Filthy (A Stepbrother Romance) #1 (3 page)

              Our parents got married less than two weeks later. The wedding and the look of hate Mia had for me with every passing glace was enough to cause knots to permanently form in my belly. I still wanted her. I still found myself drifting off into a daydream of her and I fucking on every surface of my house, but I knew it would never happen. Not now.

              “Now Lacy and I are going to be in Cabo for three weeks, and we put her house up on the market. I don’t know if she had let Mia know but I wanted to let you know that she will be moving in with you while were gone. If she needs help I expect you to be there.” My father’s authoritative tone was all I heard, not the words but the way in which he said them.

              I shook my head, rubbing at the back of my neck to ease some of the tension out of it. “Is that really a good idea? Mia and I don’t really see eye to eye.” It wasn’t a lie. We didn’t see eye to eye. I saw the need to fuck her, and she saw the need to hate my guts. Even I knew this was a shit-tastic idea.

              “Mia will have to get over this. Her father passed away a long time ago, just like your mother did. Just because we lose someone we love doesn’t mean that life stops. Love can still be found. She should be happy for her mother, not angry or blaming her for what she found: happiness.” I got what he was saying—I truly did— but still the part of my heart that my mom would only ever hold ached for her. I missed her every single day. Losing her was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. My father moving on and marrying someone else was just another reminder that she was gone and had been for years.

              “I get that, Dad, I just thought I would give you a friendly warning, in case you come back and the house is destroyed and one of us is dead,” I joked, kind of.

              My father smiled at me, and when he smiled it was a true one, the kind that met your eyes or some shit. You could tell when someone was truly happy when that happened.

              “Don’t kill her. I don’t need to be planning a funeral right after getting married.” He snickered. The wrinkles on his face had grown since the last time I had seen him. Being a doctor was stressful, the hours and the shit he had to deal with day in and day out. I never understood why he chose a career in medicine. I guess he just liked helping others.

              “I’ll try my hardest,” I responded, getting a Gatorade from the fridge and heading downstairs to the gym. If Mia was going to be moving in, it was going to get ten times fucking harder to keep my hands to myself. It was like giving a drug addict their drug of choice but telling them not to use it. Mia was my drug of choice.

I stayed downstairs for hours, running and working out. I could sense the moment she came into the house, her and I’m sure her million and one bags as most women had. My body lit up like a Christmas fucking tree, fire covering every single inch of my flesh. I had to go to her, be near her. The attraction hadn’t always been this intense, not until our parents got married and I knew that I would be around her every single day. Unsupervised. There was nothing that could stop us from crossing that line. Then again, if we did that now there would be no going back; none at all. I came up the stairs slowly, a towel in hand as I wiped away the sweat that lingered against my abs and chest.

I could hear her breathy intake as she took notice of me. I lifted my eyes to meet hers, taking note of the lustful look that she covered up with disgust in a blink of her eyes.

“Do you like what you see?” I let my cocky tone and my usual attitude do the talking. I couldn’t let her being here change who I was, not even a little bit.

“Why don’t you take your asshole self out of my space.” I could feel the slap of her words as she spoke them, and the pain that seared me as they smacked off me did nothing but cause my grin to grow.

“This is my house.” I took a step toward her, which caused her to retreat one back. My ego boosted; I liked where this was going. “Therefore, why don’t you…” I took another step into her space, forcing her to retreat again. She was only a couple steps away from the counter and soon enough her back would run in to it.

“Get out of my space.” I raised my lip in a snarl. Fear mixed with shock showed in her features just as she hit the counter like I had assumed she would. Her cheeks grew warm, and her clenched fists at her sides were all kinds of adorable. She was a fierce looking thing, and fucking God, how I wanted to cross the space between us and press my lips against hers. That and wrap my hands through her hair and tug on those brown locks like I couldn’t ever let her go.

Something changed in those dark eyes, and she spoke without any of the previous emotions she was feeling. “It’s no longer your space brother dearest. It’s
our
space now.” She winked at me, and I almost came right on the spot.

