Chapter Four

The smell of car gasoline mingled with Nicole's perfume and wafted up to Brady's nose. He narrowed his eyes underneath the visor of his helmet. The black race car was about ten feet ahead of them. He couldn't let them win.

Nicole was sitting as close to him as possible, not wearing a helmet or a seatbelt. Instead, she was wearing the shortest mini-skirt Brady had ever seen. And she was sitting so close to him that the stick shift was right between her legs. Her thigh was bumping against his as they tore around the race track, not yet closing the distance between themselves and the black car.

Brady reached down and put the car into second gear, brining the stick shift back. Nicole didn't make a move to get her legs out of the way as Brady brought the car into third gear, not even when he brought it back into fourth. He caught up to the black car and looked through the other driver's open window. Lucas was at the wheel of the car and Sami was sitting next to him.

Sami yelled something to him that he couldn't make out. But he had a feeling it wasn't very nice, judging from the look Sami had given him as she spoke. Brady gritted his teeth and grabbed the stick shift again, pushing the car into fifth gear and pulling ahead of Sami and Lucas. His hand was underneath Nicole's short skirt now. And as soon as he brought the car into sixth gear, his hand would be-

A knock at the apartment's front door caused Brady to bolt awake. He heard footsteps outside the bedroom and heard the front door open. Two people began speaking in soft murmurs in the other room. Nicole was already awake. He groaned and rolled over, remembering his dream. It hadn't been a bad dream, just not the kind of thing he usually dreamed about. Well, he dreamed about Nicole often enough but not about race cars and stick shifts.

"That's what I get for playing race car games with Nicole before bed." he mumbled, pulling himself out of the bed. He and Nicole had spent a lot of the previous day playing computer and video games. He knew Nicole was doing everything she could to take his mind off Victor's death and he thought that was nice of her, even if she was trying to distract him for her own personal reasons.

Brady heard a high-pitched angry voice in the other room, one he recognized as Kate Roberts.

"There is no way my son would do that with you." Kate was saying as Brady pulled on a pair of jeans over his boxers, "I've raised him better than that! I mean, there are hookers on the streets of downtown Salem that have more class than you do."

Nicole sounded upset, "I can't believe he didn't tell you about us yet. But it's true. Lucas and I- we're tight. Like spandex."

Kate made a noise similar to one a disgruntled crow would make, "No!" she started yelling into the apartment, "How could you do this to me, Lucas? I thought I raised you better."

"You didn't seem to mind pairing us up before." Nicole reminded Kate, "I'm just sorry that it took Lucas and I so long to realize that we were meant to be together. So much time wasted-" Nicole cut herself off and Brady frowned. Was she crying? And why was she saying all these things about herself and Lucas? They weren't together.

Brady made it into the room at the same time Sami and Lucas came rushing over to the door, "We heard you shouting, what's going on?" Lucas was only wearing his boxers and Sami was in a nightgown almost as short and skimpy as Nicole's.

Kate whirled around and gasped, "Lucas, I demand an explanation for all this." her hands gestured in Nicole's general direction, then Sami's, then Brady's.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you that-" Lucas started to say.

"Forgot?" Nicole repeated angrily, "How could you forget something so important, Lucas? Or maybe you're just trying to make us all believe you forgot. Are you ashamed of me or something? God, I don't know if I would be able to take that."

"What?" the confused look on his face was enough to make Nicole burst out laughing, not to mention the appalled look on Kate's face and the somewhat confused and very envious look on Sami's face. Messing with their heads was so much fun.

Nicole sashayed over to Lucas and flung her arms around his shoulders dramatically, "Go on, Lucas. Tell them what we were doing in your apartment last night. Before you snuck off to Sami's apartment again! I swear, if I catch you sneaking off to her apartment ever again, it's going to be the last straw. I'll have to end our wonderful relationship."

Lucas wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Are you on drugs or something? Don't worry, you'll get the help you need eventually. I hope."

