Tease: A Stepbrother Romance (9 page)

“How does that change anything? Whether I’m going to college or to the Navy, I’m still leaving in two weeks.”

“It changes everything,” I said. “Now all I can think about is where you’re going. What if something happens to you?”

“I thought we weren’t going to think while we were here. We were just going to let things happen.”

“Well, I guess I didn’t exactly tell the truth either then.”

“Can we just forget about it and enjoy the rest of our time here together?”

He reached out for my hand, but I pulled it away.

“No, I want to go home now. You’re the last person I want to be here with.”

“Sierra, can’t we talk about this?”

I slammed the door to the bedroom and paced the floor in front of the couch. Jagger stepped out of the bedroom, still naked. My eyes soaked in his tight, muscular body and traveled down to his…

“Put some clothes on,” I snapped as I threw his pants at him.

“That’s not what you wanted last night.”

“I don’t want to look at you. I don’t want to see you. Do you have any idea what it was like finding out that my dad had been killed?”

“That has nothing to do with this. I am here now. I’m alive, and I’m not going to die. Not anytime soon at least.”

“How can you say that? I’m sure my dad thought the same exact thing, and where is he now? I can’t go through that again. I can’t. I don’t want to spend any more time with you. Especially not here where it's romantic and you’re
still
naked.”

He disappeared into the bedroom and after a few minutes came back out with his pants on.

“I want you to really think about this, Sierra. There’s a flight leaving in a few hours. They said we could change our tickets. I want to stay here with you. You just need to calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” I said. “Change our flights. I want to go home.”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

***

As much as I wanted to avoid Jagger, sitting next to him on a plane made that impossible. Just feeling his elbow rub against me every so often was enough to remind me of last night. I wanted to hate him again, but I couldn’t.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing. Just leave me alone.”

“I can’t. We’re seated here next to each other for hours. It’s a packed flight too, so neither of us can switch. I checked.”

“Oh, so you wanted to get away from me?”

“No, I was making sure you couldn’t.”

I stared at him for a minute then turned away.

“What?” he asked, his voice deep with frustration.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Tell you what sooner?”

“About the Navy. You’ve been with us over a week now and if I didn’t look it up, I would’ve never known.”

“My dad asked me not to mention it until after the wedding. He thought you might get upset. Shows you how well he knows you.”

He was giving me this look that said he thought I was overreacting. Maybe I was, but I was also beginning to care about Jagger too much.

His hand closed over mine and for a moment, I enjoyed his touch and the comfort it brought me. But that moment left quickly as I reminded myself of his enlistment.

“When do you leave?” I asked.

“My flight to Great Lakes is in two weeks.”

“Then you’ll understand if I’m not around much for the rest of the time you’re here.”

“Please don’t be like this, Sierra.”

When we got home later in the afternoon, I grabbed my car keys and went straight to the garage.

“Where are you going? I really think we should talk,” he said.

“I’m going out. I don’t want to see you right now.”

I started driving before I knew where I was going. Issy lived nearby, so I turned to drive past her house. She was picking up the mail, so I pulled over in front of her house and got out of the car.

“You’re a lifesaver. I’m so glad you’re home,” I said. “I didn’t have any place to go.”

“How about home?” she asked.

“You know I’m avoiding him.”

“I really don’t understand why you’re avoiding him. It’s not like he’s Simon.” She nodded her towards her neighbor, Simon Roma, my old science partner, and rolled her eyes. He waved to us before heading in our direction. “I swear he has some kind of radar in that house that tells him when I’m outside.”

“Is that him?” I said as I waved back at Simon, who was getting closer. “He looks different.”

“Hi Issy.” Simon grinned stupidly at Issy, who ignored him. “Hey Sierra,” he said, his eyes still glued on Issy.

“Hi Simon, did you change your hair or something? You look different,” I said.

“It’s the glasses,” he said as he blinked at me for a second before focusing his attention back on Issy, who continued to ignore him. “I finally got contacts. What do you think, Issy?”

“Meh,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Simon had somehow transformed himself from the skinny boy with glasses to a cute guy. It wasn’t just the contacts. His hair had a style to it instead of just the usual crew cut he had worn for years. And it looked like he had started working out. Despite his appearance, he was always a nice guy. I didn’t know why Issy was ignoring him. She was practically rude.

“Are you two doing anything tonight?” he asked.

“No, we don’t have any plans,” I said.

“Well, Sierra just got here, I’m sure we’ll do something,” Issy said.

“We don’t have anything planned though. Do you want to join us, Simon?”

Issy shot me a look that said she was going to rip my head off. I ignored her and turned back to Simon.

“I…uhh…I was hoping to take Issy out,” he whispered.

“Well, Issy?” I asked.

“Huh?” Issy had pulled out her phone and was already deep into something.

“Never mind,” I said.

“What about you?” Simon asked. “Want to go out tonight? On a date?”

