Mask - A Stepbrother Romance Read online

  I yawned and closed my eyes, trying to get some much-needed sleep, but my phone rang, delaying that for the time being. I checked the caller ID to see that it was my friend Tom.

  “Hey, man,” I said as I answered. “How you doing?”

  “Good, good. How’s your new job going?”

  “Pretty decent. Typical finance stuff, but it’s all right,” I said.

  Truthfully, the job I’d recently scored at my Dad’s friend’s company bored me to tears, but it was still a job, so it was better than nothing. I wasn’t doing anything I really wanted to in life, but I was still lucky to have the sort of connections that could get me jobs. It was more than some people could boast.

  “Cool. Oh, and how was the wedding?”

  “It was pretty good,” I said, my mind instantly snapping back to the conversation I’d had with Rayna at the reception. We’d agreed to be friends from now on, but deep down, I knew it was simply an excuse to start being around her again without making her feel awkward. There was nothing that could stop me from wanting her, but now that our parents were officially married, there was nothing I could do about that.

  “Cool. Anyway, I’m having a Halloween party next Friday night. You in?”

  “Sure,” I replied. “Can I bring someone?”

  There was only one person I wanted to take as a date, even though it wouldn’t be a real date by any means.

  “Of course, the more the merrier. You bringing a girl?”

  “Yeah. Just my new stepsister, though,” I replied.

  A part of me wanted to claim that Rayna was my girlfriend, just so she would be out of bounds to everyone else at the party, but everyone would soon figure out who she was, so there was no point in doing that.

  “So you’ll be single and free to pull all the birds, huh?”

  I coughed. “Er….yeah, you know me,” I said. “I’ll be pulling all the chicks who reject you.”

  He snorted with laughter. “Yeah, yeah. Sure. Anyway, seeing as it’s a Halloween party, wear a costume.”

  “What’s with you and costumes? First you have the mask party last month, and now this. You got some weird sexual fetish we need to talk about?” I asked in a teasing tone.

  “Nah, man. Just doing it for your benefit. It’s easier for you to pick up girls when you’re masked or in a costume. That way they can’t see your big ugly mug.”

  I chuckled. “Touché. Anyway, I’ll see you at the party.”

  “Cheers, man.”

  I hung up the phone and closed my eyes again, trying to picture what my life would be like now that Rayna and I were nothing more than stepsiblings and friends. That’s all we’d be from now on; nothing sexual. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but if being friends with Rayna was all I could have, then I’d take it.

  It was better than nothing.

  ***

  I poured myself a glass of orange juice at the breakfast table the next morning, and when Rayna emerged from upstairs, I glanced up at her. “Morning. You look well-rested,” I said, trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably.

  Truthfully, she looked like an absolute mess. Her hair was wildly frizzed up, some bridesmaid makeup from the wedding was still smeared around her eyes from where she apparently hadn’t bothered to wash it all off after the reception had finished, and she was wearing a ratty old pair of pajamas.

  She was still the hottest girl I’d ever seen, messy or not.

  She rolled her eyes, knowing I was teasing her. “Shut up. Not all of us wake up looking like models, like some people around here.”

  “Why, thank you.”

  She yawned and grabbed the bottle of juice. “Where’s my Mom?” she asked as she poured herself a glass.

  I quirked a brow at her. “Are you serious?”

  She rubbed her eyes. “Oh, god…I’m so tired I actually forgot they got married yesterday, and I forgot they stayed at the hotel last night.”

  “Didn’t get much sleep, huh?”

  “Yeah. I think I drank too much champagne at the reception. I kept having weird dreams and waking up all night.”

  “You remember what we talked about at the reception, though, right?”

  She nodded. “Of course,” she said, sticking her tongue out at me for a brief second. “We decided to be friends.”

  Something about the way the word ‘friends’ rolled off her tongue made me think there was another hidden meaning in there somewhere, but I didn’t want to push it.

  “Yeah. Well, seeing as friends go to parties together, do you wanna go to a party with me?”