Nicole slapped him across the face angrily, "I can't believe you're treating me like this. Well, fine, then I'll let you explain what Brady is doing in your apartment and why he spent the night here."

"Oh my God." Kate pinched the bridge of her nose like she had a migraine, "Lucas, please tell me that you weren't doing what I think you were doing."

Lucas looked even more sickened as he looked from Brady to Nicole, "With them? No way, I thought you knew me better than that."

Nicole couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. And the looks on your faces-" she dissolved into helpless giggles again when she remembered the look Kate had given her when she had opened the door to Lucas' apartment.

"Can you please tell me what is going on then?" Kate demanded, glaring at Nicole.

"What I was trying to say before is that Brady and Nicole are living in my apartment for a couple of months and I'm living in Sami's apartment." Lucas finished.

Kate stared at him for a few seconds, "You have got to be joking! Why?"

Lucas shrugged, "You'll have to ask Brady and Sami that question. They said something about an experiment."

"And that's supposed to make me feel a whole lot better?" Kate said sarcastically, turning to Sami, "What are you trying to do? I am not going to let you ruin my son's life."

"I'm not going to. If anything, it's going to be the other way around." Sami thought about the kiss that had been interrupted by Brady the previous day. Yes, if Lucas didn't stop being so God damn tempting, she was going to lose this bet.

"What do you mean by experiment then?" Kate inquired.

"Maybe it's a test to see how much torture I can withstand. Living with your son is no picnic."

"You sure didn't seem to mind sharing your apartment with me yesterday when we were-"

"Shut up!" Sami cut in sharply, giving Lucas a dirty look. Brady's eyes glittered triumphantly, as if he could tell something was going on between Sami and Lucas. Something that would make him the winner of the bet.

"I don't like this." Kate shook her head and latched onto Lucas' arm, "Please, Lucas, kick Brady and Nicole out of your apartment and get away from that bitch."

"You know, a bitch is not only a female dog but it can also be a female fox or a female wolf." Brady informed Kate, grinning at Sami, "But no matter what way you look at it, I'm sure Sami bites."

"Only people I don't like." Sami responded, looking pointedly at Brady, "Besides, it's not like we're sharing the same bed or anything. Lucas sleeps on his mattress in the living room."

"I don't care. You could sneak out of your bed in the middle of the night and poison him or something. Lucas, living with her is dangerous." Kate tried to tell him.

"I would never hurt Lucas intentionally." Sami protested, "I care about-" seeing Brady's expression, she quickly stopped herself from saying what she had been planning on saying, "I care about my son and I know he would be devastated if anything happened to Lucas."

"Like anyone is really going to believe that." Kate spat out hatefully.

"I believe her." Lucas said, placing his hand on Sami's shoulder, "The two of us have been sort of working things out and I know I'd never want to hurt her ever again."

He was addressing his mother but he almost forgot his mother was in the room when his eyes made contact with Sami's. Her baby blue eyes had darkened turbulently, like she was trying to deal with conflicting emotions. She got that look a lot lately, like she didn't know how to act around him. Like the day before when he had dared her to take off his towel. Still, the way she was looking at him made him think that she was also close to forgetting there were three other people in the room.

Nicole's scornful voice broke the uncomfortable silence, "Isn't that just the sweetest thing you've ever seen?" she asked mockingly, looking over at Kate's repulsed face.

"It is." Brady agreed, his tone matching Nicole's, "They look so...... in love." he finished, grinning at Sami knowingly. Sami squirmed away from Lucas, letting the hand that was holding her shoulder fall back to Lucas' side.

"Never." she hissed furiously, "You are so stupid it's pathetic. Lucas and I are civil to each other for our son's sake. That's all."

Sure, if being civil to each other includes ramming your tongues down each other's throats and undressing each other, Lucas thought to himself. He didn't know why Sami was so hardheaded about pretending she didn't have feelings for him. He was almost positive she did. The only logical explanation he could come up with was that she was scared. Unless there was something else going on in her life that he didn't know about.