Stepbrother Thief(12)

I don't think I can survive it.



“There's a new guy in my biology class,” Leilani says, biting her lower lip and practically bouncing up and down. “He's got hair like … like the night sky, only without any stars.”

“And cornflower blue eyes,” I ooze, batting my lashes and then rolling my eyes. “I know. You'd have known it, too, if you ever checked your text messages.” Leilani makes a face at me. She's always so busy with her video games that she forgets to charge her phone; it's pretty much eternally dead. “Remember how I told you that Cliff had a kid?”

“You're saying that's him?!” she asks before I can even finish the story. Her cheeks turn a spectacular shade of red when she blushes. “That guy's like … like your brother now or something?”

“Our parents aren't married yet,” I murmur, knowing it's only a matter of time. Well, two weeks to be exact. Two weeks until our family doubles in size, until I can't stop denying that the bedroom across the hallway is no longer my grandma's occasional guest room. “Anyway, his mom's gone completely crazy, says Jesus is always yelling at her or something and that she can't hear anyone but him. It got to the point where she was forgetting to buy food and stuff.” I tuck some hair behind my ear and try not to think about the boy who barged into my bedroom yesterday and laid on my bed like he owned the place.

I touch my fingers to my throat and feel my racing pulse.

“You okay?” Leilani asks, pausing in the middle of the busy hallway, her book bag slung over one shoulder, her dark hair swinging in her face. “You just got sweaty all of a sudden.”

“I'm fine,” I snarl, giving her my best ugly face. I don't know why, but I feel so protective of this new feeling, this strange emotion, that's brewing inside of me. “Sorry,” I add because I know I'm being kind of a bitch to her.

Leilani raises her eyebrows, but doesn't say anything. Guess she knows me well enough not to.

“So his mom wasn't feeding him or something?” she asks, prompting me to pick up the conversation where I left off.

“Yeah,” I say, pausing next to my locker, turning the dial to my combination and swinging the door open. “And she wouldn't let him go to school, said all his teachers were demons. When she found out he was sneaking out and going anyway, she beat him with a baseball bat.” My stomach turns as I think of the bruises on Gill's arms. He wasn't shy about them, explained them immediately when he caught me looking.

“She's my mom,” he'd said, eyes downcast, fingers spread wide, two of them sporting little splints. “When she came at me, I was so surprised, I didn't know what to do. And I knew … I know she's sick, so I just couldn't seem to fight back.”

“Cliff didn't know about any of this?” Leilani asks as I stuff books inside my locker.

“Not until child protective services called him,” a voice says from behind us. I jump, spinning around to find my new stepbrother in a black hoodie and jeans, a pair of black and white Converse on his feet.

“I …” I try to figure out what to say, try to decide if I should apologize to him for telling his story behind his back. But he doesn't look mad. In fact, his blue eyes are sparkling and his mouth is twisted to the side in a smile. I find my eyes drawn to his mouth. I love his lips. I don't know why. Never before in my life have I even thought to look at someone's lips, let alone trace them with my eyes, imagine what they might feel like pressed against mine …

I take a sudden step back and slam into the bank of lockers.

“I wanted to stay with my mom, even though I knew she was sick,” Gill says, coming closer, pausing next to Leilani. I watch her watching him, sizing him up, checking him out, but he doesn't seem to be looking at anyone but me. “I wanted to take care of her, do anything I could to help her get better, so I told my dad exactly what I knew he'd want to hear.” Gill wets his lips and takes a deep breath. I can't stop staring at the sheen on his full lower lip. “But the neighbors called the police and they took her away.” His breath catches like he's in pain and he turns his face away to stare at the floor. “Family is everything though, you know.” His fists clench tight. “Everything.” Another long pause. “I'm glad you're going to be a part of mine.”

When Gill swings his bright blue gaze up to mine, my heart skips a beat and I know then that I'm in trouble.



I grab another quick look in the mirror before stepping into the hallway to find Aveline waiting for me in a dusty colored tank and some faded jeans. Her makeup is thick but flawless—sexy cat eye, bright lips, perfectly sculpted cheekbones. I managed to get Gill to snag a black eye pencil from her, scribbled across my lids like a preschooler's art project, and then mussed up the color with some lip balm. Just one of the many tricks I learned in Paris—effortlessly dewy eyes.