Mask - A Stepbrother Romance (9 page)

He grinned at that. “Yeah, I know, I haven’t been talking to you either. Honestly, I just figured you needed some space.”

“Well, not anymore. You’re right, we
can
just be friends,” I said. “After all, we have to live together for god knows how long, so we may as well get along. Just don’t call me ‘sis’.”

Jace chuckled. “All right, I’ll call you ‘bro’ instead.”

“Don’t you dare.”

He grinned, then held up his champagne. “Well, Rayna,” he said. “To friendship without benefits.”

“Friendship without benefits,” I echoed with a smile, holding up my glass to toast his.

Jace was right. If we liked hanging out together and generally got along well, then there was no reason we couldn’t just try to be buddies, like normal stepsiblings usually managed to do. We’d be able to keep things platonic and keep our hands off each other—I could totally manage that, and things would be fine. It couldn’t be that hard, could it?

Yeah, I was totally lying to myself…

Chapter 11

Jace

I lay in my bed later that night, wondering why it had been so damn easy to open up to Rayna. I never discussed my past, not with anyone, yet with her it had been so simple. I’d basically poured my heart out to her at the reception—not the worst parts, but the general story of what had happened to me in the last two years—and let her know exactly who I was and why I’d become this way. It was the truth, and I’d finally admitted it; admitted that I’d become a huge douchebag in the last couple of years. But that didn’t mean I had to like who I’d become.

With Rayna around, I was beginning to think there was another way through life.

If she could like me and accept me for who I really was deep down, then surely others could too. I usually found it difficult, if not impossible, to talk about my feelings and experiences with my friends, and I couldn’t even discuss it with my family. To be honest, that was the reason things had gone so sour with my Mom recently. When I dropped out of uni and moved in with her to try starting afresh a year ago, she couldn’t understand how much I’d changed; how I’d gone from a normal kid to the trashy idiot I’d become. I didn’t understand it either, and I didn’t know how to stop. I fell in with all the wrong people again, and before I knew it, I’d fucked things up irrevocably.

But that was a story for another day.

Anyway, Mom just didn’t know how to cope with all of that, and I didn’t know how to explain my reasons for acting the way I was to her—I couldn’t even explain it to myself until now—so although she never expressly told me to leave, I knew it was for the best. Sometimes things just didn’t need to be vocalized for them to be completely obvious. I hadn’t wanted to hurt her any longer, so I’d left at the first chance I’d gotten and wound up back in London….right here with Rayna.

So the move really had been for the best. With someone as cool and understanding as Rayna to talk to and share my concerns with, I could seriously start to move on and get a real fresh start to my life.

I yawned and closed my eyes, trying to get some much-needed sleep, but my phone rang, delaying that for the time being. I checked the caller ID to see that it was my friend Tom.

“Hey, man,” I said as I answered. “How you doing?”

“Good, good. How’s your new job going?”

“Pretty decent. Typical finance stuff, but it’s all right,” I said.

Truthfully, the job I’d recently scored at my Dad’s friend’s company bored me to tears, but it was still a job, so it was better than nothing. I wasn’t doing anything I really wanted to in life, but I was still lucky to have the sort of connections that could get me jobs. It was more than some people could boast.

“Cool. Oh, and how was the wedding?”

“It was pretty good,” I said, my mind instantly snapping back to the conversation I’d had with Rayna at the reception. We’d agreed to be friends from now on, but deep down, I knew it was simply an excuse to start being around her again without making her feel awkward. There was nothing that could stop me from wanting her, but now that our parents were officially married, there was nothing I could do about that.

“Cool. Anyway, I’m having a Halloween party next Friday night. You in?”

“Sure,” I replied. “Can I bring someone?”

There was only one person I wanted to take as a date, even though it wouldn’t be a real date by any means.

“Of course, the more the merrier. You bringing a girl?”

“Yeah. Just my new stepsister, though,” I replied.

A part of me wanted to claim that Rayna was my girlfriend, just so she would be out of bounds to everyone else at the party, but everyone would soon figure out who she was, so there was no point in doing that.

“So you’ll be single and free to pull all the birds, huh?”

