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“Why, if it isn’t you,” Hailee spoke, flipping her wavy blond hair over to a single shoulder, making its length appear more voluminous. “What was your name again?”
I should ignore her, walk around her, not answer her, but I found myself whispering, “Taylor.” Maybe because she had taken on an authoritative tone with me; she was kind of scary. I didn’t know how that guy had stood there while she screamed in his face and acted like she was no more than a fly buzzing around his head.
She placed one hand on her hip, giving me a smile with full, red lips. Her blue eyes were surrounded by a smoky gray color and fake lashes. She was beautiful; I’d give her that. She knew how to accentuate her features. She wore tight leggings that showed off her long, thin legs and a light pink shirt that dipped low on her cleavage, showing just the faintest glimpses of a lacey bra.
“Taylor,” she purred out my name, smiling at me like she was the Cheshire Cat. “That’s right. You’re Creed’s sister.” She took a step toward me, cocking her head at me. “How is he doing? It’s been so long since I’ve seen him.” She let out an exaggerated sigh, reaching up to touch the tips of my hair, running my hair between her fingers. “I miss him so much.”
Of course she was here to try to see Creed. It shouldn’t surprise me. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who took no for an answer, not when she wanted something. And right now, Creed was that something.
“He’s fine,” I said, wishing I could have the guts to step away from her hand that still played with my hair, wishing I could walk away from her. But I couldn’t. Something about her had me frozen in place.
“Is he?” Hailee’s immaculately-plucked eyebrows came together in mock concern. “He was always so lonely, in that big place all by himself. Not really a people person, either. I do worry about him.” She paused, her stare taking me in: my baggy hoodie, the bag over my shoulder. “Oh, but he’s got you now. Still, there’s only so much a sister can do, you must admit. Every man needs a woman he’s not related to, so he can… well, you know.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have said it, but the words left me before I thought better of them: “He’s my stepbrother.”
A muscle on her face twitched, and that perfect smile of hers faded somewhat. “He’s your stepbrother? Of course, he is. You two look nothing alike, other than the brown hair—and everyone has brown hair.” She snickered at that, as if insulting me and Creed and everybody with brown hair at the same time.
But then she had an idea, because she became her smooth-talking self once more. She took a step closer to me, lowering her voice, “Why don’t you bring me inside, hmm? I want to see Creed again.”
“I don’t think he’s home—”
“That’s okay, honey. You and I could find some way to occupy ourselves until he gets back.” Hailee dropped her hand from my hair, drawing her long nails down my arm. With the hoodie on me, I couldn’t feel those nails touching my skin. If I had, I didn’t doubt I would be unable to do much else other than shiver. “And besides, guys always have a thing for their stepsisters. I don’t think he’ll mind walking in and seeing us… or joining us.”
I couldn’t help it; my cheeks burned. This woman… she’d left Creed on such an awful note—he’d kicked her out, more like it—and yet she was here, trying to get inside. Trying to seduce me, I guess, in order to come inside with me?
She was gorgeous, yes, but I didn’t swing that way. And, even if I did, I loved Creed.
“Um, I don’t think so,” I spoke, sounding awkward as ever. Before she could say anything else—and surely she would; she didn’t seem like the kind of person who ever took no for an answer—I added, “I have to go.” And then I walked around her, hustling to the front door.
Hailee called out to me, “Wait! Ugh, come on!” She tried to catch up to me, but the guard near the door quickly stepped in between us. She started to huff and puff, swearing at him again.
The guard was unaffected by her outburst, and he turned his head toward me, giving me a nod as if saying,I’ve got it from here.I would hope so; it was his job, although I did feel a little bad that I’d left him with Hailee—but to be fair, she’d been trying to get inside the building long before I got there.
Such a switch from how venomous she’d sounded when Creed had thrown her out. The way she’d talked about me, like she knew she was better than me and she hated me for simply existing, was vivid in my mind. And yet, just now she’d acted all sugary and sweet to try to get what she wanted. The whole you caught more flies with honey thing… even if it hadn’t worked for her today.
I replayed the scene in my head as I headed to the elevator. I didn’t know if Creed was upstairs or not. If he was, did he get notified anytime someone tried to come in to see him? Did he know Hailee was out there?
And then a dark, pessimistic part of me wondered if she kept being so persistent, if Creed would eventually get tired of me and want his hired body back. I mean, she had to be good at sex if it was her job. I was nowhere near an expert. What if—
No. I couldn’t let myself think like that. I wouldn’t. If I did, I might ruin what Creed and I had, and for the first time in my life, I was totally content with where I was. I didn’t want anything to change, and I definitely never wanted to ruin it by being so insecure.
When I reached the apartment, or condo, or whatever the hell you were supposed to call it, I found Creed wasn’t home. I went straight to my room, sighing as I lay down on my bed. Getting my phone out, I texted Creed, asking when he’d be home.
Had to run to work for a meetingwas his text back after a minute or two.Coming home now. Want me to grab dinner?
To say I had no appetite right now would be the year’s biggest understatement, and yet if I told him to grab something, he’d take longer to get home… which meant I’d have more time to practice in my head how I’d tell him about the whole Hailee thing.
I mean, I had to, right? I had to tell him she was trying to get him back. I didn’t want to keep the confrontation a secret from him. I didn’t want to keep any secrets from Creed.
Yeah, I texted back,please. I did a quick search in Google for food places downtown. I told him I had a hankering for food from the place with reviews that said the chefs were slow. Any extra time was good. I sent him the link to the place, telling him what I wanted from their online menu.
He texted me back:Okay, and then it was a waiting game.
I really wasn’t good at confrontation… although I didn’t think that’s what I would call this. I didn’t know what this was, other than plain old complicated. From what I understood, Hailee had been a mere business arrangement for Creed; Creed never had feelings for her. He’d just, you know, paid her for her time once a month, to relieve certain, uh, stressors of his.
Sex. He’d paid her for sex because he had no life outside of his work and didn’t care to try dating. That was the truth of it.
But even though Creed had viewed it as a business transaction, it was clear Hailee had come to see it as something else. Maybe she’d come to have real feelings for Creed, and she’d been blindsided the day he’d told her it was over and he was done paying for her company.
