Page 14 of Easter Daddy

“I saw her at the gas station, so I trailed her home,” he tells his father. “Wanted to make sure that she’s safe.”

“Awe, look at you, looking out for your sister,” he says.

I cringe. Sister. I do not want to think about him in that way.

“In all fairness, Dad, we hardly know each other. I wouldn’t rush to call us siblings just yet.” So he eventually plans on calling me his sister? For the second time tonight, I think that perhaps I was imagining his attraction after all.

Or, maybe he’s just saying that for his dad’s benefit. I shouldn’t be hopeful about that, but I am.

Liam sits beside his father and starts talking to him. That’s my cue to leave.

“Well, goodnight,” I say to them, heading towards the staircase. “I’m gonna shower and go to bed.”

* * *

“So are you gonna fuck him?”

“What? No,” I say to Sara, hearing her chuckle into the phone.

“Please. I saw the way you looked at each other at the party.”

“So? Doesn’t mean we have to sleep with each other.”

“Whatever,” she says in a playfully dismissive tone. I can almost hear her rolling her eyes, and it makes me smile.

“Dude, he’s my stepbrother!”

“Emphasis on the ‘step,’” she tells me. “And you hardly know each other. You’re basically strangers. Girl, nothing’s wrong with fucking him.”

“Tell that to everyone else. My mom, his dad, and the press. Oh, God, the press. What if we fuck and it leaks to the press?”

“So?”

“It could ruin his life! What do you mean ‘So’?!”

“He’s a billionaire. He can get away with anything.”

“That’s not how that works,” I say to her slowly, like explaining to a child. You can’t simply have the world find out you fucked your stepsister and then “make it go away.”

“Sure,” is all she says in reply.

“Listen. The press can be brutal. And you know how people are. One scandal and they pull out of a company. I don’t know much about business mumbo jumbo, but I know that.”

“Okay, okay. Don’t fuck him, then. Resist it.”

“I will,” I say. And to the best of my ability, I know that I will. And I have good reason to. “Besides… I think I’m falling for him so sex alone wouldn’t be enough.”

There’s a pause.

“You sure?” she asks. “You barely know him. How many times have you seen him again?”

“Three,” I whisper, feeling absolutely pathetic.

“How many?” she asks, not hearing me.

“Three,” I say a little bit louder.

“Okay. Well, I think you’re confused.”

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