AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know I suck at pictures. You should use social media like a normal person.”
“You know why I don’t.”
“Ah.” He looks sheepish, no doubt remembering the onslaught that awaits me on social media on any given day. “Right. Sorry.” He frowns then, peering at me from the side. “Wait. Are you trying to say that my sister is a Grade A hottie? Because that’s weird, dude.”
“I didn’t say that,” I say a little too quickly.
“But you’re thinking it?”
“I’m not thinking anything! I’m just saying she grew up, that’s all. It was a surprise.”
A knock you on your ass surprise, that’s for sure.
Jack narrows his eyes for a moment, finally turning his attention back to the TV and grumbling, “Don’t be getting any ideas about my sister. That would be weird as fuck. Practically incestuous.”
I want to argue that Lila and I are absolutely not related—but I imagine it would do nothing to help my case. Besides, it doesn’t matter, because for all intents and purposes, he’s right. It would be weird for me to think of her like that.
It is weird.
“Wasn’t thinking that at all,” I argue feebly. “Chill, man.”
I guiltily remember my body’s reaction to Lila and her little French lesson, one I desperately wish I could remember the words from so I could google what the fuck she said.
“Mhm.” He hits a button, bringing up the recording, and his short attention span saves me from any more grilling. “Oh shit. This right here. Watch this. Fucking wild what this kid can do with a stick.”
I force myself to focus my attention on the screen, but admittedly, I’m still turning over Jack’s words in my head, almost like they’re stones that I expect to yield something new beneath them if I shuffle them around enough.
Stop being weird, I tell myself. You’re just surprised by how much she’s changed. That’s all. You could never think of Lila as anything other than the kid sister you never had.
And those are exactly the reins I’m going to tie around my thoughts, because that’s exactly what I should be thinking. There’s no good reason to entertain anything different. In fact, it would be better to just not think of Lila at all. Obviously, my brain is being too weird for that.
And yet, for all my reasoning…none of it stops me from thinking about her smile.
Five
DELILAH
I’m double-checking my measured ingredients when I hear footsteps on the stage behind me, glancing to my left and relaxing when I see that it’s only Ava.
“Girl.” She gives me a pointed look. “Why didn’t you tell me that you had a hot-ass hockey player in your back pocket?”
I roll my eyes. “He’s not ‘in my back pocket.’ He’s just an old friend.”
“You’ve never mentioned this ‘old friend’ before.”
“Yeah, well…” I shrug, giving my attention back to the little measuring bowls on the counter. “He’s been gone for a while. We haven’t really been in touch for the last few years.”
“I hope distance makes the heart grow fonder, because…” She fans herself exaggeratedly. “Wow.”
I know she’s just teasing, so it makes no sense for me to feel a pang of irritation at her obvious thirsting for Ian. I mean, can I really blame her? The man is sex on legs. Always has been, really. The years have only made him better. Ian Chase ages like Gouda, and I love me some fucking cheese.
“I’m practically a sister to him,” I mumble, tamping down the thought. “It’s not like that.”
She narrows her eyes, leaning in to study me in that freakish way of hers that lets me know I’m being entirely transparent. “But you’d like it to be like that, huh?”
“I didn’t say that,” I protest weakly.
“Oh, honey.” She pats my shoulder. “How long have you had it bad for the ginger giant?”
