Wrong: A Stepbrother Romance

“Leave me alone! I just… I don’t think it’s a big deal, Liam. I really don’t think it is,” she whimpered at him. “I’m never going to talk to my mom again after today, and she’s my only connection to your dad, so it’s not like we’re really related. And if it’s not the time now, then I don’t know when it is, because I’ve been in love with you for eight years, Liam, and it has to mean something,” she cried. “It has to.”

Dread sunk to the pit of my stomach as I exchanged looks with Liam. I

let out a heavy breath.

“Riley, we’ve all had too much to drink…”

She swiped my hand away. “Don’t. Don’t tell me that, because what I’m saying right now has nothing to do with that. I know my brain, I know my heart, and I know I’ve been keeping this in forever. But I thought I couldn’t have you, Liam, so I told myself marrying someone would make it better, and it would make the feelings go away, but it never did,” Riley went on desperately. “And I just see everything happening right now – I see the way everything is falling apart but really, I think it’s falling together. The divorce was meant to happen now, and that blow-up with Mom was meant to happen now. Because of me and you. I know we have something, Liam. I have so much fun with you.”

It was an official trainwreck. I slid my hands up my face and gripped handfuls of my hair, utterly lost, with no idea where to take it from here. But apparently, Liam did. I watched a gorgeous frown grip his brows, and my heart beat fast as he wet his carved lips.

“Riley. I’m in love with Sasha.”

I closed my eyes.

Fuck.

A blaring silence followed, but I could hear the knife twisting slowly in Riley’s heart. “I… excuse me?” she finally whispered. I opened my eyes to see the blood drained from her face. My hands slid down to my mouth, and I pressed my fingers to my lips as I watched my sister’s stare float away for a moment. Her mouth parted, and months of realization flashed through her blue eyes before she breathed, “Oh my God.” Her crisp words hung like icicles in the air, but then her eyes turned to me, and I watched as the sheer hurt flared into absolute fury. “Oh my God!” Liam tried to contain her as she thrashed at him, kicking and climbing over his lap till she was on her feet. But she stood barely a second before falling, tripping again as she tried to get up.

“Riley – ” I grabbed her, trying to hold her up, but she shoved me away.

“It was you!” she screamed at me. “I knew it! You were the girl he was talking about at the bar. ‘Light brown eyes. Fuckin’ face of an angel’ – I remember. I remember every word ‘cause it fucking hurt like hell, and you just stood there, Sasha! You let me humiliate myself every time I talked about him!”

She burst out the doors and I followed her out. “Riley, please, I never meant for it to come out like this!”

“Don’t follow me.” Her voice shook as much as her wobbling legs. “After everything – everything I’ve done for you, Sasha. I stood up for you. I thought you were my real family, but you kept this from me the whole time when you knew I was in love with Liam! I’ve been. You knew that!”

“I didn’t know that, Riley! I thought it was just a crush, okay?”

“Fuck you!”

I heard Liam’s footsteps coming from behind now. He didn’t even have to speak up before she spun around with wild eyes and mascara streaming down her face.

“Stop! Don’t take another step near me.” Her voice was reedy, but there was an odd calm to it now. “I mean it. You two are fucking disgusting, and you make me literally sick to my stomach, so don’t talk to me again. I don’t want to be anywhere near you two or whatever nasty, twisted affair you’re having. Okay? So fuck off. You deserve each other.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

December had been the busiest month for us last year at The Queen. It was everyone in the city’s last hurrah before buckling down on eating out and spending, thanks to New Years resolutions that would keep till about March – at least according to our sales. Last year, December had been phenomenal for us.

And within the first week of it this year, the last was already paling in comparison.

“Shit, how do I still not know which one the lager is?” Aria asked, panicked as she tossed out an IPA and re-poured.

“All the way right,” I said, wanting to smack A.J for laughing down the bar as he watched his girlfriend struggle with rookie bartending. Aria had never worked a non-gallery job in her life, let alone a restaurant job that required her to put on an apron and polish wine glasses. But for me, she agreed to start her first shift as opening bartender on the busiest week so far this year. She was finding her way, but her first brunch service was on pace to driving her completely insane.

“Opa!” screamed the group of finance bros when Aria broke her second glass of the hour. I cringed, knowing well that she was absolutely raging behind me. Inside, I was too. I’d worked too long in bars to find “opa” funny or charming, and I was already dealing with a million problems with inventory, scheduling, and my staff fighting my kitchen.

I needed Riley. Badly. But she wasn’t coming, and I knew that.

I went eight days after Thanksgiving without hearing from her. I’d given her space for the first four, and forgave the fact that she wasn’t showing up to work. But by the fifth day, I was struggling to pick up her half of responsibilities at the bar, and by the sixth, I started calling. I left messages from the bar number and emailed her from work. I figured she wouldn’t want to talk about the night at Junction, so I tried to at least approach the matter from a business end. None of it worked.

It wasn’t till yesterday that she showed up to the bar. And to my shock, she waltzed in with my mother.

“My set of keys. Front door, side, office and safe,” she said, tossing them onto the counter. “We’ll discuss my buyout, but I thought I should tell you in person that I won’t be continuing this venture with you.”

I was stunned, and surrounded by my staff, I couldn’t think of what to say. Twenty-four hours later, it was still gnawing at me that I’d let my mother get the last word.

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you,” she said coolly, “but I find you vile, Sasha. You have always been a curse to the lives around you, and I want you to know that the path you’ve chosen won’t lead to happiness. If you really think you’re going to stumble into some happily ever after with Liam, you are shockingly stupid for someone so full of deceit.”