OUR DIRTY STEP-SECRET

RIDING OUT THE STORM

Cassies pov

By seven, the storm outside was genuinely getting freaky. The wind was hitting the glass so hard it rattled the frames, and the sky had turned that weird, sickly greenish-black color that meant everyone should probably be in a basement.Cassie stood by the kitchen island, staring at her phone. She felt sticky, tired, and her head was pounding from the chemical smell of fresh paint and her stepdad’s expensive wood polish. The house was too big, too quiet, and filled with towering mazes of cardboard boxes that didn’t belong to her.Her phone buzzed, vibrating against the granite. It was a text from her mom.Highway 4 is completely underwater. Richard’s truck got a flat and we’re stuck at a roadside diner. The police closed the roads. We have to sleep in a motel across town tonight. Please lock the doors. Is Jace with you?"Great," Cassie muttered, dropping her forehead onto her hand. "Just f*****g great.""What?"She flinched, her sneakers squeaking against the floorboards as she spun around. Jace was leaning against the massive stainless-steel fridge, holding a sweating bottle of water. He had changed out of his clothes from earlier into an oversized gray hoodie with the sleeves shoved up his forearms. He looked entirely too relaxed, like he hadn't spent the last six months making her life miserable by just existing in it."Our parents are stuck," Cassie said, rubbing her temples. She hated how defensive her voice sounded, even to her own ears. "The roads are flooded. They’re staying at a motel across town."Jace took a slow swig of water, his Adam's apple moving as he swallowed. He didn't look shocked. He didn't even look mildly inconvenienced. "Okay. And?""And?" Cassie crossed her arms, her chest tightening. "And we’re stuck here alone. In a house we don't know, in the middle of a literal hurricane, and you’re just standing there drinking water like we aren’t about to get blown away."Jace let out a quiet, annoying laugh. He set the water bottle down on the counter with a soft click and walked past her toward the living room couch, dropping his heavy frame onto the leather. "It’s rain, Cassie. Quit being dramatic. The house has been here for fifty years. It’s not going anywhere.""I'm not being dramatic," she said, following him into the living room. Her stubbornness wouldn't let her just stay in the kitchen. She needed him to acknowledge how messed up this was. "There's a flash flood warning. We don't even know where the circuit breaker is if the power goes out. We don't have food unpacked. We don't have anything."Jace leaned his head back against the cushion, locking his gray eyes onto hers. "We have water. We have a roof. If you’re hungry, order a pizza.""In a hurricane? No one is delivering pizza right now, Jace. Use your brain."He stared at her for a long beat, his expression deadpan. "Then starve. I don't care.""You are so infuriating," she snapped, stepping closer to the couch. She felt a hot spike of anger in her chest. It was the same anger that had been bubbling under the surface since their parents first forced them to sit at a dinner table together. He always did this—acting like he was completely detached from reality, like nothing she did or said mattered. "Do you ever actually care about anything? Or do you just wake up every morning and decide to be a useless black hole of energy?"Jace didn't answer right away. He slowly sat up, resting his elbows on his knees. The lazy, bored expression on his face hardened into something a lot less friendly. "You're really itching for a fight today, aren't you?""I'm not itching for a fight, I'm itching for you to do something. Help me check the doors. Help me find a flashlight. Just stop sitting there looking at me like I'm an inconvenience.""You are an inconvenience," Jace said, his voice dropping into a low, quiet register that made her breath hitch. "You've been in this house for six hours and you haven't shut up once. You're pacing. You're breathing too loud. You're stressing out over boxes that aren't going to move themselves.""Because someone has to!" Cassie cried, her face flushing hot. "My mom wants this to work. Your dad wants this to work. I am trying to make things easy for them, and you’re just dragging your feet because you're throwing a silent tantrum about having a step-sister."Jace stood up. He didn't do it quickly, but he was so tall that the movement instantly made the living room feel crowded. He stepped around the coffee table, stopping less than a foot away from her. The smell of mint and fresh laundry hit her nose, thick and heavy."I don't give a s**t about having a step-sister, Cassie," he murmured, looking down at her. His eyes were dark, tracking the way her chest was heaving from the argument. "I give a s**t about you being in my space, barking orders like you own me.""I don't want to own you, Jace. I want you to be a human being.""This is me being a human being. I'm telling you to leave me alone.""I can't leave you alone, we're stuck in the same f*****g house!"Right as the words left her mouth, a deafening crack of thunder shook the entire structure. A split second later, the house went pitch black.The quiet that followed was instant and heavy, suffocating the room until the only sound left was the rain drumming furiously against the glass.Cassie froze. She couldn't see her hand in front of her face. The