Stiff: A Stepbrother Romance (Includes bonus novel Cocked!)

by Hamel, B. B.

  “Please, stay. Take something with you, at least.”

  He sighed. “Okay. Quickly, though,” He said something else in Spanish, and the two women laughed, glancing at me.

  We followed the two women up the steps. The one woman turned left and we turned right, following Mrs. Suarez. She chattered away, talking about her children and her grandchildren, but I couldn’t help but glance at Easton. He seemed to be listening, and he even answered in Spanish from time to time.

  Finally, we got to her apartment. She sat us down in her tiny kitchen. She busied herself making small tortillas for us, wrapping them in tin foil and filling them with meat and cheese.

  “You know, Mister Easton has very good reputation. He help a lot of people,” she said to me, winking. “He’s a good boss.”

  I nodded, completely dumbfounded. “Very good.”

  “Are you single?” she asked me.

  “Okay,” Easton said quickly. “That’s enough.”

  “I am,” I said.

  “Good, good. Marry him, if you can. Make him give you lots of kind-hearted babies.”

  I laughed, looking at Easton, who only frowned at the two of us. “Thanks for this, but we have to get going before your landlord comes back.”

  He grabbed me by the arm and practically dragged me toward the door.

  “But I want to talk more about having your babies with Mrs. Suarez,” I said.

  “Cut it out,” he growled.

  “Thank you again!” Mrs. Suarez called out as we left, tortillas in hand.

  We walked back downstairs and out toward the car.

  He stopped before we got in.

  “I’m not doing this for free,” he said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Helping. She paid me. I’m not doing this for free.”

  I nodded slowly. “Okay.”

  “Good. You can’t do shit for free and expect to survive.” He unwrapped his food and took a bite. “Delicious.”

  I climbed into the car and he got into the driver’s seat.

  “Why are you helping then? It can’t just be for the money.”

  He was silent for a second.

  “For the same reason I joined the bureau.” He started the engine of the car. “I don’t like assholes.”

  We pulled out into traffic and I bit my bottom lip.

  So far, Easton Wright was an absolute enigma. One second he was surly and rude, the next he was helping out old Hispanic ladies. He was absolutely gorgeous, but he was also my stepbrother.

  The whole day had been weird as hell. As we drove back toward his office in silence, I couldn’t help but wonder if every day with him was going to be like this.

  Part of me hoped so.

  Chapter Four: Easton

  I left Laney out in the main room to man the phones as I locked myself in the bathroom to develop the photos.

  There was nothing for her to do out there, but I needed some alone time. I hadn’t worked with someone in a long time, and so I wasn’t used to having another person around at all times.

  Especially another person like Laney.

  She was bright, like Susan had said, but soft. She could barely get near the trash, even though that disgusting pile had been key to the case. With the pictures of the rat and the garbage, I felt pretty good about making an approach the following day.

  But if it were up to Laney, we’d have nothing. That softness was the first thing that had to go if she wanted to do something serious in law enforcement.

  I flicked on the red light and slowly began the process of developing the film. I could have used a digital camera like pretty much everyone else, but there was something about doing it all myself that appealed to me. Besides, the prints came out so much better that way.

  As I worked, my mind began to roam over the last few hours. I had been distracted part of the time as we’d combed through the apartment building, distracted by the way she had looked at me. It was part scorn and part fascination, and I couldn’t help but return the feeling. There was something about her full lips, about her body and the way she carried herself that drew me to her.

  It was true that Suarez had embarrassed me in front of her. I didn’t want Laney to think that I was just some pathetic loser doing charity cases for every single sob story that came to my door. Mrs. Suarez had paid, and although it wasn’t really my full rate, it was still enough.

  And I wasn’t exactly in the position to turn away cash.

  Finally, I finished my work and tacked up the developed film to dry. I could tell that the pictures were definitely going to pay off, though I couldn’t get full-sized prints until later.

  I opened the door and shut it quickly again, walking back out into the main room. I stopped short as I saw Laney rooting through my filing cabinet.

  Fear gripped my chest. I quickly crossed the room and slammed the cabinet shut, startling her.

  “Shit, Easton. What the hell?” she said. “You scared me.”

  I stared at her. “I didn’t tell you to touch that.”

  “The phones aren’t ringing,” she said. “I thought I’d organize your files, help you out.”

  “I didn’t ask you to do that.”

  “Okay. I was just trying to be useful.”

  “Let’s call it a day.”

  She stared back at me defiantly. “Fine. Whatever you say.”

  “Have a good night, sis,” I said.

  She walked over to the door. “Same time tomorrow?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Whatever you want.”

  She gave me one last look, a look that I couldn’t read, and then opened the door and was gone.

  She was pissed, but I didn’t care. I let out a breath and tore opened the drawer again, rooting through it. The file wasn’t in there, thankfully. She hadn’t seen it.

  I opened the other drawer and found it, the file on Lester Seeds, and pulled it out. I dropped it on the desk and sat down in my chair, staring at it.

