Mask - A Stepbrother Romance

by Daire, Caitlin

  She patted my hand to reassure me, whispering a few comforting words to make sure I wouldn’t be too nervous as we waited.

  We didn’t have to wait for too long.

  As soon as I saw a tall, grey-haired man walk into the room, I knew he was the one we were there to meet. His eyes landed on us and he smiled widely, his whole face brightening as he saw my Mom sitting at the table with me. That smile alone made me like him, because it made it abundantly clear that he was excited to see her. I was sure it wasn’t easy to start a new life when he had a kid of his own, let alone with a woman who also had a daughter.

  The man approached us, a warm smile on his face as he shook my hand. “Hello, you must be Sasha,” he said. I nodded in response as he continued. "I’m George. It's so nice to meet you. I've been looking forward to this all day."

  The best I could do was offer him a nervous smile. It seemed like my throat had closed up, but George just gave me a reassuring smile and sat down at our table.

  “I’m so sorry my son is late. I’m sure he’ll be arriving any minute now,” he said. I thought I detected a hint of frostiness in his voice when he spoke of his son, but I assumed I was just imagining things and quickly pushed the thought aside.

  The waitress brought us the menus, and we all started reading. I was so engrossed in the specials that I didn’t even hear the approaching footsteps until it was too late.

  “Sasha?” an all-too familiar voice said.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked up to see a face I knew very well; if not from real-life interactions, then from my fantasies the previous night.

  “Logan…?” I replied in a croaky voice before awkwardly clearing my throat. Ugh, of course I sounded like a ninety-year-old smoker right at this second. Just my luck.

  He stared back at me without another word, seemingly dumbfounded.

  Okay, so this probably wasn’t the best way for me to run into him again; stuck at an awkward dinner with my new stepfamily…but why did he look so confused? Surely he couldn’t be my new stepbrother? No, of course not. That would be telenovela-level crazy.

  A syrupy-sweet voice interrupted my train of thought a split-second later. “Sorry, Logie-Bear, just had to check in my jacket.”

  I jerked my eyes away from Logan to see that a girl had just approached the table. Gorgeous, blonde and willowy with legs for days, she wrapped herself around Logan as I stared at them.

  Oh. Maybe that was why he looked uncomfortable as hell.

  “Hi,” I said in an icy voice, unable to hide my disappointment.

  I’d really thought there was a connection between us, even if it was just a small one, but apparently, Logan didn’t share that thought—here he was on a date with another woman, and one who was ten times prettier than me, too. She honestly looked like she’d be right at home strutting down the catwalk at a Victoria’s Secret show.

  This wasn’t just any old dinner date, either. This was a family event, so obviously she wasn’t just some casual fling to him.

  “Oh, hi.” She smiled when she saw me, leaning down like I was a child. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “You must be Logan’s new stepsister! I’m Chelsea, his girlfriend.”

  What? Her words confirmed my earlier fleeting suspicion. Logan really was my new stepbrother…and he had a girlfriend.

  Oh God…nope, nope, nope. No way.

  Once more, I was struck by the urge to run away and hide, and I could only stare at Chelsea in horror as she proceeded to sit down at our table. My mouth dropped so far open that my jaw practically unhinged itself as George shot Logan a cold stare, and Logan sat down next to me, unable to meet my eyes.

  What. The. Hell.

  I looked at my Mom for answers, and she just gave me a sweet smile. “Something the matter, honey?” she asked pleasantly. “By the way, where do you and Logan know each other from?”

  This was actually happening. The guy I’d been kinda flirting with on Matcher and swooning over mere hours ago was my mother’s new husband’s son—jeez, that was a mouthful to say—and he’d brought a date to meet us at the restaurant, probably knowing all along that I was his new stepsister.

  On top of all that, what the hell was he doing with an active profile on Matcher if he already had a girlfriend? I guess he was just a cheating prick, much like Travis had been.

  I sure knew how to pick ‘em, didn’t I?

  My lips tightened as I glared at Logan and his girlfriend. “College,” I finally said to my Mom. “We met there.”

