Stepbrother Thief(13)

“Don't you look fab,” she drawls, looking me over, sizing me up. I stare right back, enjoying her brazen, outgoing attitude. Gotta love Americans, right? “All chic and shit.” She lifts up her hands, palms out, and then drops them against her thighs.

“Thanks,” I venture, hoping that was a genuine comment and not a hidden slight. I have a feeling that if Aveline wanted to insult me, she'd say something outright. “Gill's not driving me to the next hotel?”

Aveline shrugs.

“He calls me partner, but in all reality, he's the boss. I just do what I'm told,” she says with a tight smile. Somehow, I find that very hard to believe. I watch as she slips her fingers into her front pockets and eyes the hotel room door where my stepfather and sister are staying. I wonder if Gill's in there with them? Wouldn't surprise me. Gilleon might've abandoned me, but he's always stayed in touch with his Dad. “What do you say we get out of here? I'll even treat you to a pumpkin spiced whatever-the-hell-it-is that I'm sure you probably drink.”

“Actually, I don't think I've ever had a pumpkin spiced anything. I'll take an espresso though.” Aveline raises her eyebrows at me and shrugs again. I don't know what she sees when she looks at me, but I can tell her initial impression isn't a good one. It makes sense, especially if she and Gill really are an item. I can only imagine what he's told her about me.

“Truck's parked out front,” Aveline tells me as I follow behind her in my shitty flip-flops. I think I've already got a blister by the time I get to the parking lot, but oh well. If an espresso's really in my future, then I can grin and bear it. “Climb on in.”

Aveline pauses in front of a champagne colored truck and unlocks the doors with a lump of keys and mangled keychains. I pause for a moment to take it all in—the mud splattered across the sides, the bumper stickers with offensive phrases like Trucks are for Bitches, You Dick.

Huh.

“So you live around here?” I ask, trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle. If I don't, nobody'll do it for me; Gill thinks all information—even the most menial of facts—is on a need to know basis. I'd expected Aveline to be driving some generic rental like Gill, but this … this is clearly nobody else's vehicle but hers. It just seems to suit her somehow.

“Yup. Moved to Washington from Nevada when I was seventeen.” I grab the door handle and let myself into a virtual smorgasbord of old fast food bags, wrappers, a scattered assortment of dirty tools. Interesting. With Gill as obsessive compulsive as he is about everything, I find it hard to believe that he'd pick a partner—either romantically or otherwise—that's as out of control as Aveline seems to be. “I've been working with Gill for a few years now, helping coordinate things Stateside.”

I buckle up and have to clench the sides of the seat as Aveline peels out of the parking space like a madwoman. As we zoom by the lobby, I catch a small glimpse of Gill out the window, standing with his hands clenched by his sides, his mouth tight. Without even really thinking about what I'm doing, I toss him a little wave and a kiss.

I have just enough time to catch the surprise on his face before we're out of the parking lot and on our way down the street.





“Seriously,” I laugh, my feet dangling over the edge of the fountain, toes trailing the cool water and drawing the tiniest ripples. The moon catches on the copper and silver change at the bottom as I curl my fingers around the brick edge of the wall and glance over at Gill. “I haven't. I'm not even kidding.”

“I don't believe it, not even for a second.” I stare at him, at the white-blue halo of moonlight on his dark hair. I have to fight against the urge to bite my lip as butterflies take flight in my belly. I thought getting a stepbrother would suck, but … I actually like Gill. A lot. Like, in a different way than I like anybody else I've ever met. “Don't worry. I'm sure you'll have a bunch of French guys banging down the door. Hell, I bet as soon as they see us move in, they'll be outside on the street trying to serenade you.”

I snort.

“You seem awfully calm about this whole moving fiasco that my mom's sprung on us. I mean, I have like, a year of French under my belt. How am I supposed to talk to anybody?”

Gill smiles and I can't seem to keep my eyes from following the movement of his mouth.

“You can talk to me.”

I blush and turn away, fully aware that I just admitted to never having been kissed. I'd hoped … well, hell, I don't know what I'd hoped. Is it weird to want your stepbrother to kiss you? I think about my friends at school, what they might say if they knew about the crush I have on Gilleon. Nobody but Leilani knows, and I'm not sure that I want to tell anyone else. I'm not ashamed or anything, but this feeling inside of me is so … it's so …