by Chloe Walsh
The guy who had been talking to me quickly disappeared from sight and I frowned. “Where’d he go?”
“Don’t give two shits as long as it’s far away from you,” Reebo replied with an easy smile. “Think you’ve had enough for tonight, don’t you?”
“I’m fine,” I slurred, holding my hand up in protest. “I’m not r…ready to go yet.” Reaching out, I trailed my finger down his chest and giggled. “Teddy bear. Big and strong.”
“Okaaay…” Reebo took a safe step back from me. “You’re drunk, baby girl. And while you’re hot as fuck? I wanna keep my head on my shoulders.”
Seconds later, my beer was yanked out of my hand and I was greeted by two very angry blue eyes.
“Bed,” Rourke ordered.
“Nope,” I snickered, trying and failing to recapture my beer.
“Bed. Now,” he repeated, holding the bottle away from me.
“Why?”
“Because you’re embarrassing yourself.” Flustered, Rourke ran a hand through his hair. “You’re acting like a goddam…” He stopped and clamped his lips together. “Bed. Six. Now.”
“Slut?” I offered with a harsh laugh.
“Don’t,” Rourke shot back angrily, and if I wasn’t so drunk, I could have sworn I saw him flinch.
“But I am a slut,” I shot back innocently as I grabbed the bottle out of his hand and guzzled another large mouthful. “Isn’t that what you’ve been hinting at since I got here?”
“Shut your goddamn mouth, Six.”
“I mean, come on, Rourke, you’ve called me a worthless piece of trash on enough occasions.” Slapping the bottle back down on the counter, I shook my hair out and sighed. “I’m just finally caving and agreeing with you.”
“Goddammit, Six,” Rourke warned, yanking the bottle off the counter and tossing it somewhere behind him. It clanged on the ground and shattered. “Don’t fucking talk like that.”
“Why?” I half slurred, half snickered. “It’s okay for you to degrade me, but I can’t?”
“Is that what you think?” he asked, clearly irritated, as he ran a hand through his hair. “You think I’m degrading you?”
I threw my hands in the air and made a “Sheeesh” sound. “Feels like that to me.”
“Mercedes.”
“Oh, so I’m Mercedes now, am I?” Tears were burning my eyes but I refused to let them fall. I would not cry in front of this cruel bastard. “How kind of you.” Drunk or not, I was a stubborn bitch and that stubbornness couldn’t be swayed no matter how much alcohol I consumed.
“You’re drunk,” Rourke said in a low tone, taking a step towards me. Everyone in the kitchen was watching me lose it, but I didn’t care. In fact, I didn’t give a damn. “Get up and I’ll help you to bed.”
“So, you can what, Rourke?” I demanded, roughly shrugging off his hand when he placed it on my shoulder. “Pat yourself on the back and give yourself brownie points for being kind to me?” I shook my head and sneered. “Save it…. Argh!”
My words got stuck in my throat the moment Rourke picked me up like a freaking baby and carried me out of the room. “If you think I’m leaving you here to make a fucking fool of yourself, then you’re wrong,” he told me as he carried me out of the kitchen and up the staircase towards my bedroom.
If I had been able to feel my ass, I might have fought back, but I couldn’t, so I didn’t struggle. He carried me into my room and sat me down on the end of the bed before reaching forward and pulling back the covers.
“Why do you hate me?” I asked when Rourke picked me up and tossed me onto the mattress.
“Believe me, Six,” he growled as he tucked my duvet up to my chin. “If I hated you, I wouldn’t have brought you up here.”
“Then why did you bring me up here?” I slurred, looking up at him.
“Because,” he muttered, but didn’t say anything else.
I closed my eyes. “Because?”
I heard him sigh heavily. “Sleep it off, Six.”
I WOKE SEVERAL hours later to the feel of my mattress dipping and someone climbing into bed with me.
“I know I shouldn’t be in here,” Rourke whispered in the darkness as he curled his body around mine.
