Wrong: A Stepbrother Romance

Aria threw her hands in the air. “Then what? Just live in fear every day that Jenna’s going to activate her bitch card and tell everyone?”

“I’m just praying she’ll keep quiet till I figure out what I’m doing with this situation.”

“This ‘situation’? Please don’t call you and Liam a situation – you guys are the most beautiful thing that’s happened to your life since you and I first met,” Aria said with a big smile. “You’ve wanted him for ages and I’ve spent years watching the way you guys looked at each other. It’s been a long time coming for me too, girl. I’ve been watching this shit like a soap opera. I know it feels overwhelming, but this is a good thing, Sasha. It’s a happy ending.”

“Well, stories never actually end at the happy ending.” Tossing the last piece of trash into a bag, I plopped onto the bay window and let my head fall back against the glass. “I’ve wanted Liam since forever and I’ve questioned my relationship with Ethan forever. And now Ethan is out of the picture and Liam is in, but ever since all that happened, it’s been nonstop drama. I had less drama in my life when I was dating a scumbag.”

“Sure did. Your point?”

“My point is that I’m completely lost in terms of what I’m doing. I don’t want Liam and me to end but I don’t know how to make it work.”

“You just do.” Sitting across from me, Aria brought her legs up, hugging them to her chest. “You push through in secret for as long as you can and only tell people like Riley and your parents when it’s been going strong for at least a year, maybe a year-and-a-half. Then they can’t tell you it’s a bad idea or to nip it in the bud. They’ll know by then that it’s real.” When I opened my mouth to protest, she cut me off. “It’s either that or spill the beans now, which I know you won’t do. It’s tough, Sash. But you just gotta woman up, ride it out and remind yourself that this is all worth it for that beautiful man.”

My lips wiggled in a reluctant smile. “Fine. I guess it’s just weird to be technically attached but not allowed to talk about my… relationship to most people. Like, just between me and Liam, and maybe you and A.J and the guys, would he call me his… girlfriend?” I cringed, embarrassed to even say the word. I was even more embarrassed when Aria didn’t immediately respond.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly, blinking. “Maybe some relationships aren’t meant to have a boyfriend-girlfriend stage. You two have been soul mates since you first laid eyes on each other, and the reality is you’re a unique situation. So maybe you skipped that phase. Maybe ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’ are words that are too insignificant to describe you two.”

I chewed on my lip. It was a romantic notion but I still frowned. “I want that title though. I want the stupid, little things, like going to a party and hearing him say ‘this is my girlfriend’. I want to celebrate Valentine’s Day with him. I want to go on dates.”

Aria clapped her hands. “You can!” she chirped excitedly. “And you totally should,” she said, getting that look in her eyes that meant she was scheming. I narrowed mine at her.

“Don’t you go quiet on me now. What are thinking about?”

Aria broke into a huge grin. “You should ask Liam out on a date. An official one where you guys meet at the restaurant so he doesn’t get to watch you doll yourself up at home. You guys should do the whole first date thing. Ask about each other, get to know each other – even more than you already do. And you should buy yourself some super sexy lingerie since Ethan like, banned you from wearing lingerie.”

“Ugh.” I groaned at the thought. The one time I ever wore lingerie for Ethan, his friends noticed my red bra strap and made sly comments all night. Ethan hated it, convinced that I was wearing lingerie to get attention from other men and cheat on him someday. It was irrational but it became such an argument that I got turned off from ever trying to feel sexy around him. In Ethan’s mind, sex was to happen strictly on his terms, not mine. Freshly pissed off again, I clenched my jaw. “I wish I never had to think about Ethan again.”

“Okay, I wasn’t trying to talk about that asshole, I’m trying to talk about Liam and how you’re going to pull out all the stops tonight with garters and heels and all that jazz, and you’re going to remind yourself that you are beautiful, this is your man and despite the haters, you guys are going to do your thing,” Aria said. “You should have fun with it like you would on any other first date! Spend the whole day glamming yourself up.”

I had to giggle at the idea. “I like that. I actually do, Aria, but it sounds like a lot of money I don’t currently have.”

She slid a little plastic card from her pocket. “Which is why you’re going to use the five hundred dollar Bergdorf’s gift card Jenna left behind.”

“Excuse me?” If I were drinking water, I’d have spit it out. “Holy shit, you should just sell that. Who even gives five hundred dollar gift cards?”

“Married men who want to keep their mistresses quiet, I guess?” Aria laughed. “Jenna was tearing her room apart trying to find this thing last month. I found it within ten minutes of cleaning the mess she left behind. So I guess that’s karma.” She extended the shiny, purple plastic to me. “Her loss, your gain.”

“I can’t take that. What about you?”

“What about me? I have a full wardrobe and plenty of lingerie I’ve never worn once in my life because I don’t have the guts to. I also am ashamed to admit that I still use my dad’s credit card from time to time so trust me when I say I don’t deserve that money. You do. Especially after taking so much of Jenna’s abuse,” Aria said. “All I ask is that you have an amazing time and tell me all the details tomorrow. Excluding the sex parts. I don’t really need that in detail – though I would like to know how he reacts to your lingerie.”

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; I bit back a massive smile. Fuck. I really wanted to see Liam’s reaction to me in lingerie too. I was already fantasizing about what he might do to me. “Okay,” I finally agreed, letting Aria slap the gift card into my open palm. “I’ll do it.”

“Good girl,” she said before squinting to herself and then grinning. “Actually, I think I mean the opposite. Go spend that cash and be a bad girl tonight, Sasha. Ethan couldn’t handle it but you know Liam can.”

I smirked as I slid the gift card into my pocket. If anything, Aria was definitely right about that.

Chapter Fourteen

There were butterflies in my stomach as my cab pulled up to the unmarked, doors on West Broadway. The lounge I chose was a place I’d fantasized about going to after seeing it in a magazine a couple years ago. It was dim and sultry with satin walls and leather couches surrounding indoor fire pits. I’d been too intimidated to ever walk in before, but now, I couldn’t wait.

Mostly because I was going in to meet Liam for our first date. Ever.

“Hi.” I was nervous as I approached the hostess, who was wearing the hell out of a nearly transparent maxi-dress. Once upon a time, I looked at girls like that and wondered how they ever found the guts to wear something that basically screamed sex. Now, I was just about in the same boat. “I’m here to meet someone – he said he’s waiting in the room farthest to the back?”

“Of course. Follow me,” she said, flicking her eyes all over my ensemble as we spoke. A pang of heat hit my cheeks and I promptly second-guessed myself, as I knew I would. Walking through the main room and candlelit tables of beautiful people, I glanced down at my outfit. It was a little risqué and I hadn’t been sure about pulling it off, but after texting Aria photos of various angles, she implored me to buy it instead of the simple black dress I’d kept as my safety – rather, what she called, the “basic good-girl’s-idea-of-a-sexy-dress.”