Tool (A Step-Brother Romance #2)

Gaige O'Neal, sober and celibate. Hell really has frozen right the fuck over.

Maybe I'm having a stroke or something. Personality change is a symptom of stroke, isn't it? Or I have a brain tumor. I make a mental note to talk to my doctor when I get back to Dallas: "Doc, I'm feeling different from my usual whorish self. I think I might be ill." It's a perfectly legitimate concern.

The girl on my right paws at me, leaning over, her long brown hair grazing my arm, and for a second when I glance at her hair, I'm reminded of Delaney.

As if I could forget Delaney. She's been running through my head since we left Dallas. Last night, I threw my phone in the bottom of my bag and watched TV in the hotel room until I passed out, just so I could avoid thinking about her and where she was going dressed the way she was. At the fan event today, I could have sworn I even saw her in the crowd.

Maybe I do have a fucking tumor.

"I'm not wearing panties." The girl has to yell it into my ear, despite being so close to me I can feel her lips against my skin. I look down at her, letting my gaze linger on her long tan legs and her short-short white dress. The dress with no panties underneath.

"Maybe next time," I say. Part of me thinks I should say yes. What I need to do is take that girl in the bathroom and fuck her up against the bathroom stall. I could shake myself out of this slump.

Except it's not as much of a slump as it is the fact that my thoughts are preoccupied with Delaney.

The girl slides her hand over my chest, and I push it away, careful not to be too forceful. I want to fling it off me, get her disgusting paw away from me. But Gaige O'Neal doesn't do that. Gaige O'Neal is always up for a good time.

She leans in closer. "I'm up for anything," she says. "Anything."

I groan. Normally, I'd be all over this. The girl is hot – she's tall, thin, looks like she stepped off the pages of a fashion magazine, and she's offering anything. Anything is exactly what I like to hear.

And I'm turning it down?

Something is definitely wrong with me.

I break down and text Delaney.

Have you used it yet?

It's not more than a minute before she responds.

Of course not.

Then, a second later, she sends another text:

Obviously, I built a shrine to it in my room.

I'm sure Delaney was so embarrassed by it that she has it stashed away somewhere in the room where no one would ever find it. Under her bed, maybe, or in the closet. She's private like that. She embarrasses easily. I used to love getting a rise out of her, watching her blush when I'd say anything even remotely sexual to her. Innuendo used to make her face turn pink. It's still just as fun getting under her skin.

Aw, he's meant to be touched, not to be put on a pedestal.

Chelsea catches my eye from where she sits at the other side of the VIP area and glares at me, then looks at the phone. It's business, I mouth, and she shakes her head. Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm supposed to be partying, doing shots off the taut little abdomens of college girls.

The phone buzzes again and I click on the text.

I'm sure the real thing is getting plenty of touching in Vegas.

Delaney's obvious jealousy actually makes me pleased. I don't know why she's insecure. She's a fuckton more interesting than the girls I'm surrounded with, with their glazed-over eyes and their plastic bodies. She's smart as hell. Smarter than I am. She's also prettier than these chicks – looks real, you know? She's not a stick figure. She's normal. Curvy. Really fucking curvy.

In fact, my cock stirs just thinking about the way she looked, when she burst through the door of the guesthouse in the middle of my photo shoot, her shirt completely see-through and clinging to her tits. If I think any more about Delaney and her curves, I'm going to have to go jerk off in the bathroom, and that could be awkward.

Jealous? Thought you had a hot date last night.

I can't resist asking. I want to know who the fuck she was with. I don't even know if she has a fucking boyfriend. She could have a damn fiancé, that's how much I know about her life since we've been apart. I don't even know why the fuck I care.

She's the one that got away. The thought floats through my head, and that's proof positive that I'm losing my damn mind. It's the fucking medication the doctor has me on that must be the problem. There's no way Delaney Marlowe is some long lost love. The only thing that got away from me was the chance to hook up with her. That's what it is. She's just the one chick I never screwed. I should still be pissed as fuck at her for not showing up that night. And then for ignoring me, acting as if nothing ever happened between us. And for leaving for college after that. My phone buzzes again.

LOL. Date with a friend.

Yeah, right. What kind of friend is she dressing up for in boots like that? I'm annoyed thinking about her and one of her girlfriends out picking up guys. Or, hell, what if the friend is a guy?