by Riley Ashby
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
About the Author
Copyright
Chapter 1
“I think you’re overreacting, Elle.” Annie heaved my largest suitcase out of the trunk of her station wagon and dropped it unceremoniously to the ground. “Look at this house. You’re going to have so much more space than you would in a tiny dorm room, or overpaying for a loft apartment.”
“Yeah, but it won’t be enough space to hide me from my mother.” I slammed the door of my car, containing the rest of my belongings in the trunk. “Living here for free is the only way I can afford to pay for my Master’s degree. Four fucking years of living under the thumb of the woman who cheated on my father and tore our family apart.”
Dad had always made plenty of money, but with Mom’s alimony, he didn’t have anything extra to give me. I couldn’t believe she got so much money in the divorce, considering she was the one who cheated for years before finally bullying Dad into divorcing her. Of course, she had the best lawyer in the state, funded entirely by her lover. Carson asked her to move in with him on the stairs of the courthouse before the ink was even dry on the papers. I’d been able to get through college without taking out any loans thanks to input from Carson, much to my chagrin, but I needed a new plan for my second degree.
Annie sighed and came around to the back of my car. “I just think you’re being a little ungrateful.”
“Fuck being grateful.”
A deep voice I knew all too well spoke next. “That’s quite the mouth you’ve got on you.”
I closed my eyes and groaned. “Not to mention my asshole step-brother.”
“Well, hello there.” Annie put on her best mega-watt smile and extended her hand toward the man walking toward us. My pseudo step-brother, really, since Mom and Carson never actually tied the knot. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. And unfortunately, the bane of my existence … next to my mother, that was.
Rhys Williams was seven years older than me, but our paths had crossed often when we were children due to the fact that his dad and my mom were sleeping together. Of course, we didn’t know that when we were kids. At the time, he was just my weird pseudo-cousin who always picked on me. Anything I found joy in, he found a way to ruin. As our parents found more and more reasons to sneak away and fuck in the garage, he and I were forced to hang out. And now we were going to be living together.
“Why the hell are you living here anyway?” I growled as he shook Annie’s hand. “Aren’t you like forty?”
“I’m twenty-nine,” he said. “And it’s perfectly respectable for me to be living in the pool house and saving for a mortgage down payment.” He turned toward me, completely ignoring Annie, and grinned out of one side of his mouth. “You’re welcome to spend as much time out there with me as you’d like. My bed is always open.”
I scowled. “Don’t you mean your door?”
“Nope.”
“Oh my God. You’re disgusting.”
Annie was laughing as I grabbed my bag and stalked toward the house.
“Don’t be like that, Ellie! We’re not kids anymore.”
I whirled on him. “Don’t fucking call me Ellie.” The nickname he’d thought up for me when we were younger still grated on my nerves. I hated people getting my name wrong—Elle is only one syllable, for fuck’s sake—but Rhys had always insisted on butchering my name simply to piss me off. “I’m not going to put up with your bullshit for three years, Rhys. Stay away from me, and I’ll stay away from you. Easy peasy.”
“Whatever you say.” He snagged a box from my car and walked toward the house.
“Put that down!” I screamed, but he was already halfway to the house. I turned to Annie. “You are no help. I don’t need you hitting on him.”
She bit her lip as she stared after him. “You need to get over whatever he did to you as a kid. Surely an ass like that is worthy of absolution. And don’t get me started on that dark hair…”
“I won’t,” I snapped as I yanked on my suitcase. “Make yourself useful and grab a box.”
With Rhys insisting on helping unload, the process didn’t take too long at all, but I would gladly have spent double the time if it meant I could have avoided his snarky commentary. By the time Annie left in the evening, most of my stuff was unpacked and put around the room on all the new furniture provided by my pseudo-stepfather. I collapsed on my back on the bed, glad for a second to be alone. My reverie was cut short, however, by a knock on the door.
“What now?” I groaned, but when I sat up, it was my mother leaning against the door jamb, not Rhys. “Oh. Hi, Mom. I thought you were Rhys.”
Mom’s small smile widened a bit. “I see you’re all moved in. Did Rhys help?”
“I suppose you could say that.”
“He’s been so useful around here ever since he moved into that pool house. Such good hands, always fixing things that are broken. Saved us a fortune on contractor costs.”
Not that you need to cut costs. “Well, I just hope he stays out of my way.”
She sat beside me on the mattress, a little closer to me than I would have liked. “Still holding onto that grudge, then?”
“I see no reason to let go of it.” I forced myself to stay still and not shift away from her. “He’s been nothing but awful to me for years. I hope he just leaves me alone. Does he spend a lot of time over here?”
Mom smoothed the edge of her silk dress. Always dressed to the nines, even when she had nowhere to go, which was often. She’d always wanted to be a housewife. “Not really. He keeps to himself.”
“Good.” I forced a grin. “Are we having dinner tonight?” Please say no please say no please say no.
