Stepbrother Inked(52)

       
           



       

Max looked at me with his big, brown eyes.

"I'm sorry, Abigail," he said, and I felt like he really meant it. Not  that cheating was okay, not even if I'd done it, too, but I could live  with this. It felt sort of  …  fated.

"When you started acting all nice, huh?" I said, trying to keep my tone  light. "Bringing me flowers and shit? I should've known something was  up." I punched Max in the shoulder like I'd done a million times in our  life, but I didn't feel anything like I did when I touched Flor. "You  really are a piece of shit. I mean, I knew it, but still."

"To be fair, you're also a piece of shit," Max grumbled, looking between  me and my brother and then shaking his head. He raked his fingers  through his brown hair. "Jesus, I should've seen this one coming."

I looked at Flor and watched him narrow his eyes.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

Max shrugged, but Flor grabbed the front of his shirt, making Rhonda fidget nervously.

"Just  …  the way you two look at each other. I mean, ever since high  school, it's been kind of obvious. I guess I just didn't want to see  it." He held up his hands, palms forward, in a placating gesture. Max  glanced between me and my stepbrother as I wrapped my arms over my chest  to ward off the slight chill in the air. "Look, this whole thing's just  kind of gotten out of control." Max paused as Flor released him and lit  up another cigarette, sliding his right arm around my waist, his  fingers resting on my tattoo. Warmth filled me and I had to force myself  not to giggle like an idiot. Damn, this is awesome. Not sure if I'd  ever get used to Flor touching me so casually. "Besides, I'm tired of  cleaning the damn litter box. Come home and take care of your own cats.  That big one, what's her name, she pissed all over my sheets."

Flor snorted and the tension in the air lifted  –  at least a little.

I looked over at Rhonda, her eyes catching on Florian for a split  second. She had fucked him, and I had fucked Max, and so maybe there'd  be some tension for a while, but I could live with this. I glanced at  Rhonda's tattoo, the flower gleaming in the orange-yellow light from the  street lamps.

"You didn't tell my parents about any of this, did you?" Flor asked and Max shook his head, grimacing slightly.

"You think I want to be around when Art finds out that you're banging  his daughter? Oh, and thanks for telling him that I banged his daughter.  Fucking asshole."

"Said daughter is standing right here," I said, raising my right hand.  Flor pulled his cigarette from his lips and glanced down at me, those  same shadows dancing behind his eyes. "And thank you, Max," I added,  looking back at my ex with a small smile. Yes, the situation was  awkward, but with everything that had happened, Max could've called up  River and told her about Flor and me. He didn't. That had to mean  something. If our friendship could survive this, it could survive  anything. "And don't worry about my parents. When the time is right,  we'll handle it."

"When the time is right," Flor repeated as Max and Rhonda exchanged a  look. I didn't have to be a part of it to know what it meant: if there's  a right time.





"I had a good time tonight," I told Flor, leaning in the doorway to my  apartment. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched me with a  smirk growing on his lips. Damn it, you know me too well, Florian.

"Pretending I'm not coming in to ravage you only makes it more  embarrassing for you when I do," he told me, cupping a hand to his mouth  to yell over my shoulder. "Addi, I'm comin' inside. In more ways than  one."

"Seriously?" my friend said, popping her head out of her room to glare  at us both. "Abigail, stop embarrassing yourself by pretending he's not  staying the night." She disappeared again as a flush heated my cheeks,  only to pop back and tack on yet another note to my board of  embarrassment. "And use a fucking condom. We don't need no sister-auntie  situations going on here. Babies complicate things." She slammed the  door as Patrick's head appeared, cutting him off before he could add to  the conversation. When I'd first met him, I'd thought 'quiet nerd', but  no. Apparently, he was just as opinionated as Abi. I was slowly learning  exactly how intense an at-home debate could get.