  “That’s right!” George said, clasping his hands together and plastering on a fake smile in what seemed to be an attempt to save our dinner, which was becoming more awkward by the second. I could tell he was pissed that Logan had brought a date, and he inched away from Chelsea as soon as she sat down next to him. “I forgot you both go to the same school. How wonderful. Do you share any classes?”

  “Yes, we do,” I said. “Logan has some pretty strong opinions on charity and how it will be the death of us all. We actually got into a bit of an argument about it during our last class.”

  I offered a fake smile for the table, feeling the awkwardness settle down on us. I guess I might as well embrace it, right?

  Logan stared at me with an amused smirk, but I chose to ignore it.

  “I see,” George replied. “Which class is this, exactly?”

  “It’s a social psychology one. One of Professor MacDonald’s classes,” I replied. At that moment, I felt something warm touch my bare leg, and I almost jumped out of my skin.

  It was Logan’s hand.

  What the effing hell? He had a girlfriend, and he was trying to feel me up right in front of her! Ugh, he was even worse than I thought. As much of a prick as Travis had been, at least he’d saved me the humiliation of trying to cheat right in front of me.

  Mom peered at me as I twitched in my seat, her eyes wide. “Everything okay?” she asked.

  “Oh, yes,” I replied, shoving Logan’s hand away under the table. “Just had a weird shivering feeling in my legs.”

  So he wanted to play a game with me? Fine, game on…but I played rough when I was angry.

  For the next hour, we exchanged pleasantries and tried to salvage the evening, but it was difficult with Chelsea’s presence. She was absolutely awful, loudly bragging about her influential family and constantly making both me and my Mom feel horrible, purely because we weren’t loaded or powerful. Logan just stared at his meal, unable to look at any of us, and George spent half his time glaring at Chelsea, who was the only one speaking at this stage, anyway.

  What a complete and utter disaster. This family was off to a bad start; that much was clear. I decided to be the good girl once again and tried to save the situation.

  “Are you in college too, Chelsea?” I asked her in an attempt to make polite conversation.

  “Oh, no,” she replied, picking at her vegetables with a bored expression on her face. She hadn’t eaten a bite; instead she’d just pushed her food around the plate all night, despite ordering one of the most expensive dishes. I felt bad for George, who was paying for the meal, because he was obviously already annoyed by her presence here.

  “I’m modeling at the moment. I don’t have time for school,” she continued. “Studying is for uggos anyway.”

  Uggos, huh? I assumed she meant ‘ugly people’. What a classy girl…or not.

  “How do you know Logan, then?” The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop them, and she gave me a patronizing smile.

  “We’ve known each other for ages,” she said in a smug tone, like it was some kind of accomplishment. “We’ve been dating for like, two years.”

  My face clouded even more, and I felt Logan’s eyes on me again. “Isn’t that absolutely lovely,” I said in the sweetest voice I could muster, throwing my napkin on the table. “If you’ll excuse me, I just have to use the ladies room.”

  “Oh, I’ll come with you,” Chelsea replied. I suppressed a strong urge to roll
my eyes. I just needed some breathing room, and she was butting in again. “Need to powder my nose.”

  She grabbed her purse, and I ended up following her to the restroom, my short legs no match for her gazelle-like stride.

  We finally got to the bathroom, and I awkwardly stood near the basins and gave my face a quick splash, not even caring whether I was smudging the small amount of makeup I was wearing. I needed a cold slap to knock me back into the real world.

  Chelsea looked in the mirror and sighed dramatically. Then she opened her handbag and pulled out an enormous makeup bag, and she quickly went to work on her face, reapplying a coat of lipstick and touching up her foundation. Up close, she looked gorgeous, but her makeup was caked on so heavily that I could barely make out her features.

  “What an adorable little bag,” she cooed, staring over at my handbag for a second. “It looks like one of last season’s Gucci bags; is that what it is?”

  The way she said ‘last season’ made it sound like it was a federal offence to not keep up to date on designer accessories.

  “Er…no. It’s from Target,” I mumbled.