  “That sounds a bit like a date in sheep’s clothing,” she replied, arching a brow.

  She was right, but I didn’t want to admit that, so I shook my head. “Nah, I just thought you might be interested in going. My friend Tom’s having a Halloween shindig. Anyway, it’s next week if you’re interested.”

  “Tom as in the guy Liana is friends with as well? The guy who had the masquerade party where we…um…where we first met?”

  Her face flushed at the reminder of our first encounter, and I tried to suppress a grin. “Yeah, him,” I replied. “Tom Ballanger.”

  She chewed on her lower lip for a second, then nodded. “Sure, I’ll go. Liana will probably be going anyway. Do I need a costume?”

  “Apparently.”

  “Damn. I don’t have anything.”

  “That’s okay, we can go shopping for one. Just promise me you won’t go as a slutty version of a cat or bunny. I won’t be able to tell you apart from all the other girls if you do,” I said with a grin.

  She giggled. “I’ll go as a slutty aardvark instead.”

  “Sounds good. Definitely more original. Anyway, wanna go shopping for it after breakfast? I’ve got the day off work today.”

  “Sure,” she said. Her face suddenly broke into a wide smile. “This’ll actually be really cool. For some reason I always assumed only us Americans celebrated Halloween. I had no idea you guys do as well.”

  “You probably assumed that all we do in Britain is have tea parties and sit around with the Queen eating scones, right?”

  She snorted with laughter. “Something like that. Oh, and you’re also all on horseback polo teams. That seems really British to me for some reason.”

  I chuckled. “Well, I was actually on the polo team in sixth form, although it was more of a drinking team with a polo problem.”

  “Eh, still counts,” she said with a grin.

  After we’d finished eating breakfast, Rayna turned and raced back up the stairs, seemingly as eager as me. I headed back up to my room to get dressed, and from her bedroom next door, I heard the shower running. Although I was still aware that it was wrong, I couldn’t help but imagine her naked body covered in soap suds, and my cock stirred in my pants.

  Pushing the sexually frustrated thoughts of her nude body aside, I got dressed and then trudged downstairs to wait for her. When she finally came down, the same old frustration returned, because she looked fucking perfect. She was wearing a casual pale blue top which she’d teamed with black skinny jeans that hugged her curves perfectly, her face was makeup-free, and her hair hung naturally down past her shoulders, still damp. She was effortlessly beautiful, and my heart ached to look at her like that, knowing I couldn’t hold her or kiss her.

  “Ready?” I asked, trying to act like she was just any old buddy of mine and not the sexiest damn thing I’d ever laid eyes on.

  “Uh-huh. Slutty aardvark costumes, here we come.”

  As we drove to the nearest shops, the conversation flowed easily between us, and it felt completely natural despite the underlying sexual tension. Having Rayna talking to me was like standing in the warm sunshine, and I didn’t want to put myself back in the shadows ever again.

  After we arrived at the shops, we located a costume store, and as we wandered around checking out outfits, I listened to Rayna telling me about her life back home in California. The way she described it made it sound wonderful, and I co
uld tell she missed it. I couldn’t blame her. London was a decent place, but it could also be pretty fucking dreary sometimes.

  Just as Rayna jokingly picked up a ‘slutty nurse’ costume, I heard a familiar voice; one which made me cringe.

  “Hey, Jace.”

  Shit. Not him, not here.

  I spun around to see Roy, and it suddenly hit me how terrible he really looked. In the dimly-lit pub the other week, it had been easy to miss the telltale signs—the spotty, pale skin, the hollowed cheeks, and the lank, greasy hair. He was so far gone into the world of dodgy shit, and as angry as I still was at him for the other week’s incident, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

  That didn’t mean I wanted him around me, however, especially now that I was here with Rayna.

  “Err…hi, Roy.” I tried to hide Rayna a little bit behind me, wanting to stand in front of her as a protector just in case Roy said or did any shit, but she stepped forward anyway.

  “How’s it going?” Roy asked. “And who’s this?”

