My Not So Wicked Stepbrother (My Not So Wicked Series Book 1)

by Jennifer Peel

  “I know it’s juvenile. I’m just trying to forget about him.”

  “How’s that going for you?”

  I gave her a crooked smile. “Not so well.”

  “I’ve been there. Those King men, they get under your skin and take your heart hostage.”

  I nodded. That’s exactly how I felt.

  “Did you guys break up?”

  “Why does everyone keep saying that? We were never a couple.”

  “Uh-huh.” She grinned. “You two weren’t fooling anyone except maybe yourselves.”

  I took a big bite of my ice cream soaked in Dr. Pepper. Food at its finest. Bridget waited for me to revel and then swallow.

  “Have they talked?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “Not yet. I think Warren is a little afraid. He wanted to get some background information first.”

  “So, you’re his spy.”

  “I’m his partner and your friend.”

  “I could use a few more of those after last weekend.” The tears I had been so good about not shedding filled my eyes. I regurgitated the entire ugly affair, but made sure she knew I didn’t divulge the conversation we’d had before I went to Alabama. “I didn’t tell Sawyer,”—there I said his name—“what you told me. I only recommended he talk to his dad and get the full picture. And I’m sorry if you and Warren hate me now for thinking Ashton is a cheating thief.” I leaned back in my seat and let out a deep breath.

  Bridget dropped her hot fudge covered spoon in her mostly eaten dessert bowl. “You had quite the weekend, didn’t you? I’m so sorry about your family and Sawyer. Don’t worry about Warren and me; we aren’t going anywhere.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, what you’ve said about Ashton isn’t all that surprising.”

  My brows jumped to my hairline. “It’s not?”

  She hemmed and hawed a bit. “Warren has been worried that Ashton wasn’t exactly truthful about why he got divorced and had to leave Vegas in such a hurry. He asked to borrow a pretty good sum of money when he got here.”

  “Did Warren give it to him?”

  Bridget shook her head. “He gave him a few hundred dollars and a place to stay until he started working for your dad.”

  “Does Warren know what kind of trouble he was in?”

  “Not exactly, but Warren overheard a few conversations that made him think he owed a lot of money to a lot of people.”

  “Is Warren in contact with Ashton’s ex-wife?”

  “We never met her. They weren’t married that long. It was one of those quickie Vegas weddings. We offered to come visit them or to have them visit us, but Ashton always had some excuse as to why that wouldn’t work.”

  This was fantastic freaking news. Ashton had portrayed his marriage and divorce much differently to me. He’d acted so heartbroken. He’d even cried and said they’d known each other forever, so it came as a shock to him when she left him with nothing.

  I was at a complete loss for words. There was nothing I could do. My family had made their choice, and it wasn’t me. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  Neither of us had to say anything because, lo and behold, a blonde goddess entered unexpectedly. That pretty much summed up my life anymore, a series of unexpected events. At first, she didn’t see me, which I was grateful for and hoping to keep it that way. I watched Shelby walk with purpose in her heels and tiny wrap dress across the tiled floor to the counter. Both teenage boys manning the ice cream scoops began fighting over who would serve her.

  Shelby charmed them, “Now boys, I’ll take two scoops of your nonfat peach frozen yogurt, so you can both help me.”

  I couldn’t be friends with someone who came into an ice cream shop and ordered nonfat frozen yogurt. Why was that even a thing? What joy would you get out of eating that? Apparently, Shelby must have gotten some pleasure out of it because as soon as they handed her the paper bowl with two very generous scoops, she took a large bite, closed her eyes, and sighed as if she’d had a bad day. When she opened them they lasered right in on me. I probably shouldn’t have been staring at her from our small table near the entrance.

  “Oh, my goodness.” Shelby began prancing toward me. “Emma, sugar, this is an answer to my prayers,” she spoke loudly. “I’ve been wondering if I should call you and here you are.” She landed in front of us and looked between Bridget and me. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I’m interrupting you.”