“Then why are you in here?” I managed to squeeze out as my body burned beneath his touch.
“Because…” he slurred, nuzzling his body against mine.
“Because?” My voice was barely more than a whisper and I could hardly hear it over the pounding of my heart. Rourke’s hard, warm body so close to mine felt familiar and insanely right.
“I’m drunk as fuck, Six,” he whispered.
“I know. I can smell it.”
“You’re one to talk,” he snorted.
“You were an asshole tonight,” I whispered in the darkness. “Sometimes I really hate you, Rourke.”
“I know you do,” he slurred, tightening his hold on my waist. “But if you could pretend to love me, just for tonight, I’d be really fucking grateful.”
Those words.
That plea.
It killed me.
I turned to face him and whispered, “Why do you need me to pretend I love you?” My eyes were locked on his face. It was dark, but I hadn’t drawn my curtains so the moon illuminated his face. “Rourke?”
“Because.” He was breathing hard and fast now, his breath fanning my face, bathing me in the heavy stench of alcohol.
My heart slammed against my ribcage. “Because?”
“Fifteen years today,” he finally choked out, clenching his eyes shut. “Still…hurts.”
“Since your mom passed?”
He nodded.
Trembling, I reached up. I cupped the back of his neck with one hand, and bunched the front of his shirt with the other. I pressed my forehead to his chest and whispered, “I love you, Rourke.”
He shuddered violently before slumping forward, resting his chin on my head.
Several minutes passed by and Rourke’s breathing turned deep and slow. He had passed out, I realized. In my bed, with his body curled around mine.
I shouldn’t have said it.
I shouldn’t have told Rourke I loved him.
Not when I didn’t mean it.
And I was almost certain I didn’t.
Rourke
“OWENS, WHAT THE HELL is wrong with you today?” Coach Joe roared from the sideline on Thursday night. We were on our second double session of the day and running through formations. “You got pussy juice on those fingers or something, boy?”
“No, sir,” I replied, running back to the line out.
“Then catch the damn ball.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Pussy juice.” Daryl bit back a snicker. “He wishes.”
“Shut your fucking mouth and throw me a good one,” I snarled.
“Lord have Mercy!” my best friend taunted, using her name to piss me off further. “You’ve got a mouth on you today.”
“And you’ve got a death wish,” I called back as I took position on the field.
The play resumed and I ran like a fucking bullet towards the thirty-five, avoiding the defense, eyes locked on the pig skin floating through the air towards me. Seconds before the ball was safely in my hands, I was taken to the ground.
“Fuck,” I wheezed, not bothering to get up. I couldn’t. I wasn’t hurt, but I was done.
“Goddammit, Owens!” I heard Coach roar from nearby. “Get your head out of the clouds.”
“Yes, sir,” I muttered, still sprawled out on my ass. My head wasn’t in the clouds like Coach thought; it was back in my kitchen watching Mason Starr stick his tongue down Six’s throat. Worse, I’d woken up in Six’s bed this morning. Thankfully, she wasn’t in it with me, but still. I shouldn’t have been in her fucking bed, and I definitely shouldn’t be feeling happy that I was. Goddamn.
“You good, Rourke?” Reebo asked as he came and stood over me. “Here.” Holding a hand out, he helped me to my feet. “Damn, man. You took som
e hit.”
“Yeah,” I grunted, shaking it off. I wasn’t physically hurt. My pride on the other hand? Fuck, that was wounded. Jogging back to the sideline, I grabbed a bottle of water out of one of the training bags and gulped it down.
“Get your ass in the showers, Owens,” Coach ordered. Nodding, I continued to drink. “And don’t come back here ‘til you’re ready to play football.”
That suited me just fine. My head wasn’t in the game today and I sure as shit didn’t fancy taking another beating out there.
SIX WAS IN THE pool when I got home. I thought about just ignoring her and walking straight into the house, but my fucking dick had other ideas.
Hard at the sight of her, and with my Ray bans on, I walked over to one of the sun loungers and threw myself down.