anger in her veins evaporated, replaced by a sudden, cold spike of panic. She hated the dark. She always had. It made her feel like the walls were closing in on her."Jace?" she asked, her voice cracking, losing all its sharp, stubborn edge.A sharp, bright light flared up from his phone, pointing directly at the ceiling. The white glare cast long, jagged shadows across the room and illuminated Jace’s face from below, making his jaw look sharper, his expression completely unreadable."Still here," he muttered from the dark."Bring the light over here," she said, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. She hated asking him for anything, but her legs felt like lead."No," Jace said calmly. "Come get it.""Jace, seriously, don't be a d**k. Just walk over here.""I'm comfortable," he replied, his voice coming from somewhere near the couch.Cassie swore under her breath. Her stubbornness kicked in, overriding the panic. She wasn't going to let him win this. She took a blind step forward, trying to remember the layout of the room from ten seconds ago.Her sneaker caught the edge of a heavy cardboard box she hadn't noticed."f**k!"She lost her balance, her arms flailing as her weight shifted too fast. She braced herself to hit the hard wood floor, but she never made contact.A hand gripped her upper arm, hard enough to bruise, and hauled her upward with a violent, effortless jerk. The momentum carried her straight into his chest.Jace had moved off the couch without making a single sound.The impact knocked the air right out of her lungs. He was solid, hot, and his heart was thudding against her cheek through his hoodie. His other hand came up, wrapping securely around her waist to keep her from sliding down. He pinned her right against his frame, his chest rising and falling hard against hers.In the reflected glare of the phone light on the ceiling, his gray eyes looked completely black. He was staring down at her, his face inches away."You really can't do anything without a map, can you?" Jace whispered. The nonchalant drawl was gone. His voice was rough, tight, and rough around the edges.Cassie’s heart was beating so hard it felt like it was going to break her ribs. She was trapped between his hands and his chest, her thighs pressed against his jeans. Every inch of her body was suddenly hyper-aware of how big he was, how warm he was."Let go," she whispered, but her hands were gripping his shoulders, her fingers bunching the fabric of his hoodie. She wasn't pulling away. She couldn't.Jace didn't move an inch. His grip on her waist tightened, his thumb pressing firmly into her hip through her thin t-shirt. The heat of his skin seemed to burn right through the cloth, sending a sharp, electric jolt straight down her legs."You're shaking," he said, his gaze dropping down to her mouth. His chest gave a heavy heave against hers. He looked furious, but it wasn't the kind of fury that came from an argument. It was something heavy, dark, and hungry."I'm cold," she lied, her voice dropping into a breathless whisper.Jace leaned down a little lower, his lips brushing against the skin of her cheek, right near her ear. His breath was hot, sending shivers down her neck. "Then maybe you should stop fighting me."Cassie tilted her head up, her stubborn jaw tightening even now. "I'm not fighting you.""Liar," Jace murmured against her skin. He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes again, his grip on her hip pulling her so close there was no air left between them. "You've been fighting me since the day you walked into my life. Because you're terrified of what happens when you stop.""I'm not terrified of you, Jace.""You should be," he whispered, his gray eyes fixing on her lips again. "Because I'm about to stop caring about the rules."Cassie's hands shifted from his shoulders to the back of his neck, her fingers tangling in the messy, damp hair at the base of his skull. She didn't know if she wanted to push him away or pull him closer, but her body chose for her. She leaned into him, her stubbornness turning into a desperate, heavy need to erase the space between them.Jace let out a low, ragged sound in the back of his throat. He dropped his phone onto the couch behind them, plunging the room into total darkness once more.But this time, Cassie didn't care about the dark.His mouth found hers in the blind quiet, hard and aggressive, completely cutting off her breath. It wasn't a sweet kiss; it was a collision of six months of buried resentment, built-up frustration, and a physical pull that neither of them could fight anymore. He tasted like mint and cold water, and his tongue slid past her lips with a rough familiarity that made her knees go weak.Jace walked her backward through the dark, his hands shifting to her thighs, lifting her slightly until her back hit the solid wood of the hallway wall. The impact jarred her, but the pain was instantly swallowed by the heat of his mouth."Cassie," he growled against her lips, his hands gripping her waist so tightly his knuckles dug into her skin. "Tell me to stop. Right now.""Shut up," she breathed, her hands tugging his hoodie up, wanting to feel the bare skin of his back. "Just shut up, Jace."He didn't need to be told twice. His hands slid under her t-shirt, his palms hot and rough against her ribs, pulling her flush against him as the storm raged outside, completely shutting the rest of the world out.