Sister.
Arion’s sister. I looked over, seeing Winter nodding to something someone was saying as her eyes lingered, unfocused toward the mid-section of the person in front of her.
She was barefoot in jeans and a white, ribbed tank top, a little stretched out and worn like she just did not care, but her face was clean of makeup, lips a natural dark pink and the barest remnants of curl left in her blonde ponytail as it draped past her shoulders. She was perfect.
A smile pulled at my lips, but I stopped myself and took a deep breath.
And that’s when I noticed the outline of her breasts through the fabric. The faint curves of the half-circles and then the points, more prominent with the chill in the air tonight. I darted my gaze left and right, noticing one group of guys looking over at her, speaking amongst themselves and laughing in unison at whatever was said.
Dumb fucks.
Kai picked his sweatshirt up off his chair and tossed it to Arion. “Do it now,” he commanded.
And from the tone and the look on his face, he wouldn’t allow her to disobey.
“Fine,” she spat out and got up.
But I grabbed the sweatshirt and yanked it out of her hand, throwing it back on the table.
Kai glared at me.
“She’s fine,” I told him, more as an order rather than a statement.
He rose up out of his chair, the hint of disdain on his face as he picked up the hoodie. “Not every woman in this world will be for your personal amusement,” he bit out, staring down at me. “Someday one of them will be your kid, and you’re gonna damn well worry when she’s drawing the wrong kind of attention.”
“You teach your daughter to hide in everyone else’s world,” I shot back, “and I’ll teach mine everyone else exists in hers. Go fuck yourself, and leave the kid alone.”
I wasn’t sure where the hell I was coming from, because if Banks walked out of our room like that, I’d lose my shit. But with Winter…
Nothing she did would be wrong. It was their fault for looking.
He straightened, breathing hard but not blinking.
And grabbing the sweatshirt again, he turned around and headed toward Winter.
Fucker.
Kai and I weren’t friends. We were brothers. In every way except biological. Whether we liked each other or not, we were family, and we had each other’s backs.
But that didn’t mean we liked each other, either.
He was the noble one. The voice of reason in our little group, and while I sometimes envied his happy house, I knew there would be a time when he’d have two choices—and he wouldn’t choose me.
Noticing Arion still next to me, I looked up at her. “What are you waiting for?”
Her lips tightened into a line, knowing I was referring to Marko Bryson, and finally, she walked off, either to get to work on him or tell me to piss off and to get back to her friends. Either way, I didn’t care. I just wanted her gone.
I turned my eyes back on Kai, watching as he approached Winter and the girls around her parting to let him in.
Winter’s smile faltered as he leaned in and she listened to whatever he was saying. She pulled back a little, her spine straightening and her head bowing in embarrassment.
My fingers closed into a fist.
Then he took her hand and held the sweatshirt up to it, so she could take it and put it on.
But much to my surprise, she shook her head and waved him off, adding a small smile for good measure. Instead, she reached out to touch the brick column of the pool house, using it to feel her way as she left.
He watched after her, threw a look at me, and I just shook my head at him. She wouldn’t cover up, but now she was leaving the party good and humiliated. Great job, asshole.
He threw the sweatshirt back over to the table, and I turned my eyes over to her, watching her trail the perimeter with her hand grazing the hedge line. How long did it take her to map out a new place in her head? She seemed pretty self-sufficient. Even at school already. Of course, she’d be familiar with her home the most. If she followed the hedges around the corner, they would take her all the way back up to the house.
Standing up, I took Kai’s hoodie and walked, making sure to go slowly as I slipped away from the party and down the small incline, away from the noise and eyes.
Winter walked along the line, rustling the green leaves as she brushed past them on her way back to the house, and I pulled on the sweatshirt, masking my scent as I dove through an opening in the line to the other side of the hedges.
I slowed to a walk, my heart suddenly hammering as I saw the white of her shirt through the leaves, not one foot away from me. I put out my hand, following hers where it grazed the leaves on the other side.
I closed my eyes for a moment, walking with her and following the path with my hand as I heard the blood pump in my ears. My head started to float a little, and the world seemed to tilt under my feet.
I opened my eyes, still walking with her although she didn’t know.
It was annoying, the loss of equilibrium when I closed my eyes, but I was sure it was far scarier than I realized. I would never know what it was like to be her, because I could always open my eyes.
“Where is he?” someone breathed out. “He wanted to watch this, didn’t he?”
“I don’t know if—” Arion’s voice turned muffled, like she was being kissed, and I darted my eyes up to see her and Marko ahead of us, between two trees.
He bent Arion over just slightly and squeezed her tits. On the other side of the hedges, Winter had stopped, her body unmoving as she no doubt heard what I heard.
“Take off your top,” I heard Marko order, but I wasn’t looking at him. I lingered back, finding a glimpse of Winter’s face through the leaves and watching the unreadable look on her face.
It was a mixture of curiosity and fear, but I wasn’t sure which one she felt more of. How long would she stay?
“So glad I didn’t bring Abby tonight,” Marko said. “I needed to get off on something new.”
Arion whimpered and moans filled the air around us, and I saw Winter’s mouth drop open a little like she was about to run for the hills or break out in a laugh.
“We have to hurry. I don’t want to get caught.”
“Lick me,” Marko told her. “Get me hard, Ari.”
Winter’s eyes widened, probably realizing it was her sister, and then I heard a zipper...
“Ah, yeah,” Marko groaned. “Fuck. Swallow that shit, baby. Nice and deep.”
Winter’s jaw clenched, and she stalked off a few steps and then broke into a run, back to the house.
I quirked a smile. Well, well, well…
I slipped through an opening in the hedges, pulled up my hood, and followed her slowly as she headed back up to the dark, empty house, away from the noise and crowd of the party.
She scared easily.
Oh, good.
Winter
Seven Years Ago
I shivered, swallowing the bad taste in my mouth. What the hell was she doing?
I rushed up the hedge line to the bricks, turned right, my hand grazing the bushes at my thighs, and then turned left, running up to the back door. I twisted the handle, pushed through, and slammed it behind me, locking it.
Bile rose in my throat. Why would my sister do that? And at a party and in the woods? Jesus.
I didn’t know she had a boyfriend. She hadn’t mentioned him since I’d returned home. What the hell?
I brought my hand up to my mouth, still freaked out by what I’d heard.
Did that happen a lot? Would other people be going at it on our lawn all night? I gagged, a little grossed out.
Maybe if I’d been here the past five years, in an average environment, it wouldn’t have been such a shock, but damn. Outside of movies and YouTube and the occasional late-night convo with my friends in our dorm in Montreal, I’d never witnessed anything close to that. It didn’t sound very…like romantic or anything.