Stepbrother Dearest(16)

As my eyes wandered to his tanned chest and prominent six-pack, desire started to build inside of me. His briefs were peeking out of the top of his gray sweatpants. His long feet were bare, and it dawned on me for the first time how damn sexy that was. I forced my eyes off him and stared up at the ceiling.

His voice was low. “I really didn’t want to come here, Greta.”

It was the first time he’d ever said my name.

It sounded so good coming out of his mouth. I turned to him as he continued staring away from me when he spoke.

“I was this close to skipping that flight and going somewhere else.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“I couldn’t do that to my mother. I didn’t want her to have to worry about me while she’s away.”

“I see why you didn’t want to be here now. I didn’t understand it at first, but after listening to the way Randy spoke to you, I can understand why you have so much anger toward him. I guess, what I can’t understand is why you took it out on Bentley the other night.”

“Why do you assume that the fight was my fault?”

“Because you won’t explain it to me, and you were the one kicking him when he was down.”

He let out a single angry laugh. “I also look like the bad guy, right? So, every person in that diner just assumed I flew off the handle for no f*cking reason other than to beat up that pretty boy for fun. I may have a record…for underage drinking and smoking weed once. But never in my lifetime have I ever attacked someone or even thrown a punch before that night.”

Wow.

“Why won’t you tell me what happened?”

“Because despite what you think and despite the fact that I love messing with you…I don’t really want to see you hurt.”

“I don’t get it.”

He finally turned his body toward me and looked at me for the first time. “That first day when you walked in on me in the bathroom, I wanted to shock you. You said you never saw a guy naked before. I assumed you were kidding. Now, I actually feel guilty about pulling that shit on you.”

I repositioned myself, feeling a little nervous about where this was going. “Okay…what does that have to do with what we were talking about?”

“Fucknut didn’t know I was your stepbrother, so when you left the table, he started bragging about how he was gonna take you to that party next week, get you drunk somehow and f*ck you. Your ex-boyfriend made a bet with him that he couldn’t get you in bed because you’re a virgin. If you ended up giving it up to Bentley, your ex was gonna give him 500-dollars.”

I covered my mouth. “Oh my God.”

Elec nodded slowly with a sympathetic look. “So, yeah…I f*cked him up.”

“You let everyone think you were to blame. You took all that shit from Randy over it! You were just protecting me?”

“I didn’t know how to break that news to you about what they were planning. But clearly, tonight, my warning to stay away from him wasn’t getting through to you, so I needed to tell you.”

“Thank you.”

“I like to give you a hard time. It started out as a way to get back at my father…torture Sarah’s daughter. But eventually, getting under your skin sort of just became this fun little game. Tonight, when you cried, I knew I’d taken it too far and that for you, it wasn’t a game. As hard as it may be to believe, I never meant to hurt you, and I sure as f*ck wouldn’t stand by and let someone else hurt you, either.”

He looked up at the ceiling again, and his lips bent into a frown as he pondered what he’d just said.

I lifted my index finger and brushed it softly across the spot on his lip that got torn in the fight. He closed his eyes, and my heart started to pound furiously as his breathing quickened with every stroke of my finger over his warm lip. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”

“It was worth it,” he said without delay.

I stopped touching him, and he looked at me. The sarcastic glare he used to give me was replaced with a look of sincerity.

Since I had his attention, I used the opportunity to change the subject. “You want to be a writer?”

He returned his gaze to the ceiling. “I am a writer. I’ve been writing since I was a little boy.”

“What’s Lucky and the Lad about? Why were you ashamed to show it to me?”

Looking uncomfortable, he repositioned his body. “I just wasn’t ready to talk about it.” He smiled and hesitantly said, “Lucky was my dog, actually.”


I couldn’t contain my smile. “You wrote a story about him?”

“Sort of. It’s like a supernatural version of my life with him. Lucky was not only my best friend, but he was the only thing that could calm me down when I was younger. I suffered from pretty bad ADHD back then and had to be on medication for a while. When my mother brought Lucky home, my behavior improved dramatically. So, while the story is based loosely on Lucky and me, it’s really about a boy who has superpowers that he uses to help solve crimes, but he can only decipher all the noise in his head when the dog is with him. The dog gets kidnapped as blackmail at one point, and the rest of the story becomes about getting Lucky back. It’s set in Ireland.”

“Wow. Why Ireland?”

“I’ve always had this weird obsession with all things Irish.” He pointed to the two shamrocks on his abs. “Case in point. I think it’s my way of trying to connect to that side of me—Randy’s side—since I have no real connection with him. That sounds kind of f*cked up, but it’s the only explanation I have.”