Free BIG: (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) by Emme Rollins

hammering away at her with accusations.
     
    “Okay. I’m listening.” She gave him an encouraging smile, hoping he would start, because she didn’t have a clue where to begin.
     
    “This is...” He took a breath and ran a hand over his head, hair still pulled back into an elastic band. “I guess this is just how I remember it. And I’m willing to admit, my perception might be... off. But I want you to hear my side, okay?”
     
    “Okay.” She leaned against the side of the booth, preparing herself. She didn’t want to rehash any of this if she could avoid it—would have preferred pouring gasoline over her head and setting herself on fire—but if it helped him, she would.
     
    “I showed up early at the game. That was my bad. And I know I never said that, so I’m saying it now. Maybe I was... jealous of Ryan.”
     
    She tried not to let her surprise show on her face, but she was glad he wasn’t looking at her. His gaze was far away, on the target, but he was seeing through it. He was remembering, and that forced her to remember too.
     
    “I guess, if I’m being honest—yeah, I was jealous. I didn’t like him.”
     
    “You hadn’t even met him yet,” she reminded him softly.
     
    “I didn’t like any of your boyfriends.” He glanced at her, just briefly, then looked away again.
     
    “I know.”
     
    “But Ryan... he was a special kind of mean.”
     
    “I know.” She sighed.
     
    Ryan was popular, one of the most popular boys in school at the time, and she had believed, somehow, that dating him would improve her status. And in a way, it had—but the cost had been too great. Totally not worth it.
     
    “Besides, I could tell, Leesa, just by you—by the way you were acting after you started dating him. I know I hadn’t met him yet—and maybe that’s part of what I was doing, showing up early, finding you in the stands... I wanted to see for myself.”
     
    “And you did.”
     
    “I was just looking out for you.”
     
    “Like a good big brother.” She poked him again, lower this time, truly shocked at how rock-hard his belly was. She was still getting used to this leaner, harder man. “I know, Ric. I know. I remember. I was there.”
     
    “I don’t think you remember it like I do.”
     
    “So tell me.” She turned an invisible key in her lips. “I’ll shut up.”
     
    “You asked me to pick you up.” He looked at her, waiting for her to interrupt, but she just nodded. “I didn’t know all your friends would be there. I found you in the stands. You were sitting next to him—but you got up and hugged me.”
     
    She’d truly been happy to see him, especially after Ryan’s hissy fit about the seating arrangements. She was glad she’d asked her stepbrother to come get her, instead of going with Ryan to a party way out at one of his friend’s afterwards.
     
    “Everyone had to move over to make room for me.” Ric’s cheeks actually got a little pink at the memory. “Your girlfriends were talking and giggling.”
     
    “They were teenage girls.” She shut up when he gave her a cool look.
     
    “I heard one of them make some comment about my fat ass, Leesa. Trust me, I know when people are making fun of me.”
     
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered, not sure if she was apologizing for then, or now.
     
    “Anyway, Ryan said hi to me, but he was being an asshole to you,” he went on. “He kept complaining about the seats. And the fact that the coach had the nerve to bench him for that mascot stunt.”
     
    She rolled her eyes at that. Ryan and a few of his buddies from the football team had spray-painted their rival school’s mascot head—a giant beaver of all things—bright pink. The coach had banned them from the next three games because of it.
     
    “I just ignored your friends making fun of me. I was used to it by then.” Ric shrugged, arms crossed again as he looked off at the distant target. “But Ryan just kept going on and on—I couldn’t stand the