  I couldn’t help but be nice to her. There was something about her, and dang if she wasn’t polite. “That’s okay. This is my friend Bridget.” No need to mention how she was affiliated with my former friend.

  Shelby gave Bridget a warm smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Any friend of my friend Emma is a friend of mine. This woman saved me from the fullest bladder I’ve ever had.”

  Bridget gave me a curious smile. Mine in return said I would tell her later.

  “Do you mind if I join y’all?” She didn’t wait for our response—she set down her frozen yogurt on our table and grabbed one of the white wooden chairs from a nearby table. She sat down and let out a deep breath. “Mylanta, has it been a day. I’ve been feeling awful all day.”

  “Are you sick?” I asked.

  She reached out and took my hand. “Darlin’, I am heartsick. I owe you an apology.”

  “What for?”

  She took another bite of what I assumed was basically orange colored ice. No way that nonfat crap had any flavor. The way she savored it, though, made me wonder. She swallowed and breathed out. “I’m a horrible, awful friend.” She looked between Bridget and me. “This might be a delicate, private situation.”

  I was more than perplexed. “I’m sure whatever it is you have to say, you can say it in front of Bridget.”

  Shelby’s shoulders relaxed. “Okay, then here it goes.” She reached out and took both my hands. “Emma, why didn’t you tell me that you and Sawyer were a thing?”

  For not wanting to talk about the man, that was all I was doing. I pulled my hands away from her delicate, perfectly polished ones. “That’s because we weren’t.”

  Bridget rolled her eyes.

  “Now, Emma, I know that to be an untruth, and here I was going on and on about him and fawning all over him. My goodness, you must hate me.”

  Oh, I had tried to hate her, but how do you hate pure, sweet perfection? “I don’t hate you. Like I said, there was nothing between us.”

  Bridget coughed out, “Liar.”

  Shelby gave her a dazzling smile. “I knew it.”

  “How do you know that, Shelby?”

  “Well, on Saturday I asked Sawyer to dinner and I was thrilled he said yes because he’d turned me down before.” She bit her lip. “This was before I figured it all out.”

  I was suddenly feeling ill. I knew I shouldn’t care that he had dinner with her, but I did.

  “There we were in that nice chateau up on the mountain. Lovely, by the way, and the food was fantastic. I could tell he wasn’t himself from the beginning, so I did my best to cheer him up by . . .” her face tinged pink, “you know, never mind.”

  My mind was swirling with unsavory possibilities. She was lucky I didn’t kick her stick legs under the table.

  “My point,” Shelby continued, “is all that sweet man talked about was you, Miss Emma.”

  I tucked some hair behind my ear. “What did he say?” Not like I really cared, but I thought I should at least ask to be polite.

  She pursed her pretty pink lips together. “First, he was kind of angry, which surprised me. He was lamenting something fierce about you just not understanding, though he wouldn’t say what about. Then as the night went on, every little thing reminded him of you. Like when he looked over the menu and said, ‘If Emma were here, she’d want to me to order the shrimp scampi so that she could order the ribeye and we could share.”’ Shelby flashed me a smile. “He did order that shrimp scampi and only ate half of it.”

  “He did?” That sounded good right now. I wonder if he had the other half
boxed up to go. What a dumb thought. I shouldn’t care.

  “Yes, ma’am. That should have told me all I needed to know,” she added, embarrassed, “but I kept thinking you were stepbrother and stepsister. Then today it all clicked when he was downright ugly with some of our staff today and not as caring and personable as he normally is with his patients. It started reminding me of when I found out that my fiancé had been cheating on me. I’m ashamed to say how unpleasant I was to be around.” She placed her hand across her chest.

  I couldn’t picture her being anything but sparkling and kind.

  “I started thinking back about all the times I’d seen you together and I remembered the first time I saw you two together at the café and I thought you were a sweet couple before I knew about how you were related. Sawyer doted on you. I realize now he did that a lot. He always wanted to be near you, make sure you were taken care of. My Ryder used to do the same for me.” She began to tear up.

