by B. B. Hamel
“You don’t need to. I have nothing to do with this shit. If I were you, I’d be looking much closer to home.”
“What do you mean?”
He laughed. “You think you’re the first person to accuse me of this crap? Happens all the damn time, and almost every time it’s someone closer than you’d expect.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you saying?”
“Suspect everyone. Except me. Now get out of my apartment.”
“You hear anything, you call me.”
“Just get out!”
I grinned at him for a second, staring him down. He looked nervous, terrified actually, but I didn’t think he was lying.
Which was actually the worse case scenario. If Sergey wasn’t the blackmailer, then I had no clue who had sent the pictures.
I turned and left. Sergey’s door was nicely splintered, but it still managed to click shut behind me, so at least he wouldn’t be completely exposed overnight. He should feel thankful he had gotten off so easily.
I made my way down the stairs and back outside. As I climbed onto my bike and rode over to the motel, my mind was a mess of conflicting emotions.
I’d just broken into a man’s apartment and threatened him. True, he was a scumbag, but he still could make my life very difficult if he chose to. I didn’t think that was likely since he’d probably been paid off pretty well by my mother, but I wasn’t sure.
If he did decide to rear his ugly little head, then I’d have to pay him again. I had a little money from the fight, and I’d be getting some more soon. All in all, it was probably going to be fine.
I was more worried about the fact that Sergey was a dead end.
There had to have been other paparazzi at that event, but I hadn’t seen any. The pictures looked like they were taken up close, so someone had to have used an expensive camera lens to get that shot from far away. I hadn’t noticed anyone else on the roof. That was pro-grade stuff, or at least someone that liked pro-grade equipment.
Plus, Sergey’s last words kept ringing in my ears. Look closer to home? I had no clue what that really meant. Did he think Alexa was blackmailing herself or something equally insane?
Still, that was a lead worth following up. Maybe there were staff working the roof, or maybe they had a security detail up there. I’d have to ask around, try to find out if anyone saw or heard anything.
This damn fucking thing was going to be a much bigger pain in my ass than I had thought.
As I walked into my room, ignoring the junkies and the whores, I locked my door and got into bed. Alexa came back into my mind then, hazy and indistinct, and I knew that I was fucking up badly. I was beginning to see just how far I’d go for this girl, even if it were stupid.
I drifted off to sleep, remembering the feel of her body, her perfect fucking tits, her tasty little cunt, and her incredible moans of pleasure.
“Hello?”
“Alexa, it’s me.”
“Cole!”
I leaned up against the wall of the rest stop halfway back home. The sun was bright in the sky, and I was taking my sweet-ass time riding back. I was thinking, trying to work out who had sent those pictures and why, but there was nothing to go on.
“I met our friend.”
“Oh my god. Cole, that’s insane.”
I laughed. “Maybe, but I wasn’t wasting any time.”
“What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I don’t think it was him.”
She paused. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I’m on my way back.”
“I got another note.”
I felt a stone sink into my gut. “What does it say?”
“It has the address of a nearby park and says to leave the money by the statue. Says not to linger. We have two weeks now, apparently.”
I grunted, nodding my head. I had figured there’d be another note giving us a place to exchange. “I wonder why they’d give us more time.”
“Maybe they realized we don’t have the money yet?”
“We can’t pay them,” I said.
“Why not? If we do, this all goes away.”
“No, it doesn’t. We pay them but we get nothing in return. We need proof that those pictures are destroyed, or else we can’t pay.”
“How do we get that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe we should tell our parents.”
I barked a short laugh. “Sure you want to do that, sis? Imagine how your dad will react.”
“Yeah.” I could hear the tension in her voice, and I wished I could fix it.
“We can’t risk screwing up their jobs. You said that, remember?”
“I know.”
“Then we figure this out.”
“Okay. Okay. Just come back home.”
“I’m on my way.”
“And don’t disappear like that again.”
“It’s good to hear your voice,” I said softly. “I can almost imagine what you’re wearing.”
“Stop it.”
“Low-cut shirt, no bra. Nipples hard as fuck at the sound of my voice. Short little shirt, white panties, totally useless now since they’re soaking. Am I close?”
“Not even.”
“I’m sure I’m right about the panties.”
“Nowhere near close.”
“You know, I can’t get that perfect little pussy of yours out of my mind.”
“I’m sure you could find something to distract you.”
“Maybe, but why would I want to when you’re dripping wet and waiting for me to come home?”
“Take a cold shower. Better yet, take care of it yourself.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? I bet you’d love to listen to me jerk my hard cock while I thought about you.”
“Bye, Cole.”
She hung up the phone.
I laughed as I slipped my cell back into my pants and looked up at the sky. What an insanely shitty situation I had found myself in with no easy way out.
Then again, I wasn’t always the biggest fan of the easy way.
Sometimes the hard way was much more fun.
