Page 39 of Right Side of Paradise

Inappropriate

I had an unhealthy obsession with Harlow Westbrook. It was one thing to know that and another thing to have to make peace with her being my stepsister and absolutely off limits.

When we turned seventeen, I realized I’d never see her as my sister again. She was too much of everything I loved in one person.

Smart.

Sweet.

Pretty.

Creative.

Brave.

And spoiled as hell.

She was perfect .

Now I was eighteen. Feeling the same when I knew I shouldn’t.

I wanted to take care of her and love her the way she deserved. The only issue was our parents being married. I never thought I’d see the day I looked at somebody’s love story as a cockblock. Let alone my father’s. But damn it, Harlow was supposed to be mine.

Not my stepsister.

Not my best friend.

My girl.

I tried to distract myself. Give my mind a break from obsessing over her. I wasn’t supposed to feel this way.

Especially when I was having sex with someone else.

“Are you serious right now, Rico?”

The feminine voice reached my ears in an irritated huff.

One glance down and my girlfriend of almost a year came into view.

Lyric looked pissed. And for good reason. I forgot we were having sex.

Because I was thinking about my stepsister.

Fuck, what the hell was wrong with me?

“Get off me, Rico.” Lyric didn’t even sound mad, but the frustration sticking to her words made me feel worse.

I pulled out of her and looked down at my softening dick. Trying not to grimace at the way the condom was already sagging around my deflated member, I flicked my gaze up to hers.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, feigning ignorance. “I just need a minute, baby. I can go down on you again if you want.” Usually, the act of pleasing her and hearing her moans got me hard enough to fuck.

My girlfriend’s lip curled. “You not putting your mouth on me after what you just pulled.”

I could admit, going soft mid stroke wasn’t my best moment, but she was being colder than usual.

“You should leave. I don’t think this is gonna work,” Lyric said, resignation tightening her tone. She rolled away from me and off the bed to pick up her robe.

That was all the sign I needed to know she was done. And I wasn’t gonna be an asshole and keep playing in her face either.

Pulling off the condom, I stood at the foot of her bed and silently watched her.

“You’re breaking up with me?”

Lyric raked a hand through her straight hair, tucking it behind her ear. “Yeah, I think it’s overdue.”

“Overdue?” I parroted.

“Yeah, Rico. Don’t try to act like you care either.”

“I do care.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes before her expression softened. “You’re not a bad guy, Rico. But you’re not my guy. I know we’re young and we were bound to break up eventually. So, let’s just call it and maintain the respect we have for each other.”

Man, the universe was funny.

I was still standing here with my dick out on my eighteenth birthday, and my girlfriend was breaking up with me.

Damn.

After tossing the condom in the trash can under her desk, I pulled on my clothes and turned to her with an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry.”

She had her arms wrapped around herself but looked up at me through her lashes with a shake of her head. “You know what you sorry for?”

“No.” I raised my hands in surrender when she sucked her teeth again. “But if you’re breaking up with me, it must be bad.”

“It’s always the fine ones,” she murmured. “I should’ve listened to my sister.”

“What did your sister say about me?”

“It doesn’t matter.” My girlfriend— ex-girlfriend —crossed her legs on the bed we barely messed up then her eyes raked over me, cool and…pitying?

“See you around, Rico. Good luck at State this fall.”

“Thanks.” I stood there, not knowing what to do with my hands or eyes before deciding against a hug. With a nod, I backed away from the bed and walked to the door with a scratchy feeling in my throat I couldn’t explain.

It had to be guilt because I didn’t feel rejected.

Lyric waited until I turned the knob to walk out before she said,

“I know you’ll deny it til you’re blue in the face, but you should really tell Harlow how you feel before y’all leave for school.”

“I don’t know?—”

“And don’t try to play it off like you don’t know what I’m talking about either.” She cocked her head and gave me a sad smile. “You just said her name while we were having sex.”

I probably should have stayed in my room when I got home to think about what I’d done.

But the length of my shower was the only time I took to reflect. The damage was already done, and I wanted to see Harlow.

She was supposed to be on the beach with Christian, but I’d just sit at her desk and wait until they got back.

Passing the driftwood wall fixture positioned at the halfway point between our doors, I walked in her room without knocking and relaxed when I saw her at her desk.

Harlow was lost in her own world, cutting our high school graduation program before she put double-sided tape on it and pressed it onto the page.

She had one leg pulled up to her chest as she bent over the open book in front of her.

Her hair was up in a messy bun, keeping the strands out of her face while she worked. Her denim cutoffs were unbuttoned and the strings of her favorite pink bikini dangled at the center of her back.

As soon as I heard India.Arie coming from her phone speaker, I understood why Christian was asleep on top of her covers.

“Hey, Harlow.”

She turned to me with her default grin in place, watching me until I sat on the edge of her bed by Chris’ legs. “What happened? I thought you were on a date.”

“Long story.”

She jutted her chin over my shoulder. “I got time until Chris wakes up.”

“Lyric dumped me.”

Her jaw unhinged before she clamped her hand over her mouth. “On your birthday?” she whispered in disbelief.

“Yeah.”

“Why?” She was still whispering, and it made a goofy grin appear on my lips.

“Long story.” I wasn’t telling her I blurted out her name when I was inside of someone else. Shit was bad enough.

“Dang, Rico.” She smoothed her hand over the page again, mumbling under her breath, “Wouldn’t let that shit happen to me though .”

She drew out the last word, just like in that episode of The Boondocks and I couldn’t help it, I snorted a laugh that had me clapping my chest and Christian shifting in his sleep.

When I stopped laughing and opened my eyes, Harlow was staring at me with a twinkle in her eye I wanted to take credit for.

This was why I loved her. She got my corny ass inside jokes and laughed at them no matter how much time had passed.

She got me.

All of them did.

Christian, Soul and Harlow had been the center of my world for over a decade. We had our own families but had created our own together.

We fit.

We loved each other.

We understood each other even when we didn’t use words.

We made sense in every way that mattered. I didn’t understand why it couldn’t just be us forever.

But Harlow and I were leaving for two different colleges in less than a month, Christian was working at his dad’s bakery, and Soul was taking a gap year to figure out what he wanted to do.

We were all headed in different directions. I hated it. I wanted to keep them close. We could figure out this life thing together. But I knew it wouldn’t go my way.

I had to let them go and hope with everything in me we made it back to each other one day soon.

“What are you thinking about over there?” Harlow asked around the rustling of pages, quickly following up with another question. “Wanna go downstairs and eat the cupcakes my mom left?”

Yvette wasn’t my mother, but she looked out for me like I was her own.

She knew she’d be off the island for a doctor’s appointment with granny today, so this morning before she left, she made enough cupcakes for all of us to share.

Ms. Yvie went out of her way to consider me.

Meanwhile, it was almost six o’clock and my mother hadn’t even texted me happy birthday yet.

“Without Chris?” I asked, shaking away my hurt.

“We can eat another one when he wakes up,” she whispered conspiratorially, her grin spreading as she walked past me to the door. “Come on.”

Downstairs, Harlow clinked her cupcake against mine in a fake toast.

“If you could have anything on your birthday, what would it be?”

I stood in front of her with a lump in my throat and my heart in my ass, too scared to say what I wanted. I knew there was no coming back from it if I told her. So I let silence fill the space between us until she spoke up.

“Oh, right. You’re not supposed to say your birthday wishes out loud or they won’t come true.”

She winked, but it was more of a crinkling of her cheek and nose.

“Happy birthday, Rico. I hope you get everything you want and more.”