Page 19 of Wicked Me
5
Sam
THE ONLY THING THATcured a hangover was waking up at the butt crack of dawn. Somehow, that shock to the system sucked up the last of the alcohol better than sleeping it off. Worked like a charm every time.
The morning after Hill had tried to have me killed because of—what had Slim called it? A peace offering—and Paige had made it all better with double-decker BLT’s and justexistingin my kitchen, I wandered out of my bedroom. Low voices drifted from downstairs and around the corner. Riley and a woman.
I glanced across the hallway and found Paige’s door shut. The voice wasn’t husky and sexy enough to be hers, anyway. So who had my older brother dragged home with him this time?
Downstairs, a tall, skinny blonde pressed up against Riley by the front door. Likely one of Dad’s interns, judging from her wrinkled jacket with a button that read Cleary For President!
Still barefoot, I crept up to them and clapped Riley on the back hard enough to make him jump. “Did you see the letter from your doctor with the list of all your STDs? I left it on the table for you, bro. You’re welcome.”
Riley’s face turned all sorts of red, and I grinned bigger at each and every shade.
“Calista,” he said through clenched teeth, “you remember my brother SamRam, the comedian?”
She held out her hand while her gaze wandered over my bare chest, down my happy trail, and back up again. No way was I touching the hand that had probably just handled my brother’s dick.
“SamRam? Is that really your name?” she asked, lowering her hand. She tilted her head, and a speck of dried makeup slid down her cheek from the black smudges under her eyes.
“Nickname,” I said and turned back to Riley before this chick brought my hangover back in full force all over her blue heels. “You do remember who’s upstairs, right? Or did you forget for the five minutes you were here yesterday?”
The veins in Riley’s neck stuck out. I figured I had just a couple seconds before he was going to blow.
“Yeah, I fucking remember, Sam,” he said.
“Who’s upstairs?” the blonde asked.
“Nobody, just some girl he kidnapped and locked inside the padded room he built.” I wriggled my finger back and forth between them. “Has he shown you that yet?”
Riley rolled his hands into fists, the red on his face crawling past his hairline. I widened my feet in case he dove at me.
The blonde shook her head with a skeptical smile. “Padded room?”
“He usually saves that for at least the third date,” I said and winked at my dear old brother.
“Okay. That’s it.” With his glare aimed at me, Riley yanked open the door. “Carissa, will you wait for me outside, please?”
“It’s Calista,” she said. When Riley didn’t say anything, she ducked out the screen door.
