Free The Forbidden Beat (A Stepbrother Romance) by Jillian Sterling Page B

you'll let the girls stay there?" Dion follow
up.
    "No, I didn't say that," Vince said. "Presley
needs a night off. She'll get the room."
    "We'd take a Motel 6," Rafe grumbled.
    "Speak for yourself," Dion countered, and then he
looked at me. "Come on, Nikki, don't you think this is shit?"
    I opened my mouth, but Vince responded. "Nikki and Jett
are doing fine on the bus, and with everything going on we can't risk Presley
losing her voice. Too much is riding on this right now. You girls understand,
right?"
    Jett and I looked at each other. "I guess," I said
with a shrug.
    "Thank you, Vince," Presley said, resting her head
on his shoulder. "Thank you."
    "Come on, let's get your stuff and get you settled before
tonight's show" Vince said. "Enjoy your night off everyone." He
helped a stumbling Presley —she was milking it for all it was worth —out the
door.
    "That's messed up," Rafe said, still staring at
the door even though they had gone. "You mean to tell me you two are okay
with this."
    Jett exhaled. "What are you going to do? It's
Presley."
    "Yeah, we're used to it," I added.
    "Doesn't make it right," said Dion. "I mean,
it's our father and he treats us like...Well...Like we're you."
    "You?" I asked.
    "The step kids," Rafe clarified.
    Jett looked at the time on her phone and jumped up. "I
gotta go!"
    "Go? Go where?" I asked.
    She tossed her stuff in her backpack. "U-Dub."
    "You what?" I asked.
    "University of Washington. U-Dub."
    I stared at her. "Why?"
    "I heard they had a good English program. And if we
sign with SubPop, will we move up here?"
    "I don't know, maybe. Or not. We can be anywhere. I
think," I stammered. "This is what Vince came here to advise us on,
but he split."
    "He's gotta tuck Princess Presley in," Dion said,
rolling his eyes.
    "Well, it's just a school tour, no strings," Jett
said. "But I've got to go. Anyone know how to get to the University
district?"
    "Come on, I'll help get you there," Rafe said with
a laugh. He picked up her backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "Damn,
girl, what do you have in here?"
    "Books," she said.
    "I'm going to get you a Kindle for Christmas," he
said.
    "Won't use it. I like the way books smell."
    "Do you like being a hunchback too? Because that's what
you're gonna be you keep carrying this heavy thing around."
    Still bickering, they walked out, slamming the door behind
them. That left me and Dion alone in an awkward silence.
    "You're really okay with Presley getting a room at the
Four Seasons?" he asked.
    "Presley's been the master of getting her way since she
was born," I said. "If I got mad about it, I'd be pissed all the
time."
    "Vince pulls this sort of shit all the time too."
    "What? Going to the Four Seasons?"
    His face clouded over. "Treating someone else's kid
better than his own."
    "Trust me, Presley can talk a nun out of her
habit," I said. "She's a master manipulator."
    "So's he," Dion said. "Take Rafe, for
instance. When we were growing up, I hated the little shit. Because Vince
dotted on him. And Rafe had a dad!"
    "His dad was a hot mess, though," I pointed out.
Rafe's father was Anthem's bass player and a raging alcoholic. He went on a
bender and suffocated in his own vomit, in true rock and roll style.
    "And when he died, what did Vince do? Adopted Rafe! And
you know? Kyle took that shit hard, man. He was smaller than Rafe, so Rafe was
always beating up on him. And then I'd have to kick Rafe's ass. And he'd go
crying to Vince. And I'd get called out for defending my little brother."
    "Most kids are shit, Dion," I said.
    "I hold no grudge with Rafe. He was being a kid. I get
that he had it tough with his old man. And he's my brother now, for sure,"
he said, pulling a beer out of the mini-fridge and cracking it open. "But
until Vince legally adopted him, he treated that boy way better than me and
Kyle."
    "What happened after he adopted him?" I asked,
leaning against the door.
    "He stopped favoring him," he said. "Now he
treats him like he treats me. Like