“Me?” I said, feeling confused. Issy was in her own little world. I looked at Simon, whose eyes were wide with anticipation. Maybe going out with him would help me get my mind off Jagger. “Sure, where to?”

“There’s a new restaurant in the Gaslamp District. I can make reservations for dinner then after, we can walk around. There’s a nice bookstore down there, too.”

“Sounds great. Just let me go home and change first.”

“Sure, how about I pick you up in an hour?”

“That’s perfect.”

Simon dipped down so his face was at Issy’s level. He moved from side to side, trying to get her attention, but she acted like he wasn’t there.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Issy,” he said.

“Huh? Yeah, whatever,” she mumbled.

As Simon walked back to his house, I snatched Issy’s phone from her hands.

“Give it back,” she said.

“You were rude to him. It’s not like you have a dancing naked guy on your phone.”

“Dancing naked guy? Is that what Jagger sent you?”

“What? No, it’s just an expression,” I said and quickly looked away to hide my smile.

“Well, I still think you should give him a chance. He’s a nice guy.”

“And I could say the same to you about Simon.”

“Simon? No way. We’ve lived next door to each other for almost our entire lives. He’s like, I don’t know, just not my type.”

“Cute, sweet guy who is obviously into you isn’t your type?”

“No, it’s not. You know me, I like the bad ass guy who won’t give me the time of day.”

“Then I’ll make sure Simon gets a motorcycle and ignores you.”

“So what do you want to do tonight?”

“You really were somewhere else, weren’t you? Simon and I are going out.”

“Whaaat? You’ve got a hottie like Jagger at home for only a couple more weeks tops, and instead of spending time with him, you’re going out with nerd boy?”

“Jagger’s my stepbrother, it doesn’t matter that he’s hot.”

“Give me a break, Sierra. He became your stepbrother like yesterday, so that doesn’t count. Now you’re just looking for any excuse.”

“I have to go get ready for my date.”

Issy shook her head. “Whatever.”

***

The house was quiet when I got home, so I rushed upstairs to quickly change. I didn’t want Simon to run into Jagger. If I was lucky, Jagger was out and I wouldn’t see him at all.

As I left my bedroom, I heard voices coming from the loft. My stomach sank as I realized it was Simon and Jagger. Jagger had a huge smile on his face as I entered the loft. Simon looked pale.

“There’s our girl,” Jagger said. “I was just talking to Simon here, catching up I guess you could say. He said he’s taking you out on a date tonight.”

“Yes, he is,” I said nervously. “Let’s get going, Simon.”

Jagger patted Simon’s back. “Well, don’t forget what I told you, Simon.”

Simon stood, nodding. He didn’t say anything to Jagger or to me, and he quickly descended the stairs and headed out the door.

“What did you say to him?” I hissed at Jagger.

“Nothing,” he said with a shrug. “Have a good time. Don’t come home too late.”

“You’re a fucking prick, you know that?”

“Ahh, but you love it.”

I ran down the stairs and out the door. Simon was already sitting in his car. As I closed the door, he started driving.

“What did he say to you?”

“Nothing. I didn’t know Jagger Myka was your stepbrother.”

“Yeah, as of yesterday.”

“I hated him in school.”

“So did I. I still do.”

“Why? He’s the guy I always wished I was.”

“What are you talking about? He was just as awful to you as he was to me.”

“Not always. I’ll never forget there was this one day I was being bullied by Aaron Hick. Do you remember him? Well, Aaron was the worst. He dragged me into the men's room and was just about to give me a swirly, you know, in the toilet, but Jagger saved me. He beat the shit out of Aaron.”

“He did? I remember Aaron had a black eye for a while, but no one knew what happened.”

“Yeah well, I did. I was there. Jagger swore me to secrecy. He kept teasing me and doing a little shit every so often, but I didn’t mind it as much anymore.”

I thought about how Jagger saved me from Dex. And how he saved me by fixing my hair. Why was I avoiding him? Issy was right, he was only here for two more weeks, I should be spending as much time with him as possible. It was what I really wanted to do.

“Simon? I know Jagger said something to you. Can you please tell me?”

Simon let out a small laugh. “You mean other than how he would kick my ass if I touched you?”

“He said that?”

“Yeah, kind of odd for a stepbrother, don’t you think?”

“Well, you know we’re not really related.”

“I know. It’s none of my business anyway. But I couldn’t help but think that you might have said yes to this date to make him jealous.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because it’s obvious he’s into you and I think you’re into him, too.”

“Sorry,” I said quietly. “I think you’re right.”

“Then why are you out with me?”

“Why are you out with me?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty obvious about Issy, aren’t I?”

I nodded. “You asked me out to make her jealous, didn’t you?”

He nodded. “And she didn’t even notice.” Simon grew quiet, glanced over at me, then back at the road. “When Jagger said he’d kick my ass, I told him about Issy. He told me the craziest thing. He said I should text her some videos of myself stripping. I’m sure he was bullshitting me, but the way he explained it, it made sense. Is that crazy? Do you think she’d be into that?”