I laugh, which drives Laura absolutely insane.
“So are you going to go or what?” I ask.
Laura rolls her eyes and storms out of the house, slamming the front door behind her. As soon as she’s gone, Haley lets out a huge breath, the tears she was holding back falling from her eyes.
“It’s going to be alright,” I tell her, “I told you I was handling it.”
“But what about the picture?” she asks.
“I meant what I said. It’s the two of us having fun, and I’m in my underwear. It’s the sort of thing people in couples do every day.”
“But Jace, we…”
“Can’t? Because we’re stepbrother and stepsister? Now that Bruce knows about those emails, I don’t think we’re going to be stepbrother and stepsister much longer.”
Haley hugs me tight. Once she lets me go, I walk back into my room, pick my clothes up off the floor and start to get dressed.
“Do you think she’s sent that picture yet?” Haley asks.
“I don’t know, but you know what?”
I slide my pants on, pulling my phone out of the front pocket.
“Let’s beat her to it.”
“What do you mean?” Haley asks.
“Let’s take our own picture, and I’ll put it up on my social networks. That way, when Laura tries to sell that stupid picture to some gossip website, they’re going to laugh her out of the building.”
Haley looks nervous.
“Our own picture?” she asks.
“I mean, the secret’s out anyway, why not get it out on our terms?”
I shrug and hold my phone up, waiting for Haley’s reaction. At first, I can tell she’s nervous about publically declaring something that she was trying to keep a secret less than half an hour ago. But then, after she thinks about it a little, her features soften and she starts to smile.
“You’re right,” she says, “We should take a picture.”
“Thank you,” I say, grabbing Haley’s hand and leading her into the living room.
“Where are you taking me?” she asks, laughing.
“Outside,” I say.
We get out onto the front porch, and I jump on the wooden porch swing that’s hanging by the door, motioning for Haley to sit down next to me.
“No one ever uses that thing,” Haley says.
“So? They don’t know that on the internet.”
I pat the space beside me, and Haley laughs and sits down.
“Hurry up and take the picture before this thing collapses.”
“Don’t be so nervous,” I say, “We’re just a normal couple, enjoying a nice afternoon on our favorite porch swing. Okay?”
“Okay,” she says.
I want to get her smiling before I take the picture, so I poke her in the ribs. Right on cue, she flashes me a super cute smile, and I kiss her on the forehead as I hold my phone out at arm’s length.
Click.
Chapter 31: Haley
As I sit at the kitchen counter and finish my hard-earned tuna sandwich, my phone explodes with texts. People I haven’t heard from in years are texting me to tell me congratulations, and I’ve already ignored a few calls from what I assume are reporters, including one from Glenn.
I was expecting to get some attention, but I wasn’t expecting to be the center of the universe like this. It’s pretty surreal.
Still, the second that Jace took that photo, it felt like a huge rock was lifted up off my heart. No more secrets. No more sneaking around. No more shame.
There are only two things I’m worried about right now: my dad, and the company. After Jace pulled the rug out from under Laura like that, I feel pretty confident that there’s nothing else she can do to hurt us, but I want to make sure my Dad is okay with all of this, and that RentNation is going to be alright.
Jace walks into this kitchen with a ridiculously long roll of condoms in his hands. “What do you say?”
I bite my lip and fight the urge to pull myself up onto the counter and spread my legs right then and there for him.
“Tempting…but I think I need to go back to New York and see my Dad.”
“Don’t you want to get through, like, half of these first?” Jace asks.
He walks up to me, spreads my legs apart, and wraps them around his waist. Even though the soreness from our marathon fuck session was starting to creep in, it’s still hard to pull myself away from the promise of more.
“I think I need to make sure that our cash cow’s not freaking out first.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s the responsible thing to do.”
Jace lets my legs fall back down against the stool, then leans against the countertop.
“You’re the best,” I say.
Then, I kiss him on the forehead and grab his cock through his jeans as I head out the front door.
“I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Fine,” Jace says, “But the longer you wait, the hornier I’m going to be when I see you again.”
***
I don’t really want to have this conversation with Dad on the phone, so I just show up at his apartment, even though I know chances are slim that he’s actually there in the late afternoon on a weekday.
But not only is he there, he opens the door a few seconds after I knock. Wow, that definitely wasn’t enough time to get myself emotionally ready for this.
“Hi, Dad…” I say, my face twisting into an extremely awkward smile.
“Hey,” he says, “I was just about to call you. Come in.”
Man, I didn’t think about this enough. As I walk into Dad’s living room and sit on the couch, I don’t know how to even begin to talk about Jace with him.
Dad breaks the silence for me.
“Is this because I accidentally put you and Jace in a one-bedroom suite?”
“Dad!” I say, covering my face with my hands.
“No, I had my suspicions from the way you two were interacting with each other,” he says, grabbing a chair from the other side of the room and sitting across from me, “And the reason I wasn’t worried is because I knew that you two weren’t going to be stepsiblings much longer.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, “Are you…divorcing Laura?”