  She visibly sneered, and I blushed. Bitch.

  I suddenly had an idea…a very horrible idea. A devious smile took over my face, and I tried to remind myself that I was a good girl. I wasn’t supposed to mess this night up for my Mom—but wasn’t Logan the one who’d started messing it all up by bringing Chelsea to dinner, seemingly just to taunt us? On top of that, Chelsea was such a bitch that I felt more than a little justified.

  All I needed was for her to provide me with the perfect opener, and I got it only seconds later.

  As I dried my hands on a soft towel, Chelsea started chatting again in her high-pitched voice as she looked over at me. “You must be so happy to have Logan as a stepbrother!” she said.

  Her eyebrows rose, and before I could respond, she gave me a sympathetic smile. “Actually, scratch that. It must be absolutely awful having someone so hot as part of your family. Even if he was single, you could never touch him,” she said.

  “Oh no,” I replied, the words spilling out of my mouth before I could stop them. “It’s fine, really. I’d never look at him like that anyway, even if he wasn’t my stepbrother…for obvious reasons.”

  Chelsea’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why do you say that? What obvious reasons?”

  “Oh, you know, because of Logan’s thing,” I replied, affecting an airy tone. I smiled innocently at her, and her stare remained blank, as I knew it would. “You know, you’re really brave, staying with him despite it all.”

  “Um. Can you elaborate?” she asked. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, I thought you knew, because you said you’ve been dating for ages,” I said, still feigning innocence. “But never mind, I probably just misheard my Mom talking about how serious Logan’s condition is...”

  Chelsea’s eyes widened, but I wasn’t done just yet.

  “She said he’s totally fine when he’s on his meds, anyway.” I delivered the punchline, looking at Chelsea with my best poker face. “As long as he takes them, he won’t try to stab anyone while he sleepwalks ever again. Isn’t medicine just amazing?”

  Chelsea’s mouth opened and closed, and I could barely hold back my laughter as she slowly comprehended what I’d just said. I wiped my hands again, shot her another innocent smile, and then I walked out of the bathroom as fast as my legs could carry me.

  I knew I was being immature, and I knew I was being mean, but in that moment, I also knew I was satisfied. Take that, asshole, I thought, wishing Logan was telepathic so he could hear the thoughts I was aiming his way.

  I joined the others at the dining table, and Mom and George both seemed relieved that I wasn’t wearing a sour expression anymore.

  Minutes later, Chelsea left the bathroom and hurried straight towards the exit without so much as a glance in our direction.

  “Where’s your girlfriend going?” I asked Logan in a sweet voice. You guys totally deserve each other, by the way, I silently added.

  He turned and looked in the direction I was pointing to, wrinkling his eyebrows as he saw where Chelsea was headed. “I’ll just go and see what’s going on,” he said, getting up and walking over to her.

  We all watched as they argued, and Chelsea kept shying away from him, as if she was afraid he’d go crazy and pull out a machete or something. Finally, she scurried out of the restaurant, and Logan returned with a confused expression still marring his features.

  I was trying to stifle my laughter so much that I almost choked on a piece of salmon as he sat back down.

  “Careful, wouldn’t want you to choke to death,” he said.

  We looked into each other’s eyes for the first time tonight, our gazes unwavering. I could tell he’d just figured out what I’d done, and I couldn’t stop a wide grin from spreading across my face. Apparently, he could barely fight his own smile, though I had no idea why he found my actions so amusing.

  Our parents started chatting about a new building they’d seen downtown, and I was about to join in when Logan mouthed something at me. ‘Game on, sis.’

  Game on it is, stepbrother dearest, I thought, meeting his eyes again. Game on, indeed.

  Chapter 6

  Logan

  I still couldn’t believe how Sasha had played me in the restaurant.

  It had been a couple of weeks since that night; in fact, it was the day she and her Mom were supposed to finally move into our house. I’d been awake since five, and I’d been fidgeting all morning, waiting for them to arrive. Not that I was nervous or anything; Sasha had just gotten under my skin in the restaurant with the little prank she’d pulled.