"Why don't you make yourself useful for once and help me carry my bags in. If I'm going to be forced to live in the same house as you, I want to get this move over as quickly as possible.” She was all business now, and I hated how she had been able to turn the tables on me so easily.

I stood there for a long moment, much longer than I intended to. “Do I make you hot? Make you want me as much as I want you.” I crept around her, feeling her out to see what she would do next.

“Nothing has changed. I’m still going to try every day. It doesn’t matter that I’m your stepbrother.” I challenged her to say something to me. Something to try and change my mind, because I would take those words and add them to the fire that made me advance toward her every day. She had to know that nothing changed between us. I still wanted her, and she obviously still hated me.

“You’re filthy. Disgusting.” She wrinkled her nose at me. All she was missing was the stomping foot part, and she would have the whole act down.

“Don’t act like you don’t want me. That you don’t think about me. I know I think about you every night as I’m stroking my six inch…” Her hands shot up over her ears.

“You’re so fucking disturbed it’s not even funny.” Mia’s nose turned down at me as she dropped her hands down to her sides, and I could see she was now starting to think she was better than me. That wasn’t going to happen, at least not in my fucking house.

“Women would kill for what you have. Talon uckin’ Reed at your disposal and all those endless fucking sessions we could have.” I snickered, stretching my hands above my head to show off the rest of my body. I could see her eyes roaming over my muscles and slowly eyeing the waistband of my sweats. She might have thought I was a dirty, nasty, even filthy fucker, but she wasn’t any better.

She fucking wanted me, even if she wasn’t going to admit it, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to do everything I could to make her give into those desires. I kept my eyes on her soft brown ones, watching and waiting for her to give me some type of sign to come forward and claim her.

What I got was nothing of that assort.

“Leave me the fuck alone, Talon, because if you don’t I’ll do whatever I can to make your life an ever living hell.” There was so much determination in that little body of hers, I almost wanted to take her up on that offer. Instead I let her walk away from me, the warning hanging in the air between us. My eyes following the motion of her ass as it swayed away from me.

Shit, and now I had to help her carry her shit in. Fuck my life.

              I knew he was an asshole, I just didn’t realize how big of one he was until I was forced to move in with him. My mother had sold the house without warning, taking everything and moving it out... that included me. Which is why I was stuck here dealing with Talon, day in and day out. I was currently sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch with one of my acquaintances. I couldn’t consider Daisy a friend since she never hung out with me much and we didn’t really share any personal information with one another.

              “Word on the street is that Talon has a thing for you. Apparently you keep turning him down?” Daisy questioned for the first time like ever, her eyebrow raised and a hurtful look on her face like I withheld some type of secret from her.

              I took a bite out of my apple ignoring her question. Every thing I had to deal with revolved around the prick. From my life at home, to college, he was always the center of attention. It was nauseating.

              “While…” Daisy cleared her throat.

              “Oh stop! You act like I actually have something going on with him. He’s an asshole, and better yet he’s my stepbrother. He’s filthy with a capital fucking F!” I may have raised my voice a bit as I spoke but I got my point across, or at least I hoped I had.

              “Wow. So it’s true then?” she added, baiting me of course. I didn’t want to ask or give into the gossip Gods of Central Heights, but I didn’t have much of an option. If I was being talked about in the same sentence as Talon I wanted to know.

              “Just say it, because I’m not going to beg you for information, Daisy. I’m not like that. My life doesn’t revolve around the gossip at this school.” I was beyond annoyed by the time I finished my sentence. So much so that I was considering just getting up and forgetting about whatever it was that was being said about me.

              “It’s just a rumor, and since your life doesn’t revolve around the gossip then I assume you don’t really care to know.” Daisy smacked her lips together in anger. I could see the steam flowing from her ears. She was just like the rest of the girls that drooled and chased after Talon and totally not worth my time.

              “Save it. I don’t need to know.” I got up from my chair, faster than needed, and I all but ran from the cafeteria barely stopping to toss the food I hadn’t eaten in the trashcan. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going or who was in front of me, and I ended up running into the back of someone. I mumbled a sorry and started to walk away but was stopped as the person grabbed my arm and refused to let go.

