Vain: A Stepbrother Romance Read Online Free PDF

turns to confusion. “Mick, we’re only teaching the surfers how to
stand on the board today, remember?” Her brows are furrowed.
        
     
    I look to her and
wink. I hope more than anything at this point that I can impress her—the stunt
has to happen, regardless. Besides, she’ll receive a lot of business for her
surfing school from my exposure alone.
     
    I couldn’t even look
at her as I continued on the path of my viral video. Look at me, a big
surfing icon, afraid to look my stepsister in the eye.
     
    She now knows
something is going on. With only the goal of gaining more fame in mind, I
paddle out to the larger sets of waves and wait for my wave to come in. With a
towering wall of water reaching over me, I throw my hat and sunglasses into the
water and catch the next big wave—high-risk, high reward. I surf with reckless
abandon, all the while looking for Sam’s approving face. As I pass the group,
she looks less than happy with me. I don’t know why—this is one of the best
waves I’ve hit in a long time.
     
    Even I can’t believe
it. I may not be able to teach, but man, I can perform. But even that
feat wouldn’t be enough to impress Sam. I know that now.
     
    Sam’s jaw sags. I
ride the wave all the way into shore, where the rest of the class meets me with
applause, high-fives, and smiles. Bill, the guy who thought he knew me, now
understands.
     
    “I know who you are
now! You are Mick Anderson, from the Pro Surf League!”
     
             
The publicity stunt has worked amazingly, but I speak without joy. “Guilty as
charged—that’s me.”
     
             
I look at Sam’s face as she comes to shore behind the rest of the class. She
looks... sad. The cameras emerge and the fanfare begins, just as I planned. Sam
slowly walks past me, past the excited class, beachgoers, and fans. She doesn’t
care about any of that.
     
             
For the first time in a long time, fear washes over me. “Sam! Sam! Stop!
I want to talk to you.”
              But she’s too far gone.
She walks up the beach with her back against the setting sun with no intention
of turning around. As she fades farther away from the beach, I feel further
away from happiness than ever before. My only chance with Sam has slipped away.
     

Chapter 6 - San Onofre – Samantha
    What an asshole. What an absolute
asshole. How could he waste my time like that, and more than that—how could he
lie? Why does his ego mean more to him than his own sister? I can’t believe I
was considering dating that asshole—for God’s sake, he’s my stepbrother. I
don’t know anything anymore.
     
             
I begin to angrily pack the gear into the van, still muttering to myself like a
crazy woman.
             
“Sam, please don’t run away. I’m sorry. This did not go as I was hoping it
would.” Mick is approaching me, the last person in the world I want to see.
     
    “Oh. How would you
have liked it to go? Would you have liked it if I admired you? Or bowed down to
you like those lemmings?”
     
    Mick looks at the
ground. “I don’t know, Sam. I just thought it would go better. I guess I really
didn’t think this one out.”
     
    I fold my arms. “No,
you didn’t. You didn’t care about teaching. You didn’t care about anyone but
yourself. You cared about being the celebrity of the hour. Well, you got the
cameras and the money and the fame. You got everything, except for me.”
     
    I am shocked that
those words even came out of my mouth. I never intended to let him know my true
feelings for him, but in my fit of rage, the words fell out. Mick looks stunned
and stammers, as if searching for the right words to say. I hope he doesn’t
realize what I meant.
     
    “Look, Sam, this is
my life. Ya, I am a pro surfer—that’s what I do. I put on a publicity stunt to
gain popularity, yes. That’s a part of my job. But more than anything, I wanted
to impress you. The way I saw you