Page 10 of My Fault
After a few seconds’ pause, she turned to her mother, and the evening went on without any more incidents. Noah didn’t speak to me again, she didn’t pay me any attention at all, and that bothered me and pleased me at the same time. While she answered my father’s questions and talked unenthusiastically with her mother, I made my observations.
She was a simple girl. But I could tell she was going to cause me problems. She made funny faces when she tried the shellfish they’d served for the table. She barely tasted a bite of it. No wonder she looked so thin in that black dress. She’d made me pause when I saw her come out of her bedroom, lingering over her long legs, her narrow waist, and her breasts. She was pretty hot considering she hadn’t gone under the knife like most chicks in California.
I had to admit it—she was good-looking, even more so than I’d thought at first, and that and other thoughts clouded my mood. I couldn’t let a person like her distract me, especially not if we were living under the same roof.
I looked at her face again. She didn’t have on a jot of makeup. Strange… All the girls I knew spent at least an hour in their rooms on their makeup alone, and this included girls ten times hotter than Noah, but there she was, not worried in the least about going to a luxury restaurant without even putting on lipstick. Not that she needed it—she was lucky to have taut, almost perfect skin. And those freckles gave her a girly look, reminding me she wasn’t even out of high school.
Before I knew it, Noah was turning to me with an irritated expression. She’d caught me staring.
“You want a photo?” she asked with that acidic humor I was starting to realize was a trademark.
“Yeah. Nude, obviously,” I said, enjoying the slight redness in her cheeks. Her eyes shone angrily, and she turned back to ourparents, who hadn’t even noticed the little dustup that was taking place a foot away from them.
When I brought my soda to my lips, I could see the waitress looking at me from behind the bar. I checked to see if my father noticed and then excused myself, saying I was going to the bathroom. Noah seemed to follow me with her eyes, but I ignored her. I had something more important to deal with.
I walked to the bar and sat on a stool in front of Claudia, the waitress I slept with once in a while. I had dealings with her cousin, too—more complicated but beneficial nonetheless.
Claudia looked at me with a tense smile, leaned on the bar, and offered a partial view of her breasts. As much as she could manage with the uniform she had on.
“I see you’ve found another girl to spend time with,” she said.
Funny.
“She’s my stepsister,” I said, and then looked down at my wristwatch. I would be seeing Anna in forty-five minutes. I looked back at the brunette in front of me, gawking. “I don’t know why you care,” I added, standing up. “Tell Ronnie I’ll be waiting for him tonight on the docks at Kyle’s party.”
Claudia clenched her jaw, probably pissed at how little attention I was paying to her. I couldn’t get why girls expected a relationship with a guy like me. Didn’t I warn them I didn’t want a commitment? Wasn’t it clear that I’d sleep with whomever I felt like? Why did they think they could change me?
I’d stopped sleeping with Claudia for that very reason, and she still hadn’t forgiven me for it.
“You’re going to the party?” she asked, sounding slightly hopeful.
“Obvs,” I responded, ignoring her irritation before I headed back to the table. “Me and Anna. By the way, try to do a better job of pretending you don’t know me. My stepsister’s alreadyfigured out we’ve slept together, and I’d prefer my father not do the same.”
Claudia pressed her lips together and turned around without a word.
I got back just as dessert was being dropped off. After ten minutes, with my father and his new wife hogging the conversation, I decided I’d played the role of good son enough for one day.
“Sorry, but I need to go,” I said, looking at Dad, whose brow furrowed briefly.
“To Miles’s place?”
I nodded and tapped my watch.
“What’s going on with the case?”
I struggled not to sigh with resignation and lied as best I could. “His parents have left us in charge of all the paperwork. I guess that means we’ve got a real case, and with just us working on it, it’ll take years,” I replied, aware that Noah was observing me with interest.
“A real case? What are you studying?” she asked. She looked surprised, even a little disconcerted.
“Law,” I said. She seemed impressed. “Does that surprise you?” I was putting her in a corner with that question, and I enjoyed it.
Her attitude changed, and she looked down her nose at me.
“It does, honestly. I thought that was a major that required having a brain.”
“Noah!” her mother shouted.
That little snotnose was trying to taunt me.
