Read Online Slade: A Stepbrother Romance by Sienna Valentine - Free Book Online
Authors: Sienna Valentine
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said,
making me pause for just a moment. “I’ll come with you. You shouldn’t be
drinking alone.”
“Don’t worry about me,
Iris,” I said. “I can find my own company.”
~
SEVEN ~
Iris
Well, here we were—Slade had done
exactly what I’d wanted him to do, what I’d asked him to do. He’d found
Kellan. The only problem was that Kellan, evidently, hadn’t wanted to be found.
Not by Slade, at least. Was this really the fruit of my master plan—the
knowledge that I would never get my baby brother back?
Everybody changes, I thought, slipping my arms beneath my head. Everybody changes on you.
I sprawled across my bed in the dark,
thoughts of all the men in my life dancing through my head. There was my
father, who’d treated us like shit and walked out on us. There was my stepfather,
the proud, stubborn man who refused to see reason and still envisioned me as
some kind of child. There was my little brother, Kellan, who was obviously
never going to be the man I’d always thought he would be, one who was happy and
well-adjusted and living up to his potential and not on drugs. And then
there was Slade, my opportunistic stepbrother who once pumped and dumped me
just to settle the grudge he had against my mom.
How much was I to blame in all this?
What was that saying—that if you meet a few bad apples a day, they’re the
assholes, but if bad apples are all you ever meet, the asshole is you? Maybe I
was the weak link in this equation. Maybe I was the reason that all the men in
my life kept abandoning me and letting me down.
I turned over on my side and curled
up with my trusty pillow, the one I always ended up wrapped around this late at
night. What the hell was wrong with me? And how could I fix it so Kellan
wouldn’t end up dead in a ditch somewhere?
What about me and Slade? Was the
damage there irreparable, too? He was God-knows-where tonight, probably fucking
some bar slut in an effort to clear his mind of all things Iris Walker.
Goddammit. Why did I care so much?
I couldn’t bear the thought of him
bringing some girl back to my apartment. I tried to tell myself it was just
common courtesy—you didn’t do that to your stepsister, no matter what the
case—but the truth was it ran deeper than that. No girl wants to see their ex
balls-deep in their replacement. And like it or not, Slade was my ex. It
hadn’t been about sex with him.
Well, not just about the sex.
I took a deep breath, trying to clear
my thoughts. The reality of the situation was that Slade had gone through a lot
of replacements since we’d been together, and whoever he brought home wouldn’t
be the first, nor the last, girl he stuck his dick into. Hell, maybe I was
overreacting even worse than that—maybe he wouldn’t come back here at all. If
he was three sheets to the wind, he’d probably end up back at her place and
save me the embarrassment of listening to them fuck, probably in someplace
entirely inappropriate, like my living room.
Jealousy is an ugly
thing, some distant part of me said. It made me
uncomfortable. Was I jealous of whatever girl Slade had his sights set on for
tonight, possibly even right now?
I startled as the sound of my front
door slamming open echoed through my otherwise silent apartment. I heard a
snort, then a chuckle, and then the door clumsily shut and lock from the
inside. Slade was home. And judging by his staggering gait, he was drunk. And
alone. Thank god for that, at least.
I sat up in bed and was greeted by
an, “ow, fuck!” a moment later. Pulling a short, silk robe over my cami and boy
shorts, I padded barefoot out into the living room where my stepbrother was
swiftly destroying my décor.
“Jesus, Slade,” I murmured, watching
as he toppled over the coffee table and onto my couch. “Are you okay?”
“Of course,” he answered, grinning
sloppily. His eyes shone in the darkness, wet and smoldering. “Spent all
making me pause for just a moment. “I’ll come with you. You shouldn’t be
drinking alone.”
“Don’t worry about me,
Iris,” I said. “I can find my own company.”
~
SEVEN ~
Iris
Well, here we were—Slade had done
exactly what I’d wanted him to do, what I’d asked him to do. He’d found
Kellan. The only problem was that Kellan, evidently, hadn’t wanted to be found.
Not by Slade, at least. Was this really the fruit of my master plan—the
knowledge that I would never get my baby brother back?
Everybody changes, I thought, slipping my arms beneath my head. Everybody changes on you.
I sprawled across my bed in the dark,
thoughts of all the men in my life dancing through my head. There was my
father, who’d treated us like shit and walked out on us. There was my stepfather,
the proud, stubborn man who refused to see reason and still envisioned me as
some kind of child. There was my little brother, Kellan, who was obviously
never going to be the man I’d always thought he would be, one who was happy and
well-adjusted and living up to his potential and not on drugs. And then
there was Slade, my opportunistic stepbrother who once pumped and dumped me
just to settle the grudge he had against my mom.
How much was I to blame in all this?
What was that saying—that if you meet a few bad apples a day, they’re the
assholes, but if bad apples are all you ever meet, the asshole is you? Maybe I
was the weak link in this equation. Maybe I was the reason that all the men in
my life kept abandoning me and letting me down.
I turned over on my side and curled
up with my trusty pillow, the one I always ended up wrapped around this late at
night. What the hell was wrong with me? And how could I fix it so Kellan
wouldn’t end up dead in a ditch somewhere?
What about me and Slade? Was the
damage there irreparable, too? He was God-knows-where tonight, probably fucking
some bar slut in an effort to clear his mind of all things Iris Walker.
Goddammit. Why did I care so much?
I couldn’t bear the thought of him
bringing some girl back to my apartment. I tried to tell myself it was just
common courtesy—you didn’t do that to your stepsister, no matter what the
case—but the truth was it ran deeper than that. No girl wants to see their ex
balls-deep in their replacement. And like it or not, Slade was my ex. It
hadn’t been about sex with him.
Well, not just about the sex.
I took a deep breath, trying to clear
my thoughts. The reality of the situation was that Slade had gone through a lot
of replacements since we’d been together, and whoever he brought home wouldn’t
be the first, nor the last, girl he stuck his dick into. Hell, maybe I was
overreacting even worse than that—maybe he wouldn’t come back here at all. If
he was three sheets to the wind, he’d probably end up back at her place and
save me the embarrassment of listening to them fuck, probably in someplace
entirely inappropriate, like my living room.
Jealousy is an ugly
thing, some distant part of me said. It made me
uncomfortable. Was I jealous of whatever girl Slade had his sights set on for
tonight, possibly even right now?
I startled as the sound of my front
door slamming open echoed through my otherwise silent apartment. I heard a
snort, then a chuckle, and then the door clumsily shut and lock from the
inside. Slade was home. And judging by his staggering gait, he was drunk. And
alone. Thank god for that, at least.
I sat up in bed and was greeted by
an, “ow, fuck!” a moment later. Pulling a short, silk robe over my cami and boy
shorts, I padded barefoot out into the living room where my stepbrother was
swiftly destroying my décor.
“Jesus, Slade,” I murmured, watching
as he toppled over the coffee table and onto my couch. “Are you okay?”
“Of course,” he answered, grinning
sloppily. His eyes shone in the darkness, wet and smoldering. “Spent all
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