Page 15 of Sugar Rush
“Well, um… Thank you. For, you know, coming to my rescue earlier.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled. It was dark and our surroundings were only dimly illuminated by the light of the restaurant we’d parked pretty far back from, but I thought he might be blushing a little. My wording had probably embarrassed him.
With other people, like the other students at my school and the people who worked at the youth center, I always felt like I had to act a certain way to live up to their expectations of me. With Kieran I could relax and be as dumb and annoying and vapid as I wanted. But because I was always like that with him, we never really had serious conversations with each other. It felt foreign and odd, but necessary.
“I’m serious,” I insisted. “I know I’m kind of bad at this so it probably sounds fake, but… I do appreciate you.”
“I know,” he answered, and it seemed like my brief flash of vulnerability had soothed him, at least a little. “It’s fine.”
“Can I ask you a question, though?”
“I guess,” he said, after staring at me cautiously for a few seconds.
“Why do you get so upset when I talk to other guys?”
His hand tightened where it was resting on the steering wheel, until his knuckles went pale.
“I wasn’t upset that you were talking to another guy. I was upset that he was manhandling you like a fucking predator.”
“That’s not the only time, Kieran. We both know that.”
“I…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “I’m an alpha. It’s my job to protect y-” Cutting himself off, he started again. “It’s my job to protect omegas. You happen to be the omega that I’m around most of the time. That’s all.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all,” he repeated firmly. “And if you wouldn’t be so fucking naive about alphas, I wouldn’t have to worry about you all the damn time.”
“Am I supposed to be scared of alphas or something?” I asked, not able to keep the smirk off my face. His jealousy was so obvious it was palpable. I loved it.
“Of course you are.”
“Even you?”
“Especially me.”
Sighing dramatically, I rested my head back onto the seat. “I don’t know, Kieran. I always feel safe with you. You’re not as scary as you think.”
“Don’t make me prove you wrong,” he warned.
I figured his patience had been tested enough for now, so I kept the conversation G-rated and totally stepbro-appropriate for the rest of the night.
I SPENT THEnext few days testing the waters with what I had started thinking of as Flirting Lite. Kieran never really reciprocated, but I could tell it was starting to get to him. I was now hyper aware of the way his eyes followed me around wherever I went.
Most of the time I was just trying to think up scenarios where he absolutely couldn’t resist me. Some of them were pretty ridiculous and probably wouldn’t work. Like if I pretended to drown in the bath he’d have to give me mouth-to-mouth while I was naked. Stuff like that.
Eventually I decided on something really simple. It was a little crazy and I was kind of nervous about it, but if alphas were really like he was always saying, then there was no way it wouldn’t work. He’d be feral for me and he wouldn’t be able to hold back.
And maybe it was wrong to scheme and plot about seducing my stepbrother. But if he wasn’t so damn stubborn, I wouldn’t have to resort to underhanded tactics.
Anyway, once I made him realize that we were perfect for each other and to forget about all his reservations, I was pretty sure he was going to thank me.
When my parents both decided to go to sleep early one evening, I knew it was my time to strike. Once I was sure they were in bed, all I had left to do was wait for Kieran’s truck to pull into the drive.
KIERAN
SHUTTING OFF MYtruck and pulling the key from the ignition, I leaned back in the driver’s seat, going through the mental checklist of what I needed to do before going to bed. I’d gotten a few messages during work from people asking about my rates or describing a specific design to see if I was willing to work on it for them. I also needed to post the pictures I’d taken of the sleeve I’d finished that day, since it was basically just free advertisement. I kind of hated the social media and self promotion aspect of the job, but I couldn’t afford to ignore it. I didn’t want to be taking walk-ins and living with my parents my whole life like some loser.
As I slid out of the truck, a flicker of movement from the upper story of the house caught my eye. There was light shining from behind the curtains in Jordy’s bedroom window, which meant he was still awake. I’d have to barricade myself in my room and lock the door if I wanted to get any work done. He’d been all over me nonstop lately, always wanting to hang around wherever I was.
