Page 50 of All for Love

Brooke looked at me like she could read my mind. “Have you considered the damage this will cause to your mother’s relationship with his father if it comes out? I’m not asking if you’ve thought about it. I’m sure you have, but I can’t help but wonder if you’ve really considered what this could do to their marriage if and when they find out?”

“No offense, but I’m not completely comfortable discussing this with you,” I said. “Kody and I are not in a relationship, nor does he want to be in one. With anyone. Ever. I don’t know what Kaden told you, but what Kody and I may or may not do doesn’t concern anyone else.”

“I beg to differ.” She ran her hands through her loose, long hair and then held up her palms as she backed toward the door. “I really hope we will be friends, Mercedes. I didn’t mean to interfere and I know I don’t have any right to tell you what to do. That’s not what this is about. I’m just worried.”

“You don’t have to be.”

She arched one eyebrow steeply at me. “Don’t I? I’ve experienced firsthand how cruel and uncaring he can be, and it’s not pretty. I’ve also experienced his charm firsthand. I know how he can make a girl feel, but the fact is that you’re right. He doesn’t want a relationship with anyone. He never has and he never will. What concerns me is that you said he doesn’t want a relationship. You didn’t say anything about yourself.”

“I misspoke.” I shrugged, but she and I both knew I was lying. “The point is that we’re not together.”

“No.” She slanted her head to one side as pity crept into her eyes. “You’re not together, but you want to be with him. All I’m asking you to consider is the cost of pursuing anything. Especially since you know he doesn’t even want a relationship. Kody lives for fun. He’s having it with you for now because you’re forbidden fruit.”

She flinched slightly. “I don’t mean that as an insult at all. You’re gorgeous and you’re smart. You’re funny and you’re a hard worker. Any man would be lucky to have you, but Kody isn’t after that. He’s after the thrill. The rush of the forbidden, but he will get bored of it, and when he does, if your parents have found out about you guys, just think about the fallout.”

Shame trickled through me until it filled my soul and stretched from my toes to my forehead. Guilt came next, washing over me in waves of painful visions of my mom losing the man she loved because of me.

Brooke nodded and started walking backward to the door again. “What you’re feeling right now is not a fraction of how bad it will be if everything I just said happens. Cut your losses, Mercedes. I’d hate to see you get hurt and I really believe that this won’t just hurt you. It will obliterate you. I can see how much your mom means to you, and if this tears her and Mr. Wagner apart, I don’t think you’d ever forgive yourself.”

Tears stung the backs of my eyes, so I closed them until I heard Brooke leaving the kitchen. Turning back to the sink just in case anyone else came in, I gripped the edges and hung my head. She was right. I had to call this off once and for all.

Kody and I were playing with fire, and it wasn’t like I’d never wondered if that was the only reason he wanted me at all. A guy like him could have any girl he wanted, and I wasn’t saying no men wanted me.

Ben aside, I’d had plenty of dates and suitors. I wasn’t dog-ugly, even if I also wasn’t a supermodel. All those other things Brooke had said about me were also true and I knew it. I knew I wasn’t undesirable, but it seemed like a bit of a stretch that a guy like Kody would be so completely into me.

But he wasn’t.

The chances were outstanding that he was in this for the thrill of the taboo. To have something he’d never had before—his stepsister.

And even if none of that was true, and even if he had changed his mind about wanting a relationship, he couldn’t have it with me. All of which made ending it for good the only viable, smart option. I had to do it, and this time, it had to last.