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Mentioning dudes and handsy in one sentence brought some insecurity I’d held off facing. I didn’t seem to keep myself away from trouble these past months.
I hadn’t been all that drunk two nights ago. Still, I’d ended up swimming in my underwear, which Ares had seen as an invitation. Both of us had RSVP’d.
It was hot… until he got me choking on the pool water and declared a small war. I should have given Steph some credit. But also, I should dunk her in that same pool. The lingerie she made me wear that night was the instigator of the events.
Ready for better chapters in my life, I’d washed those gorgeous pieces and hung them up to dry, called my mother, and enjoyed the surround system in the laundry room. Tonight, I wore them again so I could relate them to better memories.
* * *
At one in the morning, my smile betrayed how pleased I was with how my first night of bartending and dancing with José went. I had to admit, my new gay friend was fabulous company.
Exhaustion dawned on me after I parked the car and saw the camera light twinkle atop of the front door. Perks of being a rockstar’s stepdaughter. Every movement was monitored. I wondered if anyone ever looked at those.
I stayed in my car until the current song ended, a lame attempt to shed off the memory of what the terrace camera might have captured earlier this week.
It was no use. That pool scene still rattled my brain. But what shook me most was why I’d gone there with him. Booze and my will to mask up the need to feel recognized had me in trouble up to my ears. Befriending Ares was a wrong choice.
Entering the living room, it was dark but for a sole light of the kitchen’s extraction hood. One of the twins seemed to have a moment of reflection.
Or preparing his people for war and bloodshed through text.
Bent over and hair still damp—it was fluffy and hanging in front of his face—it made it impossible for me tell me who he was.
It was probably Ares. That’s what my gut told me.
Great.
Admittedly, I was ungracious about my attempt to exit the kitchen. But fleeing never had that type of elegance to it, and I was just too hard-headed to get caught sneaking upstairs like a drug dealer coming out of his jail cell. My leg muscles screamed after hours of salsa dancing.
The clicking of my heels betrayed me. My stepbrother’s head tilted, not exactly acknowledging my arrival but dismissing the phone in his hands. It was enough for me to cower towards the hallway.
“What are you doing here this late?”
With my hand on the door handle, I cursed inwardly before blurting, “I’m a fervent sleepwalker.”
He eyed me from underneath his black locks and cocked his chin toward my shoes. “On heels like those?”
“You mind if I continue?”
He sighed heavily, as serious as ever. Exactly as I expected. But tonight, he seemed a little off. I rubbed my eyes, careful not to smudge my mascara, and leaned against the door.
“Fine. I was trying to escape.”
I could’ve ignored him but that was just not how I was built. It was one of the few moments I wished my dad’s genes had seeped somewhere through my obvious Cuban looks, which I did inherit.
“From me, I assume.” He turned around, those biceps stretching taut while he held himself against the counter.
His shoulders were tense, but I refrained from a silly joke. I needed to remind myself the people pleaser inside me had left the building.
“Yep,” I said, sounding cheerful while I wasn’t. Which might have been rude if he hadn’t made me hate his guts.
Well, not hate. Just disliked him very much. I was angry at myself that I couldn’t ignore the friendly bones in my body. But especially because I’d stepped into a territory with Ares I was never meant to enter. And now we were in this awkward mess.
Ares lifted his brows and crossed his ankles. I caught the snake logo on his left peck, but that was before my brain caught up. I quickly shot my gaze back to his silver eyes, needing to not check out the way his shirt stretched mercilessly over his taut stomach. It was weirdly pleasing, havingto keep eye contact.
Yes, buddy. You messed with the wrong girl.
“Dita, I, uh…” He cleared his throat, his sentence lingering.