  Memories came swirling back to me in fragments. Hours spent pouring over evidence. The girl, her fingers cut off, her body lifeless. Lester laughing. The phone call.

  Mitch and the wound across his throat.

  I tossed the file back into another drawer and walked into the back room. I poured myself a whisky and dropped down onto the couch, turning the television on loud. I wanted it to drown out the memories as I drank.

  One last memory came to me: Lester’s voice saying, Come now, Easton, aren’t you some kind of professional?

  I slugged back my whisky and poured another.

  It felt like the buzzing was drilling through my skull directly into my brain.

  I rolled over on the couch. My mouth tasted like whisky. The TV was still on.

  And the doorbell was ringing like crazy.

  I climbed off the couch, steading myself for a minute as my hangover washed over me. I’d drunk too much the night before, as usual. Ever since I’d come back to Mishawaka, the dreams had been awful, gut-wrenching and destructive nightmares, and the only way to outrun the memories was by drowning them in alcohol.

  I stood up slowly, glancing at the clock. It was a little bit past ten in the morning.

  I’m going to kill that girl, I thought as I pulled on a pair of pants, not bothering with the shirt. I stumbled into the main room and pulled open the door.

  Laney stood there, smiling at me sweetly.

  “Morning, Easton,” she said. “You look like shit.”

  “Go away,” I grunted, and tried to close the door.

  Laney shoved her foot out, catching it before it shut, and pushed it open. She hustled past me, and I was too hungover to stop her.

  She was carrying a drink tray with two large coffees on it and had a brown paper bag in the other hand.

  “I figured you’d be like this,” she said.

  “Why?” I grunted at her.

  “Based on yesterday.” She paused and stared at me for a second as I walked closer to her. I could tell there was some
thing going on in that cute little brain of hers, but I couldn’t tell what. I was way too hungover to read her.

  She quickly gathered herself. “Anyway, bagels and coffee.” She gestured at the bag.

  I grabbed my cup. “Thanks.”

  “Get dressed.” She sat down at the desk, dropping her bag on the floor. She slipped a laptop from it and opened it up on the desk. “Do you have Wi-Fi?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Router’s over there.” I sipped the scalding hot coffee.

  “Good. Did you know that you don’t have a website?”

  “Hadn’t occurred to me.”

  “You need one.”

  “Why?”

  “So that people can find you online.”

  I stared at her for a second. “I don’t want to be found.”

  “You want work, don’t you?”

  “Sure.” More or less.

  “Then you need a website. How do you not know this?”

  “Ever consider that I don’t want to announce this gig to every person in the world?”

  “Nope.” She was tapping away happily.

  “No website,” I said as I moved toward the back room.

  “You’re getting a website.”

  I grunted something but didn’t have the strength to fight.

  I was surprised she had shown up again. I’d expected her to run away and never look back, especially after yesterday’s shit show. It hadn’t exactly gone down the way I had planned, even though I had gotten what I needed.

  Instead, she appeared with her laptop and started talking about getting me a website. Maybe the girl was going to be more trouble than I had realized.

  Plus, there was the matter of her work attire. Her blouse was sheer, and underneath it she wore a low-cut tank top. I couldn’t quite see her breasts, but their hint was right there, practically pressing up to the surface. Her jeans were tight and fitted, and her ass looked impeccable.

  The blood rushed right from my head as soon as she walked into the room. Or maybe it was just the hangover still playing its tricks.

  I stripped off my pants and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around my waist. I picked up my little shower caddy and walked back out into the main room.

  “That’s the opposite of getting dressed,” Laney said, staring over her computer.

  “Need a shower.”

  “Don’t you ever go home?”

  I laughed and grinned at her. “Sis, this is home.”

  I pushed open the door and left before she could respond.

  The communal bathroom was just down the hall. Inside and toward the back was a small shower, probably meant for people that commuted to work or wanted to work out during their break. I turned the water on and waited for it to heat up.

  Finally, I let the warm water slide down my face. I took a few deep breaths, and between the shower and the coffee, I was beginning to feel a bit more human.

  I knew Laney was right about the website. Part of me knew that I was doing everything I could to fuck my life up even further, but I couldn’t quite grasp why.

  It probably had something to do with the fact that my two closest relationships from the past few years were both dead, both because of me.

  I shook my head, banishing the thought. Maybe it was better that Laney was around. Sure, she was my stepsister, but when did that mean anything to me? She was fucking gorgeous, and she was the first woman in a long time that even remotely got me hard.

  Which I was, I noticed. My cock was standing fully at attention as my mind ranged over the fantastic possibilities of Laney stripped down naked in front of me. She acted so coy and innocent, but I’d already got a glimpse of the real person hiding beneath all of that. She was smart and crafty, and maybe even a little ruthless.

  I couldn’t help but imagine what I could do to her in that little office of mine. I’d bend her over my desk and spank her perky ass, again and again, until she begged for me to fuck her. I’d sink my cock deep between her legs, slide in and out, feel the slick heat of her tight pussy.

  I’d kiss her neck, her tits, pull her hair, whisper in her ears. I’d make her beg me to keep fucking her, to make her come like the dirty girl she was.

