Stepbrother Forbidden (Stepbrother, Where Art Thou? Book 2) Read Free Page B

visible to everyone in Ryan's booth. She already knew from her trips to the rest room that there was no way out the back. The fire exit was blocked ceiling high by plastic crates full of empties - another reason this was a terrible bar - and even if she could get through the door she was pretty sure it only led to an internal courtyard, with no way back to the street unless she wanted to climb five flights of fire escape and clamber drunkenly over a roof.
     
    So she was stuck, at least until Ryan went to the rest room. Maybe then, assuming he didn't notice her as he passed her booth, she could quickly slip out the door before he returned.
     
    A voice reached her over the top of the booth. "Come on, buddy, just forget about her tonight. Hey, why not call Cassie? She really liked you, you know?"
     
    Sophia tried not to eavesdrop, but Celine had stopped warbling from the jukebox for a moment, and in the sudden silence she could hear the words clear as day.
     
    "Dude, Cassie was a pain in the ass." This was Ryan. "She spent the whole date going on and on about how Tegan and Sara are the feminist icons of our generation."
     
    A girl's voice: "Hey, I thought you liked Tegan and Sara."
     
    "Yeah, I do," replied Ryan, "but not enough to get a creepy tattoo of their faces on my shoulder. Cassie wouldn't shut up about them all night, and she kept breaking into song at the weirdest times, right in my face. I'm not gonna lie to you, it was kinda scary."
     
    The second guy spoke again. "Come on, Ryan, are you sure you're not just doing your usual thing of finding fault in every girl who isn't Sophia, cause that's not healthy, dude."
     
    "Josh, believe me, I'm not kidding. It was a whole thing with her. If I was either of those girls I'd be worried about my safety. Cassie's got a real stalker vibe goin' on."
     
    Ah, thought Sophia, this much be Josh and Sara from Ryan's Facebook messages.
     
    "OK, so not Cassie," Josh agreed. "How about someone else? There have to be fifty girls you could call at 11 on a Friday. She doesn't have to be marriage material, just someone you can have a little fun with. Y'know, take your mind off things."
     
    Ryan replied impatiently. "Dude, I know you're just trying to help, but I'm really not in the mood for a hook up. Can we just talk about something else?"
     
    The jukebox suddenly started back up, miraculously playing something other than Springsteen, and Ryan's conversation was silenced beneath a wave of... Jesus, The Bee Gees. Who stocked this jukebox?
     
    To be honest, Sophia was relieved she could no longer hear what was being said at the next table. In the last few days she'd already come to hate herself for snooping on Ryan's Facebook messages, and she didn't think she could ever face him again if she listened to yet another private conversation. It would all be just too much.
     
    She turned back to her phone and made an effort to mentally close her ears. The occasional word still found its way through the wall of noise from the jukebox, but Sophia blocked it out. None of my business, none of my business, none of my business...
     
    "I noticed you didn't have a drink," came a voice beside her. "Mind if I sit?"
     
    Sophia looked up from her phone as a guy slid into the booth without waiting for an answer, then pushed a fresh bottle of beer across to her and smiled. "I'm Robbie. What's your name?" He looked to be in his mid-twenties. Maybe a little older, but it was hard to guess his age with the thin, patchy blond beard he was trying and failing to grow. It seemed like he was going for the thick, luscious lumberjack full face growth popular with hipsters, but it really wasn't working for him.
     
    Guys need good, clear skin to pull of the lumberjack look, and the beard has to draw attention to full lips and nice, warm, welcoming eyes. Robbie had none of those. In fact, he looked like the much less cute younger brother of Neil Patrick Harris after a couple of months in the throes of a nasty