Chapter 6
“So, how’s the new boyfriend?” I bite into the burger, looking across the table at Megan, my younger sister. She’s cut her hair again. The dark hair in pixie cut suits her babyish features, her amber eyes focused on her drink.
Out of us five siblings, Megan and Ethan look like carbon copies of our father. While the shape of her eyes is rounder, her smile less harsh, it’s a startling resemblance.
“Tom?” Megan plays with her straw, trying to smush the blob of ice cream at the bottom of the cup. “He’s okay. I’m thinking of breaking up with him.”
I chew the beef burger slowly, studying her nonchalant expression. “Why? You can’t have gotten bored of him that quickly.”
“He’s not very…” Megan struggles to come up with the right word and finally settles on: “...smart. He’s a little dense up here.” She taps her temple, her tone dry.
“Well, I could have told you that,” I snicker.
“Not funny, Caleb.” My sister slumps back in her chair, groaning. “He’s so hot. But he’s so dumb! He went car sledding the other night.”
“Car sledding?” I blink, the idea intriguing but just a little confusing.
“This moron and his friends hooked a toboggan with a rope to the back of the car, and one of them started driving.”
My lips curve. “That sounds fun—”
“In the middle of traffic, Caleb.” Megan makes a strangled sound. “He’s got sawdust between his ears. His friend landed in the hospital, and the bunch of them thought it was funny.”
“I mean, it’s not the worst way to—”
“Oh, shut up,” Megan tips the cup to her lips and swallows the ice cream. “He’s an idiot, Caleb. I don’t want to date an idiot.”
“So break up with him.” I shrug. “I don’t see what the problem is.”
My sister glares at me. “Did you not hear me? He’s hot. The man may have two barely-functioning brain cells, but he’s sex on a stick.”
My appetite immediately withers and dies, and I scowl at her. “Really, Megan? I know we’re close, but I don’t need to hear about your sex life. Don’t you have girlfriends for that?”
Megan shrugs. “She knows. She wants me to dump him, but I don’t want to.”
I give a pitying look to the burger I had been devouring not seconds ago. Now I want to barf.
“No matter how attractive he is, if you don’t like him, move on.” As the words leave my mouth, I give myself a mental pat on the back. That is some sound advice coming from me.
“I can’t.” Her expression darkens. “He’s cheating on me.”
I freeze. “Come again?”
My sister raises her head to meet my eyes, and her own are flashing with a terrifying rage. “He’s sleeping with one of his little band groupies.”
My blood stirs in anger. “He’s cheating on you, and you’re still with him?! Don’t tell me this is some fucked up ‘I love him’ garbage because, I swear to god, Megan, I’ll beat that fucker till—”
Megan rolls her eyes. “Calm down. I’m handling it.”
“Handling it how?” I demand. “You’re still with him. How is that handling anything?”
My sister slams her cup down on the table, leaning forward, her eyes glittering.
“You think I’m just going to dump him and walk away?
Do you think I’m going to make it that easy for him?
I’m going to break his spirit. I’m going to break him into a thousand pieces till he’s unrecognizable.
I’m going to destroy him so thoroughly that there’s nothing left of him. And that’s when I’m going to dump him.”
I blink. “Jesus, Megan. What are you planning to do? Cut his dick off?”
She smiles now, the vengeful fire in her eyes making me shudder. “Nothing that easy. But I’m working on it.”
I know enough about my sister to know I do not want to interfere with whatever she’s planning. However, Megan does have a violent streak.
“Don’t beat him up or something, okay? If you want to kick his ass, just tell me. I deal with that. You’ve already had one brush with the law. Let’s not make it a repeat incident.”
Megan waves me off dismissively. “Relax. I’m not going to assault him. I have more creative methods in mind.”
“That’s what worries me.” I lean back in my chair, studying her face. The calm calculation there is more terrifying than any tantrum would be. “Promise me you won’t do anything that’ll land you in jail.”
“I promise I won’t get caught.”
“Megan—”
“Fine, fine. I promise I won’t break any major laws. Happy?” She grins at me, that harmless smile that’s fooled everyone from our parents to police officers. “Now tell me about your new job. How’s corporate espionage treating you?”
I glance around the burger joint, grateful it’s mostly empty. “Keep your voice down.”
“Please. No one here cares about Ethan’s business drama.” She leans forward, eyes sparkling with curiosity. “So? Any juicy office gossip? Secret affairs? Embezzlement schemes?”
“It’s not that exciting. Just trying to figure out who’s leaking campaign information.”
“Boring. What about the people? Anyone interesting?”
I open my mouth to say no, but Eve’s image flashes in my mind.
