Sacking the Virgin

by Ryli Jordan

  David sighed and dropped into the seat next to Luke, leaving me the seat across from him. “It was fine,” he said. “Just fine.”

  “You don't sound like you enjoyed yourself very much,” Alex commented.

  David rolled his eyes. “Dad. Look, I'm sorry if I don't have much enthusiasm, but I literally just got back home this morning, and I'm jetlagged as all hell.” He gave a very fake smile. “But if you need more pep in your lives...”

  I winced; no wonder he was acting so brusque. No one really seemed to know what to say in response to him. Finally, Mom cleared her throat. “Well, why don't we get some food in you? I'm sure that'll make you feel better. Bet you didn't get many home-cooked meals in London.”

  The maid began bringing in our plates, laying them down one by one in front of us.

  David turned pointedly towards Luke. “What have you been up to lately, Luke? How's the job search been going? Or haven't you started on it yet?”

  Luke scowled at him. “Shut up, dude,” he muttered under his breath.

  “Luke, you aren't job-searching, are you?” Mom asked, looking curiously at the man.

  David arched one eyebrow, giving his cousin an incredulous look. “Oh really?” he asked. “You didn't even tell them that you were fired?”

  Lucas slammed down his cutlery, giving David a look that could kill. “Dude, what the hell. I mean, as though it wasn't bad enough that you fired me from your company, but–“

  “You didn't do any work!” David cried exasperatedly. He spun to face his father. “Dad, seriously, I can't believe you're letting him live here like this. You know why he got evicted, right?”

  Luke stood abruptly, his chair screeching against the wooden floor. “David, shut up,” he hissed. “Seriously, man, what the hell are you trying to do?”

  David sat back lazily, smiling patronizingly at his cousin. “Apparently,” he said, glancing between his dad and my mom, “Luke got arrested for dealing cocaine. They threw out the case because there was no proof that the drugs weren't just left behind during this party that he'd had earlier in the week, but his landlord didn't want him in the same building as their sixteen-year-old daughter—with good reason, I'd say.”

  Luke covered his face with his hands. “Not cool, man,” he muttered. He looked earnestly at our parents. “I really wasn't dealing,” he said earnestly.

  Mom looked appalled. Alex looked like he didn't know whose neck he wanted to wring first, Luke's or David's. “Did you really need to bring this up at the dinner table?” he hissed at his son.

  David shrugged. “Whoops.” He grinned crookedly and stood, dropping his napkin into his chair. “Does this mean dinner's over now? As much fun as this has been, I think it’s time I went home to sleep.”

  “Sit down,” Alex snapped at both of them. “Remind me again how old the two of you are—you’re acting like children.” He scowled back and forth between the two of them. “Now Luke, why don't you explain what's really going on. Bearing in mind that David seems to know more about your story than you've been telling us over the past couple weeks.”

  Luke didn't sit, though. Instead, he remained standing behind his chair, white-knuckling the back of it. “Everything that David's just told you is true,” he gritted out through his teeth. “Like he said, the jury exonerated me, so it isn't something that's going to go on my record or anything like that. There were some news stories about it, though, which is how my landlord found out about it. And how HR found out about it.”

  “And then I fired him,” David said simply, challenging the table with his eyes. “We simply can't have someone with a record like that on our payroll—I don't care whether it's on your official record or not. We're pushing to grow our UK branch, plus expand to elsewhere. Your actions jeopardize that. And it's not like you were the most reliable worker anyway.” He sneered. “In fact, I bet you can't even tell me one project you actually worked on the whole time you were employed with GDC, Ltd.”

  “He's just afraid people would accuse him of nepotism if he let me keep progressing in the company,” Luke explained to their parents. “I do an excellent job in the design department, and everyone seems to know that except for him. And furthermore, he has never even been down to the design department to see me at work firsthand. He's only–“

  “Going by what other people have told me,” David acknowledged. “Which seems to belie your statement that 'everyone knows' that you do an excellent job.” He folded his arms across his chest, arching an eyebrow at his cousin.

