Page 10 of My Brother's Forbidden Friend

Derek grabs my hand and tugs me onto his lap on the couch. “Finally alone. Where’s your bedroom?”

“Um…” I place my hand on his chest. “I don’t think I’m ready for that. Can we just watch the movie tonight?”

“You’re not ready?” He laughs. “You’re kidding, right?” He eyes my shirt and shorts.

“What? We barely know one another and I’m not ready to sleep with you.”

He scowls. “Then why do you dress like that?”

I refrain from grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch and covering myself. “Because I like these clothes. Because they’re in style. Because I think I look good in them.”

He points at me. “Exactly, you look sexy as hell in them. You’re showing off your body like you wanna get fucked.”

I slide to the other side of the couch. “Well, I don’t want to get fucked, and definitely not by you.”

He huffs and his gaze diverts away from mine before he looks back at me, eyes full of anger. “You’re a cocktease.”

“Why would I be a tease? Did I just give you a hand job and right before you came say, ‘Oh no, I don’t do that’? No. I’ve given you no reason to think I wanted to sleep with you.” I cross my arms. All the looks Mandi was giving me seem justified now. Once again, I chose to see the good in a shitty person.

“You dress with more skin showing than fabric. You invited me to your house for a movie. You’ve been all over me all night.”

“Bullshit!” My voice grows louder. “You’ve been the one pawing at me all night. And I invited you over to watch a movie, not to sleep together.” I stand and head to the front door, opening it wide. “You can go.”

He stays where he sits on the couch. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The first fissure of fear cracks my veneer. “You are.” I try to keep my voice even and continue to stand with the door open.

He waits me out in silence, and I pretend to inspect my nails instead of wondering if I should call one of my brothers to help me. God, how embarrassing would that be? Poor little Chevelle can’t take care of herself.

After a few minutes, he finally bolts up from the couch, hands in fists at his sides. “Fine. Your loss.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll be crying tonight.”

He grabs his candy and microwave popcorn, walking past me. “Cocktease.”

After he’s gone, I slam the door and flick the lock, turning off the lights. I walk into the kitchen, grab the plate of cookies, and retreat to my room. Something has me picking up my family photo album and flipping through the pages, wishing for the millionth time that my mom was still here to give me advice.

I stare at the bridesmaid’s dress hanging on my closet door. I’m the last one standing and I’m not sure if I like that or not. It used to not bother me at all, but now… I don’t know. Then again, step one would be meeting a guy who’s worth my forever. Sure, there’s Cam, but he’s not marriage material.

4

“OH, HE JUST WROTE HIS FUCKING DEATH CERTIFICATE.”

Chevelle

I’m getting ready for Mandi and Noah’s wedding, take two, collecting my dress, my makeup bag, and everything I need to get ready when the doorbell rings.

Their original wedding didn’t happen because Mandi called it off, but they’ve since worked out all their shit and are more excited than ever to be husband and wife.

I jog down the steps and open the front door, expecting it to be Nikki because she probably thinks I’m going to be late and feels like she needs to pick me up to keep me on schedule. But standing on the other side of the door is a man in a suit and holding a bouquet of flowers in front of his face. I can tell that it’s Derek.

I haven’t seen or talked to him in a few weeks.

When I don’t say anything, he lowers the flowers away from his face and smiles brightly. I open my mouth to tell him to go away, but he holds up a hand. “Give me a chance to apologize?”

I close my mouth and wait for his words, but they aren’t going to make much of a difference to me. I made the right call when I broke things off with him.

“I’m sorry I acted like an asshole. There’s no excuse for me saying those things or acting like that to you. I’ve been stressed with the job on the boat. The guys are all being dicks to me. Then you have this whole big life here with all these people who love you and I don’t have anyone. My parents sure as shit don’t care about me. They don’t even know where I am. I guess I was anxious for things to work out with you because I want someone on my side.”

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