11
Alexa
I wanted him to come back home. Or at least I wanted him to move back in and maybe things could be okay again.
The night in the dressing room kept coming back to me, over and over again. It had felt so electric, so right, and I knew that I wanted more of him. I needed more of him, actually. And when we had gotten home and I was about to finally feel what it would be like to slide down along his thick cock, to feel him inside me, I had found those pictures.
Those horrible pictures. True, we were just kissing, and really that’s no big deal. Plenty of people had pictures of them kissing other people on Facebook.
But most of those people weren’t kissing their stepbrother. And they didn’t have media scrutinizing their parents’ jobs.
Even without sex, Cole drove me insane. The memories of the time we spent together in paradise mingled with the night in the dressing room.
So when he finally came home, when the noise of his motorcycle finally showed up outside, I should have been excited. I should have wanted him to press me down on my bed and lick every inch of my body.
Instead, I felt afraid.
I watched as he climbed off the bike, his duffel bag slung over his shoulders. He sauntered up the stoop and disappeared from view into the house.
“Alexa?” he called out, downstairs.
I didn’t know why I felt reluctant. Up until the moment his bike pulled up out front, all I had wanted was for him to come home. He may have been trouble, the last thing I needed, crude and rude and an asshole, but I felt better with him around.
Now, though, things were so complicated.
I heard him come up the steps and watched as he pushed open my door. He stood there grinning that delicious smile, his eyes locked on mine.
�
��There you are.”
“Welcome back,” I said.
“Good to be home.” He walked into my room and sat down on my bed.
I leaned up against the window. “How was our friend?”
“Fine,” Cole said, waving his hand. “He won’t talk to anyone. But he did suggest I check out the staff, see if maybe someone there was involved.”
I nodded. That made sense. If it wasn’t the paparazzi, then it had to be someone even closer. “Okay,” I said.
He cocked his head. “What’s wrong with you?”
My heart skipped a beat. He could probably sense my hesitation and my nervousness.
“Nothing. Just, don’t you think we should hire someone to help with this?”
“I can handle it,” he grunted.
“I’m sure. But if you can’t?”
“Then we’ll pay.”
“But you said—”
He stood up, frustrated. “I know what I said.”
He closed the distance between us, looking at me hard.
“We can’t let this ruin everything, Cole,” I said softly.
“It won’t. We’ll handle it.” I could feel the heat rolling off him.
“You know what would help?” I asked.
He suddenly grabbed me by the waist and pulled me against him. I stumbled and landed right against his chest, breathing in his smell. I felt the familiar thrill run through my stomach, my pussy already soaking wet as my heart hammered a staccato rhythm.
“What’s that, sis?”
I looked up into his eyes, the stubble along his jaw giving him a rugged look, and wanted to bite his lip. Was that what I was becoming, a girl that could barely control herself around a handsome boy? It was so pathetic, and yet it was true.
“A divorce could help.”
He smirked. “I thought we were done with that.”
“Not until we’re not married anymore, we’re not.”
“I told you. I’m not ready.” I went to move away, but he held on tightly, giving me this deep look. “I’m not the type to chase,” he grunted.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You know what I mean. And what I want.”
I shook my head, my cheeks turning red. I had to look away.
“I’m just worried about our parents.”
He let me go and moved back toward the door. I watched him go with a sharp breath, feeling his absence strangely in my chest.
“Whatever you say. You know where to find me when you change your mind.” He paused, his hand on the doorknob, his face breaking out into a cocky smile. “And I know you will.”
I watched as he turned the knob and left my room. I wanted to yell at him or throw something, or maybe throw myself at him and let him make me yell. Every new step was one more frustrating experience after another.
“So he’s back home?”
“Yeah, he’s definitely back.”
I lay on my bed staring up at the ceiling, the phone cradled next to my ear as I absently picked at my nails. It was a bad habit, but I was pretty distracted.
“Get your divorce yet?” Lacey asked.
“Ugh. You know I haven’t.”
“Come on, girl. We both know you’d be single and free if you really wanted to be.”
I sighed. She did have a point, but it was more complicated than that. We had to be civil, a part of the same family, no matter how badly I wanted to just force him to go through with it. Legally I could, but it felt wrong. He’d be pissed and our relationship would be completely ruined.
Whatever that relationship was. The past two days hadn’t really cleared anything up.
We barely talked. Or at least I pretty much scampered away like a small, scared forest animal every time I heard him approach. For his part, he spent all his time working out and training for his fights. He didn’t try to break down my door and take me as his bride, which I half expected him to do each night.
Instead, he seemed to sense my hesitation. Actually, he didn’t really have to sense anything since I was probably making it pretty obvious. It was stupid and I knew it, but I didn’t know what else to do.
Every time I was near him, I wanted him to pin me against a wall and make me feel the things I knew he could.
Instead, we had more pressing issues.
