Stepbrother: The Game He Plays

by Lucy Ivey

  “Okay, I’ll just be a few minutes. I want to fix my hair and makeup.”

  “Why? You’re just going to get it messy again about halfway through the movie. That is, if you last that long with me.” He laughed.

  Butterflies filled my stomach. I missed that feeling he gave me. He was too good to me. Later I would tell him about searching for colleges … but nothing about Lizzie or my decision not to move in with him.

  I jumped off the bed and placed my laptop under my pillow.

  “Two minutes,” I whispered flirtatiously.

  He raised his index finger up and tapped it against his wrist. “Two minutes, otherwise Joe will start the movie without you.”

  His brother was standing behind him wearing only a pair of loose-fitting gray sweat pants that hung low off his lean waist. Irresistible would have been the best word to describe him.

  “He’s gonna watch the movie with us.” Justin’s voice was assertive. He wasn’t asking me if it was okay. Once again, he was telling me. “It was Joe’s idea. He said he doesn’t feel like going out tonight.”

  He wasn’t going to Gray’s. I was relieved.

  “Unless you don’t want me—” Joe stopped. His cool eyes were testing me. Staring. Patiently waiting for me to look into them. When I finally gave in to his silent demand, he continued. “—to watch the movie with you, that is.”

  His words echoed inside my mind. To Justin, he was calling a truce between the two of them. I knew the truth. Sticking me in the middle of the two of them where there would be no escape was exactly what Joe wanted.

  Chapter 19

  Unraveling the Truth

  Ryan was right: everything was back to normal. No one seemed to remember or even care that someone was found dead on the slopes just forty-eight hours ago. The day at the resort was just like any other day. Gray and I made up. She told me she tried texting and calling me several times yesterday. I told her I still hadn’t found my phone. She was relieved to know I wasn’t ignoring her. She told me Joe didn’t go over to her house last night and she wasn’t even that upset because she knew he really didn’t like her. “So maybe it was a good thing,” she told me—although we both knew she didn’t mean it. “And I know it’s not your fault, Karley.”

  I wanted to tell her she was wrong. Instead, I accepted her apology and took my lunch with her—the entire time feeling disgusted with myself for being such a shitty friend to her.

  The two of us drank hot chocolate and shared a large order of chili fries while watching Justin through the window. He was instructing another group of beautifully flirtatious, bouncing blond tourists and wouldn’t be able to take lunch until the girls’ intimate instructions were over. I don’t think missing lunch bothered him very much. His missing lunch didn’t bother me much either. Refusing for the rest of the day to look out the window where he remained with a steady flow of beautiful blondes by his side, I headed out to the parking lot when my shift was over.

  “So, do you need a ride home?”

  Ryan’s big bright eyes and crooked grin caught me off guard.

  “No. My mom is picking me up.”

  “Not getting a ride with your guy?”

  “No. He’s working a double.”

  “Want me to wait with you?”

  We both laughed knowing she would be late.

  “Sure, if you want to … but it may be a long wait!”

  “I don’t mind.”

  I scooted over on the bench.

  “Here, I’ll let you sit beside me—”

  “No need,” he interrupted. “Looks like your other knight in shining armor is here to pick you up. I’ll just text you later.”

  I followed his stare across the parking lot. Joe was sitting in the truck watching us. I looked back at Ryan but he was already walking away.

  “Okay. Oh, hey! I still can’t find my phone!” I yelled across the parking lot after him. I wasn’t sure if he heard me or not. I turned and slowly started walking toward Joe.

  “Are you here for me?”

  “Who else would I be here for?”

  I threw my bag in the middle seat and sat down in the passenger seat but didn’t close my door. I wasn’t sure if I was going to accept his ride home or not.

  “Gray.”

  Saying her name announced the smell of jasmine in his truck. She’d been in here with him recently.

  “What?”

  “I didn’t know if you came here to pick up Gray.” I wanted him to know I knew about the two of them. “I thought my mom was coming to get me.”

  “She tried to call you to tell you I was coming instead.”

  “I still can’t find my phone.”

  He gave me a look that told me he didn’t care that my phone was missing.

  “Why would I be here for Gray?”

  “Oh, please! She told me you were at her house the other night.”

  “Which night?”

  He wanted me to say the words.

  “The night we were in the kitchen.”

  He looked at me through cool blue eyes.

  “Oh, yes, that night—not the other one. Well, as I recall, we didn’t do much talking. Either night.”

  God, you’re such a pig! A beautiful, flawless fucking pig!

  “Well, why would she invite you over? And why would you go? Was it before we were in the kitchen?”

  Anger burned inside my chest. I was angrier with myself for caring than him for going.

  “Is that where you were coming from that night?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “I don’t.” I turned my head to look away. He already knew I was lying.

  “Not even a little?”

  “No!” I said turning back toward him. “Not even at all.”

  He gave an amused laugh.

  “You know one quality I have that you don’t, Karley?” he admitted leaning over to me. “I’m a good liar.”

  He was telling the truth.

  “And I can tell when people are lying.”

  “I’m a good liar and I know when people are lying, too.”