  My eyes started leaking too. He really had doted on me. Had I been reading him wrong this entire time?

  Shelby took my hand. “I’m so sorry, Emma. You must think I’m a hussy.”

  “I don’t think that at all.” Okay, so maybe I had, but I didn’t now. “Sawyer and I were never really together, and we never will be. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

  “Oh, but I do. I was going on and on about him that night in the tent. And there you were being so nice to me and listening to my personal pain and teaching me how to pee in the woods.”

  Bridget snorted a bit. I was liking her more and more. Any woman who could snort was a winner.

  Shelby took a breath and held up her hand as if she was taking an oath. “I promise from here on out, I will only have a professional relationship with Sawyer and I will do everything in my power to see that you two are rightfully back together like you belong.”

  “No. No. That won’t be necessary.”

  “It is absolutely necessary. That’s what best friends are for.”

  When had we become best friends?

  “Shelby, really, there’s nothing you can do.”

  “Oh, honey, you have no idea what I can do.”

  “Whatever it is, I’m in.” Bridget gave me a wicked grin.

  I shook my head. “Ladies, if neither of you have noticed, my last name is Loveless. It’s my curse, and nothing anybody does will ever change that.” Not even my mom could.

  Shelby gave me a coy smile. “You know what my memaw used to say about curses?”

  I shook my head.

  “She said they are nothing but self-fulfilled prophecies—they only work if you believe them.”

  Well, I was a believer.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I would have thought talking to Shelby was the most interesting conversation I was going to have all week, but I was wrong. Again.

  My phone rang the next day while I was in my dingy office working on some analytical data. I was surprised to see Macey’s name on the screen. I ignored it at first, thinking she must have butt dialed me with that bony thing she passed off as a rear end. Besides, I had nothing to say to her. She called me three more times. It finally annoyed me enough that I answered.

  “Why are you calling me?”

  Sniffles filled my ear. “Emma,” Macey’s pathetic voice squeaked.

  Someone died. I knew it. Why else would she call? Was it awful that I had a list of who I was hoping it would be? Then panic set in. Please don’t let it be Marlowe or Dad. Sure, I didn’t like them right now, but I loved them even if they didn’t love me.

  “What’s wrong, Macey?”

  “We need your help.”

  “We?”

  “Marlowe and me.”

  “Why are you calling me for help? Why don’t you ask Josephine or Ashton?”

  Macey’s sniffling increased. “They can’t help us.”

  “Why?”

  “Because no one knows where Ashton is, and Josephine and Dad aren’t speaking to each other.”

  Oh, really? Huh. “I still don’t understand why you are calling me. Didn’t you tell me to mind my own business?”

  “I didn’t say that. Marlowe did.”

  “What did I say?” Marlowe yelled in the background.

  “You told Emma to mind her own business.”

  “I told you she wouldn’t help us,” Marlowe responded.

  “Please, Emma. We need you.”

  “You both have a lot of nerve asking me for help right now. What is it you need help with anyway?” I thought I should ask before I outright told them no.

  “I know we haven’t been very nice to you. I’m sorry.”

  “Because you want my help?”

  “No, Emma, everything is a mess right now. Almost all the wranglers have quit, and Dad can’t find anyone to replace Frankie. No one in town wants to work at the Ranch. Several guests have left.”

  I wasn’t surprised, but it broke my heart. “What can I do about that?”

  “That’s not what we need help with. We’ve made a big mistake at the store.”

  “What kind of a mistake?”

  “The thousands of dollars kind.”

  “What did you do?”

  “We don’t know,” she cried. “We were balancing the cash drawer and reconciling the receipts and we are off by over $6,000.”

  Holy crap. I didn’t know they made that kind of money. “How much do you make in a day?”

  “Normally around $2500 in the summer.”

  “Then how can you be off by that much?”

  She paused. And paused some more.

  “Macey?”

