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“How the hell do you work this thing?” he muttered, rotating the scanner this way and that while scowling at the poor thing.
Overcome, I grabbed the design from his hand and squeaked, “You can’t show this to Hayden!”
He looked up at me, blinking. “Why not?”
Reasons. Geesh, did I really need a good, logical one other than the fact I was scared to death? What if Hayden didn’t like the design and killed me with biting criticism? Not willing to tell Brick that fear, however, I blurted out the second thing to hit my brain. “Because he hates me.”
Brick’s eyebrows lifted, his surprise obvious. “What? Hayden?” He snorted and shook his head. “Hayden doesn’t hate you. Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that he ignores me at all cost. Then, when he’s forced to acknowledge me, it’s only to scowl mutely like he’d rather be somewhere else.”
“Ah, that. Yeah…” Brick waved a dismissive hand and rolled his eyes. “He’s just a suspicious, antisocial, moody asshole by nature. He’s like that with everyone. Don’t take it personally.”
I opened my mouth to argue the point, until I realized… You know, I guess I’d never seen Hayden soften toward anyone else, either. Maybe brusque behavior from him wasn’t exclusively held back for me. Huh. Why hadn’t I ever considered that option before?
Brick released a sigh. “Would it make you feel better if I told him it was my idea?”
I glanced from the design to his face, once again chewing on my lip. “Then he’ll only say he likes it to spare his brother’s feelings.”
Huffing out a sudden laugh, Brick shook his head before answering, “What the fuck ever. Hayden has never spared my feelings. The man is bluntly honest, especially with me. If he doesn’t like something, he says so.”
“But wait.” I held up my hand. “What if it’s the other way around then? What if he dismisses the design because he thinks it’s yours?”
“Christ, kid.” Brick tossed me an exasperated glance. “You’re becoming just as suspicious as he is. Hayden isn’t the type to cut off his nose to spite his face. He’ll either like it or he won’t, and he gives his opinions without prejudice. He’s not our mother.”
Realizing I kind of was painting my older stepbrother with the same brush I used on Lana, I forced myself to take a breath and relax my shoulders. “Okay,” I said. “Sorry. I was just—”
“Don’t worry about it.” Brick waved a hand before impatiently growling, “Just show me how to use this damn thing. I swear, technology is too fucking complicated.”
“Really?” I said, taking the scanner from his hand when he picked it up and manually shook it as if that would suddenly make it comply with his wishes. “You think that will make it suddenly work.”
“Well, it couldn’t hurt, since it’s not working now.”
“Oh my God. There is literally one button on the entire machine. It’s not that difficult.”
He pushed away from his desk, rolling his chair a few feet back as he gestured for me to step in and scan the shoe design for him. “Then by all means, push the one button to make it work.”
Realizing this was really happening—my design was a true consideration—I blew out a breath and ignored the sudden shake in my fingers. “First, you open the feed tray,” I explained. “Like this. And once the little wheels inside stop revolving, warming it up, you slip the paper in here, face up, and push… What do you know… This one single button right here.”
“Smart-ass,” Brick grumped with his arms folded moodily over his chest, even as he rolled a few inches closer to watch what I was doing.
“Then the scanned image pops up on the screen.” I pointed to his computer. “And you follow the prompts to save it as a PDF file.”
Frowning at his screen, Brick tugged his keyboard and mouse toward him to do as I instructed. When he was done, he pulled up his email program. The nerves in my stomach took a massive dip, and I pressed my hand against them, hoping to help calm the juices down. But they merely gurgled angrily against my fingers.
Brick lifted his gaze my way. “Sure you don’t want me to give you credit for it?”
I gulped, thinking it through. Then I nodded, not ready to deal with feedback from Hayden. “I’m sure.”
“Okay, then.” Brick tapped another few buttons before pressing Send.
“Oh, God,” I uttered. It was done. Then I glanced toward my stepbrother. “How… How long does it usually take him to respond?”
Bric
k shrugged without a care in the world. “No idea. I’ve never sent him a shoe design consideration before.”
“You what?” I screeched. “Why not? Do they make him mad?”
