Wrong: A Stepbrother Romance

It was at this point that Max and I exchanged looks. He and I seemed to be the only ones who ever detected the blatantly flirtatious way in which Riley spoke to Liam. She wants him, he mouthed to me, his dark blonde hair still wet and dripping onto my bar. I smirked as I wiped the droplets off with a rag and slid him a pint, mouthing back, oh yeah.

“Is it a girl?” Riley pressed on when Liam gave her some generic answer about his distraction. I went stiff, catching Liam’s mischievous eye before he turned back to Riley with his answer.

“Actually, Riles, yeah. It’s a girl.”

My heart stopped. I flashed him a look but while he grinned wickedly for me, he wouldn’t look at me. Liam. Don’t you dare, I willed him silently, my heart pounding as Riley gasped and began her interrogation.

“No way. You finally developed feelings for one of your little groupies?” she asked scandalously. “How the hell did you let that happen, King Playboy?”

Liam laughed as he leaned over the bar, his sexy, bite-able shoulders stretching the cotton of his white T-shirt. “It’s one of those long-time-coming situations,” he said. He looked at me, his green eyes gleaming. “Spanning almost a decade, really.”

Riley slapped her hand to the bar. “No! You? Holding in feelings for that long? Shut your mouth!” I bit my lip, feeling the heat of A.J and Max’s stares. They knew about Liam and me. If they didn’t know for sure that we’d hooked up, they were definitely suspecting it now because of the way I was blushing, shaking my hair into my face and busying myself with glasses that were already polished. Riley was incredulous. “Are you hearing this, Sash?” she grabbed my arm to physically pull me back into the conversation. “Liam says he’s been in love with a girl for like, ten years and didn’t start doing something about it till now. I’m calling total bullshit. Right?”

My heart pounded but I shrugged casually as I gazed at Liam. “I don’t know. It could be true,” I murmured.

“It is,” he said, his stare intense on me. I forced myself to look outwardly unfazed.

“So like, what, you used to date her and she got away?” Riley asked, dying of curiosity. Liam took a drink and gave that low, sexy laugh.

“I never dated her. Never so much as touched her till last night. But it was well worth the wait,” Liam grinned before wincing and shifting in his seat. A.J laughed.

“Dude’s getting hard just thinking about it.”

“A.J! Please don’t talk about my stepbrother’s hard-on in front of me,” Riley scolded, despite the fact that she liked to guess Liam’s dick size every time she had tequila.

“Sorry. Thought it’d be a crowd pleaser,” A.J snorted, nodding at the girls behind us who were no doubt staring and eavesdropping. He called out to them. “I’ve seen it in the showers. Solid ten inches. But he’s got nothing on me!”

We all groaned but with that came a burst of giggles from the girls and suddenly, A.J was off and mingling with Red and her friends, drinking from their Cosmos and dropping all the same lines I heard him use every week.

“Clearly someone’s getting laid tonight. What about you?” Riley asked Liam, pressing on so aggressively that Max shot me another one of those, damn, she’s thirsty kind of looks.

Liam cocked an eyebrow. “What about me?”

“You going to fuck this girl tonight?” Riley asked.

“I’d like to,” Liam answered. He grinned. “I could do it now. She’s in this bar.”

“What?” My heart stopped as Riley shouted. I stood behind her, shooting daggers at Liam and shaking my head as subtly as possible. “Liam! Where? Which one is she? I need to see how hot this girl is – show me now!”

“She’s right next to you,” Liam grinned, soaking in my panic as Riley scanned the bar, the hint going straight over her head.

“Which one? Where?”

“The one with the tits, Riles.”

“Liam,” I hissed, my cheeks getting red. I glanced at Max, who read right through the situation. His eyes narrowed and I realized that he hadn’t known about Liam and me until this very moment. Guilt and shame washed over me. God, I had been so out of my mind, so desperately in need of Liam’s touch that I hadn’t even thought of the repercussions of us – what would happen, how people would react when they caught wind of what we had done.

“Oh my God, is it that one?” Riley pointed at a model-esque blonde. “She’s not even that pretty!” she hissed as I mouthed stop it to Liam, my panic choking my throat. I swear to God, I begged silently. He didn’t listen, only laughed. He was punishing me, reveling in every second of my torment.

“Nah.” Liam drew his hand over his mischievous smile. “Not that one, Riley. The brunette. Five-foot-five. Light brown eyes. Fuckin’ face of an angel.” He was describing me to a tee. Riley remained completely clueless. She’d never suspect me but still, I was about to have a heart attack. “Shouldn’t be that hard, Riles,” Liam said as I white-knuckled the rail. “She’s easily the hottest girl in the room.” Hurt flashed in my sister’s face. I felt bad about it. As her wild eyes looked around, Liam turned his fiery gaze to me. “And no matter how pissed she is at me tonight, I’m going to make her come harder than she’s ever come in her life.”

You fucking asshole.

“I have to change the keg,” I muttered, rushing away from the bar. Liam was toying with me and as much as I’d done the same to him last night, tonight, I was pissed. Fucking with Riley to get a rise out of me was messed up but I really shouldn’t have put it past Liam to do that. He wasn’t afraid of telling Riley about us but he knew I was. He knew my relationship with my sister. I yielded to her because it was easy. She was bullheaded and dramatic and I was quickly realizing that I couldn’t let her find out about this, and that I was going to have to work my ass off to keep it all a secret from her. Fear, shame and fury boiled in my veins as I headed into the back. As long as I was at the bar tonight, Liam was going to tease me.

So instead of changing out the keg, I walked out, hailed a cab and got the hell out.

Chapter Five