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I don't want to think about anyone in my family having sex, but I suppose it is silly to pretend they don't have sex. Still. It's weird to talk about it all the time! "Again, the point."
Zack puffs up his chest and lowers his voice to imitate Jackson. "Our brother isn't as enlightened as I am."
"Really? You're the enlightened Steele brother?"
He nods obviously and returns to his normal tone and posture. "Believe it or not, I'm not that interested in your love life. One guy for three years. Where's the drama? Sure, the breakup was juicy, but that was months ago. Jackson though…" Again, he shakes his head some people just can't see the light. "He had choice words. I believe they were, 'What the fuck do you know about that fucking fuckhead Damon Webb fucking with Cass?'" His voice gets ten percent more serious. "I maybe have forgotten a fuck or two."
That's not like Jackson. He's protective, yes, but he's not vulgar. Either Zack is playing this up, or Jackson is legitimately worried.
Both, probably.
Jackson has plenty of reason to hate Damon. Like me, Jackson had an up close and personal view of Damon at his drunkest and most obnoxious enough times to write him off. Not that Jackson needed all that extra evidence. After I told him Damon broke my heart (ugh, fifteen-year-old Cassie, why), he went from disliking the guy to despising him with every fiber of his being.
"Yeah. It's pretty bad, I know." Zack shakes his head in his typical can you believe our brother is so unreasonable sort of way. "You don't want to hear what Laurel said."
"But you'll tell me anyway?"
He nods of course with a troublemaking smile. "I want to tell you, really. The words were beautiful. Dirty poetry. But it would be wrong to steal her thunder."
"It's early." Family dinner isn't for another hour and a half.
Zack shakes his head. "Everyone is downstairs."
Everyone is downstairs because they want to discuss my sex life. Awesome. "Or we could not do that."
"Sure. If you'd rather discuss it at dinner with Mom and Dad," Zack says. "I figured you'd prefer a little privacy."
Awesome. If my choice is siblings or siblings and parents, that's easy. "Let the suffering begin."
Chapter Twelve
Cassie
Our siblings are waiting in the large backyard. They aren't lounging in the long, rectangular pool, walking through the small succulent garden, or attempting to spy on the faraway neighbors.
They're sitting at the glass patio table, sipping their usual cocktails, dressed in their usual attire, with totally unusual wow, is Cassie really dating Damon looks on their faces.
Okay, maybe the looks aren't that specific. But they are very much is this true.
On Laurel, that looks fun and excitable. Her dark eyes are bright. Her red lips are pressed into a wide smile. With her cosmopolitan and her snug white sundress, nude sandals, and simple gold jewelry, she looks like she's here to pose for a family dinner photo shoot, one where she plays the curious little sister.
In his typical evening outfit, a button-up cotton shirt (always white), casual navy slacks, and brown loafers, Jackson looks like the guy who plays an uptight lawyer. The uptight lawyer who's about to use his cross-examination skills on his poor, unsuspecting sister.
He has the same medium-brown hair Mom has, but his is cropped short. He has her broad shoulders and calm poker face too, but his expression is all Dad-like protective energy.
It's like he's about to say I'm not mad, I'm disappointed.
Which is fair, I guess. I didn't think hard enough about the possible consequences of fake dating Damon Webb. I let my love of music overpower rational thought.
It's not that I would have made a different choice if I made a list of pros and cons. No matter how much time I spent considering my options, I would have picked this one.
But I could have prepared for the consequences a little better.
If my older brother is this upset, what the fuck is Dad thinking? He says he doesn't check our social media, but none of us believe that.
If he doesn't know now, it's only a matter of time until he finds out.
And, yes, our families are friends, and once upon a time, Dad adored Damon. But once Damon started drinking, Dad started waving red flags. He instructed all of us to avoid Damon as often as possible. He saw the path Damon was walking and wanted us far away from it.
Back then, I didn't get it. Back then, I thought Dad was acting like a judgmental jerk. I guess he was, but he was right too.
After the third time Damon crashed my and Daphne's movie night, drunk, I started to see the logic. I didn't write him off until after the kiss incident, but I saw the signs earlier.
And then he just got so difficult, constantly needling me, taunting me, baiting me.
