Brody glanced down at me and back to her. "Oh, this is my sister, Kelly. She's here for a few days, and we're hanging out tonight, but I should be done around eleven if you're off by then?"
"Yeah. I will be." The girl extended her hand to me. "Hi, Kelly. I'm Tanya."
I shook her hand as warmth coated my chest and rose up my cheeks. Had the cock beside me really just called me his sister?
"Nice to meet you." I took the movies from her and walked to the door as Brody finished making his plans for the night. Asshole. He was exactly the guy I thought him to be. That I would even began to feel bad over my thoughts was sickening.
"Alright. One chick-flick and one scary movie for those in the group with someone to cuddle up to." He put his wallet in his pocket and glanced over at me. "You want me to carry those?"
"Nope. Your little sister has it." I kept my voice flat.
"Little? You definitely look older than me." He chuckled and moved back as I swatted at him.
"You're a pig, you know that?" I gave him a sideways glance before turning back toward the house.
"Why? I was just kidding. You know you're the hottest girl in this town. Stop getting offended so easily. You're wearing your emotions on your shoulders. That never works well for people like us." He reached out and pulled me closer, helping me to avoid the bikers coming our way.
"People like us?" I huffed and hugged the movies to my chest. "I'm nothing like you."
"No?" He jogged up the steps to the house, pulling the door open. "Maybe not. I guess I would need to know you a little better before imposing my own assumptions about you. Otherwise, I'm just being a complete ass, right?"
"Asshole." I walked into the house, clearly getting his underlying hints. He wasn't the only one being an ass. I was, too.
Now to figure out how to stop.
Chapter 13
Brody
Fuck this girl and her preset notions.
I held the door for her before grabbing a beer and walked back out to the patio. Clay and Emily followed me out, and I was grateful to see the door close behind them. While Cora was exactly the type of woman I wanted to press to the bed beneath me, she was quickly turning me off with her pissy, “better than you” attitude.
"Let's get the grill fired up and we can put the brats out here." I glanced over at Emily. "Did you guys want me to put anything else on here will I'm at it?"
"Yeah. I think we got”
"Corn and hot dogs." Cindy walked out and gave me a warm smile. "I can't believe you got The Notebook. It's my favorite, though I swear I never make it past the first scene."
I laughed and nodded. "Exactly. It's a make-out movie, right?"
"Totally." She moved up beside and helped lay everything out on the grill before glancing over her shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry about Cora."
"What? What about Cora?" I didn't turn my attention on her. I couldn't.
"She's gone through some rough shit this last semester. Her boyfriend of two years was cheating on her and had been for the whole two years. She's just incredibly sensitive right now." Cindy closed the grill, and I turned as Emily started talking.
"She's a really great girl. The best." Emily smiled and moved into Clay's lap, leaving me needy for someone to reach out and show me a bit of attention. Not someone: Cora.
"I'm sure she is." I shrugged and took the beer that Cindy offered me. "I don't want to cause any trouble, but I am who I am."
"And, we love you that way, buddy." Clay lifted his beer. "You make us feel better about ourselves."
I laughed. "Jerk."
"Only with you can I be myself." Clay wrapped an arm around Emily before pulling her down for a long, passionate kiss. I turned my attention to Cindy and shook my head.
"These kids nowadays." I followed her back into the house, not at all thrilled to see Cora laughing at something Daniel was saying. Maybe he was a better match for her mentally. Physically, it was one hundred percent me, but maybe she was too broken to do anything but seek out the weakest link. Cool. I could deal with that.