stepbrother kiss

The moving truck left at three. By three-thirty, I was sitting on the floor of my new bedroom, staring at boxes I didn't want to unpack. This house was too big.Mom kept saying we were lucky, that Richard was good to us, that this was our fresh start. I knew she was right. I also knew I missed our cramped apartment where the neighbors were loud and the rent was cheap and everything made sense. "Matea! Come down for dinner!" Mom's voice carried up the stairs. I got up and looked in the mirror. Same brown hair, same tired eyes, same girl who didn't belong in a house like this. I tied my hair back and went downstairs. Richard was in the kitchen, cooking pasta. He insisted on cooking our first dinner together. Mom sat at the counter with wine, laughing at something he said. They looked happy. "Smells good," I said. "Family recipe." Richard smiled at me. He was trying. I had to give him that. "My son makes it better than me, though. You'll meet him tomorrow. He's coming back from school for the weekend." Right. The son. Kai. I'd seen his pictures around the house. Dark hair, strong jaw, the kind of guy who knew he was good-looking. Richard said he was popular at school, captain of the soccer team, top of his class. Perfect, basically. "Great," I said. Mom shot me a look. Be nice. I ate pasta and answered questions about school starting Monday and pretended everything was fine. By nine I was back in my room, finally opening boxes. Clothes in the closet, books on the shelf, pictures of Dad on the nightstand where Richard couldn't see them from the door. I fell asleep in my jeans. Saturday morning, I woke up to voices downstairs. Male voices. One was Richard. The other was younger. pulled on a hoodie and went to brush my teeth. In the mirror, I looked like I'd been hit by a truck. Hair everywhere, pillow marks on my face, yesterday's mascara smudged under my eyes. Whatever. It was just family. Except when I walked downstairs, it wasn't just family in the kitchen. There were three girls sitting at the counter. Blonde, pretty, wearing clothes that cost more than my entire wardrobe. They were giggling at something the guy with his back to me was saying. Richard saw me first. "Matea! Come meet Kai." The guy turned around. Oh. Pictures didn't do him justice. Kai was tall, maybe six-two, with black hair that fell into his eyes and a face that shouldn't be legal. He wore a white t-shirt and jeans and somehow made it look expensive. When he smiled, one corner of his mouth lifted higher than the other. "So you're the stepsister." His eyes traveled over me, taking in my ratty hoodie and messy hair and bare feet. Something flickered in his expression. Amusement, maybe. "Cute." The girls giggled. I wanted to die. "Nice to meet you too," I said. "These are some friends from school," Richard said, gesturing to the girls. "They're staying for lunch." "Cool." I grabbed a banana from the counter. "I'll be upstairs." "Actually," Kai said, "we're all heading to the mall. You should come." "I'm good," I said. "Come on, Matea," Mom said. "It'll be fun. You can get some things for your room." Translation: Go bond with your stepbrother. Make this work. I looked at Kai. He was still smiling that infuriating smile, waiting to see what I'd do. "Fine," I said. "Give me twenty minutes." I showered, put on makeup, changed into jeans and a black top that wasn't embarrassing. When I came back downstairs, the girls were in Kai's car, a black Audi that probably cost more than my college fund. "You can sit up front," one of them said, but her tone said she'd rather die. "I'm good in back," I said. Kai drove fast, one hand on the wheel, the other on the gear shift. The girls talked about people I didn't know, parties I hadn't been to, inside jokes I wasn't part of. I stared out the window. the mall, they went into stores I couldn't afford. Kai bought one of the girls a necklace without blinking. She kissed his cheek. The other two looked jealous. "You're not shopping?" Kai appeared next to me while I was pretending to look at sunglasses. "Just browsing." "Right." He picked up the sunglasses I'd been looking at and handed them to the sales clerk. "We'll take these." "I don't—" "Welcome to the family gift," he said. "Dad told me to be nice." The girl wrapped them up. Kai paid. I felt like an i***t. "Thanks," I muttered. "Don't mention it." He leaned against the counter, studying me. "So. Westwood High on Monday?" "Yeah." "I'll show you around." "You don't have to—" "I know." He smiled again, but this time it didn't reach his eyes. "But everyone's going to find out we're stepsiblings anyway,Might as well control the narrative" I didn't know what that meant, but I nodded.