for a whileand I enjoyed the peace.

“You can turn the radio on or plug in myiPod. It’s in the glove box. What type of music do you like?”

“I like most things. I’m not a fan of technomusic like you had on last night.”Ha,take that,wanker.I reached into the glove box, got his iPod out, andstarted going through it.

“As I’m sure you can see I have a wide range.The techno last night was what the DJ had on.”

“There was a DJ last night?” Wow, I reallyhad been drunk. “Where was he set up?”

“He was set up outside?”

“I didn’t get that far? You have a massivemansion for a house.”

“You didn’t get that far because you were toobusy letting my cousin chat you up.”

“He wasn’t chatting me up.”

“Yes he was.”

“Well he spoke to me first. I was busyadmiring your kitchen.”

“You like the kitchen?”

“I love your kitchen. It’s like my dreamkitchen. Baking and cooking is my thing. I like making things.” I’dlearned at a young age the best way to stretch money was to makeeverything yourself. I borrowed every cookbook they had at my locallibrary.

“Is that what you are going to do when youfinish school? Become a chef?”

“No. I’m going to go to Uni. I want to becomea kindergarten teacher or group leader at a childcare center. Ilove kids. They are so much fun.”

We were quiet again and I continued lookingthrough his iPod til I found a group I liked and plugged it in,filling the car with tunes.

“Aren’t you going to ask what I’m doing afterschool?”

I didn’t want to know any more about Stephan.I was already having trouble resisting him. My guard crumbled lastnight and I needed to keep it up around him.

“What are you going to do?” I couldn’t helpmyself, as much as I didn’t want to. Stephan seemed to be mykryptonite.

“I’m glad you asked.” I could hear thehappiness in his voice. “I’m going to go to Uni to study business.When I’m done I’m going to work with my dad. My goal is to takeover when he retires.”

“What does your Dad do?”

“A bit of everything. He owns a bunch ofapartment and commercial buildings and he rents them out. He alsoowns some fast food chains around Australia. Plus he is a biginvestor.”

“Sounds like he is into a bit of everythingand I’m sure he runs them all differently. Will the business coursebe enough?”

“I’ll learn from my dad and uncles. Mybrother, Dustan, did it too, but he ended up moving to America tohelp run things there.”

“You never mentioned Dustan before. I didn’teven know you had an older brother until Cassie told me.”

Stephan shrugged. “Dustan is eight yearsolder than us. Mum had some problems conceiving again after Dustan.They were about to look into IVF when Mum found out she waspregnant with us. The rest as they say is history.”

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