  “My stepsister,” I said through gritted teeth. “Anyway, we better get going—”

  Rayna smiled and cut me off, clearly not noticing my haste to get away from Roy. “I’m Rayna,” she said, offering Roy a friendly hand.

  “Well, hello there, Rayna,” he said, flashing her a grin. “I’m Roy. I went to school with Jace. He told me all about you; I was wondering when I’d finally meet you. So what are you guys up to right now?"

  “Oh, we’re just shopping for Halloween costumes,” she said.

  He looked at me for a second before turning his attention back to Rayna. “For Tom Ballanger’s party?”

  “Yeah.”

  Roy had never really been good friends with Tom back in school, so I had no idea how he knew about the upcoming party.

  “Oh, that’s cool. I guess I’ll see you there, then! His sister invited me. Jace, you remember Marie…right?”

  Shit. I’d forgotten Roy had always been close with Tom’s sister, and he winked at me, clearly trying to get a reaction out of me. I’d hooked up with Marie once, and he knew from our pub conversation that I liked Rayna, so he was obviously trying to make things as awkward as possible by bringing up my past hookups in front of her, just to be a dick.

  All because I hadn’t given him money for blow, as if I fucking owed it to him or something. Prick.

  I forced a half-smile as if I didn’t care, but inside I was seething. If I’d known Roy was going to be at the party, I wouldn’t have invited Rayna. I wouldn’t have even gone myself. I didn’t want her anywhere near a guy like him, but there was no way I could back out now that Rayna was so excited. Besides, I’d really been looking forward to having a fun night with her.

  I was just going to have to keep an eye out for her, that was all.

  “Well, we’d better get going now.” I started to steer Rayna away, wanting to spend as little time in Roy’s presence as possible. I was struggling to understand why we’d ever even been friends, and the more time I spent with him, the more intense this feeling became.

  “Bye, guys,” Roy said, leering after us.

  “He seems nice,” Rayna said once we were out of earshot. “Why were you so desperate to get away from him?”

  I wanted to tell her the truth about him, but I couldn’t bring up the whole depressing drug money story; not out here in public. Plus, I didn’t want Roy to be responsible for ruining our day out, either. I wanted it to get back to the fun camaraderie we’d had earlier, so I simply shrugged and changed the subject.

  “How about this bee costume?” I said, pointing at a rack nearby.

  She snickered, the subject of Roy seemingly forgotten already, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “A bee costume? Who makes these things?” she said.

  “The same people who make the slutty cat costumes, I presume.”

  “I suppose. What are you going to buy, anyway?” she asked.

  “I have my costume already. I’m just gonna wear the same thing I wore last time I got invited to a Halloween party.”

  “Are you going to tell me what it is?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  She stuck her tongue out at me. “Is the surprise that it’s totally lame?”

  I held my hands up and grinned. “You got me. I’m going as Maverick from Top Gun.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Yup, totally lame.”

  “Says the girl who wants to go as an aardvark...”

  “Shut up,” she said, playfully elbowing me and giving me a cheeky smile. “Ooh, can you go and have a look at the hats and see if anything gives you any inspiration for me? I’m struggling now. I have to outdo your lameness somehow.”

  “Of course.” I smiled before sauntering over to the accessories.

  I looked around for a while and picked up odd bits and pieces, finding nothing that gave me any amazing ideas, but I suddenly spotted something else. It wouldn’t help with Rayna’s costume at all, but I was sure she’d think it was a cool jokey kinda thing all the same.

  “Rayna, check this out!” I said, holding up the cardboard box I’d picked up. It was a Hasbro board game called Ouija Board—one of those silly supposedly supernatural things that kids used at slumber parties to pretend to summon spirits. I knew some people who were actually scared of the boards and thought they really worked, but if they did, then why on earth would Hasbro market it as a game? It was total bullshit, but it might be a fun thing to try out as a joke with Halloween coming up and all.

  Rayna sidled up to me a moment later. “What is it?”

  “It’s a Ouija board.”

  “One of those spirit summoning things where they spell things out?” she asked, her eyebrows arched curiously.