  “We haven’t balanced the drawer in a while or—”

  “How long is a while?”

  “Like, two months.”

  This was why when Mom was alive, she wouldn’t let Dad give them the money to open their own store. “Macey, you can’t run a business like that.”

  “We thought our point of sale software would keep track of everything, so it didn’t matter.”

  I wanted to bang my head against the desk.

  “You’re smart. You know how to do all this stuff. Will you please help us? If Dad finds out right now, he’ll probably make us close the store.”

  “It sounds like you would deserve it.”

  “I know,” she sniffled.

  Marlowe got on the phone. “Emma,” she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “we know we’ve been brats to you. If you don’t help us, we’ll understand.”

  I’d never heard Marlowe grovel before. She wasn’t all that good at it, to be honest, but for her I guess it was something. I debated on whether I should help the brats or not. I wanted to tell them no, but then I heard Mom’s voice in my head saying, “Sometimes you have to be the one to start mending the fence even if you didn’t break it. Never be afraid of being the bigger person.” Mom’s final assault on me was to remind me what was written on her headstone, Where there is great love there are miracles.

  “Fine,” I breathed out. “I can be there in about an hour.” I wasn’t expecting any miracles, but I knew Mom was. She always did.

  “You’re the best,” Macey shouted.

  “Thank you,” Marlowe whispered.

  On the drive to Carrington Cove, all I could think about was what the girls had said about the Ranch. What had happened to Dad? How could he let Mom’s dream die such a cruel death? What kind of spell had Josephine cast on him? It had to be in the bedroom, and that thought grossed me out. Scrubbing that from my memory and moving on. Where had Ashton disappeared to? Was Sawyer seeing all this? Did he really think this was happiness? I would never know. I hadn’t heard from him and I wasn’t planning on it. He hadn’t even picked up his stupid bag on my porch.

  Now here I was bailing my sisters out.

  I parallel parked in front of M&M on Main. A chalkboard closed sign hung on the door even though it was only four in the afternoon. They must really be in a state to close their store early, especially with so many tourists f
locking the streets. I had to admit their storefront was darling with a striped black and white awning and a simple glass and black door with their insignia on it. An array of all white clothes on black mannequins was displayed in the windows in an artsy sort of way. Their storefront was a lot like them. A beautiful exterior, but the substance inside was lacking. I knew Mom worried that Macey and Marlowe let the Carrington name and looks go to their heads. She wanted them to work for this store. Work for something.

  I took a deep breath of the mountain air before I knocked on their door.

  Macey rushed to open it and pull me in. “Thank you, Emma.” She wrapped her skinny arms around me. She was so much taller than me that my face landed in her boobs.

  I tried to lighten the moment. “There’s a lot of padding in your bra.”

  She pulled away. “We didn’t luck out and get Mom’s boobs like you did.”

  I looked down at my ample, but not too ample girls. Huh. I’d never thought about it. I guess I did have a pretty nice set.

  Marlowe came out of the back holding a fistful of receipts. “We’re still off.”

  “Let’s see what we can find.”

  Both of the girls gave me sheepish grins.

  Their back office area was a mess with receipts and cash spread out in piles across both of their desks. I had to roll my eyes.

  “Where have you been keeping all this cash? Don’t you make daily bank deposits?”

  “We have a safe,” Macey offered.

  I rubbed my head. This was going to be a long night.

  As I started sorting through their mess, I found one of their biggest problems was they were each taking cash for personal use and leaving notes saying how much they took. I warned them to stop doing that. They were begging to be audited by the IRS. They had no idea what that meant.

  I was there so long we ordered Chinese food. While I ate and scoured through each and every receipt and report from the last two months trying to find the difference, I decided I might as well be bold and try and get some answers about what was going on at home. They did live at the Ranch, after all, and had a front row seat to what was going on.

  “Why is everyone quitting?”

  A look of guilt passed between my sisters. At first they shrugged. I gave them a pointed look. “Come on.”