Anti-Stepbrother (26 page)

I stood outside the basement door and flashbacks from my first night at North River—the first time I ever came to Kevin’s fraternity house—washed over me. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe the uncertainty? Because I didn’t know what I would find on the other side of that door? Either way, the nerves I felt that night hit me again.

I smoothed my hands down my pants. There was no need for them to be sweaty. I just needed to get this over. “My love life sucks,” I muttered under my breath.

“It does if you’re heading down there.”

I recognized that voice. Of course. I had the best luck in the world. But then again—I looked at Marcus. “Why are you here?”

He smirked, but his eyes weren’t amused. “I’m here to see Caden. I thought I’d walk through the house, and I saw you.” His face went blank. “I want to state a few facts for you.”

He wanted to fight.

Okay. I turned fully to face him and put my hands in my pockets. I needed to get comfortable to hear this, and then it would be my turn. I had a few thoughts to share as well.

“Fine,” I told him. “You have the floor.” I raised my finger. “For now.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “You are a smartass.”

“Your brother hasn’t told you that?”

“He did. I didn’t believe him. I just thought you were kind of crazy. I’ve been thinking he’s lost his nuts since taking up with you, but I don’t know. I like the spine. You should show it more often.”

I snorted. “As opposed to the times I haven’t? You mean all those times we’ve hung out since bowling? All those times you just glared at me in class? I’ve missed my chance to stand up and roar?”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic.”

“Oh contraire. Your statement just now called for it. Literally.”

He rolled his eyes. “Avery’s been a little nervous around you. I thought she was nuts too.”

I showed him my teeth. “Razor sharp.” Wait. Why was Avery nervous around me?

He grunted. My little quips and one-liners weren’t working on him. He’d looked at me with disdain when he first spoke, and that disdain was still there.

He motioned to the closed basement door. “Why are you going down there?”

“Because I heard Kevin and Maggie broke up. I was going to comfort him.”

“You’re lying.”

“What? You’re here to comfort him too?”

His lip twitched. “Okay, you’re a little funny. I’ll give you that.”

I deadpanned, “My life is complete.”

His smile vanished again. “You’re here for the same reason I am.”

“Didn’t think you and Kevin were that close. I must’ve missed the bonding time while he was screwing your girlfriend, who you’re
not
going to start dating again. Right?” I scowled. “Because that’d be a really shitty thing to do to Avery.”

Now I had his full attention. He studied me, reassessing. “You’re here because of Avery?”

“Who do you think Maggie went to for comfort?” I shook my head, making a
tsk
ing sound. “Not me. That’s for sure.”

“Maggie went to Avery?” He laughed, raking his hand over his head. “What a piece of work.”

Had Maggie called him too, sending him to Kevin’s to discover the new girl?

“It’s a little weird to have an ex-girlfriend call you when the boyfriend she left you for breaks up with her, right? That’s weird.” Unless… “Unless she called because she wants to get back with you.”

A light flared in his eyes. It highlighted his guilt before he masked it.

I shifted on my feet, crossing my arms over my chest. “Huh.”

“Huh?” His lip curled in a sneer. “What does that mean?”

I gestured to the door with my head. “I could change his mind.”

His nostrils flared. “You’re lying.”

I was. “I know how to manipulate Kevin.” I totally didn’t. “I could make him want to go back to Maggie.” I stepped toward him. “What do you think of that?”

I searched his eyes intently. If he wanted Maggie, there’d be a reaction—I saw it. A brief glimmer of irritation flared before he caught himself again.

I stepped back. “I see.”

“You don’t see anything.”

I pointed at his face. “No, I did. I saw the guilt in your eyes. You’re here to make sure Kevin really is over with Maggie. Aren’t you?” My nose wrinkled. “You’re an asshole.” I shook my head. “Is
every
guy an asshole?”

“I’m not here to make sure he’s done with Maggie.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I didn’t even know they broke up. I was fucking with you.”

“What?” I stiffened.

He gestured to the door. “I saw you from the sidewalk. You usually go around the house to see my brother, but you didn’t this time. You went in through the front door, so I thought maybe you were doing something else. Like I said before, you’re changing my brother, and I don’t like that. I wanted to know what you were doing.”

“Were you following me?” My mouth hung open.

“No!” He looked disgusted. “I was telling the truth. I really am here to see Caden. I was getting out of my car when you walked past me on the sidewalk. That’s it.”

Okay. That made more sense, but— “You’re protecting Caden?” Bombshell number one. “From
me
?” Bombshell number two.

“Don’t fuck with him, okay?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

I honestly didn’t. “Huh?”

He jerked his head to the door. “Go see your bitch brother, but don’t go from his bed to my brother’s. Got it?”

“Caden told you?”

He didn’t answer. He just shook his head, shoved his hands in his pockets, and glared one last time before heading down the hallway that led out the back door.

I gulped. Everything was swimming inside of me.
Did Caden like me? Is that what Marcus was implying?
But I was the one who had feelings for Caden. He was going to hurt me, not the other way around.

I lifted my hand to open the basement door, but let it fall back to my side. I had to know what Marcus meant. Before I could turn, going to find Caden, the basement door swung open.

It hit me in the forehead as I stepped back.

“Ouch!” My hand pressed to my head.

“Oh, hey!” Kevin squeezed through the door. “You were coming to see me?”

Worst. Timing. Ever.

I scowled. “Who is it?”

“What?”

I didn’t have time for this. “The new girl. Who is it? Is it me?”

He had a bright smile on his face, but the more questions I asked, the more it dimmed.

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “What are you talking about?”

“You never break up with one girl unless you have another one in mind. You dumped Maggie, so who’s the new girl? I just want to know.”

