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“It’s not?” I shrugged. It was actually pretty comfortable and covered all the essentials. I liked it. “Well, it’s the only one I found in the garment bag you handed me, so...”
“But… But…I ordered a big, frilly light-blue dress to match me, along with one of those masquerade ball masks to hide your face.”
“Oh, wait! It did come with a mask.” I lifted the yellow helmet with black shaded eyes and a silver mouth guard, then pulled it over my head.
My vision went limited, but I could clearly see Brick out of the eye holes as he shook his head. “Holy… No. No, you’re not wearing that. You look like a ten-year-old boy.”
“Correction,” I said, holding up a finger, my voice sounding extra loud inside the mask. “I believe the yellow Power Ranger is more often than not a girl.”
“Then you look like a ten-year-old girl!” he exploded in disbelief. “Granted, you don’t look much older than eighteen out of the costume, and you act fifteen, but—”
“I don’t act fifteen,” I screeched. “What the hell?”
He lifted a single eyebrow, disagreeing. “Still eat Cocoa Puffs for breakfast?”
I scowled because I couldn’t say no. But come on. Give a girl—er, woman—a break. Cocoa Puffs should be their own food group. A staple for happy living.
Brick smirked. “I rest my case.”
I refrained from giving him the finger, because I was mature like that.
My stepbrother sighed as he glanced over me in all my yellow glory. Shaking his head, he muttered, “There’s no time to return this for the right costume. You’ll just have to go dressed as a… As a…”
“Ten-year-old girl?” I prompted.
He shuddered and suddenly looked reluctant about wanting to be seen in public with me at all, but I kind of dug the costume. Since I was going to be the one hiding behind a mask all night, I didn’t have to worry about looking silly. No one would know who I was. And it’d be like icing on the cake to humiliate my stepbrother while I was at it.
Besides, now that I had hope back in my heart and a job at JFI again—with pay—I kind of felt like celebrating. So, Halloween party, here I come.
I rubbed my gloved hands together with relish, then punched my stepbrother good-naturedly in the arm. “Alright! Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Brick continued to grumble as he followed me into the elevator of my building and then down and out of it toward the front exit. I didn’t catch each word he said, but it sounded as if he were complaining about a little bit of everything, from my embarrassment of a costume to my intolerable apartment and even his horrible mother for never paying me to work for her.
It warmed my heart to know he cared enough about me to be upset on my behalf. Made me think maybe I’d misjudged him all these years. Yes, he’d talked to me because I’d been around when we were kids, and he’d always been nice because he was just that kind of guy, warm and charismatic. But to realize he genuinely liked me on top of that made something heartfelt grow inside me. He was starting to feel like a true brother. The urge to give him a big, affectionate hug and maybe a sloppy, happy kiss on the cheek grew until I stepped outside and took in the orange Porsche at the curb.
And… My affection wilted as the envious bug nipped me right in the gut.
“Get a new car?” I guessed. “Again?”
That last new car I’d gotten had been when my dad had bought me one for my eighteenth birthday. I’d sold it a week after he died to pay for his funeral since Lana had insisted she was too upset to deal with such details. That had been back when I was sure I’d get more from my inheritance than I had. I hadn’t been able to buy another new one after that, just a twenty-year-old junker I still owed twenty payments on.
I had to wonder if Brick’s dad had left him a lot more when he’d died than my dad had left me, or if he just made that much at JFI. Either way, my stepbrother had definitely caught all the lucky breaks in life that had obviously passed right over me.
“Just ordered her last week.” Brick grinned over the hood at me as he rounded the car to the driver’s side. “She came in yesterday.”
“Hmm. I like it.” Opening my door when he unlocked it for me, I added, “Though it looks like a giant pumpkin.”
“A pumpkin?” he exploded, outraged, as I slid into the passenger seat next to him. “Do you know how much this baby cost?” Then he murmured, “It’s okay, Tabitha,” as he stroked the dash meaningfully. “She didn’t mean it.”
Tabitha?
I shook my head and moved past the fact that he’d named his car.
“Probably enough to afford a decent color, I expect.” When he furrowed his brows deeper, my grin grew. “Have you considered blue? I love blue cars.”
“I liked the orange,” he muttered petulantly, putting the beast into gear and nearly making my stomach heave into my spine when he jammed the gas. The cocky smirk he sent me as we burst down the street dared me to make fun of his ride now. “Still feel like knocking her, kid?”
