Faster We Burn

when he saw me.
    Max and Trish went to go sit on the floor again and Stryker came over to me.
    “Please don’t say you threatened him,” I said.
    He pretended to be appalled, putting his hand to his chest.
    “I am shocked that you think I would do such a thing.”
    I rolled my eyes.
    “Yeah, okay, Stryker. What did you say to him?” He came over and put his arms around me.
    “I just said that it was about time my sister trusted someone enough to let them get past her incredibly thick and high walls and I hoped he was worthy of it, even though I doubted it. But I said I’d be watching him.”
    I smacked him in the chest.
    “If you didn’t say the last part, the first part would be a lot sweeter. Look at her,” I said, turning both of us so we could see Max and Trish together. He’d pushed some of her hair back and she smiled as she told him something.
    “She’s happy.”
    “I just hope she stays that way,” he said, pulling me close. “I don’t want her to have a hard time. I want life to be better for her, you know?”
    “Yeah, I do,” I said, pushing myself up to give him a kiss. “You’re a good brother, Stryker Grant.”
    “You’re a good girlfriend, Katherine Ann Hallman. And a good kisser, and a good singer, and you’re really good at giving—”
    I put my hand on his mouth, because I knew what else he was going to say I was good at, and I didn’t want anyone else to overhear.
    “That’s not for you to advertise, or else I’ll never do it again.” I removed my hand and gave him a glare for good measure. The threat was enough to get him to press his lips together as if he was sealing them.
    “Are we gonna play now?” Allan called as he tried to sit next to Zoey, and she pushed him away with disgust.
    “Coming,” he said, letting go of me. “Which is what you’ll be doing later tonight after everyone leaves. Over and over again,” he whispered before walking back to the couch.
    Damn him. He played dirty.
    It took me a second to get my legs to work so I could get back to the couch and it was a relief to sit down, even though sitting next to Stryker made me really uncomfortable in certain areas. It was torture for the rest of the session, but the sweetest kind.

 
     
    Chapter Twenty-nine
     
     
    Stryker
     
    “So I think I should pick a major,” she said as she lay naked in my bed and I drew a sunburst in the middle of her back. I’d kept my promise from earlier, and she’d reciprocated, so we were both worn out physically. “Don’t you think?”
    I shrugged one shoulder and looked up from my drawing to meet her eyes.
    “Do you want to pick one because you want to, or because there’s all this pressure from other people to?”
    She thought about it for a second.
    “I think it’s both. I just…I want to know…what I want.”
    I laughed a little.
    She smacked my shoulder. “Don’t make fun of me.”
    “I’m not laughing at you. I’m just laughing because that’s the human condition. Nobody really knows what they want. They just know what they think they want and then they get it and they realize they don’t want it anymore.”
    “Like what?”
    “Money, power, prestige. Mostly money.”
    “I don’t care about money that much.”
    “I know. That’s one of the things I love about you. I don’t really care about it either, except that it’d be nice to have enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about paying the electric bill.”
    She yawned. “I should probably get a job now. Mom and Dad mostly footed the bill for everything, and I’ve been living on my summer babysitting money, but that’s almost gone. I don’t want to take more money from Mom, because she needs it more than I do. I’ve thought about dropping out,” she said, which made me look up at her again.
    “To save money?”
    “Yeah, and to take care of her. She’s all alone.” Katie spent every weekend at home, and it was taking its toll on her. She always came back reluctantly, and it took a day for her to recover emotionally. Kayla had gone back to Africa, and had decided to postpone her wedding for a better time.
    I stroked my fingers down her spine.
    “Is that what you want?”
    She sighed heavily.
    “It’s not about what I want.”
    “Fine, then what do you think your dad would want?”
    “He’d want me to finish school.”
    “Then I think you should do that.”
    “I thought you weren’t supposed to tell me what to do.”
    “I’m not. Just suggesting.” I’d said the