“Hey, you bitch!” But she smiles as someone pulls her away from me, onto the makeshift dance floor.
I make my way to the bathroom on the first floor. My vision is a bit messy from the strobes as I relieve myself then lean against the sink.
I glare at my phone, which is sitting beside the sink. Maybe I’ll accidentally drop it in the water? Break it? Step on the screen so the messages are illegible ?
DoNotAnswer: I’ll rip his jaw off. You’re mine.
I scoff at the text. Daily, hourly, I wish I could strangle my stepbrother in his sleep without him thinking I’m trying to make it sexual.
Me: Can you stop? I’m at my friend’s party. And I’m not yours. I’m your fucking stepsister, you sick freak.
DoNotAnswer: I’m coming to get you.
Anger builds as I quickly turn off my phone.
Surely it’s wrong for him to want me so badly?
I hurry upstairs to Lu’s room and toss the phone on her bed. I know I should be doing as he says to stop the abuse, but I’m at my limit. I want to fight back.
By the time I get back downstairs, most of my friends have moved into the main kitchen. Some are sitting on the counters, some at the breakfast bar, while hyping two people sitting on the floor for everyone to see. She’s straddling him and grinding against his…
Oh.
My eyes widen when I notice him taking her nipple into his mouth, grabbing her breast while he licks and sucks, as if he’s starving. Her dress rides up over her behind, where his other hand is gripping and moving her against him.
A girl from Lu’s college class stops in the doorway, her jaw nearly hitting the ground. “You do know we can see you, right?” she asks the pair, but they wave them off as they continue kissing and grinding.
“They’re just going to…”
“Fuck, yes!” someone confirms for her when she struggles for words .
Luciella walks in. “Absolutely not! This is my mother’s kitchen, goddammit!”
I continue to sip my drink, shoulder to shoulder with Ty while we watch them stand and disappear out of the kitchen, the girl giggling as he smacks her ass and asks where the spare rooms are.
Lu pops a hip out with folded arms, tapping her foot. “There are over thirty. Take your pick.”
Someone tells her there’s a smashed lamp in the lobby, and she sighs before vanishing.
“Such a spoilsport,” a voice says behind us.
Ty groans when she realises it’s Dez.
“You wanted to watch, didn’t you?”
“Get fucked,” she retorts without turning around. “Go back to the other side of the house where you belong before Lu sees you talking to me.”
“But we’re here for the free booze and the eye candy. Is Satan’s twin going to ruin that as well?”
Tylar’s eyes flutter as Dez lowers his voice to a whisper. She ignores whatever he says, but I see her flush, and one of his hands takes her hip, pulling her back to him. “If I put my hand up your dress, would your cunt be soaked, remembering how it felt to have me fuck you in every way possible?”
I clear my throat and suck on my straw, averting my eyes.
“Stop,” she says, but her voice is breathy.
He grunts. “You weren’t telling me to stop the other night.”
He obviously can’t see how devastated Ty looks. She shrugs him off and storms away. Dez just laughs and takes a swig of his beer, eyes finding mine .
I glare at him. “Why do you need to do that?”
He hasn’t taken her ending things with him very well and is forever teasing her, knowing it drives her crazy. He’s always texting and calling, and Tylar being Tylar, she answers.
“She loves it,” he replies, taking another drink of his beer.
I raise a brow and glare as I nod towards my retreating friend. “Oh, evidently.”
Dez winks at me with a smirk, pulling himself onto the counter. Before I can search for Tylar to console her, Dez glances over my shoulder. “You want another beer, Kade?”
I freeze.
He must nod, because his friend reaches out a bottle towards my shoulder. A warmth radiates against my back as Kade takes the drink, knuckles all bloodied and cut open. I hold my breath, trying to ignore my treacherous hormones as heat coils at my spine.
I can smell him, the spice of his aftershave and the shampoo he uses on his hair. It’s intoxicating, memories flooding me of my fingers wrapped in his waves, the scent of his pillow, the sound of his laugh when I sing terribly.
Still standing closely behind me, he only hums, and the deep rumble goes straight from my chest to between my legs, tingling all the way down like fireworks.
My cheeks are most likely red. I haven’t been this close to him in such a long time. The alcohol is numbing my common sense, because my body should not be reacting this way.
Does he feel the same way I do right now? Is he itching to grab me and drag me into an unoccupied room? Probably not, since he hates my guts .
Dez glances at a tall, leggy redhead walking in and tilts his head at her. “Did you not fuck her last night?”
I walk away before I can hear Kade’s response.
“I could look at you all day, do you know that?”
“Stop being romantic, Kade – I might get the wrong idea.”
A low laugh, and… “Just another thing you taught me, Freckles. Don’t go home tonight. Stay with me.”
I nod, and he presses me to the mattress, nudging my legs apart…
No.
I refuse to go back to that memory, the moment I knew what he meant to me.
At that point, he was everything.
And I lost him.
4
STACEY
When I eventually stop dancing and sit down next to my friends, I can breathe. They gossip, play Never Have I Ever, where I completely dodge most questions when they discuss our firsts, then take the remaining shots set out on the table.
I’m not sure why Kade has suddenly started making an appearance. For the past two years, I’ve only seen him a handful of times.
And I’m either met with silence, glares, derisive snorts or passing comments muttered under his breath that he doesn’t think I can hear.
He’s changed so much from the timid boy who couldn’t understand basic emotions, who needed to be shown that it’s okay to feel, who got nervous when he had no idea what he was doing in the bedroom to this version.
By the time the crowd starts to disperse, it’s four in the morning. Lu’s in bed, leaving Ty, myself and a few others to play more drinking games.
We’re all pretty drunk, happy, laughing while taking shots to prolong our buzz – until Kade, Dez and Base walk into the sitting area, two girls under Base’s arms.
Tylar, sitting beside me cross-legged, won’t even glance at them as she pours another drink and asks who’s next.
“We’re playing drinking games,” someone says. “Wanna join?”
Tylar blurts, “No,” at the same time Dez says, “Sure.”
We all shift on the sofas to make room, and the large coffee table between us fills with everyone’s drinks.
“I think we should spice up these little games though,” Base adds, sitting down and dragging both girls onto his lap. “Depending on how adventurous you all are.”
Kade drops onto the couch opposite me, and to my absolute horror, one of the girls on Base’s lap moves over to him. He pauses for a second, giving her a confused look, before a tattooed hand grasps at her hip. I gulp deeply, trying to ignore my jealousy.