  “Yeah. Why don’t we get it for a laugh? Get in the spirit of Halloween and so on. Pun not intended.”

  “I don’t know, those things kinda freak me out, Jace.”

  “It’s not real. It’s just a mass-produced game. Anyway, even if it actually is real, we can use it to find that hallway ghost of yours back home.”

  She smiled and playfully elbowed me again. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” she said. “Fine, fine, we’ll get your silly board game. Maybe I can summon up a ghost to punch you for making fun of me.”

  I grinned. “Fine by me.”

  I went and paid for the game up at one of the counters, and when I returned to Rayna, I spotted a big red plastic shopping bag emblazoned with the store’s logo dangling from her arm. “Oh, you already found a costume? That was quick. What is it?” I asked.

  She grinned and arched an eyebrow before echoing my earlier words. “It’s a surprise...”

  Chapter 12

  Rayna

  Jace and I burst through the main door to the manor, laughing and chattering excitedly about our day out shopping. There was a completely different vibe between us compared to how things had been only days before, and I was glad for that—no more silence and awkward tiptoeing around. As much as I knew I wanted more than friendship from him, I had to say, I actually liked being friends with him. The fun-loving, easygoing atmosphere was much easier to deal with than the way I’d completely ignored him out of guilt and shame.

  Even though paranormal stuff had been creeping me out lately—my manor ghost mystery was still unsolved—and I’d never been into the whole Ouija board thing, I was actually glad Jace had picked up that silly game, because it was a good excuse for us to spend more time together. It was pretty safe to assume that we were never going to be getting close enough to cross the line again—there were only so many times you could make that mistake—and as much as that was a hard pill to swallow, I was grateful that we could at least hang out.

  I knew it couldn’t last forever, but I’d vowed to enjoy it while I could. We may have only known each other for a few weeks, but Jace had already had a deep impact on my life, and there would be a massive crater in my heart if he ever decided he no longer wanted my friendship.

&nb
sp; I guess I really had a serious crush on him, but that would be over soon. As much as I felt for him now, crushes never lasted longer than a few months.

  “Okay, it says on the back of the box that we need candles, so I’ll go and grab some, and you can set up the board on the table,” Jace said, turning to me as we entered the dining room.

  “Sure.”

  As I watched him leave, I felt a pang of guilt for lying to him. I’d told him I could handle the platonic friendship, and like I said earlier, I loved being friends with him, but I knew I was misleading him by acting as if it was all I wanted.

  I began to set the game up, and as I did so, I tried to straighten out my head. This was the exact reason I hadn’t wanted to get emotionally involved with Jace. If this all somehow went to hell, it was going to be very difficult to deal with, and I only had myself to blame. I needed to shut these romantic feelings off. They were only going to get me hurt, and the sooner I accepted that, the better, but thinking those words and actually putting them into action were two very different things.

  Jace returned and placed a few tea-light candles around the board, and when he lit them and drew the curtains, the whole room took on a decidedly creepy vibe.

  “God, now I feel as if we’re in a horror movie,” I said, my gaze nervously shooting around. “Old manor? Check. Candles and scary spirit game? Check.”

  “And a big scary monster named Jace? Check,” he said with a wink.

  I laughed, and then I took on a more serious expression. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to mess around with this stuff?” I asked, my voice tinged with trepidation.

  His face softened as he looked at me. “Look, to me this is all just a game. I think it’s fun, but if it’s really freaking you out, we can stop,” he said.

  I chewed on my lip as I considered his words. The rational part of me was telling me that things like Ouija boards were total bullcrap; nothing more than a party trick to amuse kids going through their experimental phases and rebelling against their god-fearing parents, but at the same time, another part of me was telling me that it was a bad idea. What if ghosts were actually real? I’d never believed in them up until a few weeks ago, but after seeing that woman in the hallway the other month, I was no longer sure. It would be arrogant of me to say that I was so smart that I knew for an absolute fact there was no such thing as a spirit world. After all, no one could possibly know that.