Page 33 of Bad for Me

SAVAGE TEMPTATION

POPPY JACOBSON

1

Then …

“What the fuck are you wearing?”

My stepbrother looked me up and down with disgust, and I flushed with embarrassment.

I’d changed into a pretty summer dress after I’d spent the whole day cooking dinner for him and my stepfather as a thank you for driving me back to school the next day.

“Stupid, slutty stepsister, no better than your stupid, slutty mother,” he muttered, his eyes raking over me, burning my skin everywhere they touched.

“Gavin,” my stepfather, Aiden, warned, his voice rumbly as he breezed into the kitchen. He stopped short, looking me up and down, his gaze running from the creamy curves of my breasts, down to the neat nip of my waist, landing on the hem of my dress, just above my knees.

Side by side, the two of them looked mouthwatering—both tall, built, and covered in tattoos. My eyes slid to the holsters they both wore that framed their shoulders, and then to the ones on their waists.

Oh.

This was stupid.

I was stupid.

Why was I trying to impress two criminals who’d only agreed to let me stay for the rest of the summer because I didn’t have anywhere else to go?

“Cari,” my stepfather began. “What the fuck are you doing? Why are you wearing an apron?”

“I made dinner,” I said, my voice small and miserable.

My stepfather scrubbed his face with his hands, mussing his salt-and-pepper hair. “That’s very sweet of you, Cari, but Gavin and I are on our way out the door.”

His tone was annoyed, and my stomach dropped out of my body and onto the floor.

“Oh,” I said, stupidly. I wish they’d told me. I wish I knew anything about them. Even after living with them for two years, all I knew was that my stepfather had ties to the Irish mob, and that Gavin was his right-hand man.

And that they hated me.

“Did you wear that dress for us, princess? Thinking you’d impress us?” Gavin’s cruel tone cut through my daze of hurt.

Yes.

“I wanted to say thanks for letting me stay,” I whispered, hating how much he made me want to curl in on myself.

“Good thing you’re leaving tomorrow, then,” Gavin snarled.

“Gavin,” Aiden snapped. “Less talking, more getting a move on.” He turned his attention to me. “We’ll be home late, so don’t wait up for us.”

I closed my eyes so they wouldn’t see the tears gathering there. By the time I opened them again, the house was empty.

I cursed my naiveté as I cleaned, thinking that making dinner as a surprise would make them change their minds about me, wishing they thought of me as anything but an inconvenience.Wanting them to want me as much as I wanted them. I silenced the sneaky voice whispering in my ear. They didn’t.

Hours later, I woke up with a start, my eyes sore and scratchy from my crying jag. Thirsty, I cast around my bedside table and came up empty.

Dammit.

I’d have to venture downstairs for a glass of water. Still smarting from earlier, I cracked open the door to my room, checking to make sure the hallway was empty. The last thing I wanted was to run into Gavin or my stepfather after my earlier humiliation.

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