Page 17 of Takeover

11

What the fuck just happened? I hate that smug, smarmy asshole who bulldozed his way into this house. Into our Thanksgiving and my birthday. Of course, my mother would flake out on me today so that prick can witness a moment of weakness. And he seized on it.

I should have bitten his tongue off. Yeah, that’s definitely what I should have done. Not kiss him back, and lose myself in his smell. Even now, one floor up from where he is, and after showering, I can still smell him. I slowly pull the bathroom door open and look both ways before sprinting to my room.

I come up short and put a hand to my chest when I see who it is sitting on my bed.

“Jesus, Vick! You practically gave me a heart attack.” I tighten the towel around me while my sister watches me from across the room.

“Were you expecting Ethan Bradford?” Vick jumps off the bed and tosses my clothes at me.

I ignore her and grab a bottle of lotion.

I give my childhood bedroom a quick glance. Nothing’s changed. It’s been this way since I was in high school. The queen-sized canopy bed is still in the middle of the room, and the dresser and chest are still the same mahogany wood. I even keep clothes here because we sleep over for all the major holidays.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” I ask my sister. She’s standing in the middle of my room, arms crossed and a smug look on her face.

“He practically broke his neck looking at you when you left the kitchen. Dad and Alan are oblivious, but the evil one noticed.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I stomp to my walk-in closet to get away from her and close the door. Unfortunately for me, Vick never gave a shit about boundaries and follows me into the closet while I dress.

“Michael’s here.” She doesn’t give me the usual eye roll when she talks about Michael. “I think he knows something’s up because he does not like Ethan.”

“Vick, shut up. Nothing’s going on, and you already knew Michael was coming. And can you be civil for once? It’s my birthday.”

“I’m always civil and stop lying. You two were standing so close to each other when I got there, and the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. You don’t think that man is here for the evil one’s turkey, do you? Nope. But that’s not the best part. You should see a real alpha man around Michael.” Vick claps her hands together, throws her head back, and laughs. “Michael looks like a little boy trying to keep up with the adults.”

“Maybe that’s because Michael’s not an arrogant son of a bitch like Bradford.” I lose the towel and angrily yank my clothes on. When I finish and leave the closet, she follows me. She crosses her arms and sighs.

“Did you notice Ethan and the kid are wearing matching outfits? I felt my uterus start to thaw until I put it back on ice. Anyway, I’m not the Taylor he’s sniffing after.”

She walks up to me, grabs my hands, and gives them a good squeeze. She catches my eye but doesn’t say anything. Alan and Vickie are the twins, but the three of us have always been connected. Maybe it’s the fact that our birth mother has always been so detached and that forced us to be closer, or maybe it’s something more, but we are always aware when one of us is spinning out of control.

“He kissed me. Right there in the kitchen. We were insulting each other, and he just kissed me from out of nowhere. Who does that? What am I going to tell Michael?” Vickie pulls me, and we both end up sitting on the bed. What I don’t tell Vicki is that I intentionally broke the sweet moment I was having with Ethan downstairs by picking a fight. I was too overwhelmed by his closeness. His smell made me dizzy, and the hungry look in his eyes awakened something in me. Something I didn’t know was dormant.

“First of all, Michael took a job in Denver. Without talking to you about it first, and we both know you’re not moving out west. You’re a New Yorker. And when you asked him about the status of your relationship, he fucking shrugged. You don’t have to tell Michael anything. It was a kiss, not a fuck.”

I let out a groan and lie back on the bed, my feet still dangling over the side.

“Maybe a move would be good for me. I’ll be out of a job soon, so why not try somewhere else for a while? I can give Denver a year. What can it hurt?” I shrug. Vick lies next to me, and we both stare at the ceiling.

“There’s only one problem with your plan,” she says.

“What?”

“Michael is not the man for you. And he never asked you to move with him.”

“That’s two problems, Vick.”

“Well, Alan’s the math wizard, not me.”

12

I ignore Cheryl Taylor’s look when she catches me looking up the stairs for the third time in thirty minutes. Even Vincent is getting restless and has attached himself to my leg. Thankfully, Alan comes back from the basement, freshly showered and changed. Vincent runs to him, and he picks up my son and puts him on his back.

The front door bursts open, and a tall woman I remember meeting at the Taylor Toys office walks in, her arm linked with another woman. The other woman appears to be a bit younger than her.

“Taylors! Bernice has arrived! Let the party begin!” she yells. The family exchange hugs, and when she spots me, she pastes what I think is a flirtatious smile on her face and slowly walks my way, swinging her wide hips from side to side. The woman beside her sighs and rolls her eyes.

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