"I'm on the pill," I muttered, stepping out of the way to let Flor slide  smoothly into the apartment. I could barely get the door shut and  locked before he was pressing against me, turning me around to face him.  Without thinking, my arms slid around his neck and my face raised to  peer into his. He had that shadowy look again, and it was killing me.  Must be the 'baby talk'. "Flor, don't think about it," I whispered as he  leaned his forehead against mine. "I don't want you to get freaked  out."                       
       
           



       

"Freaked out?" he asked, voice husky, pressing his erection into me. "How freaked out do you really think I am right now?"

"We can have kids one day, Flor. We're not related."

"I know," he said, cupping my chin and bringing my lips to his for a  sweet kiss that turned my knees liquid. "I know that, but I  …  I spent  the last several years convincing myself I couldn't have you and why. It  might take me a while to get over that, Abs, but I will. I'm not  playing around with you. I want this." He ground his hips against mine  and I moaned, biting my lower lip as his fingers found the button on my  jeans. "I want you, Abi."

I arched my hips against Flor's, letting him slide my pants down my  hips, letting him go only long enough to drop them on the floor at our  feet. Addi and Patrick had already walked in on us doing it out here  twice already, but I couldn't seem to convince myself to stop. When Flor  stood up and pressed me against the door, lifting me just enough to  slide inside, I didn't protest.

I kissed him; I fucked him; I counted my blessings.



Morning sunshine streamed over my face as I struggled to grab my phone  and silence the alarm. Yes, it was Sunday, but I had a ton of extra  schoolwork to catch up on. Being with Florian was kind of  …  full time.  But I also refused to let my love for him screw up my education. I would  prevail.

"Shut it off," Flor groaned, his bare back stirring my body up in a way  that might've been alarming if I wasn't so used to it. Seeing him naked  in my bed was too exciting to put words to. I just wanted to kiss him up  and down his spine and forget the rest of the world, but we'd spent the  better part of so many days doing just that. "Ten more minutes."

"You have an appointment," I told him, sliding the blanket down just  enough to slap his perfect ass. "You need to make money to pay for all  those cats." Despite attempting to find homes for the three kittens,  Flor hadn't really been successful. And I was pretty sure he'd stopped  trying. I leaned over and pressed one, perfect kiss to his shoulder, to  the face of one of his tattoos. I made sure to get her right on her  perfectly red lips and then slid out of bed.

Getting ready with Florian around took twice as long  –  he always joined  me in the shower  –  so he was running late by the time we were out and  dressed. Still, we couldn't keep our hands off each other, much to  Addi's disgust, as I trailed him out the front door and down the steps.

"I hope you don't have any plans tonight," Flor told me, kissing my neck, pushing my body up against the wall of the hallway.

"Why?" I gasped as his hands roamed over me, touching literally  everything. His breathing sped up in time with mine as our lips made  contact again and again and again, tongues tangling in an erotic dance.  Shit.

"Because," he told me, pulling back just enough to speak, close enough  that I could taste his words on my lips. "I'm going to fuck the shit out  of you, Abigail."

"Florian."

Fuck.

The voice that spoke my beloved's name in horror was not my own. Even if  I hadn't heard it, I would've known who that was based on the way  Flor's face went white as a sheet. Please don't let my dad be with her, I  thought as I twisted my head to the side to stare at my stepmother.  Meanwhile, my stepbrother's hands were on my waist, his erection pressed  against me through his jeans. The position we were in, my legs spread,  his hips locked tight against mine, it wasn't easy to explain away. And  that would be if she hadn't heard what he'd just said to me.

Based on her expression of horror, I was certain that she had.

"Mom," Flor squeaked out, taking a slow step back. All the places he'd  been touching me went ice cold. River was alone, yes, but that didn't  mean my dad wouldn't find out. They shared everything, even the little  things, so I didn't even have hope that she might keep this from him for  a while. In a split second, all of my fears and my shame came crashing  down, culminating in that look on my stepmom's face. The moment I'd  dreaded since I'd first realized my feelings for Flor was happening.  Now. Here. On my doorstep.