More specifically, the soft tint to her cheeks as she had dared me to bite her, one cheek bandaged.
I hadn’t meant to actually bite her earlobe, but she has a way of pushing me.
It’s that look in her eyes, a certain haughtiness that drives me to madness.
Even when cornered, she doesn’t know the meaning of back down.
It excites me.
It irritates me.
She was the same way in college. It didn’t matter if her clothes were worn out or looked slept in or if she had bags under her eyes. She would look at me with that disdain glimmering in her eyes as if I had insulted her by simply being in the same room as her.
I had a lot on my plate in college because I was determined to kickstart my marketing company, but it was that condescending manner in which she would look at me and address me that made me determined to put her in her place: a step below me.
And it infuriated her.
Every time our results would be out, she would look at me as if she wanted nothing more than to claw my eyes out. And god, was that satisfying.
“You’re smiling,” my sister notes. “Why’re you smiling?”
I blink, startled. “What?”
A sly smile on her lips, Megan scooches her chair forward. “Who is it? You were thinking of someone. I can tell.”
I make a derisive sound. “And your shitty love life is making you delusional. I can tell.”
Megan smiles sweetly at me before delivering a sharp kick to my shins, making me howl in pain. “When was the last time you got laid again?”
“God, Megan!” I hiss at her, bending over in half as I rub my injured shin. “Can you not?!”
“My love life is fine. Or at least it will be. What’s your excuse? You’ve not had a girlfriend in, like, forever.”
“That’s because I’m busy. And you’re forgetting Andrea. We broke up last year, remember?”
My sister gives me a disgusted look. “Please. Andrea was a booty call. And you were her booty call.”
“Not true,” I argue. “We shared an intense—”
“She had your name saved under ‘Booty Call Caleb.’” Megan’s voice is dry. “And she ditched you when she met somebody better and willing to commit. You’re allergic to commitment.”
I open my mouth, then snap it shut.
“I’m not ready for a long-term relationship,” I finally say. “That hardly means I’m allergic to commitment.”
“Oh, you’re not ready?” My sister mocks me. “And when will you be ready, Caleb? When you’re in your fifties? Wait, no—When I’m about to remove you from the ventilator?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Trust me, if I’m old and dying, you’re the last person allowed to remove me from the ventilator. In fact, I won’t even allow you in the room. You’ll probably unplug me to charge your phone.”
Megan shrugs, reaching for my unfinished burger. “If you’re old and dying, you don’t need the extra oxygen. What if I need the phone to find my way back home? Now that’s an emergency.”
I stare at her. “You know, somewhere inside you, there’s a psychopath budding.”
She grins at me. “Thank you.”
Finishing off my burger in five quick bites, Megan pushes back from the table. “I have to get back to campus. Early class tomorrow.”
I glance at my watch. “Already? It’s only nine.”
“Yeah, well, Professor Martinez doesn’t care if I stayed up late bonding with my favorite brother.” She stands, stretching dramatically. “Ready?” We gather our things and approach the counter.
I'm already reaching for my wallet when the cashier gives us the total. “Oh, shit.” Megan puts on a whole show of patting her pockets. “I think I left my wallet in my dorm.”
I give her a flat look. “Seriously?”
“I’m sorry.” She gives me an insincere smile.
“You do this every time, Megan.” I hand over my credit card with an exaggerated sigh. “Every. Single. Time.”
“What? No, I don’t!” she protests, but there’s a telltale smirk playing at the corners of her mouth.
“You absolutely do. You conveniently ‘forget’ your wallet every time we go out.”
“That’s not true—”
“Last week at the movies. Two weeks ago at that Thai place. Last month when we went shopping.” I count off on my fingers. “Should I continue?”
Megan shrugs, completely unrepentant. “Maybe I just have a bad memory.”
“Maybe you’re a con artist masquerading as my baby sister.”
“Consider it payment for me being such great company,” she says sweetly.
“Your company isn’t worth thirty bucks.”
“Rude. But accurate.” She loops her arm through mine as we step outside into the cold. “Oh, by the way, Mom went to see Elisha in the hospital yesterday.”
I stop walking, my breath forming small clouds in the frigid air. “What?” The mention of my youngest brother’s wife has me annoyed almost instantly.
“Yeah. She finally got to meet Damon.” Megan’s voice is carefully neutral. “Said he’s adorable. Looks just like Nick.”
My jaw tightens. “And we’re still banned from meeting our own nephew?”
Megan nods grimly. “Elisha threw a fit when Mom mentioned bringing the rest of us by. Said she wasn’t ready for ‘crowds.’”
“Crowds.” I make a sound of disbelief. “We’re his family, not a fucking parade.”