  I came then, thinking about Laney’s lips wrapped around the tip of my cock, swallowing every fat ounce of my cum.

  I cleaned up and finished showering. I felt better as I toweled off and walked back down the hall, my head buzzing a bit from the orgasm. I pushed open the door and Laney glanced up at me.

  I didn’t miss the look. She bit her lower lip slightly as she looked at my wet body, barely concealed by the towel I had slung low around my hips.

  “How’s the website?” I asked her.

  “Uh, it’s fine,” she said quickly, looking back at her computer.

  I laughed as I walked into the back room and got dressed.

  “Time for another stakeout?” Laney asked me as I parked the car across the street from the apartment building. My stomach was growling, and I had just spent the last half hour in the photography store getting our pictures blown up while Laney pestered me with questions.

  “Yeah, more or less.” I bit into my bagel and chewed.

  “What are we watching for?”

  “Landlord again.”

  “What’s he look like?”

  “Man. Older. Fat.”

  “How old? What color hair?”

  I swallowed my bagel and cocked my head at her. “You’re full of questions.”

  That annoyed her. “If I’m going to be sitting here, I might as well make myself useful.”

  I looked at her for a second and grinned. “Okay then.” I fished my phone out of my pocket, unlocked the screen, and pulled up a picture. I held it out for her.

  She took the phone and looked at it. “This is him?”

  “Yep.” I reached down to the side of my seat and pushed it back, almost to reclining.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m still hungover. You take first watch.”

  “Are you serious?”

  I peeked at her from behind half-closed lids. “You want to help?”

  “I do, but, I don’t know.”

  “Binoculars are in the glove. If you see him, wake me up.”

  “Easton.” I could feel her nervousness, but I didn’t say anything. “Fine, whatever,” she mumbled.

  I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. I kept my eyes shut and tried to sleep, but I knew sleep wasn’t going to come.

  Normally, sleep meant nightmares. And I wasn’t in the mood for sharing that part of me with Laney, or with anyone for that matter. What had happened was still too fresh in my mind, still too raw and powerful to try and explain to someone.

  Laney switched on the radio. I listened to the oldies station and tried to rest. My headache had receded to the point of a slight, dull throb, which meant I could actually handle being a normal person for the day.

  Suddenly, after what felt like two minutes, Laney was sharking my arm. “Easton, wake up!”

  “What? I’m awake.”

  “Look.”

  I sat up, swinging my seat back into position. I took the binoculars from her.

  “Second car back.”

  I looked through and spotted him: our fat asshole landlord. He was climbing into the back of a beat-up station wagon.

  “Hold on,” I said, and started the engine.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Following him.”

  I pulled out into traffic and watched as the asshole pulled a U-turn. I made a left at the light and sped up. I caught sight of his car ahead and fell into traffic behind him, keeping my distance.

  “So, like, two cars back?” Laney asked.

  “More or less.”

  She was quiet for a minute as we followed him. “Your mom told me you were really good.”

  I glanced at her. “What are you talking about?”

  “At being in the FBI. You were part of some special task force?”


  I nodded, keeping my eyes on the road.

  “What was it?”

  “Not in the mood to talk.”

  “You know, this would be a lot easier if you lightened up a little bit.”

  I sighed, shaking my head. She had a point, but I wasn’t in the mood. “It was to catch serial killers.”

  “What?”

  “The task force. We were the FBI’s special serial killer task force. I was brought on as a special investigator and profiler.”

  “Wow,” she said. “That sounds pretty amazing.”

  “It was.” At first, at least, I thought, but I held my tongue.

  “So did you, you know, catch any?”

  I paused. “Yeah,” I said softly. “One.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Look, let’s concentrate on this, okay?”

  She must have sensed something in my tone, because she let it drop. I was annoyed with myself for talking about it, and even more annoyed that I was so incapable of having a normal conversation about an important part of my life.

  I concentrated on my driving and Laney lapsed into silence, probably absorbed in what was happening. We followed the asshole landlord for a few miles through an increasingly suburban area. The houses were larger and spaced farther apart, and I guessed we had left Mishawaka and were probably in a neighboring town.

  Finally, the guy pulled into a subdivision. I followed, directly behind him but at a remove. He drove slowly until he pulled into a driveway, and I drove past it, noting the number.

  “Is that his house?” Laney asked.

  “Probably.”

  “We should toilet paper it.”

  I glanced at her and she grinned at me. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, that would show him.”

  “No, but it would be fun.”

  “You’re probably right.” Smiling, I pulled the car over about a block from the asshole’s house.

  “What now?”

  “I think it’s Showtime.” I opened the door and climbed out. Laney followed. “Ready for this?” I asked her.

  “No, not really.”

  “Good.” I began to walk toward the guy’s house.

  Laney fell into step beside me. We had gone over what was going to happen, more or less, but she didn’t really know what she was in for, not really. And frankly, neither did I. Every person reacted differently to a shakedown, and I’d seen it all, from begging to violence. I was hoping I got something in between.