The Step Dare (Peach State Stepbros #3)

Chapter 22

22

Brenner

“H ow’d that happen?” I ask Taylor.

“Sadie?”

“Is there more than one random girl you were talking with tonight?”

“Look who brought jokes,” he teases, and for some reason, I can’t stop myself from pulling him close. Taylor comes easily, my arms around his shoulders while he faces me. “I heard them talk. She didn’t want to come in, and…” He shrugs. “I guess I understood her because I was the type who was standing on the sidelines when I was her age too—though probably not as sassily,” he jokes, and I laugh.

“So Taylor to the rescue?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

I grin. “I would.”

“Are you flirting with me?”

“Are you just noticing?” I reply playfully, and Taylor smiles, then leans in and kisses me. “It was cute, seeing you with her. That was a nice thing you did.”

“Kinda like how you befriended me when I was quiet and kept to myself?”

I roll my eyes. “You’re giving me too much credit. I just thought you were a cute boy I could play video games with. I didn’t anticipate that meant signing up to losing to you for the rest of my life.”

“You win once in a while.” He smirks.

My heart is beating stupid-fast for some annoying reason. Hearing how Taylor was with Sadie has me all shmoopy, which is totally not my jam. But then, everything with Taylor seems to have me feeling that way lately.

“If you’d said you let me win every once in a while, we would be having our first fight as…whatever we are.” And by the way, Taylor, if you could tell me what this is, that would be fucking awesome. Sadie asking if he was my boyfriend made my stomach feel like a butterfly habitat throwing a party in there.

If this happened with anyone else, I would talk to Taylor about it, but now it’s Taylor who has me feeling this way. And I know I can talk to him, I will talk to him, but talking is always a whole lot easier when he prods me along.

“I know you better than that. Even if it was true, I wouldn’t tell you…”

“Wait…so how do I know if you’re letting me win or not? I will kick your ass if you do that, Taylor Martin Falkner.”

“That’s not my middle name.”

“That’s beside the point,” I reply, and he laughs, then drops his forehead against mine.

Tell me. Tell me what this is. Tell me you’re feeling more too.

Or I could just ask him. Look at me. That’s growth. Yay. “So…about what—”

“Taylor! Can you come help me for a minute?” Marty asks, and Jesus, why is it always him? There is a good chance one of us might murder him one day.

“Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”

I nod as Taylor slips away with Marty, who basically just ruined my life. Or, you know, maybe not, but still.

“How come you’re not dancing?” Colin asks me. Why couldn’t Marty have asked for his help instead of Taylor’s?

“I don’t know,” I reply, but he’s right. That’s my kind of thing.

“You look confused.”

“Um…thanks?” I’m not sure how else I’m supposed to respond to that, but Colin just laughs.

“I used to be confused too.”

“No offense, buddy, but I think you still are.” What the hell is he getting at?

“That’s what you think, but you’ll see.” He pats my shoulder in a way that says, aw, poor Brenner, before slipping away, I assume to find his boyfriend.

As I push away from the wall to go do…who knows what, I see Taylor heading toward me, only to be intercepted by Sadie.

She takes his wrist and drags him to the dance floor. Her mom is smiling but looks pretty tired. Taylor turns my direction, a look on his face that says, help! but also, it’s clear he wouldn’t deny this kid because he’s seen a kindred spirit in her. Taylor does everything in his power not to let people down.

Unless he’s had a drink or two in him, Taylor isn’t much of a dancer, which is proven by how awkwardly Sober Taylor is moving to the fast beat of the song Lance is playing from the DJ table.

His gaze finds mine again, and even from a distance, I’m pretty sure he’s blushing, while trying to dance because a girl he doesn’t know asked it of him.

And there go the butterflies again.

All it takes is one quirk of his finger and I’m heading his way, while also laughing, because I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t laugh at him.

“Nice moves, Tay.”

“Shut up and dance with me.”

“Guys, you have to look my direction when you speak,” Sadie tells us.

Shit. I’ll have to be better about that. It strikes me then that that might be why they’re so close to the speaker. Sadie is using the vibrations to dance. That also explains the iPad she’s carrying.

I glance up to see her mom lingering close, and the knowing look tells me she sees I’m putting it all together in my head.

I make sure to face Sadie as I say, “He’s a terrible dancer!” He’s not, really, but it’s fine to give him shit.

“Let’s see your moves,” she replies, and I can tell she’ll be a force to be reckoned with when she’s older.

No way I’m not taking my moment to shine, though, so I start dancing. I take Taylor’s hands, trying to get him to move with me.

“I’m not dancing with you. You just said I’m terrible. You didn’t think that at Crave.”

No, no I didn’t. But I ignore that. With my hands on his hips, I say, “Loosen up. Pretend…” I throw a glance at Sadie and switch direction. “Just don’t be so stiff.”

