Page 32 of Finding Alexei
Smooth. And probably a bit easier than getting into the truth right now.
Valerie seems to buy it, and nods before turning to face me again. “Seriously, though, your species is fucked up, Lex.”
“Language, Val.” I frown. “And men are not a separate species.”
“They might as well be,” she snaps back.
I lead her to the couch, and we sink into the cushions side by side. “Come tell me all about it. You hungry?”
She shrugs.
“Ryleigh and I were just discussing dinner. Stay and eat. And then you can tell me whose ass I need to kick.” I flex my biceps for good measure.
This gets a smirk out of Valerie, followed by a dramatic sigh. “Tempting offer . . .”
“You want to eat with us or what?” I ask again. I’m always hungry, but it is dinnertime. If I send her home hungry, my mom will have something to say about that.
Valerie shakes her head. “I don’t want to impose.”
“You’re not. We were just about to make something,” Ryleigh says.
We were actually just about to squeeze in some sex before dinner too, but my sister doesn’t need to know that. I’m pleased to see that Ryleigh’s not thrown off or annoyed by this unexpected intrusion. Maybe she’s just curious to see me in big-brother mode.
“Actually, let’s order takeout so you don’t have to cook.”
Ryleigh nods. “Whatever you guys want. I don’t mind either way.”
I grab the stack of takeout menus I keep in the kitchen drawer and hand them out to the girls. “Thai. Mediterranean. Japanese. Italian. Mexican.”
“Mexican,” they both say at once.
I call in the order on my phone and settle back down beside Valerie. Even though she’s putting on a brave front, for her to drive over here means something’s really wrong.
“So, tell me what happened,” I say.
Valerie looks down, picking at her thumbnail. “What kind of asshat breaks up with someone right before the winter formal? Now I don’t have a date to the dance.”
I rise to my feet. What a punk ass kid. “I’ll go talk to him, set him straight.”
She grabs my arm and gives it a tug. “Oh no, you don’t.”
I look over to Ryleigh, and she’s biting back a grin. I recall then the fact that she’s an only child and has never had someone to play the concerned older brother for her.
Releasing a heavy exhale, I drop back onto the couch beside my youngest sister. She’s changed so much these last couple of years after discovering makeup and boys. You’d think that since I already went through this with my other two sisters, I’d be used to the drill. But when I look at Valerie, I still see the skinny, annoying seven-year-old she was when I moved out of the house ten years ago. I’m having a hard time adjusting to the fact that she’s nearly a grown woman.
“We’d only been out a couple of times, but I was happy knowing I had someone to go to the dance with. I bought a dress and everything,” Valerie says.
Ryleigh leans forward and places her hand on Valerie’s. “Guys aren’t everything. Trust me. My friends and I used to go to the school dances together, and we always had way more fun than our friends whose dates didn’t like to dance.”
“I like that plan,” I say, smirking.
Valerie rolls her eyes. “Of course you do.”
Ryleigh releases Valerie’s hand and sits back. “I promise you’ll still have fun. Probably more fun because you won’t have to worry about if your date is having a good time.”
Valerie thinks it over. “My friend Sara is going alone.”
Ryleigh nods. “There you go.”
Satisfied that the problem is solved, Ryleigh gets up with the intention of checking on Ella, if I had to guess, or maybe just to give us a minute alone.
Valerie shoots me a look, and I sense that she wants to ask more about who Ryleigh is and exactly what she’s doing staying here. It’s rare for me to have a woman here, and I’m sure it’s nothing Valerie’s ever seen before.
But since I’m not ready to answer any questions about that yet, I pull her in for a quick hug. “You okay now?”
She nods. “I’m fine now.” Then she raises her eyebrows dramatically a few times. “So, Ryleigh? Spill it, bro. I need deets.”
“Shut it. Let’s eat, yeah?”
She purses her lips and pouts.
“No more questions, and I’ll take you out for ice cream later.”
“Gelato, and you have a deal,” Valerie says, smiling.
As if I could say no to that. “Deal.”Chapter TwelveAlexeiValerie, that little freaking snitch. Of course she rushed right home and told my mother I have a girl living with me.
And less than three days later, here we are on my mother’s doorstep in the suburbs to “have dinner,” which is code for my family getting to meet Ryleigh and my mother to scope her out and decide if she’s good enough for her son.