I try not to let on what I know about his conversation with Jace.
“I realized earlier this year that it was never going to work out,” he says, “But I’ve been staying with her for…business reasons.”
“Dad! You can’t just stay married with somebody for business reasons!”
Dad smiles and shakes his head. “I know…but I thought she was helping me until Jace brought her correspondence with Border Country Oil to my attention. And since you and Jace are…well, you know, in the position you’re in, I figured the time was right to make it official.”
“I haven’t had the chance to look at peoples’ reactions,” I say, “Is the company going to be alright?”
“I think so,” Dad says, “I put out a statement right after the picture hit the web. I said that I support you two, that you won’t be stepsiblings after the divorce is finalized, and that RentNation is going to make a big announcement next week.”
“Me joining the company?”
“Well, judging from my last conversation with Jace, it sounds like you two are planning to build another skyscraper on the west coast?”
“I think so,” I say.
“Once that news drops, no one’s going to care about you two, so I want to make that happen as quickly as possible. Our press since the building opened has been so good that I think we’ll be fine in the long run.”
“Great,” I say, letting out a huge sigh of relief.
“I’ve always thought Jace was a great guy. He’s a hard worker, but he has the confidence to relax and be himself no matter who he’s talking to. How could I object to you finding a guy like that?”
“You’ve always liked him.”
“I wish I could have been like him when I was his age. I didn’t
have a lot of money back then, did you know that?”
“Really? No, I kind of assumed you were just…always successful.”
“Far from it,” says Dad, “You should have seen what I was eating. Anyway, I got it into my head that the way to stop poverty from messing with your head was to work all day, every day, so that I could go to bed every night knowing I did everything I could. And after a couple years of chasing money 24/7, I just…lost sight of what really matters, and I kept working, even after I’d made all the money I could ever need.”
“And look at us now,” I say, smiling, “It worked.”
“I know,” says Dad, “That’s what I realized when the Fisher Building opened up. That we’re going to be okay. I just…wish I’d have been there for you more when you were growing up.”
“You’re here now, Dad,” I say.
“Yeah,” he says, “And I think I’m finally ready to start enjoying myself.”
“Good,” I say, “I can’t wait.”
My phone, which had quieted down after the initial wave of text messages, gets a text. It’s from Jace.
Yeah, there’s no way I was waiting for you back in Connecticut. Get over here and play pool with me.
“Jace?” he asks.
I nod.
“Go ahead,” he says, “Tell Jace the good news. I’m off tomorrow if you want to meet up for lunch.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I say, giving him a hug on my way out.
I wait until I’m alone in the hallway to celebrate the divorce with a little dance.
Chapter 32: Haley
It’s so weird to see the Fisher Building full of people. At first, I’m a little worried that I’m not going to like it here now that it’s not empty, but as I step into the game room and see a bunch of people having a blast playing pool, ping pong, and air hockey, I start to warm up to it. RentNation helped all these people move into a place they’d normally never be able to afford.
Jace is at the very end of the game room, playing a one-person game of pool.
“You seem pretty happy playing with yourself,” I say, walking up to him and leaning over the pool table, “Want me to leave you alone?”
“I’ve just been thinking about you the entire time, actually,” he says, grabbing the balls out of the pockets and pushing them into a triangle.
“There was a pool bar right across from my apartment in San Diego,” I say, “So I’m pretty sure I’m going to crush you.”
“Oh yeah?” says Jace, “It’d be the first time.”
I grab a pool cue from the rack on the wall and start chalking it.
“Let’s make this a little more interesting,” says Jace, “Remember the bet from the elevator?”
I bite my lip as I pace around the table.
“Yeah,” I say, “But why would I want my own suite?”
“Oh, forget about that part. I’m talking about the part where you have to wear nothing but underwear in the suite if you lose.”
“Alright, but if I win, that’s going to be you. For the next month.”
“Deal,” Jace says, setting the cue ball on the table dramatically, and taking the first shot, making eye contact with me the entire time.
***
“That was basically a draw!” I say, as Jace picks me up and carries me into our apartment.
“Basically a draw is not a draw, Haley. There are no ties in pool.”
“I want a rematch!”
“Alright, we can have a rematch…next month.”
I cross my arms and glare at Jace, trying to hide just how wet the idea of being mostly naked around him for the next month is making me.
“Take it off, Haley. You lost the bet.”
“Fine,” I pout.
I walk towards Jace, hands slowly pulling off my clothes, hips slowly swaying back and forth. When I reach him, I push him down onto the couch and stand over him, swatting his hands away as he tries to pull my skirt down.
“The bet didn’t say anything about you touching me for the next month.”
“Maybe not,” says Jace, “But you’re still on the contract for three more hours. Don’t make me use it.”
I pull my skirt down and turn around, wiggling my ass for Jace. When he reaches out to touch it, I swat his hand away.