  “So you've been living here under false pretenses,” Alex finally cut in, frowning at Luke. “You have no job, no place to live—and yet you're going out drinking most nights and...frolicking...with young women left and right—don't think we've been oblivious to the women that you've brought back here.” He shook his head. “I'm afraid if you want to continue living here, there are going to have to be some rules laid down.”

  “I'm not fifteen!” Luke cried, looking aghast.

  Alex shrugged. “Then quit acting like it. Now sit down and finish your dinner.”

  “I'm not hungry,” Luke snapped, slamming his chair back forwards and stalking from the room without a backwards glance.

  There was a long silence in the room. I took a bite of my dinner, hoping it would prompt everyone else to follow. Unfortunately, that didn't work.

  “Is it really necessary for me to be here?” David gritted out, directing the question at his father.

  Alex gave him a dark look but didn’t say anything. He stabbed a bite of meat and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly. After a long moment, David began eating again as well, radiating frustration. We finished the rest of the meal in silence.

  Chapter Two

  KATE

  David was out of there like a flash when the meal was done. “God, can you believe that?” he asked me as I came out the front door. He pulled his vape away from his mouth and exhaled a plume of smoke, looking dangerously sexy in his black leather jacket and jeans.

  I leaned against the opposite porch rail, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn't, I shook my head. “You kind of were the cause of all that,” I pointed out.

  The man gave me a sidelong look. “Sure,” he said. “Luke has no right to be living here, does he? I can't believe they're just letting him...leech like that.”

  “Well, yeah,” I said. “It's not like they don't have space or the money to put him up for a little while until he gets his feet back under himself. And anyway, it's not really any of your business, is it?”

  David rolled his eyes, shoving his vape back into his pocket. “Look, do you need a ride home?”

  I paused, taken aback. “You've been acting like an asshole all night,” I said flatly. “And now you want to offer me a ride home when you don't even know where I live?”

  David sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That offer is expiring in five—four—three–“

  “Okay, okay,” I said, waving my hands. “Yeah, I'd appreciate that. I'm only about a mile or so from here. Towards the city.”

  “Come on, then,” David said, waving me towards his car with him.

  I slid into the passenger's seat and had barely buckled my seatbelt when he threw the car into reverse, skidding backwards down the driveway. “Jesus,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Relax,” David said, rolling his eyes. “I've been driving like this for years.”

  “Why are you being such a dick tonight?” I snapped.

  “Maybe I'm always like this,” David countered. “You don't know me.”

  “True,” I agreed, frowning at him. “But I don't think you're normally like this. So what's up?”

  David sighed. “I don't want to talk about it, okay. Can you just give me directions so we can get to your place?”

  I glanced out the window but kept my eyes mostly trained on him. “Go left at those lights up there,” I instructed. “But if there’s something bothering you, you know you can talk to me, right? We’re...k
ind of family now.”

  “It's just been a long flight,” David said. “And I'm only home for a month, but there are all the holiday events and all sorts of family bonding time while I'm back. What I really want to do in that time is work from home and lounge around in my underwear all day. I deserve some time off.”

  I swallowed hard, trying not to picture what he must look like lounging around in his underwear on his no-doubt plush leather sofa. “So you were trying to stir up a little family drama to get out of the family time?” I asked.

  David sighed again and ran a hand back through his hair. “Yeah, I guess. Where am I going up here?”

  “Left again,” I said, without even bothering to look. “Why didn't you just tell them that you need some personal time?” I asked. “You didn't have to go after Luke like that.”

  His face twisted. “It's better that I go after Luke like that. The kid needs to clean up his act, and I'm not the only one who thinks that. He's not going to do that if our parents are babying him and letting him live there rent-free with no job. God knows what he's even doing with his days, although shagging random girls is a likely possibility.”

