“Family night,” I repeated lamely.
“Yes,” she said, clapping her hands. “It’ll be great. But I’m beat tonight, so I’m off to get my beauty sleep and wake up refreshed for tomorrow.”
I nodded slowly, still standing stupefied when she turned to walk away.
Coming to terms with my new night, I dropped the shorts and grabbed my sweatpants, heading to the bathroom to get ready for a night alone. I’d almost made it when I heard Parker’s dad from his room.
“She wants to do a family day tomorrow,” Brad said.
“A family day? With me?” Parker asked.
Brad chuckled. “Yeah. We had a talk this weekend, and it was good. Things have been a little tense, and she admitted she thought you and Nova could end up acting inappropriately. She thought she saw you two looking at each other a certain way.”
Brad snorted like it was the most absurd thing, and I just wanted to run away and pretend I never heard anything. I wanted to delete this moment from my mind forever.
“I assured her that you look at Nova as a sister and that you’ll take care of her like you would your own sister.”
“Yeah,” Parker said, sounding pained.
“Tomorrow will be good.”
“Yeah. Good.”
“Well, I’m off to bed. Those seminars were boring as hell and long. I need a glass of wine and some mindless TV.”
“Night, Dad.”
“Night, Park.”
I darted into the bathroom before I could be spotted, leaning against the door, running over every word. I squeezed my eyes shut, hating all of it. Parker and I knew our attraction came with a wealth of issues. It was why we never bothered acknowledging them. It was pointless. But we had tonight, and although I started it with a promise of only wanting one night, somewhere between the wall and the orgasm, I realized I’d wanted so much more.
I forced myself to fall back into our routine, washing away any fantasy I’d foolishly concocted.
Parker’s door was closed when I left the bathroom. It always was, and I shouldn’t be bothered, but walking past it was harder this time. My covers clung to me like a twenty-pound blanket, and I struggled to relax when all I wanted to do was be in his room like we planned. All I wanted to do was be with my best friend and not worry about anyone else.
It took me a long time to fall asleep that night, going around and around with ways to make us work and always knowing we couldn’t.
And just like every night, once everyone had fallen asleep, my door creaked open, and Parker’s shadow crept toward my bed where he crawled in behind me, pulling my back to his chest. Unlike other nights, he pressed a soft apologetic kiss to my shoulder.
I held his hand tight and squeezed.
“I’m so sorry, Nova.”
He didn’t have to say what for. We both knew. So, I did what we always do.
I shoved it aside and didn’t talk about it.
Why bother?
One night of giving in wouldn’t change the fact that Parker Callahan was my stepbrother.
Not even the fact that I was starting to fall in love with him.
Thirteen
Parker
For four days, I did nothing but think about picking Nova up. I did my best to respect her wishes and wait to talk to her until I saw her today, but I had to force myself to put the phone down more than once. At one point, I’d even asked Oren to take my phone. He, of course, proceeded to send her selfies, which she at least reacted to but never wrote back.
The guys didn’t bring up the situation but watched me like I was a bomb who could go off any minute. It wasn’t far from the truth. From dawn until night, the thought of Nova being on tour with us after years of not talking and months of her refusing to see me twisted me tighter and tighter until I was sure I would snap. I vacillated between excitement and frustration, never really settling on one, the two mixed and mingled in some diabolical cocktail.
So, when I went to pick her up, standing outside her door, squeezing sweaty palms into fists, the last thing I expected was for a petite brunette with glaring brown eyes to be on the other side of the door.
“Hey, fuck boy,” Rae greeted.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“Oh, my god, Rae. Lay off,” Nova called behind her.
Her flannel shirt fanned out behind her as she rounded the corner of the small entrance, baring her faded band T-shirt, stealing all the oxygen from my lungs.
You’ll get at least a month to take her in. Don’t stare like a drooling fool now.
She took the door from Rae’s hands and pulled it open. Before I could squeeze past, Rae blocked me by pulling Nova in a hug. “If you need anything at all, call me.”