“Ask nicely.”

“Fuckingmove.”

Travis chuckled, a deep, throaty sound that wasn’t at all intimidated by what I might do. “See, the thing is, I don’t think you want me to. Not really.”

Before I could stop myself, I shoved against his chest, but he was somehow ready for it and grabbed my wrist to hold my hand there.

“Can I ask you something?” He leaned in, so close his nose brushed my ear. “What is it you’re afraid of?”

A shiver rolled through me, and I tried to convince myself it wasn’t from the way his breath tickled my neck.

“I’m not afraid. I’m annoyed.”

Travis slid his leg in between mine and groaned.“Annoyed? Really? Is that what’s causing the hard-on in your jeans?”

As the elevator began to move again—thank fuck—I pushed against him, forcing him away from my neck.

He searched my face, and a smile slowly curved his lips. “Oh, I remember. You don’t want to have a hard-on for your brother.”

“Stepbrother,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Family just the same.” He punctuated that with a wink that I wanted to slap off his face. Just because he had a hard-on for fuckingeveryonedidn’t mean he needed to include me in that group.

With my hand curled into his shirt, I shoved him off me with more force than he’d obviously been expecting, because he lost his hold on me and stumbled back.

If the elevator doors hadn’t opened right then, I had no doubt he would’ve thought this whole thing was foreplay, but it wasn’t, and I’d had enough.

“Get the hell out of my way,” I growled, and when he didn’t move, I clipped him in the shoulder with mine.

His chuckle grated my nerves as I sped through the lobby, and just before I walked out, I heard him say, “See you at family dinner.”

FOUR

travis

“UGH. WEREN’T WE just here?” Beside me, Gavin groaned as the door of our chauffeured Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van was pulled wide in front of the gates of Astor University. It was the first day back after a far-too-short summer, and none of us were jumping eagerly out to get the new school year started.

West was the first to get to his feet, though that probably had more to do with meeting up with JT, since he didn’t ride with the rest of us. “All right,” he said. “Move it or lose it.”

“Time to terrorize the masses.” Our resident grumpy bastard, Daire, lifted Gavin off his lap and stood up. With his all-black outfit, down to the leather jacket he always wore, he was a mass of muscles and tattoos and looked ready to do more than terrorize. With his fists, most likely.

“Calm down, muscle man—there’s too many people around to tie someone up.” I winked at him, and he scowled…although that was really just his face’s default.

Gavin grabbed his boyfriend’s hand and dragged Daire out of the Sprinter, leaving the rest of us to trail after. While I wasn’t thrilled at another year of sitting through brain-numbing classes, I didn’t mind the social aspect that came along with it.

The warm day wasn’t exactly conducive to my outfit, a pair of dark bootcut pants and a steampunk military jacket that had my skin glistening already. Looking like a sex god was more important than comfort, though, and I had a reputation to uphold.

All eyes were on our group as we walked through the courtyard and into Astor’s main entrance. While several of us thrived on the attention—like me, West, East, and even Donovan—the others would rather stay under the radar.

What a terrible existencethatwould be.

“Where you off to first?” Donovan said.

I scrolled through the schedule on my phone. “Looks like…Livingston. You?”

“Fucking King. Great.” He shoved his cell in his pocket. “Wish me luck.”

“At least you’ve got eye candy. I’ve got the man who hasn’t changed his suit since the seventies.”