“Yes!” She brightened. “Carson made tacos. He’s so excited to have you move in.” She leaned toward me, lowering her voice conspiratorially. “He never had a daughter. I think he’s hoping to bond with you a little.”
Gag me. “Well, I’m just going to shower and then I’ll be down.” I pasted a smile on my face. “Thanks for stopping by.”
She flitted out with a final wave, but I didn’t get more than a moment’s peace before there was a yet another knock on the door. This time, it was Rhys in the doorway.
“Go away,” I muttered. “I’m about to shower.”
“Can I join?”
I glared at him. “This is harassment.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” My jaw dropped. “I actually came up there to apologize. I guess old habits die hard.”
“Apologize for what?” My guard was up immediately. Rhys had never apologized. Ever.
“Everything.” He stepped toward me. “For being an ass when we were younger. I know I pissed you off a bunch, and I’m sorry. I was an immature asshole.”
“Well, we can agree on that.” I flipped open my suitcase and grabbed a dress to change into for dinner. “Can you leave me alone forever now?” I paused at the sound of his footsteps on my carpet, the feel of him only inches from my back.
“I was hoping we could start fresh.”
I turned slowly, finding myself far too close to him. Without my shoes on, he loomed over me even more than usual. “I think it’s a little too late, Rhys.”
“Why is that?” He reached forward to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “We’re adults.”
“Please don’t touch me.” It came out as a whisper. Why did he always have this power over me, to make me feel so small and powerless? “I need
to get ready for dinner.”
He stared at me for a moment longer, then nodded once and walked backward out the door. “I’d like to be your friend now, Ellie. Let me know if you need anything.”
“That won’t be happening.” I stalked across the room and closed the door in his face. Holding my hand on the door handle, I bit my lip while I listened to him on the other side. He exhaled heavily, the wood floor of the hallway creaking as he shifted his weight. After a moment, the clip of his shoes finally announced his retreat. I sighed and put my forehead against the door. I’d only been here a few hours and everyone was already acting so weird. As I stepped into the shower and let the hot water wash away the sweat from my move, I closed my eyes and prayed the next three years would pass in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 2
My first week flew by without too much issue. My summer job waiting tables would help me save some money while I was still able to work a full forty hours. Maybe if I really applied myself and picked up overtime, I could afford my own place for my final year. The stipend I would get for TAing a 100-level psychology course during the school year wouldn’t even get me a shitty downtown apartment, and months of hunting for a roommate had only turned up creeps and trash goblins.
Mom said Rhys didn’t come over to the house often, but he showed up for dinner every night in my first seven days. It didn’t take a genius to see he and his dad didn’t get on too well. It didn’t make sense to me that he would want to spend any time at the house when he had his own space all to himself. But he was still over all the time, hanging out after dinner until I escaped upstairs to my bedroom. He tried to make conversation with me, but years of animosity toward my mother had made me an expert at shutting down conversations.
The next Monday, the shit hit the fan. I forgot to reset my alarm for the week, and when I woke up, I only had twenty minutes to get ready and get to work. I stumbled into my uniform and ran out the door, but when I turned the key in the ignition of my ‘97 Civic nothing happened. Not a single noise.
“Not today, not today,” I begged as I turned the key over and over to no avail. I jumped as someone knocked on my door, only to see Rhys in his suit and tie leaning over to look in my window.
“Problem?” His voice was muffled through the glass.
“My fucking car won’t start!” I slapped the steering wheel until my palms hurt. “I’m going to be late.”
The door opened and his hand closed around my upper arm, pulling me out of the car. “Let’s go, Ellie. You can’t serve drinks if you break your hand.”
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m taking you to work.” I gawked at him as he led me across the driveway to his Range Rover and opened the passenger door, only letting go of me once I was seated firmly inside. “Buckle your seatbelt.”
I gaped at him. He was helping me? “Why are you doing this?”
“So you don’t get fired. Buckle up.”
“We need to go now!”
He sighed heavily and leaned toward me, crossing over my body and buckling seat belt. I thought his lips grazed my shoulder. “Sorry,” he muttered, and he shut the door. A moment later he was pulling out of the driveway so fast I wished I had on a helmet.
“Thanks, I guess.” I didn’t like him pretending to be nice. He was definitely going to lord this over me.
“You need a better car. That piece of junk can’t be safe.”
I slumped in the seat and folded my arms. Of course he’d take this opportunity to judge me. “Well, I don’t really have much of an option. I need to save everything I can so I can move out of this hellhole.”
“Oh, come on. Is it honestly that bad?”
“I have to live next to you!”
He rolled his eyes and blew through a stoplight as it turned red. “We’ve barely even seen each other.”
I glowered at him from beneath my brow. “You’re over there all the time. And anyone with eyes can tell you and your dad don’t get along. I don’t understand it.”
“You really don’t need to be such a little brat. You’re living in an amazing house, for free. You won’t have to go into thousands of dollars of debt to get your Master’s. You’re being really ungrateful.”
