Free Stepbrother Bastard by Colleen Masters

m
being swept away.
    Water
courses in rivulets over Cash ’ s impeccably muscled
body, and I can ’ t tear my gaze away. As
he straightens up, I run my eyes along his cut torso, down to where his swim
trunks rest dangerously low on his waist. My core twists with longing as he
runs a hand through his soaking wet hair, each muscle rippling with the smallest
of motions.
    And
I ’ m
not the only one staring, either.
    Sophie
has gone stock still beside me, her eyes hard and fast not on Cash, but on the
brother he emerged from the water beside. The color has gone completely out of
her cheeks, and my normally ebullient sister is suddenly silent. What ’ s
that about?
    “ Well?
Who had the best time, Finn? ” Cash demands of the brother we first
encountered on the dock.
    “ Couldn ’ t
tell, lost count. But it looked like a tie, ” Finn replies.
    “ No
such thing, ” scoffs
the brother Sophie ’ s got her eyes trained
on. “ Do
over. ”
    “ Maybe
tomorrow, Luke. If you ’ re a really good boy, ” Cash laughs, reaching for
the pack of cigarettes waiting for him on the dock. Turning, he catches sight
of Sophie and I … and doesn ’ t
even blink.
    “ What ’ re
you, afraid to lose to your little brother? ” the other man returns,
though he certainly doesn ’ t look little to me. He ’ s
at least as tall as Cash, though more clean-cut — with
only a couple of tattoos and close-cropped dark hair.
    “ Nah.
We ’ ve
just got guests , ” Cash replies, practically spitting the
last word as he whips out and lights a cigarette.
    The
other two Hawthorne brothers look up, as if noticing us for the first time. The
one called Luke barely gives me a second glance, but he catches Sophie ’ s
eye at once. A flicker of something like curiosity passes through his deep
brown eyes, though it passes soon enough. The third brother, who looks to be
the youngest, can ’ t even be bothered to
acknowledge our presence.
    Looks
like questionable first impressions run in the family.
    “ What
can we do for you girls? ” Cash asks, taking a long drag of his
cigarette. He ’ s doing a parody of being cordial,
and it ’ s
getting on my last nerve.
    “ Dinner ’ s
ready, ” I inform him, “ Mom
sent us down to get you. ”
    “ We
don ’ t
really do family dinners around here, ” Cash goes on,
condescendingly.
    “ We ’ re
more of a pizza and beer family, ourselves, ” Luke puts in.
    I
wait for Sophie to make some kind of snappy comeback, as she always does … but
the cat has yet to release her tongue. I draw myself up to my full height — which,
granted, isn ’ t much — and
try to sound assertive.
    “ Well,
we ’ re
not doing things your way tonight, ” I tell the trio of
strapping young bucks standing before me, “ We ’ ve
gone out of our way to make a meal, and you three are going to join us. Sound
good? ”
    “ Christ, ” the youngest brother
speaks at last, tossing his sweep of ash brown hair away from his eyes, “ I
didn ’ t
know we were gonna get the full June Cleaver treatment. ”
    “ Don ’ t
be an ass, Finn, ” Luke snaps. Apparently, he ’ s
the moral compass of this little tribe. “ Come
on. I ’ m
not going to complain about a home cooked meal for once. ”
    He
strides past us toward the house, and Sophie goes well out of her way to avoid
his gaze before following. Finn shrugs and follows suit — I
get the feeling that he ’ s more of a nihilist than
an asshole. That just leaves me and Cash, alone again. I watch as he nurses his
cigarette, in no hurry to move.
    “ You
coming? ” I ask him, watching his
full lips close around the filter of his cig.
    “ In
a minute, ” he
says, looking out across the lake.
    “ Your
brothers seem … Uh … Charming, ” I offer, not very
convincingly, “ I didn ’ t
know you were the oldest. I guess we have that in common, huh? ”
    “ You
didn ’ t
really stick around long enough to find out, did you? ” Cash replies. Clearly, he ’ s
never going