I was aching in places I never knew I had muscles and all I wanted to do right now was kick back and perv on my stepsister in peace and quiet.
Thankfully, Six didn’t notice me coming in; she was too busy swimming lengths of the pool. Folding my arms behind my head, I sprawled out and enjoyed the view.
Her sexy ass bouncing as she kicked her legs was better than any fucking porno, and when she moved onto her back and gave me a full view of her breasts, barely held in by the tiny scrap of a bikini she had on, goddamn, I had to bite back a growl.
I managed to get a whole fifteen minutes of a floor show before she realized I was there.
“What are you doing?” she asked, finally noticing me.
“What do you think I’m doing?
“Watching me?”
Accurate. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
I watched from behind the safety of my sunglasses as she climbed out of the pool and walked towards me. “Actually, I’m glad you’re here.” She was? “I wanted to speak to you about something.”
“I’m all ears,” I drawled lazily, watching as she took a seat on the lounger next to mine.
“I took it too far,” she finally said, eyes locking on my face. “Kissing Mason?” She tucked her long hair behind her ears. “I did it because you told me I couldn’t, not because I wanted to...ugh. Look, either way, I shouldn’t have done that.”
No, she shouldn’t have kissed him, but for an entirely different reason to the one she was mentioning. “Why did I wake up in your bed?”
My question seemed to surprise Six. “You don’t remember?” she asked, brows raised.
Aw fuck. “No. What did I do?”
“Nothing,” she quickly replied. “You were drunk and came into my room by mistake and…um, passed out on my bed.”
“Is that it?”
She nodded, red-faced.
I sagged in relief. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Wow,” Six mused. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say you’re sorry and mean it.”
“It happens,” I shot back with a smirk.
“I don’t want to be your enemy, Rourke,” she said with a heavy sigh.
“Then what do you want to be, Six?”
She opened her mouth and quickly shut it. Looking up at me with intense grey eyes, she whispered, “I…”
“What do you want to be, Six?” I repeated huskily.
She paused.
“I’m waiting.”
“For us to be friends, I guess.”
Well that’s too bad because I can’t just be your friend…
“There you both are!” Cassidy’s voice filled my ears and I balked. She shimmied out to the pool area with a huge smile on her face and my father’s hand in hers. “Hello Rourke,” she said with a smile. “Mercy. We have something really exciting to tell you both.”
“God no,” Six muttered under her breath. “Not more news.”
Stiffening, I took my glasses off. “What?”
“It’s twins!” Cassidy squealed, clapping like a damn seal. “We’ve just come back from the doctor’s office and he confirmed we’re having twins.”
“No!” Six and I both hissed at the same time before gaping at each other in horror.
I shook my head. “What the…”
“Actual fuck,” Six finished for me. “Mom, are you sure?”
“Yes! Look. Look.” Springing towards us, Cassidy handed her daughter a long strip of sonogram pictures. “See, there’s one. And there, see that little marking right there, that’s the other.”
I looked up at my father.
“Don’t say a word,” he warned, glaring back at me. “Not a single word, Rourke. I mean it.”
“The doctor says that’s why I was having those cramps,” Cassidy added with a dreamy sigh. “Two babies.”
“Congratulations,” Six strangled out, handing back the pictures to her mother. “You guys are going to have your hands full.”
Frowning, I watched as Six stood up and hurried into the house. I waited for Cassidy to go and check on her. She didn’t. “I’m so excited,” she gushed, claiming the lounger Six had vacated. “Oh Gabe, two beautiful babies.”
Biting my tongue, I stood up and walked into the house before I said something that got me kicked off the team permanently. Yeah, I might have the money, but until I came of age, my father held the power. Dick.
Mercedes
MY HANGOVER FROM HELL had been made fifty million times worse by my mother’s announcement.
