Read Online You Don't Know Me: A Stand-Alone New Adult Romance by Faleena Hopkins - Free Book Online Page A

inheritance from us, blah blah blah. He fell for it and then treated her like she was already part of the family, taking her side over mine. I shit you not. He did that. She’s not family! Family is earned through years of work, arguments, bad holidays...”
    I interrupted, “Spoken like a guy who needs to see a shrink.”
    He laughed. “Right? Okay, well, my family isn’t going to win the Leave It To Beaver award, but it’s mine. And this girl isn’t a part of it just like that.” He snapped his fingers and a loud crack echoed through the room. “Good acoustics.”
    “Yeah, that’s why I write here. It’s got a natural reverb.” I set the guitar on the floor next to me and got up to get another beer. “When do I get to meet her?”
    “You’re going to hate her,” Jack smirked.
    “You think so?” I opened up the fridge, one of four in my three-story house in the hills. The rows of beer are separated by ten different brands all neatly stacked by my maid, just how I like it. I opted for Dos Equis and popped the cap off as I returned to him. “What’s she like?”
    “Bland. Goody-two-shoes. Not your type at all.” He reached up his half-drunk beer to clink it against mine.
    Giving it a tap, I sat back down, taking a swig after I chuckled, “I’m not interested in dating your secret half-sister, fucker. What kind of friend do you think I am?”
    His eyes lit up and he leaned forward with an idea. “You want to make my fucking life?”
    My eyebrows rose and I looked at him warily. “I don’t like that look in your eyes.”
    He laughed and stuck his tongue on his bottom lip, shaking his head under the pure genius of his plan. I could see it formulating and I was beginning to get the drift of it before he even voiced the words. “Oh man, this is too perfect.”
    Picking up my guitar, I plucked a little. “Lay it on me.”
    “You’re going to break her heart. That’s what you’re going to do.”
    I blinked and paused, my fingers suspending above the strings. Looking at him from under my eyebrows, I asked, “You really want me to do that?”
    “I really want you to do that,” he leaned back with a satisfied smile. “She’s a liar, Alec, You’re going to find that out. You’re going to expose her, because I can’t. I’m her brother, and the way to make her melt is out of my power.”
    I grimaced at the thought. “Yeah, that’s gross, man.”
    He nodded. “But you! You’re free to make her beg. And so that’s what you’re going to do.”
    I chuckled and agreed to the plan. It might be amusing, I figured. And I was feeling bored lately. And honestly? I wanted to find out who she was. What better way to know if what he thought about her, was true? Was she acting like a good girl, or was she really one? And if she was, I’d let her loose. It’d be easy. Just turn off the switch and drop her like she didn’t exist. She’d get over me soon enough. They all did. Except Desiree, but that bitch is crazy. Biggest mistake of my life.
    And now here I am tonight, walking in a sea of women who at the snap of my fingers would drop their panties for me, and all I can think about is his secret half-sister. I’m glad they left. I’m glad Sean found us. I’m glad Jack didn’t. He might have seen it in my eyes that I was toast.
    What the fuck just happened to me?
    When I saw her sitting in the booth with Jack’s arm around her and she met my eyes, a part of me locked into place. I felt it viscerally hit my gut. I had to pull my eyes away from her and look out at the nonsense that surrounded us so I could get ahold of myself. Her face was a mess of smudged mascara and flushed cheeks and frankly, she looked like she’d just been fucked. Instantly, I suspected Jack of having done that, and jealousy made me want to punch his smug face. As I stared at a cluster of girls on the dance floor, I had to talk myself off jumping from the high-rise building I was on. I went through the possibilities and realized