Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 350

KASMINE

I shifted nervously on the cracked pavement as a cold breeze blew down the empty street, My heart thudded loudly.

I glanced around for the third time, hugging myself as the wind picked up again. My arms were freezing,

but that wasn't the reason my hands were shaking.

It'd been almost ten minutes since I arrived, and Jake still hadn't shown

I'd spoken with him using Mum's phone, just before leavi up.

house, and he told me to wait for him at the old Burget City, just five minutes away from

our house.

It was already past seven.

This street looked worse at night. The streetlights were dim and spaced out like they didn't even care to work anymore. The diner behind me was shut down and boarded up years ago, but the graffiti-covered windows and crumbling sign made the whole place feel haunted. The kind of haunted that gets under your skin, not the Hollywood kind.

Another five minutes passed.

Still no Jake.

My heart wouldn't calm down.

Fifteen minutes later, I stopped pretending this was okay.

It was stupid just standing here in the dark, on this dead street, waiting like some pathetic idiot for someone who was probably too hurt to face me at the moment, Yeah, I couldn't do it anymore.

I turned around, biting the inside of my cheek to stop myself from crying, and started walking back home.

I was just turning the corner when the low hum of an engine rolled down the road behind me.

My heart shot into my throat and I froze.

The glow of headlights shone through the misty darkness, crawling slowly along the broken street. My breath caught. For a split second, panic gripped me. My mind raced with all the worst possibilities - was it someone dangerous? Was I about to be one of those stories people tell about but never believe?

I took a cautious step back, squinting toward the lights, my fists clenched tightly at my

sides.

left headlight, and the dull green paint that looked

It was Jake's car.

I stood still, watching

as the

stop right in front of me. The engine coughed a

slightly

pleading for mercy. "My fuel ran out. Right in the middle of nowhere. I had to hike to some goddamn

if he couldn't believe it himself. "I didn't think it would take this long. I swear I

stared at him for a moment, with my heart still pounding. My throat tightened, but

quietly, even though it kind of wasn't.

1/3

blinked like the words surprised him. Then he opened the passenger door. "Come on. Let's

a second, then slid into

the hond and got in on the driver's side, twisting the key. The engine

gear, I turned to him.

He paused. "Somewhere special."

talk. In your car. You said you wouldn't keep

"And I still mean

silence for

Fifteen long, uncomfortable,

of the wipers dragging across the

Yet

thin out. Streetlights disappeared behind one by one, swallowed by the night. Houses gave way to fields.

the tighter my

felt. sŵnovel

Something wasn't right.

in my seat, fingers picking at a loose thread on my sleeve. The cold

with. It

home," I said finally, "If

eyes still fixed

blinked. "Almost where,

answer right away. He just pressed

window again,

now, it

-

up to a crossroads. There was not a single streetlight