Page 5 of Ronan

Ronan

She said yes.

I was worried that first FaceTime call was too much, but when I asked her if I could call her again, she didn’t hesitate to say yes.

I wish I could have seen the blush on her cheeks when she opened up that package I left for her, but hiding and watching her tentatively approach it had to be enough for now.

“You got any liquor?” Orion bursts into my house like he owns the place, and I shrug without an ounce of surprise. He’s the only one with a key.

“Yeah, I got a bunch because you’ve left so many half-full bottles.”

“Good. Let’s hang out in here.”

Tilting my head, I watch as he waves some girls inside, and when I see one of them is Atley, my entire body freezes. She looks so good in her oversized hoodie that I almost forget to be pissed that it’s probably not hers.

“Hi,” she says, glaring at Emma. “Don’t.”

“She had phone sex with a stranger last night,” Emma blurts. “Can you believe it? Her?”

No, I can’t. It had my blood pressure up all night that she was willing to show a stranger so much of her body, but I realized this morning that I’ll be jealous of the clothes keeping her warm. It will never be me.

“No way she did,” I force out. “She’s way too shy to do that.”

Emma snorts. “Not last night.”

“Stop,” Atley begs. “Seriously. Can we not? I don’t talk about all the fucking hickeys you come home with or how loud you scream when he fucks you in the ass, do I?”

Orion’s smug expression would make me laugh if I wasn’t currently picturing my step-sister’s asshole. I cannot get a boner right now.

“You’re more than welcome to talk about it if you really want to. Did she tell you about the time I had all three holes plugged? ”

He stands up a little too proudly as Emma flips him off, but Atley squirms. Does she want that? Does she want that from fucking Orion?!

“I’d rather not talk about any of it, honestly.

Why don’t we just talk about something normal like the weather?

” Atley’s eyes flick to me like she’s afraid I’m gonna judge her, and she’s right.

As her big brother, I can’t really let this slide — even though it was me she was talking to. She clearly doesn’t know that.

“We can move on when you tell me she’s lying.”

Shit. It’s out of my mouth before I can catch it, and I watch her face fall. She always has hated disappointing me. I wonder if she’ll word vomit an explanation like usual.

“She’s not lying. I’d never done it before, this guy called, and I spilled wine on my shirt because it startled me, and the next thing I knew he was saying things that felt really nice and I took my stupid wine-stained shirt off but I’d forgotten to put a bra on and he saw my piercings and asked if he could show me his and. ..”

Emma looks at her slack-jawed. “Jesus. I thought you guys just said some dirty shit. I didn’t know you took your shirt off.” Atley’s blush deepens so suddenly, Emma catches it. “More? You showed him more?”

She showed me all of it.

Only she doesn’t know it’s me, so in her mind some other dude is the one that made her feel good.

I don’t realize I’m moving at all until I’m standing right next to her, and when her scent hits me, I nearly spill all of it. “Don’t answer her.”

Her eyes slowly travel up my chest, stopping on my lips. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up at all, you don’t want to think about this. It’s gross. I’m sorry.”

Gross is the last word I’d use when it came to anything that involves her. “Well if you guys keep going, I’ll have to kill my best friend. This isn’t something I want him picturing.”

Emma huffs. “Me either. Let’s talk about the non-sexual part.” She looks at me with a smug expression. “She likes him.”

Atley groans, hiding her face in her hands. “Emma, if you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to set you on fire and put you out right before you die so you have to live like that forever.”

In spite of everything, I laugh. She’s still the same girl I’ve wanted since I was 16 years old, and that attitude right there is what first won me over. “Brutal. Come get a drink with me in the kitchen.”

I tug on the sleeve of her hoodie and turn away, smiling to myself when she follows so closely, she steps on the back of my shoe. “Sorry,” she hisses. “You save me and I step on you, sounds about right.”

I’d let you do worse.

“Good thing you have tiny feet. So, are you gonna tell me about this guy?”

She sighs, taking the White Claw I hand her. “It’s stupid. He’s a content creator and I entered some contest to win a FaceTime with him. I won. Given the content he posts, I expected it to get sexual, I just didn’t expect him to be as... sweet as he was.”

She thought I was sweet and all I wanted to do last night was break inside her shitty apartment and take her. “Have you talked since?”

“He texted me to ask if he could call me again.” Her eyes drop to the top of her can. “ I said yes.”

There’s a glint of shame in her eyes, but it’s overshadowed by something else. Is that hope? “And did that text he sent make you smile?”

“Yeah,” she says quietly. “Is that stupid? It’s stupid.

But I don’t know, there’s something so familiar about him.

I just felt... safe and beautiful and wanted.