He laughs, and there’s not a doubt in my mind that he knows I was going to make a joke about fucking.

Sadie is in her own world. It’s clear she loves dancing, and as unsure as she was about coming inside, she’s living it up now, throwing her arms up in this carefree way that is contagious. When I let go of Taylor, Sadie grabs his hands, twisting the two of them and getting him to move faster, to get into what we’re doing. She does a circle around him, Taylor spinning to follow, but she ducks under his arm and he drops his head back and laughs, just getting lost in the moment while I can’t help but get lost in him.

We stay out there for a good twenty minutes, dancing and laughing until my stomach hurts.

When I take Taylor’s hand again and lift it, Sadie winks at me, walks under our arms like a bridge, and then just…keeps going.

“Where is she heading?” I ask.

Sadie turns around and tosses a playful grin our direction, then signs something to her mom, who waves at us and follows her.

Taylor shrugs. He doesn’t let go, doesn’t pull away, so I don’t either. We keep dancing, our bodies moving in unison.

But then Lance cuts in and announces, “We’re going to slow it down for a few minutes,” and Taylor and I just stand there like a couple of idiots.

“You want to dance with me, Bren?” Taylor asks, and okay, why do I have goose bumps from such a simple question?

“Since you asked so nicely.” I pull him closer, and we squeeze each other tightly, no space between us as we sway to the music.

“We should have tried this at prom,” Taylor says close to my ear.

“Our dates might have been a little upset. I don’t think they would’ve been as understanding as the teenage matchmaker who just left us.”

We chuckle, Taylor’s chest vibrating against mine. I inhale his scent, a heady mix of cologne and sweat, and damned if I don’t immediately feel drunk off it.

A picture of my parents dancing together in the kitchen fills my head, making my hand fist in Taylor’s shirt.

“You tensed up,” he says.

“Just thinking,” I reply, then shake my head. It wasn’t that long ago I was going to just ask him what’s going on with us, see if he’s feeling more too, but then Marty happened, and now I’m dancing all close to him and stalling. “My parents used to dance a lot like this. Dad and I were talking about it the other day.”

He pulls back a little so he can look at me. “Yeah? Then I’m glad I asked you.”

And somehow, it’s the most perfect thing in the world he could have said and prompts me to open my mouth and blurt out, “What are we?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what are we ? Are we still just best friends and future stepbrothers who have sex? Because lately—and it’s okay if you don’t feel the same—but lately, I feel like we’re…”

“More,” we say in unison, and share a laugh.

Taylor says, “I wanted to say yes when Sadie asked if we’re boyfriends. The guys mentioned it earlier, and it just felt right.”

“Oh fuck yes. I was freaking out. Now that I know that the first time I want to be boyfriends with someone isn’t going to turn into me being rejected, I can breathe.”

Taylor’s brows pull together. “You thought I would reject you?”

“Well, not if you have good taste.”

“I have the best taste.”

“Just so I know I’m getting this right, we’re talking about me, correct?”

Taylor smiles. “Yes, you idiot.”

“I can’t believe you just asked me to be your boyfriend while calling me an idiot,” I tease.

“Pretty sure you’re the one who asked me.”

“I think we asked each other.” I let my hands travel up and down his back, savoring the feel of him. “Our parents…”

“We’ll tell them after the wedding. It’s in a little over a month. They’ll understand, right? They have to.”

“They have to,” I agree, though my stomach is in knots. Our concerns are still the same. Our parents are happy and in love, and we don’t want to do anything to mess that up…but we deserve to be happy too. “I’m scared,” I admit softly—and only because this is Taylor and I can tell him anything.

“That they won’t understand?”

“Yeah, that too, but also…”

My words hang in the air, but I don’t have to finish them. Taylor squeezes me tighter, and I know he knows what I mean. “I’m not going anywhere, Bren.”

“You can’t promise that. My mom didn’t expect to die so soon, but she did, and it broke my dad.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how much that must’ve hurt both of you. I don’t know how I’d even make it if anything happened to Mom. And you know I’d never want you to do something that scared you, but if something did happen to either of us, I’d rather know I took advantage of every moment I got to have with you while I could.”

I nod, knowing he’s right. I won’t walk away from this because of fear. I want every moment I can have with him. I don’t want to waste any of them.

“So…we’re boyfriends now?” The title makes my heart feel like the stupid thing could float away. And I like it. Too much. So of course I have to act like it’s no big deal. “This will be fun.”

“Be my boyfriend,” Taylor says. “Dare you.”

“Goddamn it! Why didn’t I think to say that?”

“Guess you’re not as good as me.”

“You have your moments,” I reply, feeling happier than I ever have. Now we just have to keep our relationship a secret until after the wedding, and hope all this doesn’t blow up in our faces.