I coughed. “Er….yeah, you know me,” I said. “I’ll be pulling all the chicks who reject you.”

He snorted with laughter. “Yeah, yeah. Sure. Anyway, seeing as it’s a Halloween party, wear a costume.”

“What’s with you and costumes? First you have the mask party last month, and now this. You got some weird sexual fetish we need to talk about?” I asked in a teasing tone.

“Nah, man. Just doing it for your benefit. It’s easier for you to pick up girls when you’re masked or in a costume. That way they can’t see your big ugly mug.”

I chuckled. “Touché. Anyway, I’ll see you at the party.”

“Cheers, man.”

I hung up the phone and closed my eyes again, trying to picture what my life would be like now that Rayna and I were nothing more than stepsiblings and friends. That’s all we’d be from now on; nothing sexual. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but if being friends with Rayna was all I could have, then I’d take it.

It was better than nothing.

***

I poured myself a glass of orange juice at the breakfast table the next morning, and when Rayna emerged from upstairs, I glanced up at her. “Morning. You look well-rested,” I said, trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably.

Truthfully, she looked like an absolute mess. Her hair was wildly frizzed up, some bridesmaid makeup from the wedding was still smeared around her eyes from where she apparently hadn’t bothered to wash it all off after the reception had finished, and she was wearing a ratty old pair of pajamas.

She was still the hottest girl I’d ever seen, messy or not.

She rolled her eyes, knowing I was teasing her. “Shut up. Not all of us wake up looking like models, like
some
people around here.”

“Why, thank you.”

She yawned and grabbed the bottle of juice. “Where’s my Mom?” she asked as she poured herself a glass.

I quirked a brow at her. “Are you serious?”

She rubbed her eyes. “Oh, god…I’m so tired I actually forgot they got married yesterday, and I forgot they stayed at the hotel last night.”

“Didn’t get much sleep, huh?”

“Yeah. I think I drank too much champagne at the reception. I kept having weird dreams and waking up all night.”

“You remember what we talked about at the reception, though, right?”

She nodded. “Of course,” she said, sticking her tongue out at me for a brief second. “We decided to be friends.”

Something about the way the word ‘friends’ rolled off her tongue made me think there was another hidden meaning in there somewhere, but I didn’t want to push it.

“Yeah. Well, seeing as friends go to parties together, do you wanna go to a party with me?”

“That sounds a bit like a date in sheep’s clothing,” she replied, arching a brow.

She was right, but I didn’t want to admit that, so I shook my head. “Nah, I just thought you might be interested in going. My friend Tom’s having a Halloween shindig. Anyway, it’s next week if you’re interested.”

“Tom as in the guy Liana is friends with as well? The guy who had the masquerade party where we…um…where we first met?”

Her face flushed at the reminder of our first encounter, and I tried to suppress a grin. “Yeah, him,” I replied. “Tom Ballanger.”

She chewed on her lower lip for a second, then nodded. “Sure, I’ll go. Liana will probably be going anyway. Do I need a costume?”

“Apparently.”

“Damn. I don’t have anything.”

“That’s okay, we can go shopping for one. Just promise me you won’t go as a slutty version of a cat or bunny. I won’t be able to tell you apart from all the other girls if you do,” I said with a grin.

She giggled. “I’ll go as a slutty aardvark instead.”

“Sounds good. Definitely more original. Anyway, wanna go shopping for it after breakfast? I’ve got the day off work today.”

“Sure,” she said. Her face suddenly broke into a wide smile. “This’ll actually be really cool. For some reason I always assumed only us Americans celebrated Halloween. I had no idea you guys do as well.”

“You probably assumed that all we do in Britain is have tea parties and sit around with the Queen eating scones, right?”

She snorted with laughter. “Something like that. Oh, and you’re also all on horseback polo teams. That seems really British to me for some reason.”

I chuckled. “Well, I
was
actually on the polo team in sixth form, although it was more of a drinking team with a polo problem.”

“Eh, still counts,” she said with a grin.

