“Oh my God. Is she…” I almost gag. “Is she one of your students?”
Gasps run across the room.
My father looks mortified, which is how I know that I’m spot-on. This is why he quit. Because he didn’t want to get caught. It isn’t lost on me that Jenny altered her story, careful to exclude the dean/student details of the relationship, and said he only had one kid to make herself look better.
“How could you? Cheat on mom with a student? Dad, she could be my sister. My fucking sister.” My voice splits.
“Kassidy, that’s enough!” he barks.
“Is she the reason you’ve been gone for months? Why you gave up on us?”
It’s my father’s turn to snap.
“I didn’t! I didn’t give up on you. I’ve been calling your brother. Why do you think I’m here? I want him to meet her. The love of my life.”
Tears burn my eyelids. I’ve always suspected Kendrick was his favorite, but hearing him say it to my face still hurts like hell.
“Why not me?” I choke.
“Because you’re judgmental, Kassidy. You always have been. Just like your mother.”
That’s the dagger in the heart I can’t take. I begin to bawl, right there in the middle of a restaurant full of strangers.
“Don’t worry. I’m done looking at you.” I wipe my face with my sleeve. “I never want to see you again.”
I barge out of the building, hyperventilating. As if this day wasn’t shitty enough, I bump into someone entering the restaurant on my way out.
“Kass?”
I look up, barely recognizing my big brother through the tears. Looks like he changed his mind, after all.
“You knew?” I yell so loud he jumps.
Guilt fills his eyes. “Kass, please, calm down.” He goes for my arm, but I fling it out of reach.
“Did you fucking know, yes or no?” I belt.
He gives in. “Yes, of course I knew. I’m the one who told mom.”
This is why he was running out that day. Why he was so pissed. Why he and my mom were whispering for weeks after Dad left.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I try to punch him, but he dodges every blow—downside of attacking a trained fighter.
“I wanted to, Kass, I swear, but he was always your hero. I… I couldn’t do that to you. I wanted him to tell you himself. You have to believe me. I only came here to tell him to fuck off and stop calling me. I don’t want to meet his toddler girlfriend.”
“You mean my boss?” I huff out a bitter laugh.
“What?” His eyes grow. “No way?”
“Yep. My store manager is the one fucking dear old Dad. Isn’t the world small?” I speed walk to my car, Kendrick on my heels.
“Kass, wait. Let me take you home, you can’t drive like this. You’re too emotional.”
I ignore him, dropping into my passenger seat and locking the doors before he can drag my ass out like the overprotective brother he is. I reverse out of my parking spot, Kendrick’s words haunting me as I drive away.
He was your hero.
He’s right.
He was my hero.
Until the mask came off and I realized heroes are just villains successfully hiding their sins.
Will
“I knew you’d come back.” Callie’s chuckle rubs me the wrong way. When did her laugh become so fucking annoying? Lying on her bed, I watch as she locks her bedroom door, stripping off her dress and revealing dark red lingerie.
She looks at me with that pout that used to turn me on. See anything wrong with that sentence? Used to. That’s what’s wrong. God, I’m so fucking bored. Bored with the way she moves, the way her tits bounce as she crawls to me on all fours. Where’s the adrenaline? Where’s the itch to toss her panties to the side and jam myself inside her? I want more.
I want my dick to strain in need.
I want something that’s not happening right now. Kneeling by my side, she grips me through my pants, leaning forward for a kiss I deny her so fast even I’m surprised.
“No kissing,” I growl, reminding her of my only rule.
“Why not?” She pouts some more. “We did before.”
She’s right.
I did kiss her.
Once.
Long ago.
I remember that day vividly. I’d driven to Callie’s place after mentioning my dad to my mom for the first time in five years. I wanted my mom to drop the act, to finally admit to me that he was nothing but a sick man. A poor excuse for a father, no more, no less.
Instead, she’d fed me more lies about how he planned on doubling the cash he’d stolen and come back to us that night. After all this time, she still couldn’t tell me the fucking truth. I was miserable, wrecked, angry at the world, and… in desperate need of a distraction.
I can still picture it: Callie writhing beneath me, legs over her head as I pounded into her. Seconds before I shot my load, she asked what we were doing, what this meant. Her exact words: “Do you think we’ll ever be more?”
So, I kissed her.
I slammed my mouth to hers to shut her up while I finished, emptying inside the condom for a short moment of relief. She was so happy. So certain I’d answered “Yes” without words. I felt so fucking awful afterward I never let her get anywhere near my mouth again.
“Will?” Callie insists.
I snap back to reality, the devil on my shoulder weighing a thousand pounds.
Why am I here right now?
You’re here because you wanted to do something very nasty to a girl you can’t ever, as in ever, get nasty with, the red devil replies.
I curse my own thoughts, because they’re true. I did want to do something to Kass last night. Scratch that—I wanted to do a lot of things to Kass last night, which is why I had to leave. Because she’s still Kendrick’s sister. And I can’t think of her that way. But man, did I want to pin her up against the wall and…
I get hard at the thought, and Callie rejoices. I wonder what she’d do if she knew it’s not for her.
I judge myself for my own dirty, twisted thoughts. Still, I see her. Kass. Squeezing me through my jeans instead of Callie. Not to mention Callie recently bleached her hair blonde. Kass’s color is more natural, but… maybe if I squint.
Maybe…
I twist Callie’s hair around my fist, imagining Kass’s pale blue eyes looking up at me. Her lips wrapped around my…
Fuuuck.
I get even harder, sucking in a breath and banishing thoughts of Kass from my brain. My arousal immediately dies down.
“What’s wrong?” Callie hisses.
“Nothing,” I snap.
What’s wrong is you don’t do shit for me anymore. My phone buzzes before she can respond. I pick it off her bed. Kendrick’s calling. Four missed calls?
What the…
Something’s up.
“I have to go.” I shove Callie off me within seconds, jumping to my feet and adjusting my pants.
“Are you kidding me?” she spits.
“Look, it was great and everything, but I don’t think this is going to work out.”
“Are you…” She blinks in disbelief. “Are you saying you don’t want us to sleep together anymore?”