Chapter 2

Riley

Jess spoke.

His voice had shed the chill and mockery of a moment before, turning startlingly even — it even carried a touch of golden-boy cheer.

David and Victoria turned their heads at the same time.

When David saw me standing shoulder to shoulder with Jess, Jess's hand resting intimately on my shoulder, he froze for a beat — then his face broke into a smile of pure relief and delight.

"Oh! God, look at you two." David strode over, his eyes sweeping back and forth between us. "I was worried it'd be awkward, the two of you meeting for the first time. Looks like I worried for nothing. So you already know each other?"

Every drop of blood in my veins was running backwards.

I turned my head stiffly and looked at Jess.

Jess was looking at David, his smile nothing short of perfect.

He even dipped his head slightly to glance at me, his eyes brimming with "affection."

"Yes, David." Jess answered, unruffled. "We've seen each other at school a few times. Riley is a… very interesting girl. We were just talking."

Interesting?

I wanted to bite through his throat right now.

Victoria came over too.

She walked to Jess's side, gazed at him tenderly, then turned to me and produced an impeccably standard smile full of maternal radiance.

"Riley, hello. I'm Victoria." Her voice was sweet. "I've heard David mention you so many times. Seeing you and Jess getting along this well, I'm really so happy."

I opened my mouth, and found I couldn't produce a single syllable.

My brain was experiencing a magnitude-ten earthquake.

David walked up to me and patted my arm, his tone brimming with a proud father's satisfaction.

"Riley, let me introduce you properly." David pointed at the devil standing beside me, hand still on my shoulder. "This is Jess, Victoria's son. As of today, he's your brother. You're at the same high school, so from now on you two had better look out for each other at school."

Brother.

Look out for each other.

Those two words slammed into my temples like a pair of sledgehammers.

I stood there dazed, feeling like the whole world was playing an exceptionally vicious joke on me.

The thug who'd beaten a man half to death in an alley, the bastard I'd played three days ago, was now my stepbrother? And we were going to live under the same roof?

Jess's hand on my shoulder suddenly tightened.

He lowered his head slightly and brought his mouth close to my ear.

From David and Victoria's angle, it looked like nothing more than an affectionate whisper between siblings.

But I heard his lowered voice clearly, carrying the danger and gloating of a snake flicking its tongue.

"Did you hear that, little sister?" His warm breath brushed my earlobe. "From now on at school, we're certainly going to… look out for each other."

I whipped my head around to meet his gaze.

There was not a trace of humor in those deep eyes — only the naked, dangerous signal that I was about to be swallowed alive.

My high school life was finished.

Jess's hand sat on my shoulder like an iron clamp, the warmth of his palm seeping through the thin fabric of my hoodie, turning my stomach.

"David, since the kids already know each other, why don't we go get something to eat now?" Victoria broke the deadlock. She smoothed her blonde curls, her voice cloyingly sweet. "Let's call it a celebration of our family being properly together."

David nodded at once in agreement.

He turned around, back to Victoria, and started frantically winking at me, even jabbing his elbow hard into my side.

I knew what he meant.

Two beautifully wrapped boxes sat on the cabinet by the entryway — the "welcome gifts" he'd made me wrap last night.

I wanted no part of it.

Especially when I remembered how, a few minutes earlier, those two had been at it in that SUV in the driveway until they were drenched in sweat.

But the look in David's eyes when he looked at Victoria was full of that unreserved, almost blind love.

Since my mom died, I hadn't seen him smile like that in years.

I sighed, forced down the resistance in my chest, turned, went inside and came back with the gifts.

"This is for you, Victoria." I held out the pink box, trying to make my voice sound less like I was reciting lines. "Welcome to our home."

Victoria clapped a hand over her mouth with exaggerated surprise and let out a delighted little cry.

She tore the wrapping open in a flash and pulled out the silk scarf. "Oh, Riley! It's gorgeous. You're so thoughtful. David was right — you're a sweet girl."

She came over and hugged me with startling force.

Her heavy vanilla perfume nearly made me sneeze.

"What a perfect, dutiful daughter." Jess drawled from off to the side.

His tone sounded like pure agreement, but I swear I heard the mockery drenched through it.

His deep eyes fixed on me like he was watching a ridiculous stage play.

I gritted my teeth and held out the smaller black box.

Inside was a fifty-dollar iTunes gift card, which David had grabbed off the supermarket checkout counter last night.

"Yours." I said coldly, my arm hanging stiffly in the air.

Jess lowered his eyelids, glanced at the box, and did nothing.

His hands stayed in the pockets of his leather jacket. He raised one eyebrow and just looked at me.

The air fell into a suffocating pause.

It wasn't until David coughed softly beside him that Jess reluctantly extended two long fingers and plucked the box out of my hand.

He didn't look at it once, just shoved it into his jacket pocket.

"Thanks, little sister." He bit down on the last two words, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile with no warmth in it.

David booked an Italian place downtown.

Because the Ford SUV "needed cleaning" — I forced myself not to wonder why — we called a car.

The restaurant was dim, playing soft jazz.

The waiter led us to a half-moon leather booth in the corner.

"Riley, you and Jess sit over there." Victoria pulled David into the left side of the booth without hesitation, then pointed cheerfully at the empty seat on the right. "You two young people should spend more time together, build up some feelings for each other."

I stood frozen.

Squeezed onto the same couch as Jess? I'd rather go wash dishes in the back kitchen.

Jess, naturally, was unruffled.

He strode over and sat down first. His long legs sprawled out, claiming most of the space, then he lifted his head, patted the leather cushion beside him, and gave me a flawless smile.

David looked at me with encouragement.

I had no choice but to steel myself and walk over, sitting down pressed tight against the armrest at the booth's outermost edge.

There was at least half a meter between Jess and me — enough space to wedge another adult in.

Across the table, David and Victoria had already sunk completely into their own little world.

Victoria was whispering something into David's ear; David was grinning like a lovesick fool, one hand restlessly stroking the back of hers on the table.

I stared at the menu in front of me and pretended to be blind.

Suddenly, from under the chair, came a dull scraping sound.

Before I could react, Jess reached out and grabbed the base of the leather cushion I was sitting on.

His arm muscles went taut, and he dragged me, chair and all, toward him.

"You—"