Page 3 of Puck My Stepbrother
“There’s a really big room right next to this one.”
He even pointed to the next room, like I was too dumb to see it.
Asshole.
“Yeah,” I said, “but it’s smaller than this one. Besides, this was the one I chose.”
“I know it is, but it’s already spoken for.”
His tone didn’t darken, but he no longer sounded quite as elated as he had a moment ago. He just sounded like a different type of bullshit happy.
That told me that this was it. He’d already taken my bedroom, and I could do nothing about it.
You know, just like how I could do nothing about any of the other crap he used to pull on me. And then it finally hit me: Levi and I wouldn’t just be living in the same house—we’d be stepbrothers.
Could it get any worse?
2
LEVI
Before I get into anything, I want to tell you that I was just as surprised to see Quinn as he was to see me. No one told me that I’d have a stepbrother, let alone that it would be Quinn. My mom didn’t tell me much of anything until just before the move. But this was the one pleasant surprise of this whole situation, if you get what I’m saying.
My mom hadn’t told me she was going out with anyone, but she didn’t have to. Ever since she’d divorced my dad, she’d gone out with a revolving door of men. Some of them I met and some I didn’t. There was never any need to learn their names. Look, it didn’t matter after a while because, like I said, they didn’t last long. I didn’t love my dad, but I was still attached to him in a weird way, and the idea of Mom marrying someone else felt kind of odd.
Only now she was marrying someone new, and I wanted to feel happy for her. Don, the man she planned to marry, seemed nice enough. He was different from the prima donna assholes she usually brought home. When Mom talked to me about her “big step,” she promised a whole new life for both of us. It meant moving into a house on Lafayette Avenue with someone Ididn’t know and starting fresh. She called itan adjustment, but claimed it was nothing we couldn’t handle.
What she hadn’t mentioned was that I’d have a stepbrother.
And she certainly hadn’t told me that stepbrother would be Quinn Standish.
Oh my God…
Please don’t take that as a bad thing. You might assume that moving in with Quinn would be a drag for me or something, but the idea excited me. It was awesome. Any hesitation I might’ve felt about moving disappeared because of it. I honestly hadn’t known he’d be living in the house until that little bedroom fiasco. I hadn’t actually tried to deprive him of anything, no matter how it looked. Once I saw him, a wave of memories flooded back.
I couldn’t look at Quinn without feeling a little hot and wanting to groan with pleasure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you’re going to say. Quinn Standish is a nerd, a dweeb, and a bookworm. His idea of a good time is hitting the library. He’s totally not in my league. But hear me out, okay?
When I looked at Quinn, I saw a kid of medium height and build who appeared to keep himself in pretty decent shape these days. No bulging muscles, but he looked firm, like maybe he did daily pushups and sit-ups in his room.
He had a mop of ginger hair that’d caught my attention a long time ago. I have this theory that you either love gingers or you hate them. If you love them, that shock of red hair will drive you crazy every time.
Then there’s the light freckle pattern on his cheeks and nose. And who could forget his hazel eyes? Again, maybe those features aren’t for everyone, but I’m obsessed.
When Quinn stood in the doorway, I wanted to touch him, or even just brush my hand over his arm or shoulder.. But I couldn’t just do that. Wouldn’t it seem weird? Instead, I shookhis hand heartily, savoring every second of physical contact between myself and the guy who’d captured my heart a long time ago.
Now that we’d be living in the same house, I could do the things I’d only dreamed of before. Like, I couldn’t have shared my feelings with him when we were in school together. That would’ve been a total no-no, and I’m sure you understand why.
And it wasn’t just the usual reasons, either. I was a hockey player. In fact, I played for the Larkin University Lions on a hockey scholarship, and liking guys the way I liked Quinn wouldn’t go over well in that scene. That went double for when I was in high school, where unspoken rules meant everything.
I wanted Quinn. I wanted him badly, no matter what rules others imposed.
They say you can make your own luck. If that’s true, then you can control your own fortune, too. If I wanted Quinn, I could have him. It wasn’t rocket science. With a golden opportunity like the one in front of me, I only needed to go for it.
But first, I needed to clear up the whole bedroom issue. Quinn seemed to have accepted it, but that didn’t mean he liked it. Normally, I would’ve taken that as an opportunity to show him who’s boss. I could still do that, but I wanted to smooth over any hard feelings first.
The next night, I found Quinn at the dining table with a notebook open and his head down, scribbling away.