“Maybe you’re right, but that doesn’t really change our situation.”
“No, I guess it doesn’t. So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, Lace.”
“Listen to me,” she said seriously. “You have a hunk of a human man in the room next to yours, a man that will probably make you feel things you never imagined. Take advantage of this.”
“I can’t. It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?” she said, exasperated. “You keep making excuses.”
“We’re being blackmailed, okay?” I blurted out, annoyed.
There was a beat of silence.
“Are you joking?” she asked.
“I wish I was.”
“What the hell happened?”
So I explained it all to her, starting with the kiss, which she knew about, up through the night in the dressing room, and ending with the letters and Cole’s visit to the paparazzi guy.
“Holy cow shit,” Lacey said. “You have to be shitting me.”
“Wish I were,” I said, smiling at her incredible eloquence.
“Dude, that’s, like, some bad daytime soap opera drama right there.”
“I know. If we were both doctors, this would be the perfect plot for an E.R. story arc.”
“Worse than that. This is like some terrible romance—”
“Look,” I said, cutting her off, “it’s real and I have no idea what to do.”
“What does Cole think?”
“He wants to run around and beat people up until things are solved.”
She laughed. “Yeah, sounds right.”
“But that won’t work.”
“Can you pay them?”
“If we do, there’s no proof they won’t go public anyway, or that they won’t keep asking for more money.”
“Damn, girl. This is some real stuff.”
“So you see why I’m not just like legalling the crap out of him right now?”
“‘Legalling’? Is that even a word?”
“It is now!”
“Listen, Alexa, let me help.”
“How? I mean, this isn’t exactly your specialty.”
“No, it’s not, but I have some money saved up. I can help you with that at least.”
“No way, Lace. Thanks anyway, though.”
“Come on, this is big stuff. You don’t have to do this alone.” She paused, and I felt gratitude well up in me. “Anything you need.”
And then I had an idea. It was stupid, or maybe a little reckless, but it was a good one. Cole didn’t have to do everything alone.
“Actually, Lace, there is something you can do.”
“I don’t know how you talked me into this,” Cole said.
Lacey laughed at him. “You? I’m the one going inside.”
The three of us stood huddled at the entrance to the banquet hall from the night the photos were taken. Inside there was some event happening, though I couldn’t tell what it was.
“I could do this myself,” Cole grumbled.
“Enough out of you,” I said to him, turning to Lacey, “Lace, you look awesome. Sure you’re up for this?”
“Hell no.” She shrugged. “But I’m doing it anyway.”
I watched as she turned away resolutely and marched right through the front doors, blending in with the crowd and disappearing inside.
“Think she can handle it?”
“Probably,” I said.
The plan was pretty simple. Cole and I were both known to the people inside, or at least we were probably known. If one of them were blackmailing us, they’d definitely want to keep a huge distance.
But Lacey was different. Nobody knew her, nobody knew
what she wanted, and that meant she was free to look around and maybe ask some questions.
The event happening inside was definitely something upscale and fancy, and fortunately Lacey had dressed for the part. She looked totally stunning in a floor-length dress, her hair pinned up in a complicated swirl, her makeup on point. I’d seen her get cleaned up before, but she looked particularly incredible tonight.
I leaned up against the wall off to the side, away from the entrance, and Cole joined me.
“I guess now we wait,” I said.
“Any ideas on how we pass the time?”
I gave him a look. “We could play I Spy.”
“Okay. I spy a naughty girl in need of punishment.”
“I spy an asshole.”
“That’s not how you play.”
“Maybe, but it’s true.”
He grinned at me, shaking his head. “When are you going to get over this whole denial thing?”
“There’s no denial here, Cole, just an asshole and his stepsister.”
He moved closer, our arms practically touching. I snuck a look at him out of the corner of my eye. His clothes clung to his muscular body, making my heart flutter. He caught me looking and smiled bigger.
“There it is,” he said. “That look.”
“What look?”
“Like you’re about to throw yourself at me. Mouth parted slightly. Makes my cock hard.”
“Anything makes your . . . penis hard,” I mumbled.
He laughed loudly at that, getting a few stares from people walking from their cars. “Penis? Are you joking?”
“Cut it out. People are staring.”
“No,” he said, turning to me. “You have to say it.”
“Say what?”
“Cock! You have to say cock.”
“No way. Cut it out. People can hear you.”
“Penis is about the least sexy word in the entire world. Say cock, sis, or I’ll keep getting louder.”
I glanced around us, my heart hammering in my chest. I was bright red and I knew it, but I couldn’t do anything about it. “Okay, okay. Cock.”
He moved even closer to me. “There you go. Not so hard.”
“I thought you were always hard around me?”
My joke eased my tension. He smirked. “Oh, I most certainly am. Have a feel.”
“Feel yourself.” I turned away from him, crossing my arms.