“You know what?” Jace says, “That’s strike three. I’ve had enough of your disobedient behavior, and I think you need to learn another lesson.”
Jace smacks me hard on the ass, and an intense heat forms between my legs.
“Come on,” he says, taking my hand and pulling me into his bedroom, “Apparently, the first spanking wasn’t enough for you.”
Jace tosses me onto his bed, where I get up on all fours and stick my ass in the air for him.
“You want it, don’t you?” he asks, pulling my panties down to my knees.
I moan and stick my ass out further.
“Don’t you!?”
Jace spanks me again.
“Say it!”
“I want it,” I say, rubbing my legs together, “I want it so bad.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Jace says.
Jace spanks me until I’m so hot I can barely get his pants off, and then he fucks me from behind until he starts thrusting so hard that we both collapse onto the bed. Then, I flip over, pull him back into me, and we fuck like oversexed rabbits until we come together, moaning into each other’s mouths.
“What did your dad say?” Jace asks, pulling off my bra and running his thumb gently across my nipples.
“He’s divorcing your mom,” I say, and Jace pulls my lips into his mouth, giving me a long, deep kiss.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Jace says, “But part of me really was just messing around with the whole contract thing. I didn’t think you were going to sign it, so I was just using it to tease you.”
“So you’re saying that you accidentally swept me off my feet?”
“I’m saying I was in denial.”
“So was I,” I say.
I grab the back of Jace’s head with my hands, pulling his forehead into mine.
“I love you,” I say.
“I love you too.”
I push my body up against Jace’s, and my eyes go wide as I feel his erection press against my stomach.
“Already?” I say.
“I told you we were going to need the whole roll,” Jace says, sitting up and grabbing the roll of condoms from the nightstand.
Chapter 33: Haley
Two Years Later
Meet me in Connecticut.
That’s what the note on the door says when I get back to the suite after having lunch with Dad and his new girlfriend. Her name is Maya, she’s probably the biggest hippie I’ve ever met, and I’m basically obsessed with her. I’ve never seen Dad as happy as he is when he’s around her. Two years ago, if you told me my Dad would be talking my ear off about the benefits of mindfulness meditation and yoga, I’d have called you crazy.
Jace and I just got back from Sydney, Australia, where we just opened the first RentNation building in the southern hemisphere. I never realized how many places we’d be able to travel by opening skyscrapers there, but over the past two years, we’ve been to Paris, Rome, Beijing, and, of course, all across America.
And now, Jace wants me to meet him in Connecticut.
When I pull into the driveway of our old house, Jace comes through the front door and greets me with a hug.
“How’s your dad?” he asks.
“Amazing,” I say, “Why’d you call me out here?”
“Don’t you like it here?” Jace asks, “I thought this would be a fun place to talk about our next move.”
“Alright,” I say, flopping on the couch and opening Jace’s laptop, “Where do you want to go next? Personally, I think we should stay in the southern hemisphere and open up a building in Rio.”
“Interesting idea,” Jace says, “I’d like to see you in one of those Carnival outfits.”
Jace sits
on the couch, wraps an arm around me, and we talk over some of our options for expansion. After all that drama about me becoming co-CEO of RentNation, I decided to ask them to hire me as a consultant, not as an executive, so that investors didn’t freak out about a couple running a major startup. Of course, as Jace’s girlfriend, I am pretty much co-CEO of RentNation, but the investors don’t need to know about that.
Meanwhile, I’ve been in the process of starting my own business: a publishing house that specializes in first-time writers. After Jace and I open up this next building, we’re going to stay in New York while I work to get it off the ground. When I told Dad about it, he was worried that I was taking after him and trying to work multiple full-time jobs at once, but I told him that anything related to literature was not work to me.
“These guys from Spain called yesterday,” says Jace, “They want us to put up a building in Barcelona.”
“Oh my God, that would be amazing.”
I bite my lip as I try to decide between Spain and Brazil.
“If you need help deciding, I’ve been crunching numbers all morning, and I’ve printed out a couple portfolios with possible locations and stuff. They’re over in my room.”
“Good idea,” I say, getting up and walking over to Jace’s room.
Just like Jace said, his nightstand is covered in portfolios, spreadsheets, and maps of places like Barcelona, Berlin, and Seoul. I feel like a kid in a candy store looking at them, but when I pull the Barcelona portfolio off of the nightstand, I see a sheet of legal paper sitting underneath all the spreadsheets.
It’s a contract.
I should have known this whole Connecticut thing was going to be a prank. Jace was being unusually sincere and affectionate out there, and it was obviously to get me to let my guard down, tricking me into finding a new contract the exact same way that I found the original one.
Kicking myself for not suspecting something, I pick the contract up off the nightstand and read it. And that’s when I practically have a heart attack.
By signing this contract, I,___________, agree to abide by the following rules regarding my ex-stepsister, Haley Russell.
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