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“Something about…running another marathon or something?”
He scoffs and rolls his eyes. “I asked how your summer is going at the lake with Mom and Dad.”
“Boring,” I reply.
“Aren’t you a little old to be spending your summers with our parents?” he argues casually.
“Don’t be jealous because I work from my computer and can spend my summers here for free. Besides, they’re never around anyway. They’re either at the casino or on the boat with their friends or doing God knows what else.”
“Still doing data entry?” he asks in a teasing tone.
“Yep,” I reply. Clearly, I don’t go around advertising the fact that I make my money flashing my goods to men on the internet. There’s a whole lot of stigma attached to it.
Not to mention, Garrett would give me endless shit for it. If he found out, he would use it as ammunition to belittle me. It’s hard enough being a sex worker without my ass of a stepbrother making me feel like shit for it.
But I do wonder how he’d react. If anything, Garrett is the only person I wish I could tell about my job. Because if I did, he might actually start looking at me as a woman rather than a bratty little sister. Not that a rich, fit, and gorgeous guy like my stepbrother would ever go for someone like me, but I almost wish he’d see what I do on camera. The very thought of Garrett watching me spread my legs in front of my phone screen has me blushing. That would change his perception of me for sure.
I only hope he’d be more turned on than disgusted.
“So, are you coming?” I ask casually. Did that sound too needy? I glance over to the screen to see his reaction, but he’s still stretching.
“We just opened the club three months ago. I can’t take a week off already to come up to the lake.”
“So come up for a weekend. It’s only a couple hours.”
“Why do you want me to come up there so badly? I thought you hated it when I was there. Don’t you like having that lake house to yourself while they’re gone?”
Garrett and I have never really gotten along. We’re both competitive, have a cynical sense of humor, and take almost nothing seriously. It doesn’t help that our parents got married when I was eight and he was twenty-one, and the only thing I could do to get his attention was to get on his nerves.
He used to come to the lake with us every summer, but then one summer, about ten years ago…he just stopped. I can only assume it was because of me.
“Whatever. I don’t care,” I snap with a little too much sass.
“Damn. What crawled up your ass?”
“I was just asking. Come or don’t come. It doesn’t matter to me. I just thought you’d like to see Dad before it gets worse.”
“Oh really? This is about Dad? Because a second ago, it sounded like you just wanted to see me.”
“I don’t,” I reply stubbornly.
“Are you sure? Because hitting on your stepbrother is a little desperate. Is it that hard to find guys who will date you?” There’s a playful smirk on his face, the same one I hate because he uses it to drive me crazy.
“I’m going to hang up on you. Why are you such a jerk?”
He laughs. “I like how worked up it gets you. That’s what big brothers do.”
Hiding the way that phrase triggers not-so-deeply hidden feelings, I quickly look away from him. Garrett isnotmy big brother. He’s never been my big brother, but he’s put on this whole brother act since our parents got married, as if reminding himself and me that, blood or not, we are related.
So I bite my tongue because I can’t say what I really want to.I can’t tell him that I reallydowant him to come up here and spend time with me. I can’t say how I really feel about him because everything is a joke to Garrett.Iam a joke to him. And if he ever knew how I really felt, he would never let me live down the day I admitted that I am ridiculously in love with him.
So I cover it up with sarcasm and superficial hate.
“Bye, Garrett,” I mutter before hittingEnd Call.
But I don’t get up right away. Even after the sun has disappeared behind the trees, I sit here and let this feeling of loneliness settle in. I’m really no better than any of my clients.
I’ll get over him someday. I have to. Because at the end of the day, Garrett sees me as his little sister, while I see him as the love of my life.