  I should’ve been angry, but all I could feel was amusement from how she’d handled the whole situation by sneakily telling Chelsea that I was some sort of serial killer. Truth be told, I’d only realized later what a major dick she must’ve thought I was.

  I’d had no idea she was my stepsister until I’d seen her sitting with my Dad in the restaurant. That had been pure coincidence, and Chelsea had only been there to piss off my Dad, not Sasha. Unfortunately, Sasha didn’t know that, and I hadn’t had a chance to tell her yet. She must’ve thought Chelsea was actually my girlfriend, so I guess she thought I deserved that prank for flirting with her on Matcher.

  I wasn’t about to let her get away with playing me like that, though. Oh no. I’d get her back, and I’d get her back good. I heard a car pull up in front of our house a moment later, and a mischievous smile spread over my face.

  Poor little Sasha...she had no idea what kind of trouble she was getting into.

  I heard voices in the hall a moment later, and I waited until everyone had settled down before strolling carelessly into the kitchen. I’d conveniently decided to forgo my shirt, and as soon as I walked in there, I could feel Sasha’s eyes practically burning a hole in my chest.

  “Hello, family,” I said cheekily, grinning at her as I walked over to the fridge and helped myself to a glass of orange juice. “Nice to have you here, finally.”

  “It’s good to see you too, Logan,” Sasha’s mother managed to get out, obviously distracted by the show I was putting on. “Do you erm...do you have a shirt you want to put on?”

  I guzzled the orange juice, licking my lips once I was finished before grinning at all three of them at the table. “Nope,” I replied.

  I could tell my Dad was about to murder me, so I just waggled my eyebrows at Sasha and left the room. My master plan had been put into action—I just had to wait a little while longer.

  Only moments later, a knock sounded at my door and I opened it to find Sasha’s Mom fidgeting there. “Hi, Logan,” she said, her voice pleasant with a tinge of nervousness.

  I smiled, a little reserved. She seemed like a nice enough woman, but truth be told, I’d seen plenty like her. They’d catch a whiff of my Dad’s money and that was all the convincing they needed to be with him.

 
“Can I help you, Kari?” I asked in a clipped tone.

  I knew I was making her nervous, but I didn’t give a shit—my Dad was still my father, and even though I occasionally hated his guts, I hated the idea of him possibly being taken advantage of.

  “Do you have any classes today?” she asked me, and I nodded in response. We stared at each other until she finally sighed. “Well, maybe you and Sasha can go together. Her car broke down the other day, and she could use a ride.”

  I thought about the matter at hand. A drive with my gorgeous, sexy as hell stepsister, who was totally off-limits to me? Sounded a bit too much like torture.

  “Sure,” I grunted, too polite to turn this woman down. “She couldn’t have asked me herself, though?”

  “She’s um... she’s still unpacking,” Kari replied, and I could tell right away that this was some ploy by her and Dad to get us to hang out. I sighed, but I couldn’t be bothered saying no and risking Dad’s wrath.

  “All right. I’ll go tell her,” I said, brushing past her as I exited my room and walked into the hallway.

  Sasha’s new room was just next door to mine—something I was sure was going to be absolute hell for me. That perky ass, those full tits of hers, and only a door away? The whole situation screamed trouble.

  “Thank you, Logan,” her Mom called out from behind me. I turned and gave her a tight-lipped smile. She seemed disappointed as she walked off, but I didn’t let myself worry about it. Instead, I firmly knocked on Sasha’s door and then stepped inside.

  “What the hell?” she shouted at the top of her lungs, looking up with a startled expression in her eyes. She was pulling on a pair of jeans, jumping around the room to get them on.

  “Sexy,” I said with my eyebrows raised as she furiously buttoned the pants up.

  “You can’t just walk in here like that,” she said, glaring at me. “Can’t you see I’m getting changed?”

  I couldn’t help but stare at her, remembering the tiny bit of panties that had been exposed through her zipper a moment earlier. Black lace. I wanted to see more. Or less, preferably.