I guess I’d like to feel that as many times as he’ll let me before he gets bored and moves onto the next thirst comment that makes him cringe. ”

You will always be safe with me, and you are always beautiful.

Too bad I can’t say that. “I don’t think it’s stupid.

I think most people want that deep down, whether they admit it or not.

I don’t like the idea of some stranger in a mask seeing my little sister’s pussy, but I don’t think I have the right to tell you to stop. ”

Yet.

Good thing it’s me, because I wouldn’t be able to bite my tongue if it was anyone else.

“So is it just this guy you’re talking to?”

She nods, leaning back against the kitchen counter. “Yeah. I’ve been going through a bit of a dry spell, honestly. I think working from home is making me socially awkward. This whole anonymous, masked thing just seemed easier.”

“I definitely feel you there,” I admit, meaning it a little more than she thinks, and once again I find myself jealous of myself. What a mind fuck .

I take a big drink of my whiskey and stare at her for longer than I should.

Her freckles are popping out more, bringing out the yellow flecks in her brown eyes. She looks tired, but excited. “So you’re not seeing anyone either?”

I’m seeing you. I have no desire to see anyone else, so I shake my head. “Your friend over there is like birth control for dating. I don’t know how he does it without spanking her ass raw every single night.”

Well now I just made it sound like a good time.

Atley smirks. “Some of us like that, you know. But not all women are as intense as she is, so I’m sure you’ll find someone. At least yours will be real.”

“Yours is real too,” I argue with a small frown. “I’m sure he’s dying to take it real life.”

“I doubt it. He told me if he had a girlfriend, he wouldn’t be able to make his videos. I don’t really share all that well so that doesn’t leave us with a lot of options.”

“Do any of us share well? I sure as fuck don’t.”

“So you get it. It’ll be fun for a bit, but eventually it’ll get too real.

It’s okay. I don’t mind being alone.” Her soft smile makes her words sound believable, but I know her.

I saw the way her body reacted to praise last night, the way her breath hitched and her eyes glowed. She needs it. She needs me.

I can never turn away now. “I guess if it gets too real you’ll find out how serious he is about you.”

And I happen to know how far this man will go for you, Atley. You’ll never escape him.

“It’s been one conversation and a couple of texts, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Will you beat him up if he hurts me?”

My answer would be yes in any other circumstance, but seeing that it’s me she’s talking about, I can’t help but chuckle at the thought. “Yeah. I’ll kick his ass, Atley. I promise.”

She beams, clinking her can against my glass. “Then I have nothing to worry about. Speaking of which, I can’t stay long tonight. He’s supposed to call me soon.”

The physical pull I feel inside is borderline painful.

Half of me wants her to stay right here next to me so all of my senses can get their fill, but the other part of me is desperate for her to hurry home so I can FaceTime her and have her in a way I never could in person.

It’s confusing and irritating, but I do my best to hide what I’m feeling inside. “He say a time or what?”

She nods, suddenly looking sheepish. “Yeah, 9:30. But I have some things I need to take care of first, so I need to leave earlier than that.”

Good girl.

If I had known she was such a good listener, I would have shot my shot a long time ago, but even as that thought crosses my mind I know I couldn’t have. None of this changes the fact that she’s my step-sister.

This is the only way I can ever have her.

My hand tightens around my glass painfully, grounding me. “In that case, just the one.” I tap her can with my drink again. “No driving if you have another.”

She nods. “I was going to ask for a water anyway. I don’t think I’ve had enough today.”

It takes everything not to blow my cover once again, because I see how badly she wants to be good for me.

She just doesn’t know it’s me, so I silently move over to the fridge and grab her a water bottle and take the seltzer from her hand.

Hopefully she doesn’t think twice about it being the same brand that I put in her gift box .

“I’m glad you’re staying hydrated. I remember that being something you struggled with.”

“I do,” she admits. “Thank my masked friend.”

“I’ll toss in a thank you whenever — or if ever — I have to kick his ass.”

Fucking stupid. She can never find out the truth, because if she did, she’d cut me off for being such a pathological liar. Or maybe she’ll hate me for being the manipulator my best friend sees me as. The one I can’t even deny lives inside of me.

Watching it work is... satisfying.

“Thank you, Ro. I should go, though. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Damn right you will. And I’ll see all of you.

“Drive safe. Shoot me a text and let me know when you get home.”

She tilts her head a little, almost suspicious. “Yeah, of course. See you.”

As she walks away, it hits me that I never take this much interest in her to her face.

Seeing her naked has changed something inside of me, and I need to figure out how to keep it cool before all of this goes up in flames.

Not that a fire could stop me now.