  “Are you jealous?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

  David gave a short bark of laughter, glancing over at me. “Are you implying that you think I'd have any trouble getting a girl into bed with me?”

  I stared at his dark eyes and bit my lower lip, trailing my eyes down his chiseled jawline. “Probably not,” I admitted. I shook my head and pointed down the street. “It's that house over there.”

  David pulled into the driveway and stopped the car. “Are you going to invite me in for a drink?” he asked, staring straight ahead.

  I continued to watch him for a long moment. “All I have is water, juice, or vodka and juice,” I finally said.

  David crooked a half smile. “That's fine.” He slipped out of the car and headed up onto my front porch, waiting as I slowly came up the walkway after him.

  I felt a bit fluttery at the idea of having him there in my house with me. Quickly, I did a mental run-through of the state that I'd left the house in that evening. Granted, the place was nothing compared to the posh penthouse I knew he lived in, but it was cozy enough.

  I unlocked the door and led the way inside. “I'd give you the full tour, but there's not really much to see,” I said, laughing a little self-consciously. “Bathroom's through that door, though, and you can make yourself comfortable on the couch or wherever. What did you want to drink?”

  David shrugged. “Let's get started on the vodka and have a little bonding time, hmm?”

  “Sure,” I said weakly, even though that really sounded like a horrible idea. I went into the kitchen and grabbed two glasses, plus the vodka and juice. “So how was England really?” I asked lamely as I came back into the living room.

  David shook his head. “Nope. I don't want to talk about England.”

  “Then what do you want to talk about?” I asked, feeling a bit of frustration.

  David rubbed at his eyes. “Sorry,” he looked over at me, looking genuinely upset at my tone. He pulled me into his arms, much to my surprise. “Sorry,” he mumbled against my hair. “I just need a little human contact. I've been so focused on being...professional lately that I just need… I just need to talk to someone normal.” He pulled back away and laughed a little. “Sorry, I know that's a little over-the-top, I just...” He trailed off, looking uncertain.

  I stared at him for a long moment. “All right, fine,” I said finally, picking up my drink and taking a sip of it. “But what do you want to talk about?”

  Chapter Three

  KATE

  Over the rest of the night, I found that David was actually an entertaining conversationalist. Once we determined that England was off the table and settled on the topics of books and films, he really started to open up.

  It helped that we'd finished the bottle of vodka between the two of us, too.

  At the end of the night, I called David a uber, making sure he had my address so he could come back to pick up his car the next morning. If it had been anyone else, I would have let him just crash on the couch, but…

  There had been a moment, near the end of the night, when he'd leaned in to pick up his glass at the same time I'd reached for the bottle of juice. Our hands had tangled somewhere in the middle for a moment, and David had looked at me as though with new eyes. He'd brought his other hand up to lightly stroke my cheek, making me sigh and close my eyes for a brief moment. When I'd opened my eyes again, I'd been sure that he was going to kiss me, his head tilted slightly to the side and his eyes questioning. He'd even leaned in a little bit, enough that if I'd leaned forward as well…

  Instead, I had stood up and moved to the armchair on the other side of the room. This was my stepbrother, after all. Anyway, he was probably only interested in me because he was drunk and apparently lonely.

  The next time I saw him was at the next family holiday party. This one wasn't just for family, though—instead, it seemed like half the city was gathered there in our parents' house. It felt a lot like their wedding, actually, and I knew I should probably know most of the people—most of them were people from the upper echelons of society, people that Alex had known forever.

  I stared nervously at the long line of cars spread up the block and brushed my hands down along the red dress that Mom had bought for me. Apparently, Alex had been hosting this party for years now, but every year it seemed to get more and more lavish.

  I made my way into the busy house, already feeling a bit claustrophobic. If I hadn’t just been there earlier that week, I might have thought I’d got the address wrong and come to someone else’s house. Everything had been transformed.