“Um…”

I rolled my eyes. “For the record, I don’t want it to be me.”

“You don’t?” He looked pained, the lines around his mouth growing tight. “Well, it’s not you.”

“It’s not?”

“No.” He still looked pained.

“So who is it?”

He lifted a shoulder. “No one.”

“No one?” I motioned to my mouth. “This, right here. You don’t see it, but it’s on the floor.”

“Come on.” He glanced to the ceiling for a brief second. “I’m not that bad.”

“You
are
that bad. You’re the six-monther, remember? #Sixmonthguy.”

“Don’t start doing hashtags.”

“#Sorry.”

He let out a breath, sliding his hands in his back pockets. “Look. Truce, okay? There really is no girl. Ever since you said something about my pattern, it’s been bugging me. It’s not healthy, you know? To always have a girl with me? So I figure I should try to do something about it.”

“Like what?”

“Like—” He motioned between the two of us. “—what we’re doing here. We’re just talking. Nothing else. No flirting. No sexual innuendos, no signals being sent about hooking up later.”

“You do that sort of stuff?”

“Don’t you?”

I couldn’t even figure out my signals to myself. “No. You do all that in a regular conversation?”

“More or less.”

I had things to learn. “Wow.” So much to learn.

He grinned, seeming to relax. “It feels good. Refreshing.”

“What is?”

“A conversation that’s just about what we’re talking about.”

I felt a headache starting. “Okay. I can’t wrap my head around the kind of conversations you usually have, so let’s let it go.”

“Okay. Good.” His grin went up a notch, and his hands came to rest on my shoulders. He squeezed. “This is what being normal is like. Huh.”

I tensed and looked at his hands. “Not in the slightest.”

“What?”

I bounced my shoulders up. “Those.”

“My hands?” He let go and backed away, his palms spread out toward me. “That wasn’t a normal thing to do, was it?”

“Nope. That’s totally normal to do,” I paused. “If I were your
girlfriend
.”

“Right.” He backed away another step and slid his hands back into his pockets. “I might have some things to learn.”

“Don’t think about sex when you’re talking to a girl.”

“Well, don’t get ahead of yourself.” He grinned ruefully at me. “No guy can do that.”

“Then I’ve got nothing for you.”

“That’s okay. I’ll figure it out.”

And now cue the uncomfortable silence. Everything in me wanted to go see Caden. Marcus was there, talking to him. He could be saying things about me, about how I was leading him on, how I was hanging out with Kevin. I couldn’t defend myself. But instead of bursting in and protecting my relationship with Caden, I was stuck trying to teach my stepbrother how to be a normal, nice guy.

This conversation blew.

“Am I bothering you?”

“What?”

Kevin motioned to my face. “You did like eight eye-rolls in a row there. Is it Caden?”

My eyebrows shot right up. “Caden?”

“You do like him, don’t you?”

I couldn’t even think about lying because I already felt the heat inching up my neck, and my cheeks warmed. I looked down at the ground.

“It’s okay, you know.”

It wasn’t. He could say something. He could turn Caden against me, or worse, tell him what I was convinced Marcus was already saying. He could tell Caden I was obsessed with him. Or how delusional I could be.

Oh, God. Kevin knew my crazy better than anyone. I was already in the pre-stalker phase. I was beginning to recognize my phases.

Step one: realize you’re in love.

Step two: deny you’re in love.

Step three: start staking out his hangouts.

Step four: obsess every minute about him.

Step five: I gulped. I didn’t want to name it because I was pretty sure I was there. I didn’t want to know how far away I was from sneaking into Caden’s bed wearing lingerie. A restraining order came after that.

“Hey.” Kevin put his hands on my shoulders again.

I tensed.

He shook his head. “I know. I know, but I’m not being flirty here. I’m being a friend, or trying to be. It’s okay if you have feelings for Caden. I know a lot of girls do. Half the girls I’ve hooked up with were just using me to get to him.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

I nudged his hands off my shoulders.

He backed away, his hands in the air. “Listen, I’m glad you’re here. I was coming to find you.”

“I knew it!”

He lowered his hands to his side. “Not for that.” He sounded hurt.

I shrugged. He’d get over it.

“I was thinking we could start fresh, try to be the way my mom wanted us to be in the first place.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We should be more like family, you know? So I was thinking you could help me learn how to be a nice guy, and in the process, we could maybe become actual stepsiblings. What do you say?”

My eyebrows locked forward. “What’s the catch?” There always seemed to be one with him.

“No catch. I promise.” He offered up a grin, one that seemed genuine. “I mean it. I want to change, and since you’re the closest thing I have to a sister, I thought you’d be the perfect one to help.” He held his hand out. “Deal?”

I glanced at his hand, then back to his eyes, and I caught his small smile. Then an all-business look took over, and he nodded as if to reassure me. This could go all sorts of wrong, but I found myself reaching out. My hand slid against his palm, and I sucked in my breath. Maybe I hadn’t thought this through…

Then he said, “Deal.”

And it was too late.

I never found out if Marcus said anything to Caden. I was a chicken shit. I made that deal with Kevin and as soon as I did, a part of me felt like I was betraying Caden. The next day already, Kevin started coming over. I would’ve loved this new development a few months ago, but it was weird now.

He showed up in the mornings. We had breakfast together. He would point out the girls he “would do,” which was almost all of them. I made him tell me what lines he would use to pick the girl up, then I dissected each statement and explained how it could be rephrased or redelivered so the sexual innuendo wasn’t there. Most of Kevin’s lines weren’t sexually suggestive, but they were when coupled with the boyish grin he always seemed to have on his face.

After breakfast, we’d depart for classes and resume our “lessons” in the evenings.