Page 30 of It's Just You

9

Finn

“What wereyou doing with my brother?” Sam asked as I approached him. He was doing something with his car, and as I got closer, I saw he was cleaning it. Good call. That thing looked like a rolling trash can.

“Just getting some ice cream. He took me on a ride on his bike earlier.” I nodded to where Kane’s bike stood. “I’ve never been on one of those things, so it was quite the experience.”

Sam looked at me with his hands full of fast food bags. “He took you for a ride? He won’t even let me touch it.”

I shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, I—”

“I really need to talk him into taking me again,” Sam said. “I love the speed.”

“Maybe he’s just afraid his bike will look like your car once you get near it.” I snorted, looking at the trash in his hands and the stuff still in the car.

“Asshole.” Sam threw a can of Coke — empty — in my direction, but it missed me. I picked it up, tossing it into the large trash bag he had at his feet.

“I know. Anyway, that was what we were doing. You?” I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Kane had taken me for a ride when he didn’t even want to take his brother. Then again, it might’ve been because Sam was his brother. I was an only child, but I’d noticed relationships between siblings were weird. I hadn’t gotten the impression theirs wasn’t that great, but I could’ve been wrong.

“Just got some groceries and stuff for school.” He rolled his eyes. “Boring, basically.”

I laughed. “You’ll live. Are you done after cleaning the car?”

“Yeah, I think so. Mom told me to mow the lawn, but it can wait. Or I’ll get Kane to do it. I don’t feel like getting all sweaty.”

Frowning a little, I told him, “You should help a little at home, you know.” Especially when his father wasn’t doing well, and Kane seemed to carry so much responsibility on his shoulders.

“Eh, I can do it later. Since when do you care?” Sam picked up some more stuff, shoving it into bags.

“Since… no idea. But it doesn’t feel right. Kane’s working after all, and we don’t.”

Sam looked out into the yard like it had offended him. “But it’s supposed to be a break,” he whined. He sighed, though. “I hate it when you’re right. But I want to hang out at the lake first. I’ll do it first thing tomorrow before it gets hot.”

I nodded. “Lake sounds good. Wanna take some snacks with us? Then we can stay longer.”

Kane came out of the front door, and I glanced up at him. He passed us on his way to his bike, offering me a smile. He made a face at Sam, though. “Good job on finally cleaning that out. Mom’s been having kittens over it.”

“It’s my car, so shut up.” Sam showed him the bird. “Go away and play muscle man.”

With a roll of his eyes, Kane started the bike, then left the driveway with the sound of the engine like music in my ears. I wished I could get on it with him.

I turned back to look at Sam. “I’d offer to help you, but… No. I’m not going to catch anything by touching that trash.”

“Might be a good idea.” He picked something up, making a face. “Yep. Just give me a few more minutes, then I’ll be done.”

I settled down on a low wall, watching him while he worked on his car. My thoughts drifted back to Kane and his words earlier. I’d been flirting with him, yes, but that was kind of my default setting. It wasn’t too bad, though. With Micah, I never really got there, but that might’ve been because he was still so damn innocent. I didn’t have that many other close friends at college, and when I approached someone, it was usually because I’d taken special notice. With my other friends, I flirted, but not like I did with Kane. What was it with him that prompted me to make everything sexual and over the top?

Well, aside from the fact that I really, really needed to get laid.

I dropped my head back against the wall. Needed to get laid was the understatement of the year.

Still, I didn’t usually think that much with my dick. That was probably a good thing, since I’d apparently managed to offend Kane. Looking back, I could understand. It had been a lot of fun to mess with him, and it had been annoying not getting the answers I’d wanted without getting a full, fuck off, I’m straight answer that usually got me to back down more quickly.

It was just like Kane didn’t know what to think about my flirting, which didn’t make much sense at all. He was hot, and he was nice, and he was funny… and he was an enigma, one I really wanted to puzzle out. On one hand, he’d rejected me, told me flat out to cut it out, but then he’d apologized and wanted more of the flirting. He’d also spent time with me, taking me on a ride…

Hell, this was the best way to get a headache, wasn’t it?

I opened my eyes, watching Sam. He’d progressed to wiping something down inside of the car, which was no longer a mobile trash can. If he wiped it down, I might even set a foot inside again without fearing for my health. All right, so maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but then… I was learning just how long French fries could last, and it was a frighteningly long time. To make it worse, they didn’t even change color much. They just sort of… dried out.

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