  “No, you’re not and no, you don’t!” He laughed again leaning back in his seat. “You can’t even tell when you’re lying to yourself, let alone listening and believing someone else’s lies.”

  Fury was building inside me. He was right.

  “Really?” I asked completely irritated with him at this point. “So, are you lying to me right now?”

  “I haven’t answered you yet. So no, I’m not lying.”

  “Okay, I’ll ask you again so you can answer me. Did you go to Gray’s that night you kissed me in the kitchen?”

  “You let me do a lot more than kiss you in the kitchen.” He was more beautiful than ever staring at me, reminding me of his touch with his intense stare.

  My inner thighs throbbed.

  “Answer me.”

  “Yes, I went to Gray’s house that night.”

  “When?”

  “Oh, I get to answer another question?” he asked condescendingly.

  “When?” I asked pretending to be unaffected by his tone. “Before or after you kissed me?”

  “After.”

  My heart sank.

  “Why?”

  His lip curled up.

  “Why do you think?”

  I didn’t want to say the words. I had to know the truth.

  “To sleep with her?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Did you?”

  He looked at me and smiled.

  “Did you?”

  “Would it bother you if I did?”

  Yes.

  “No.”

  “Then why do you keep asking?”

  “I want to know. Did you?”

  “Why do you wanna know?”

  I wanted him to stop playing this damn game and answer me.

  “I just do. Answer me, did you?”

  He looked at me, pleased. He could tell by my behavior now that it would have bothered me if he slept
with her—no matter what I saying.

  “No.”

  “You didn’t sleep with her?”

  “No.”

  “Why? She didn’t want to?” He laughed. This amused him. It was a stupid question, of course she wanted to. “Then, why didn’t you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “See, now I know you’re lying to me.”

  My blood boiled when he laughed again and told me I already knew the answer to his question. He laughed louder when I told him I didn’t know why.

  “Now, you’re lying.” His voice was in a higher—yet equally—condescending tone as the one he used earlier. “I thought you and I were going to be honest with each other.”

  I hesitated before I spoke. He was right, I was lying. I knew the answer. I inhaled slowly and exhaled deeply as I stared into his eyes.

  “Because of me,” I said quietly. “You didn’t sleep with her because of me.”

  “Yes. You’re the one I want, Karley. Not Gray. I never wanted her.”

  The throbbing was too intense and an explosion of warmth blasted through my body.

  He looked past me and arched his eyebrow. Whoever was standing behind me also heard him. I was afraid to turn around, not knowing who it would be standing outside the truck, listening. I had to—he wanted me to see. I slowly turned around to follow his stare and standing in the doorway of the truck there she was, listening to our conversation about her. I didn’t know how long she had been standing there, but I could tell by the look on her face she had heard what I’d said.

  “Gray!” I said getting out of the truck as she walked away.

  “You know he’s right. I tried everything with him but all he talked about was you again!” she said between tears. “I just didn’t care!”

  “Gray, wait!”

  “God, Karley, just admit it already!”

  “Admit what!”

  “You want him as much as he wants you!”

  Her comment stopped me in my tracks.

  “Gray it’s not like that!”

  “God, quit being so naive, Karley!” she yelled as she stopped walking and turned toward me. “You know what, I was wrong before. You can have them both. They both want you! I just didn’t think you wanted both of them!”

  “Gray, please—”

  “Leave me alone! You’re a bitch, Karley, you know that? You’re a bitch and you’re a shitty friend.”

  I stood alone in the parking lot watching her walk away again. She fumbled with her car keys, got into her car and drove away.

  After her little red car disappeared around the corner, I got into the truck without acknowledging Joe. His heavy stare was hard to ignore.

  “You knew she was standing there, didn’t you?” I asked without looking at him.

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?” I fought back tears. “Why would you do that to me?”

  He said nothing. We both already knew the answers. He didn’t care about her. She meant nothing to him. He wanted me. Again, I didn’t want things to go this way. I couldn’t control my anger—my fear that everything was falling apart around me.

  “You know the other difference between me and you, Joe?” I wiped away a hot tear. “I don’t want to hurt anybody, but you, you get off on it.”

  “You don’t know anything about me, Karley.”

  “Yes, I do!” I said staring into his empty eyes. “You did that because you knew it would hurt her and you knew it would hurt me. You sat right there and fed me some line of bullshit about wanting me—like you’ve been doing for days now, allowing me to risk everything with Justin—but you don’t care about me! And you know why? Because you don’t know how to care about anybody but yourself! Fuck! You probably don’t even care about Justin!”

  His mouth barely moved when he spoke. His voice, low and irritated.

  “That’s not true.”

  “Yes, it is!” I yelled. “He cares about me and you want to hurt him!”

  He said nothing.

  “I mean, do you even think about your friends that died? Do you even give a shit they were killed?”

  I don’t know why I said it.

  There was no taking it back.

  When I thought about them during the moment of silence after the words left my lips, I didn’t want to take it back.

  “Lizzie or Maddie? Do you ever think about them?”

  As soon as I said their names and watched his eyes turn to stone, my stomach tightened.