After we’d finished eating breakfast, Rayna turned and raced back up the stairs, seemingly as eager as me. I headed back up to my room to get dressed, and from her bedroom next door, I heard the shower running. Although I was still aware that it was wrong, I couldn’t help but imagine her naked body covered in soap suds, and my cock stirred in my pants.

Pushing the sexually frustrated thoughts of her nude body aside, I got dressed and then trudged downstairs to wait for her. When she finally came down, the same old frustration returned, because she looked fucking perfect. She was wearing a casual pale blue top which she’d teamed with black skinny jeans that hugged her curves perfectly, her face was makeup-free, and her hair hung naturally down past her shoulders, still damp. She was effortlessly beautiful, and my heart ached to look at her like that, knowing I couldn’t hold her or kiss her.

“Ready?” I asked, trying to act like she was just any old buddy of mine and not the sexiest damn thing I’d ever laid eyes on.

“Uh-huh. Slutty aardvark costumes, here we come.”

As we drove to the nearest shops, the conversation flowed easily between us, and it felt completely natural despite the underlying sexual tension. Having Rayna talking to me was like standing in the warm sunshine, and I didn’t want to put myself back in the shadows ever again.

After we arrived at the shops, we located a costume store, and as we wandered around checking out outfits, I listened to Rayna telling me about her life back home in California. The way she described it made it sound wonderful, and I could tell she missed it. I couldn’t blame her. London was a decent place, but it could also be pretty fucking dreary sometimes.

Just as Rayna jokingly picked up a ‘slutty nurse’ costume, I heard a familiar voice; one which made me cringe.

“Hey, Jace.”

Shit. Not him, not here.

I spun around to see Roy, and it suddenly hit me how terrible he really looked. In the dimly-lit pub the other week, it had been easy to miss the telltale signs—the spotty, pale skin, the hollowed cheeks, and the lank, greasy hair. He was so far gone into the world of dodgy shit, and as angry as I still was at him for the other week’s incident, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

That didn’t mean I wanted him around me, however, especially now that I was here with Rayna.

“Err…hi, Roy.” I tried to hide Rayna a little bit behind me, wanting to stand in front of her as a protector just in case Roy said or did any shit, but she stepped forward anyway.

“How’s it going?” Roy asked. “And who’s this?”

“My stepsister,” I said through gritted teeth. “Anyway, we better get going—”

Rayna smiled and cut me off, clearly not noticing my haste to get away from Roy. “I’m Rayna,” she said, offering Roy a friendly hand.

“Well, hello there, Rayna,” he said, flashing her a grin. “I’m Roy. I went to school with Jace. He told me all about you; I was wondering when I’d finally meet you. So what are you guys up to right now?"

“Oh, we’re just shopping for Halloween costumes,” she said.

He looked at me for a second before turning his attention back to Rayna. “For Tom Ballanger’s party?”

“Yeah.”

Roy had never really been good friends with Tom back in school, so I had no idea how he knew about the upcoming party.

“Oh, that’s cool. I guess I’ll see you there, then! His sister invited me. Jace, you remember Marie…right?”

Shit. I’d forgotten Roy had always been close with Tom’s sister, and he winked at me, clearly trying to get a reaction out of me. I’d hooked up with Marie once, and he knew from our pub conversation that I liked Rayna, so he was obviously trying to make things as awkward as possible by bringing up my past hookups in front of her, just to be a dick.

All because I hadn’t given him money for blow, as if I fucking owed it to him or something.
Prick.

I forced a half-smile as if I didn’t care, but inside I was seething. If I’d known Roy was going to be at the party, I wouldn’t have invited Rayna. I wouldn’t have even gone myself. I didn’t want her anywhere near a guy like him, but there was no way I could back out now that Rayna was so excited. Besides, I’d really been looking forward to having a fun night with her.

I was just going to have to keep an eye out for her, that was all.

“Well, we’d better get going now.” I started to steer Rayna away, wanting to spend as little time in Roy’s presence as possible. I was struggling to understand why we’d ever even been friends, and the more time I spent with him, the more intense this feeling became.

“Bye, guys,” Roy said, leering after us.

“He seems nice,” Rayna said once we were out of earshot. “Why were you so desperate to get away from him?”