Page 46 of Freaks Of Nature

I know there’s no way, and I’m happy Tate found someone to get serious with, but I still like poking at my brother. ‘You don’t screw the boss’s daughter.’

But that’s Ash, putting his dick where it doesn’t belong, breaking rules, changing deals. And Isaac doesn’t know about the fling either. He treats us like sons. For 10 years we’ve worked here.

Ash takes a swig of his water bottle while I continue burning a hole into his forehead. He thinks he’s so slick he can get away with anything. Just someday I wish his shit would catch up with him.

He crushes the sandwich wrapper into a ball and shoots it in a high arch from where he’s sitting into the trash bin by the door.

His phone buzzed again.

He tips it up to give the screen a glance, then refocuses on me. Crossing his arms on the table, he mirrors my pose and smirks, a glint in his eyes.

“I’m taking her out after work.”

Heat shoots up my neck. “Taking her out?” I parrot, knowing he’s talking about Emily now.

“Yeah. Like a date.”

A date?Something snaps inside me hearing that word, and then I remember it’s her night off.

My lips twitch under the friction of my teeth as every muscle in my body flexes. I draw heavy breaths. I want to explode. I want to rip Ash across the table and fight it out with him right here.

But I know whether she does or doesn’t give it up to him tonight isn’t up to me. It’s her choice, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Bracing my palms on the table, I push to my feet, swiping my lunch up as I turn to leave.

Or at least not much, I think, balling the paper around the sub and dumping it into the trash on my way out.

Em

Izip through myapartment to put on the finishing touches and give my hair another fluff in the mirror:

Volume—check.

Makeup—check.

Outfit—double check.

I’m wearing a black tank top, paired with black combat boots and a short, pleated black and pink skirt. I want to feel Ash’s bike against bare skin. I know it’s reckless in case we crash, but lust has overwritten my common sense.

I give my fashion choice a light laugh. I look more like a punk now than I dared to back in high school.

What a difference 10 years can make…

But it’s really the last month that has made such an impact on my confidence. I have no one but myself to answer to. No guilt. No inhibitions. It’s everything I ever wanted.

I like to think it’s my newfound independence that brought it on, but I know it’s more than that, and when the pounding knock on my apartment door jolts my heart up into my throat, it’s the confirmation I can’t deny.

Someone must’ve let him into the building.

A giddy grin forms on my lips. For a moment, Idofeel like a teenager again.

“Coming!”

I swipe the hoodie from my bed before rushing down the hallway, but when I open the door, it’s not Ash’s familiar smile I encounter.

“Mason!” I yelp in surprise, my fingers clenching around the sweatshirt in my hand.

The one he’s wearing is not the same black one he had on in the alley—this one has the auto shop logo on the front—but I can still tell him apart from his brother.