  “Shut the fuck up—”

  “Why?” I pushed him. He didn’t move. I pushed him again. “Do you even care they’re fucking gone?”

  His jaw locked into place in his anger.

  “You don’t know anything about that—”

  “Oh, I know more about it than you think I do,” I said matter-of-factly. “And you know what else I know about you?”

  His fists tightened in anger around the steering wheel. Rage slowly taking over his body. He was struggling to fight against it. I didn’t care. I needed him to know I knew the truth about him and that I wasn’t his puppet like every other girl.

  “What’s that?”

  “I know you think nobody loves you and so you don’t allow yourself to love anybody else. If you knew how to love maybe someone would love you. You tell me I’m lying to myself, but you’re the one lying to yourself if you think you matter to anyone except Justin!”

  I dipped my words in hate before I allowed them to flow from my tongue. I was trying to hurt him. I wanted to hurt him.

  “And honestly, I think if he knew the games you were trying to play with me, he wouldn’t love you very much anymore either. And maybe that’s why I don’t tell him, because I feel sorry for you. Without him, you’d be completely alone.”

  His tense body relaxed slowly.

  “Wow, Karley,” he said looking away. “Maybe you do know more about me than I thought you did, but you’re wrong about one thing. I do know he’s the only one that loves me.”

  “But you don’t give a shit about him.”

  “Wrong again,” he said as he started the truck. “I love him more than I should.”

  Chapter 20

  The Darkness of the Night

  We rode in silence the entire way home. The clouds were turning black and the night was starting to surround us. The white of his knuckles gripping the steering wheel radiated in the dark. Traveling up the hill of the driveway toward the house, my body quivered knowing everything I had learned about him was starting to come together to reveal his true identity. I couldn’t get away from him fast enough. I jumped out of the truck as soon as he put it into park.

  “You’re going to get hurt being stupid!” he warned as I slammed the door.

  I prayed that telling Justin what happened between Joe and me, from our first kiss at the coffeepot to this afternoon in the truck, wouldn’t ruin everything between us. Even if it did, I couldn’t continue going on this way anymore.

  “Where’s Justin?” I asked my mom when I walked through the door, shutting it before Joe walked in. He opened it with ease, snickering at my childish act.

  “He went with Bill.”

  I glared back at Joe when I asked her where they went.

  “They went to see the parents of the girl that died,” she said looking at Joe.

  I turned quickly to face her.

  “What? Sarah? Why?”

  “Honey, I don’t know,” she said looking back at me with confusion. “Maybe he felt like he should go and pay his respects. People pay their respects for different reasons. Ask Joe. He knows Justin better than I do.”

  I didn’t want to look at Joe, let alone talk to him. Especially about Justin. Besides, I knew why Justin went with his father. Joe did too. Justin cared about Sarah.

  My mother stared back and forth at the two of us, completely confused.

  “Joe, did Justin know that girl very well?” she asked, knowing I wouldn’t speak. She was all too familiar with my stubbornness
.

  “Very well? I don’t know how well he knew her.” His head slightly tilted and a smile spreading across his lips. “What all has he told you about her, Karley?”

  I wanted to punch him. I ignored his question.

  “What’s going on?” she asked with a hint of agitation in her voice.

  “Nothing,” I lied quietly before turning my stare toward him. “There is nothing going on between us.”

  He raised his eyebrow silently challenging my statement. I ignored him again.

  “When are they coming home?”

  “I’m meeting Bill at the resort in fifteen minutes,” she said putting the piece of paper in her hand inside her purse. “I guess Justin should be home anytime now, too.”

  I noticed two packed suitcases beside her.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Bill has to go to San Diego to talk to the board about adding more security and I’m going with him. Honey, why don’t you come with us?”

  “No. How long are you gonna be gone?”

  She was taken aback by my quick, harsh decline.

  “Until Sunday,” she said. Her eyes darted between the two of us. “Why? Is there something wrong?”

  “No, nothing’s wrong,” I lied convincingly. “I just had a really bad day.”

  The smirk on his face widened. He was enjoying my suffering.

  “Honey, I really don’t have a lot of time to talk but—” she said quietly.

  His commanding stare was too much to pull away from as I answered her.

  “I’m fine.”

  I barely felt her lips on my cheek under the feel of his stare as it locked my voice in my throat.

  “Oh, you kids can order a pizza or something tonight and go to dinner tomorrow in town.”

  She pointed to the money under the fruit bowl. When neither of us acknowledged her words, she said nothing else.

  “Don’t worry, Sandy, I’ll take care of her,” he promised looking at me.

  The beauty of his face hid the condescension in it from her.

  “Thanks, sweetie.” She sighed. Her gratitude toward him tightened my stomach.

  Staring at me, his expanding black pupils filled his eyes.

  I would regret my decision to stay here.

  After my mother left, I waited in my room for Justin to get home. Thoughts of him and Sarah together stung my brain. I remembered the hurt in her eyes when he and I walked out of the restroom together. Her hurt was not a platonic pain. It was deeper. She’d loved him. Maybe he’d loved her.