First Annie, now Rhys? I glared at him. “How fucking dare you. You have no idea what I’ve been through with my mom.”
“I went through the same fucking thing, remember? And I’m not throwing a daily temper tantrum over it either.”
“Just pull over here. I’m getting out.” I could not be in a car with this asshole for a second longer.
“Like hell you are. We’re almost there. Just keep your panties on for a second longer.” He turned his head and looked me up and down. “Or don’t.”
So much for that apology. “Have you always been this horny?”
“Yes,” he said bluntly, “but I couldn’t fuck a seventeen-year-old. I do have some standards.”
“I hate you,” I growled.
“You’re sexy when you’re mad. Go earn your tips. I’ll pick you up after your shift.”
He pulled up outside the restaurant and I nearly fell out of the car. “Don’t bother. I’ll get a ride.”
He was still yelling as I slammed the car door shut, but at least I was on time for work.
It was hard to be friendly to customers when I was so angry I could cry. How dare he of all people call me ungrateful? My mother’s affair had completely destroyed my father. He was living in a run-down apartment on the other side of town. He never hung out with his friends anymore. Just looking at my mother made me sick to my stomach. And having to live with Rhys on top of it all? It drove me crazy every damn day of my life.
When we were kids, there was one day I let it slip to him I had gotten my first period, and he announced it to my entire birthday party the next week. One time he saw me out on a date and he followed us around for the entire night, sitting right behind us at the movie and talking through the whole thing. And that night at the bar…God. I’d snuck in with a fake ID. He dragged me out by my arm, yelled at the bouncer for letting me in, then drove me home and turned over the ID to my parents. Every time we’d been together, he’d gone out of his way to make me miserable. And it seemed he was no better as a grown-ass man.
But I had to give him credit—true to his word, he was waiting for me at the end of the day. He must have left work early to hit the weights, because he had changed into a dirty white T-shirt and gym shorts. The ride home was filled with tense silence, both of us refusing to speak to each other, and I didn’t even bother to say thank you when I got out of the car. He stalked back to his pool house without a word. I stood next to my car, groaning and wondering how much it would fix to cost. There went my savings.
“Did he fix it?” Mom walked out of the house in her bikini, barely-there strips of fabric even I would never dare to wear. I frowned.
“What do you mean? I haven’t taken it to the shop yet. It’ll probably have to be towed.”
“I thought Rhys fixed it.” She took a sip of her water and gestured at the car. “He took off work and tinkered with it all day. Carson was pretty mad; I guess they had some shareholder meeting today that he missed.”
Digging my keys out of my purse, I stepped into the car and turned the ignition. It started without a protest. I stared at my mom in disbelief. “He fixed it.”
She grinned. “You know how good he is with cars. He probably would have been a mechanic if Carson hadn’t forced him to major in business. Are you coming in for dinner?”
“Yeah. I’ll be there in a second.” I needed to think about this.
Why the fuck would he fix my car for me? He just wanted to prove he was a better person than me. Well, news flash, it wasn’t a selfless gesture if you did it just to score points.
Speak of the devil…
I jumped out of my car as Rhys made his way from the pool house for dinner, freshly showered and back in his slacks and tie.
“Hey!” I stomped over t
o him as menacingly as I could in my anti-slip shoes. “Who gave you permission to touch my car?”
“I told you that car is a death trap. I changed your oil and replaced the battery. You should be a little less likely to die while you’re going down the highway at seventy miles per hour.”
He’d stopped walking to wait for me, but I kept going and shoved him. He looked a little surprised as he took a step backwards, but quickly recovered and came forward again so we were chest to chest.
“What’s your fucking deal?” he growled. “I did you a favor.”
“What, so you can prove you’re not the ungrateful bitch I am?” I pushed him again, but this time he didn’t move. He grabbed my arms.
“I did it to help you out. I knew you didn’t have the money.”
“Oh, thanks. Point out again how fucking poor I am.” Tears stung in my eyes. Sure, I could have asked my mom for the money to fix the car, but that would have meant admitting I needed her help even more than I already was. It was killing me to be living here on her generosity already.
“Jesus, Ellie, that’s not what I’m doing.” He leaned down to look at me eye to eye. “You are such a fucking brat, you know? I ought to straighten you out.”
I struggled to free myself from his hold, but he was holding on to me too tightly. He looked around before spinning me and marching me back toward the pool house.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I hissed as he opened the door and shoved me inside.
“You need some fucking discipline if you’re going to live here,” he said. “If your mom won’t give it to you, I will.”
“I’m not a child,” I protested, but he pushed me forward until I hit the back of the couch. I barely had time to take in the completely minimalist and white space, before he was pushing me forward so I bent at the waist. “What the fuck, Rhys?”
“Get your attitude in order,” he said. “Apologize for being such a brat.”
“Fuck off!” I spit strands of hair out of my mouth. “This is so fucked up, you know that, right?”
He sighed while holding me down. “You asked for it.”