              “Excuse me, but you…” I was whirled around to face the person I had hit. Words were lost as I realized Talon had plucked me up and twisted my body into his. He smiled down at me as if he had just won the jackpot.

              “You’re excused, sis.” He was trying to woo me in front of all of his friends. I could see the gawks and whispers. They seemed to follow him wherever he went. I wanted nothing to do with that.

              “No you’re…” I growled, fed up with the way he was acting and handling me. Lifting my leg, I angled my knee upward and toward his balls. I could tell when they made impact because his mouth made an O shape, and he released me. I didn’t stick around to see the anger or swear words that would come from his mouth. I just walked away, a new feeling cascading over me. I felt empowered even as I heard Talon’s friend Nick call me a bitch. I had better shit to do, like get to my next class, apply for jobs, hell anything was better than letting him make a mockery out of me in front of the entire student body.

              Instead I went to all my classes for the afternoon and watched the time on the clock slowly tick down. I had felt so great earlier after I showed everyone that Talon couldn’t sink his claws into me, but now as the time ticked away and it grew closer to the end of the day in which I had to come back to
our
house, my nerves started to tingle and my belly seemed to be doing a flip flop. I was starting to regret my charade from earlier.

             
Don’t be weak. Stand your ground.
I forced the reminder in my head a couple of times, talking myself out of a full-blown anxiety attack. I hadn’t thought about Talon once today, not until it was time to leave. I walked out to my jeep slowly, scouring the parking area. Talon drove today, and I… God, I was being paranoid. I ignored the nagging thoughts at the back of my mind and instead got in my car and headed toward
Starbucks
. I could kill a little time there before I had to go home and deal with his bullshit.

              I hit the drive thru, which is what it seemed like everyone else was doing at the time. I ordered a
Caramel Macchiato
, extra caramel and paid for it at the window. As soon as the caramel goodness touched my tongue I moaned. I lapped up the yumminess as I pulled into Central Height’s rich district. All the houses were large, the driveways perfectly paved, and not even a single blade of grass was out of order. Everything was perfect and totally not for me.

              I sighed in relief as I noticed Talon’s
Dodge Charger
wasn’t in the driveway. Hopefully he wouldn’t come home tonight, and if he did then he would know better than to start something with me.

              I got out of the car, my eyes roaming over the house itself. It was a beautiful fortress, made for those with money. A three car garage was attached to the home, the house was white, and had marble columns in the front. There was a stone path that led around the house, and a porch made for those that loved the great outdoors. I had thought about heading out to it the other night but stayed confined to my bedroom.

              I still wasn’t comfortable with the fact that I slept down the hall from playboy Talon. Who knew how many girls rolled around in his sheets? Was I jealous, no. No way. I continued to sip my drink as I got my key out and unlocked the door heading into the house.

              My heart sank when I heard a female voice accompanied by Talon’s smooth, deep one. I wanted to stab someone—

preferably him— but at this point anyone would do. I sneaked in around the corner and into the kitchen, making sure that I didn’t make any noise as I tip toed toward the stairs.

              “Mia, why don’t you come hangout in here with the rest of us.” Talon’s voice was robust in such a large house. It bounced off the walls and right into my ears. Knots formed in my stomach as I peeked around corner and saw who
us
really was. Talon had a busty blonde sitting on his lap, his friend Nick was chilling in one of the recliners, and a guy I had never met before gave me handsome smile.

              “I have a lot of homework and I had such a stressful day today; you know with Mom and…”

              “Stop making excuses, Mia.” Talon’s voice was flat, his eyes void of emotion as he interrupted me. I had never felt so embarrassed in my entire life. Who did he think he was?

              “Yeah, see I don’t think this is going to work,” I snarled, blowing him off completely. I could give him as much attitude as he gave me, and I could make him look just as weak too.

              “Go hide up in your bedroom. I’ll be there in a little bit to check up on you like the good brother I am.” I almost vomited on the floor with his brother reference, however there was a tiny wedge of excitement that filled my veins when he said he would come check up on me.

              I climbed the steps up to my bedroom listening to their laughter fill the room. Who knew what it was they were talking about or doing. All I could think about was how fucked it was that I kind of wanted Talon, just a little bit.