All day, I had felt like death warmed up; the memories of embarrassing myself in front of Rourke and his friends eating away at me – not to mention the horrifyingly embarrassing memory of me telling him I love him that Rourke thankfully hadn’t remembered. But when Mom dropped the twin bomb earlier? Yeah, that news had made my heart fall into my butt.
Twins.
Feeling angry and sorely disappointed, I hurried to the sanctity of my bedroom, grateful for the first time that I was in Gabe’s house because that meant I actually had a room to run to.
I threw myself down on my bed and curled into the smallest ball I could.
Breathe, Mercy. Just breathe…
I didn’t want to cry over this.
I should be happy for her.
Goddamn, I really wanted to be happy for her, but it had been hard enough for me to accept one baby. Now there would be two?
This wasn’t about me. I knew that. It was about Mom and Gabe. But it infuriated me that she could be so reckless. I didn’t want any child to grow up like I did, to see what I had seen, or to endure what I had endured.
I loved my mother, but this stung. She had made a lot of mistakes when I was growing up. Some bad ones, and some downright unforgivable ones. Knowing that soon there would be two more children thrown into the mix made me feel physically repulsed.
My bedroom door opened and my eyes locked on Rourke. He was walking towards me with a troubled expression on his face.
My heart pounded in my chest at the sight of him.
What was he doing here?
Had he come to check on me?
I didn’t believe that, but my body still warmed at the sight of him.
He was here, and right now, that meant a lot to me.
More than he would ever know.
Rourke
SIX WAS CRYING WHEN I walked into her room without knocking. Surprisingly, she didn’t scream at me and tell me to get out. No, she was too busy trying to mask her emotions from me.
I looked at her, sitting on her bed, hugging her knees, and something propelled me forward. She was upset and it wasn’t my fucking problem, and still I walked over to her bed and sat down beside her.
Dammit.
“It’s not worth crying about,” I finally muttered, unsure of what to say. I knew she was hurting, I knew why, but there was nothing I could do to fix it. I didn’t want her to think I cared. No, scratch that; I didn’t want to think I cared. Fuck!
“It’s like you said,” I grumbled. “In another few months, you’ll have graduated from school and be long gone from here.” It was all she talked about with Amelia. I’d overheard them many times since she’d arr
ived. Six had big plans. She was getting the hell out of this town as soon as she got her cap and gown next June.
“She’s so stupid, Rourke,” she choked out bitterly. “So fucking stupid. She thinks the whole damn world is all sunshine and flowers.” She shook her head. “She has no clue.”
“Accidents happen,” I offered lamely. I was just as fucking allergic to having new siblings as Six was, but I also knew what it felt like to make a mistake with a girl.
“Always to her,” Six shot back, voice laced with anger. “Always to the people around her.”
“Are we still talking about the pregnancy?” It didn’t sound like it. It sounded like it was about something entirely different.
“I’m just sick of it, Rourke,” Six shot back, looking down at her knees. “I’m done taking care of her.”
I knew the feeling well.
“Do you want to get out of here?” I stood up then because I had to. Sitting next to a crying girl wasn’t something I felt comfortable with. Especially when I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hold her or wring her damn neck. “We could go for a drive or something.” I needed to move… Put some space between us. Get out of this bedroom.
She looked up at me in shock. “Together?”
What the fuck was I doing?
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “Together.”
Rourke
I HAD NO OTHER explanation or valid reason for putting Six in my truck, only that I wanted to stop her from crying.
I didn’t like what her tears did to me or the helpless feeling that had come over me when I realized there was nothing I could do to fix it for her.
I had no fucking clue of where I was taking her. I just knew that the both of us needed some time out from that house.
She was quiet while I drove, deep in her thoughts. Again, I didn’t like it. I wanted to know what was running through that mind of hers.
“Tell me about Britt,” she finally said when we were parked after grabbing food from the McDonald’s drive thru.
“Tell you about Britt?” Well, I hadn’t been expecting that question to come out of her mouth. I mulled over how to answer that particular shitbomb as I unwrapped my double cheeseburger.