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didn’t,
someone I needed to avoid.

 
     
     
    Chapter 2
     
    Max
    I stared at my stepbrother’s retreating
back as he dragged his girlfriend behind him like he thought I was the
devil’s minion and I might pull them both down to hell with me. Okay, actually,
I stared at her ass. She had a seriously fine ass on her, tight and round and
just the way I liked them. Her hair, too, with its wild curls...it made me want
to bury my fingers in it. Preferably while I fucked her until she screamed.
    My stepbro, it seemed, was the classic
college boy, all clean-cut and Boy Scout. Except for the part where he did
other people’s classwork for them. Wonder how he justified that? Not that I
gave a damn.
    Miss Caroline Winters fit right in with
Trent’s boy-next-door persona, with her prissy cardigan sweater and tasteful
flat shoes, her natural make-up, her look of innocence. Not my type at all. My
type was the black-haired witch I’d left behind in Seattle. Selene and I had
been pretty hot together, but she wasn’t big on commitment.
    Trent was probably about to warn his girlfriend what a degenerate, brother-murdering piece of shit I was. When we’d been in
high school—before I dropped out and ran away, that is—he’d made a hobby out of
scuttling any relationship I tried to establish with a girl. I’d lost at least
three potential girlfriends that way. Not to mention all the other bullying he’d
inflicted on me. Asshole.
    “Dude, you didn’t tell me you and Trent
were related,” Talbot said, sitting down next to me again.
    “I didn’t know you two were friends.”
    “Seriously?”
    If I had, I wouldn’t have shown up at
this shindig. My stepbrother had never brought anything but pain and contempt
into my life. Take tonight, for example—standing there ordering me to leave
town, like he thought he was fucking king of Avery’s Crossing or some shit.
Someone needed to take him down.
    “Seriously,” I replied. “You never said
anything.”
    He shrugged. “You have different last
names. I never even thought—”
    “It’s no big deal.”
    “Long as you don’t fight at my parties,”
he said, picking up the bong.
    “We didn’t fight.” Much. No blows had
been exchanged, at least.
    “He hates you.” Talbot blew out a stream
of smoke and handed me the bong.
    “Yep.”
    “How come?”
    Jealousy. Resentment. Murder. “Lots of
things.”
    “You gonna leave town?”
    “Hell, no.”
    He grinned. “This year should be
interesting.”
    “Uh huh.” I took a long drag on the
weed.
    “Saw you staring at Caroline. You like
her?”
    Now it was my turn to shrug. “Don’t know
her. Nice ass, though.”
    Talbot choked out a laugh. “I know,
right? I’d fuck her if I had half a chance.”
    I shot him a glare. “She’s taken.”
    Talbot’s eyes went round. Then he
laughed. “Yeah, by your stepbrother. Not you.”
    “Whatever.”
    What was wrong with me? I never got
possessive over a female, especially one who would never kiss me.
    On the other hand, who said she wouldn’t?
What better way to get under Trent’s skin, to drive him abso-fucking-lutely
nuts, than to take his girlfriend away from him. I smiled to myself. Payback
is, in fact, a bitch.
    The weather was already chilly at night,
but I could sense a more severe chill coming as I left Talbot’s apartment
complex. The trees rustled their leaves and whispered above me. I could almost
hear what they were saying. The spirits were active tonight, watching me,
calling my name just at the edge of my hearing.
    It could be only the usual extra-intense
Halloween spookiness. Besides, I was too high to listen. The weed and the beer
I’d had would interfere with whatever message they were trying to send, so
there was no point in paying attention to their mutterings. Maybe tomorrow
night we’d have our chat.
    ***
     
    The old Dutch Colonial style house where
I rented a one-bedroom apartment was absolutely silent, which was a little
weird considering it was