“Unfortunately, no. Like I said, I’m not here for you.” I furrowed my eyebrows, serious for once. “What’s wrong?”
“None of your business.” Her words were clipped, her voice firm. “If you’re not here for me, then— oh!” Understanding flashed in her eyes, and she tapped her hand on her forehead. “Duh.NowI see the resemblance, too.”
“Usually, the hair does the trick. There weren’t many redheads in our town,” I replied with a wry grin.
“I didn’t know Ella had another brother.”
Now it was my turn to be confused.
“Another?” I cocked my head.
“Yes, she’s only ever mentioned her younger brother. I didn’t know she had more than one,” she explained.
The silence stretched between us as I stared into her eyes, unwavering. Her eyebrows furrowed as a look of disbelief crossed her face.Here we fucking go.
“Dom.”
“Sierra.”
“How many brothers do you have?”
“None.”
“You— I-I mean…” She pointed an accusing finger at me, which I eyed warily. I knew my girl had fire, which meant I had no idea what she might do at this revelation.
“Yes, Darlin’?” I asked, playing clueless, and that did it. She stalked towards me, like a lioness on the prowl.
Fall back! Abort Mission!
My mind screamed at me to retreat, to keep some distance between us, but considering I was pretty much at the back of the room, I had cornered myself, so to speak. She stopped a safe distance away from me, but her finger waved threateningly through the air.
“Donotfuck with me right now, Dom. I want a straight answer — do you or do you not have any brothers?” Her body was taut with tension. I could feel it vibrating violently off her in waves.
“No, it’s just me and Ella.” I figured she was already pissed, so just for shits and giggles, I added, “Why?”
She seemed to swell with indignation … or rage. Now that I thought about it, probably both. Her cheeks flushed, and I could see the fire in her eyes — only this time it wasn’t fiery passion and lust reflected in her gaze. It was rage, a white-hot fury.
Yeah, my Goddess waspissed.
“You’re Ella’s younger brother,” she said slowly, her voice now dangerously calm.
“Yup, that would be me.”
“Ella’syoungerbrother. Ella, who herself is afreshman.”
I swallowed, my throat dry as hell. On my way here, I’d been making light of the whole thing, telling myself that she wouldn’t be that pissed off. Now I realized that she was even angrier than I had imagined, even in the worst-case scenario.
Not ideal, but I could work with it. Anger was good, better than indifference. Maybe all she needed to do was get it out of her system, and then everything would be fine.
“You continue to get it right.” I was deliberately antagonizing her now.
Might as well get it over with.
She blinked slowly, then closed her eyes, shaking her head briefly in disbelief.
“You’ve got to be shitting me.Please, tell me you’re joking. I’m fucking begging you.”
I pursed my lips and sucked my teeth, letting a slow smile curl the corner of my mouth.
