“Which one was more spontaneous, getting fucked on a public beach, or getting fucked against the door with your dad standing on the other side of it?” She asked, in a mock serious tone, obviously making fun of me. I knew she was just trying to distract me and make me laugh, but it was working, so I couldn’t complain.
“He wasnotstanding on the other side of the door while we were fucking, okay? He came up the stairs after we were done!”
There was no way in hell my dad had heard us, or he’d have probably broken down the door with us on the other side of it. Or at least he’d have yelled at me through it. Or something. Anyway, if I actually thought he’d heard us, then Kieran wouldn’t have to throw me out of a window. I’d throw myself out.
“Yeah, no, I’m just kidding,” she assured me. “Knowing Chester, he’d probably have a heart attack if he knew you were getting boned at all, let alone finding out it’s by your stepbrother.”
“Yeah, that’s going to be a super fun conversation.”
“You’re not actually going to tell him, are you?”
“Well… Yeah,” I said, although thinking too much about it made me feel kind of hot and twitchy. “I mean, I don’t think I’m going to lead withhey Dad, Kieran and I are boning. But if we’re getting serious and it’s more than that, then… Yeah.”
I hadn’t mentioned to Dani yet about how I’d figured out Kieran was my mate. For some reason, like the fact that he only called me angel when he was in the throes of passion or in absolute total relaxation, it felt like something that wasn’tfor anyone else to know. At least, not until it really happened and he marked me. Then I would probably rent out a billboard on the highway to make sure everyone knew that I’d somehow managed to chip through the world’s most stubborn alpha’s emotional shields and get him to actually admit that he was in love with me.
“I kind of want to be there when that happens. I’m so morbidly curious how he’ll react,” she said, snorting out a little laugh.
I sighed, fiddling with the seatbelt strapped over my chest. “But seriously, I don’t know what else I can do or say to make him believe me.”
“Maybe you’re just going about it wrong,” she suggested thoughtfully, her dark brows furrowed.
“So showering him with praise and affection and sex and making sure he knows that I’m basically obsessed with him isn’t the way to make him understand how I feel?”
“Okay, notwrong, exactly,” she said. “But, like… Kieran’s weird, you know? He’s all moody and artistic and stuff. You know that.”
“Yeah, well, I’mnotartistic, if that’s what you’re getting at. I can’t draw or paint or play music or anything like that.”
“I don’t mean do any of that,” she said. “But maybe there’s something you could do that’s, like, from his world. Does that make sense?”
“Um, yeah, I guess,” I said, pursing my lips as I considered. “I’ll think about it. Thanks. Sorry I’m always, like… having an existential crisis.”
“Nah, you’re not. I totally get it.”
“It would probably be easier if my mom was still around,” I said. I always felt a little sad when I thought about her, but happy too. It was hard to explain. I missed her, but all the good parts about her stuck out in my mind more than the end. Likehow she’d loved making a giant bowl of popcorn and having movie nights with me in our pajamas, or how she’d always made time to ask me how my day at school had gone, no matter how busy she was.
“Probably,” Dani acknowledged, looking sad for me. “Crystal’s great, though.”
“She is,” I agreed. “But I can’t exactly go to her about how I’m getting railed by her son and trying to get him to open up more.”
“Guess not. Maybe she’d have some insight, though.”
“Maybe she’d call me a slut and accuse me of using my omega wiles to seduce him.”
Snorting, Dani shook her head. “Get real.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, rolling my eyes at my own absurd idea. “Anyway, I’ll try what you said. Thanks.”
“No problem. Oh, hey, did you see the syllabus from our English professor?”
“Yeah, I got the email last night.” Dani wasn’t majoring in poli sci, but we did at least have two of our core classes together for the fall semester.
“What the fuck!” She complained. “Why is she giving us that much homework?”
“I know,” I groaned.
We bitched and moaned about our future course loads until we pulled up to Julio’s house. She’d told me he had some buddy over, and that we could all just chill and play games or whatever, which was fine with me. But when we strolled into the house, I froze in my tracks, Dani stopping short right beside me.
Seated at a tidy little kitchen bar was Julio, and next to him was Andrew. Julio hopped up from a stool to come greet us, giving me a friendly smile as he approached, but Andrew stayed seated.
