Page 7 of Hot For Her Stepbrother

I glare at her, and she moves quickly into the three-story building. It sits between a bar and a motel, with the strip of casinos not too far away. The rain is still pouring down as I finally let go of the greaseball. His shirt is drenched, but even the rain can't hide the yellowing sweat stains under his arms. The rain pelts the top of his horseshoe hair with a slick comb over.

"Does she owe you rent?" I ask the guy as he stands there, I'm sure too frightened to move.

"No?" he replies with a question.

"I'm not going to kill you if she's behind on bills. I don't like leaving unsettled debts."

"But you like causing them, right? You know how much rent I'm going to lose?—"

I cut him off with the back of my hand pressing firmly against the top of his arm to silence him. "Two months at the most. A casino worker is going to come here in a few weeks to rent the space. You're going to call his references, and as long as you get me on the line, you'll put that guy in the apartment. Then you'll truly be protected by the Scarpella family."

"Wait, no," he stammers. "I didn't mean to?—"

"To what? To lie? Of course, you did. It's just that you had no idea who you were messing with." I throw his own words back at him, to his disappointment.

Summer comes bounding out of the front door with a bag hanging off her shoulder. Stretchy yoga pants replace the skirt she was wearing as she hustles to get back inside my car. She doesn't look back at her landlord or the place she's been calling home.

"I'm sorry, what's your name? I want to make sure I spell it correctly in the book," I ask the guy.

"Rinaldo Esposito." He sighs with his head hanging low.

"Good. Now, Rinaldo, don't be a slouch. It's key to have good posture if you're going to be in pristine condition, protected by Bodey Calisi and the Scarpella family."

"I really didn't know, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize now. Stand on your words as any man should, Rinaldo. It's been nice doing business with you. Stay out of that apartment, too. No one goes in or out unless I give theokay. Please don't make me come back out here, Rinaldo." I head back to my car without giving him the chance to object.

Inside the car, Summer rests her head against the seat with her eyes shut.

"Thank you, Bodey," she finally says as I turn the car on and drive to a casino on the far side of the boardwalk. I like the distance from the other businesses.

"I didn't do that for you," I lie because a part of it was for her, but it was mostly for me. I know she doesn't have anywhere else to go, and when she doesn't send money back to her mother right away, Paulie's going to come try to collect it. Rinaldo will give me up, and then Paulie will have to come see me if he wants his money.

"Thank you anyway. That asshole's been trying to get into my pants since I moved in. I always pay my rent to make sure he never boxes me into a corner, but today, after losing that sale, I was sure I'd have to give that asshole my virginity."

"Virginity? No one's been inside that beautiful pussy of yours yet?"

"No, just your fingers, Bodey." She huffs out a breath of exhaustion, her gaze turning out the window. "It's not that big of a deal, you know? It's just sex. I'm just not in any rush to sleep around. You see what dick does to Debbie."

Hearing her call her mother by her first name shows me how far their relationship has fallen.

"Does she call you for money a lot?"

"It depends if Paulie's having a streak of luck. If he wins his poker games, he doesn't beg for money. If he doesn't, then I send her a few bucks to cover the utilities or part of the rent."

"You're not supposed to be taking care of either one of them. You're not even supposed to be living on your own, Summer. What the fuck happened?"

"You left!" she explodes. "You got locked up, and I realized what I'd done."

She pauses as she finally lets her tears fall. I reach over to console her, but she snatches her hand away to wipe away her tears.

"When I realized what Paulie made me do, I hated him. I hated Mom for hanging onto him, for loving him more than she loved me. I hated myself for not telling the truth. I told her that I couldn't stay there, not with him. When I threatened to leave, she manned up for once and dropped Paulie. We left Chicago and came to Atlantic City."

"Paulie followed you guys here."

"Yeah." She keeps her gaze out of the window as we pull into the casino garage, taking the elevators into the lobby and then another up to the penthouse suite. "This is beautiful. How can you afford all of this?"

"I worked for it," I tell her. "Come here. I want you to see something. Best view of all the casinos."

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