Stepbrother Backstage (The Hawthorne Brothers Book 3) by Colleen Masters Page B

Thought you might want to come
with.”
    “I thought your shows were too tough for the likes of little
old me?” I tease, giving him a playful nudge.
    “Well, you’re a lot tougher than I would have guessed,” he
says, eyes hard on my face. “So, what do you say? Are you in?”
    “I’m in,” I whisper, bringing my lips to his. I shiver as he
takes my bottom lip between his teeth, giving me a sharp bite.
    “See you tonight then,” he murmurs, “I’d spend the day
bracing myself if I were you. My crowd doesn’t exactly go easy on newcomers.”
    “I’m sure I’ll be just fine,” I say as he gets dressed and
slips back down the hall to his own room.
    But despite my bravado, I do spend the better part of the
morning trying to compose myself. I’ve been dying to see Finn’s band play, to
see him in his element. But he’s right—shitty dive bars aren’t exactly my
scene. I’ll have to do my best not to stick out like a sore thumb. I decide to
bring my camera along and take some shots of the band as they play. If I can’t
be part of the group from the get go, at least I can be useful as I get to know
them.
    I’ve promised my sisters a little girl time this afternoon,
which the three of us decide to spend sunbathing on the dock. We convene on the
warm planks, bikini-clad and sun-screened. Even though we’ve been under the
same roof this whole week, we’ve barely been in the same place long enough to
say three words to each other. I can’t help but notice that things are a little
stilted when the three of us get down to chatting. For lack of anything more
substantial to talk about, we land on the subject of college.
    “I give you a lot of credit,” Maddie tells
me, sitting on the dock with a red bandana tying up her hair, “I wouldn ’ t have had the wherewithal to take a gap year before college at
your age.”
    “Well, you knew what you wanted to go to school for,” I
reply with a shrug, “I ’ m still feeling it out.”
    “I just couldn ’ t wait to get out of the
house,” Sophie sighs, “Don ’ t get me wrong, I love my
program at Sheridan. But more than anything, getting away from Mom was the
priority.”
    My patience with Sophie is wearing incredibly thin by this
point. Not only is she getting sloppy about keeping her thing with Luke under
wraps, she’s still playing the misunderstood middle child card for anyone that
will listen. As if she’s somehow had it worse than the rest of us, even when
she was the one to get to escape to college.
    “Yeah, well. Imagine being the only one in the house with
her after Dad died,” I say sharply, not caring if she’s offended or not.
    I can see Maddie and Sophie trading glances out of the
corner of my eye. My blood rises to a simmer at their trying to handle me. As
if Maddie hasn’t spent this whole week fluttering around on the brink of
freaking out, threatening to destroy this delicate little ecosystem. She’s
already been on the edge of bailing on us about three separate times. And once
she has her big inevitable fight with Mom, who’s gonna be left here picking up
the pieces? That’s right. Me.
    “So, uh…have you given any thought to how you ’ ll
spend the year?” my oldest sister asks me, trying to make everything bright and
shiny as usual.
    “Mostly just building up my photography portfolio,” I reply
by rote, “I want to get some more portraits and event photography.”
    “I could hire you for the next ReImaged party!” Maddie says,
her voice bubbly with excitement. I have to fight to keep from rolling my eyes.
I don’t exactly see myself getting lost in the corporate mire that my oldest
sister has wandered into. I know I’m being cruel in my thoughts, but I’m just
so sick of her chipper attitude—acting like the three of us are super close
when we barely see each other, much less know the first thing about each
other’s lives.
    “Yeah, maybe,” I tell her, watching her excitement deflate.
Feeling guilty, I begin to