Rebel(49)

“Yeah, but—”

“But nothing. Chances are super slim. You’re going to be fine.”

“I suppose, but—”

“Even with the worst timing, once isn’t very likely.”

“Um...” I’m only on the phone. I shouldn’t be this embarrassed.

“So, not just once then. I knew it! He was good, wasn’t he? How many times?”

She giggles, which annoys me. I sigh. “Cassie, priorities!”

“I’m sorry.” She laughs. “Excuse me for wanting to dish with my first married friend. He’s really getting to you, isn’t he?”

“I’m not really married.” Probably. Just the thought scares me a little. “He’s an asshole, it’s just—”

“You like him.” Her teasing tone gets on my nerves. Maybe I shouldn’t have called her after all. “You’re in love with your totally hot asshole stepbrother, and now that he’s mad at you, you don’t want to admit it.”

“He’s inappropriate, crude, bossy, vulgar and a big freaking bully. You heard what he did to Paul.” Anger is good. Anger means I’m not scared or hurt.

“And still you want him back so bad it hurts.”

“Yeah. Wait, no! Stop putting words in my mouth.” I should’ve gone looking for Joyce.

All Cassie does is laugh. “Alright, so tell me this, then. Why are you so upset right now? You got your nasty stepbro sex, and now he’s pissed and out of your hair. Isn’t that like having your cake and eating it too? Or maybe he was that good at eating your cake—”

“Cassie!”

She’s trying to stifle her laughter. I can hear it. “Seriously. Why do you care, Angie? If you can answer that, maybe you can figure out what you need to do.”

“I—”

“Yeah, I thought so. Think about it. Oh, and speaking of thinking about it, I just remembered that I may have given away that you’re not here to your mom.” She sounds mildly apologetic at that at least. “Sorry, I just didn’t think about it, and you never actually asked me to cover for you...”

“Yeah, yeah.” I sigh. I seem to do that a lot lately. “She was bound to figure it out eventually anyway. I’ll worry about that when I talk to her next time.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“About Mom?”

“No, silly. About your sexy-ass stepbrother with the big chest, sexy tattoos and the tight ass. That guy you married.” She’s laughing again.

“What can I do? He made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to see me. Maybe I’ll just spend the day catching rays while I pretend that he never existed.” Chances of that happening are just slightly higher than pigs flying.

“If you were me I might almost believe that.” For a moment she’s actually serious. “I know you Angie. You’re not going to be able to let this go. When you first sink your teeth into something, you’re like a freaking bulldog.”

“Are you calling me a bitch?” I snort. “He doesn’t want to see me, fine. I’ll avoid him for a couple of days. I can do that.”

She makes a frustrated sound. “Listen to me. It’s like college, right? Once you decided you wanted to go to med school, everyone told you how hard it was, how difficult it was to get in. About how you’d have to do all these internships that don’t pay, that you wouldn’t have a social life, and on and on and on. Do you remember how no one believed you could do it?”

I remember. Even Mom was skeptical, and she’s always been all about me finding my own way. “You believed I could.”

“Yeah, because I know you.” She sounds like she’s explaining things to a small kid. “You weren’t giving up. It was always on your mind, even when you pretended it wasn’t, and now you’ve been admitted. You’re going to do it.”

“Okay, but I don’t see what that has to do with my asshole stepbrother.” As soon as I mention him, flashes of his naked body standing in the shower with the water running over his perfect chest rush through my mind. Why does the guy I hate most have to be the one that can make me weak with just a thought?

“You sound exactly the same when you talk about him as you did when you were talking about med school. You’re stuck on him. I’m sure you’ll try to waste the day working on your tan, but you’ll be spending all that time figuring out how to get him back into bed.”

“Cassie!” It’s a fake outrage, because I know she’s right.

“It’s true.”

“He hurt me, Cass...” That’s it. That’s the worst part. That I’d finally opened myself up to him, completely, and the first time something came up, he turned it around and stabbed me in the heart with it.