  In the front hall, there was not one but three Christmas trees, each decorated with fake snow, lights, and an array of (probably fake) presents underneath. There were glittery snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. What wasn’t pristine white was decorated with green fir garlands—but not the fake kind that most people had; no, these were real, and their piney scent lingered in the air, mingling with the homey scent of baking cookies.

  But there wasn’t a homemade cookie in sight: instead, waiters in sharp tuxedos were gliding around with trays of champagne, spiced wine, and cider, and when I ventured into the dining room, there was a festive spread of savory cheeses, bread, meat pies, and other assortments—but all the desserts looked absolutely perfect, and I doubted Mom had had a hand in baking any of them.

  David was the person I saw that I even knew, and I made a beeline to his side. “Hey Kate!” he cried, throwing his arm around me. The heady and intoxicating scent of his aftershave mixed with spiced wine hit me strongly, and for a moment, I could do nothing except lean into him, breathing deeply. Then, I realized the crowd around him was made up of five very attractive females, some of whom I vaguely recognized from the wedding.

  I smiled thinly at them and casually shrugged off David's arm. “Hi, David,” I said. Then lied: “Your father was looking for you.”

  David frowned and glanced around at his coterie. “Do you know what he wants?” he asked in an undertone.

  I shrugged. “No idea.” I felt kind of bad sending him on a goose chase, but I didn't really want to watch him flirting with all my colleagues at this party, and I didn't think that was too much to ask for. Anyway, I was sure Alex must have some more productive use for his son. He'd at least maybe get the man to slow down a little on the drink.

  Finally, I located my friend Tanya on the other side of the room. I almost hadn't expected her to show up when I'd explained how fancy the party was going to be, but then again, she was probably there in the hopes of scoring herself some hot trust-fund boyfriend or something. “If you'll excuse me...” Without waiting for a reply, I ducked into the crowd and made my way over to Tanya. “I can't believe how busy it is here,” I said to her, pulling her into a hug.

  “Hey darling,” she greeted me. “Who was that?”

&nbs
p; “Who?” I asked.

  “That man you were just talking to, the ridiculous flirt. And please tell me he's single...”

  I blushed and shook my head. “That's my new stepbrother,” I told her. “I mean, not so new now, but he's been at his company's office in London for six months, so that's why you haven't seen him around yet. His name's David.” I made a face. “He's kind of...conceited.”

  Tanya raised an eyebrow at me. “I didn't say I wanted to date the guy, but you'd have to have no eyes if you didn't want to sleep with him.” She gave me a look. “Although I suppose you might feel differently about him since he's your family.”

  “He isn't really,” I said. “I mean, he is now, but it's not like we're related by blood or anything.” I sounded a bit too defensive, I knew. But I couldn't seem to get the words to stop. “I think he's ridiculously attractive, okay?”

  There was a grin tugging at the corners of Tanya's mouth. “Oh do you? And have you made a move on him yet? Since he isn't a blood relation and all...”

  “Of course not,” I hissed. “Can you imagine how awkward that would make things in the family? Anyway, he is a bit of a playboy, asshole so I’m not interested in someone like that.”

  “Well, he is some eye candy right?” Tanya asked. “Whew! What I would do to him…” Her voice trailed off and she winks at me. “But if you're intent on not sleeping with him, maybe I'll try my hand in the ring.”

  “Don't,” I said immediately. I blushed brilliantly and tried to think of a way to back myself out of that hole. “He's family,” I reminded her. “And you're one of my best friends. Same thing, I don't need these family gatherings to be even more awkward.”

  “Sure,” Tanya said, hiding her amused grin behind the rim of her glass.

  Chapter Four

  KATE

  Watching David flit around the party chatting with seemingly every attractive and available female was not the way I wanted to spend my night, though. “So how has work been?” Tanya asked. “Did you ever get that promotion that you mentioned might be in the cards?”