Hard: A Step-Brother Romance by Sosie Frost Page A

worse.”
    Azariah
hushed me for a second before muffling the phone and announcing to anyone
listening in the office. “I’m going on break, ya’ll! Keep talking, girl. Who is
this son?”
    “I
already met him.”
    Silence.
She waited, not making it easy on me.
    “He and
I… met .”
    “Oh.”
She figured it out. “Oh, Shit .”
    “Yeah.”
    “You…and
your step-brother ?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Oh,
honey. This is beyond Lifetime. This belongs on Maury Povich.”
    “It’s
horrible,” I said.
    “Did
you know it was him?”
    “Of course not!” Give me some credit. “But I have a lot to figure out.”
    “But…”
Azariah hummed. “Was he any good?”
    I
tossed a suitcase onto the bed, but nothing from my drawers made it in. “He’s
my step-brother!”
    “Well…I
mean…he’s not blood.”
    “What’s
wrong with you?”
    “People
do fucked up shit all the time. You’re rich. You can get away with it.”
    I
sighed. “Not this.”
    “All
those kings and queens in Europe used to do it.”
    “I’m
not a queen!”
    “Didn’t
Woody Allen marry his adopted daughter?”
    “Gross.”
    She
snickered. “Maybe you’ve been watching too much Game of Thrones.”
    “It’s
not funny! This is a problem! I have to deal with this guy, okay?”
    “It’s
a little funny.”
    I
didn’t need her attitude. “I’m hanging up now.”
    “Sorry.”
She let it pass, but I knew her too well. She wasn’t done. She circled the
pack, looking for somewhere weak to sink her teeth. “But you know this
wouldn’t have happened if you had just talked with your dad.”
    I
packed all of my underwear into the suitcase. I had more than I thought. Now the
latches wouldn’t close. Fantastic.
    “He left
us,” I said. “We had nothing to discuss. Don’t make me feel guilty. I’m on a
hair trigger.”
    “He was
trying to start a relationship. The car and school and gifts. He extended an
olive branch.”
    And
I broke that twig over my knee and cast it into a fire. “I know . But it
doesn’t change anything. He made his choice. Hell, he even started a new
family.”
    “It
really is sad.”
    And
now I had more guilt. “I gotta get packing. I’m heading up to the—” I didn’t
want to say mansion. “—House.”
    “When
can I see it?”
    It was
probably visible if she squinted and looked at the horizon. “Whenever you like.”
    “You’ll
need to have a big graduation party there, Shay. Something to celebrate your
trust.”
    “I
guess.”
    “You
leave that to me. I’ll plan you something worthy of an MTV special.”
    God help
us all. Azariah was eager to keep talking, but she miraculously had to go when
I asked if she’d help me pack. I was on my own to box up my things and
transform myself into someone completely different.
    A mansion
awaited me, just a little ways north of the city.
    A
whole mansion.
    Pools
and hot tubs, patios and gardens, fountains and statues. Downton Abbey was my
new reality, except I didn’t have a lick of English inside me…not without
Zach’s persistence.
    Except,
it didn’t feel right. None of it.
    So
why did I want to live there so badly?
    I knew
it was more than money and security and luxury. The estate was the only bit of
family I had left.
    How was
I supposed to know Dad would die?
    I
sighed. No sense dwelling on the past. Momma always said we’d have more than
enough time at Judgement for that.
    First
thing was first. I needed to buy luggage. I wasn’t moving into a beautiful new
mansion hauling garbage bags full of clothing into my room.
    The
knocking rattled my door just as I finished folding my last pair of socks. I
grinned—who thought Azariah would actually help me move?
    I
bounded to the door, swinging it open without bothering to greet her. I grabbed
an armful of dirty laundry from the living room. No more quarters for the machines
downstairs. Hell, I could buy new outfits whenever mine needed to be washed.
    “Azariah,
Grab whatever looks like clothes and follow me.”