Leonard

When I'm in the shower, I tell myself I'm no longer Leonard Jaime. I don't know that asshole. I'm a nameless guy. A guy without a stepbrother. A guy without a step-niece.


A guy who's totally obsessed with the young woman sleeping in another room down the hall. The woman he's never met before, one who doesn't come with any baggage of familial entanglements.

And I picture her on her hands and knees in front of me, her ass raised high, that tight little pucker just waiting for my cock. Her ass is covered in Carter's and my handprints, and she's begging for me to fuck her anywhere but her ass.

'Please, Daddy, not my ass, you're too big."


The shower water pounds down around me as I picture her tears.

'Trust your daddies," I grunt. 'It'll feel good."


It's my fantasy, so she magically goes from fearing anal to begging for it, and I tighten my own fist on my cock, imagining the pressure of her virgin ass taking me for the first time. My come splashes all over the floor of my stepbrother's shower.

Now that my lust is somewhat taken care of, shame creeps in.

It gets worse when I hear my phone ringing in the bedroom. I wrap a towel around my waist and rush toward it, fearing problems on the job site. But it's worse, so much worse. Mark is calling.

'Hey," I answer. I was not just jerking off to the fantasy of taking your daughter's virgin ass, promise.

'Link! How are you?"

'Good, good." Not a single lecherous thought about Evangeline, nope. 'I'm hoping to have the SE project back on track very soon. We're replacing almost the entire team."

'Intense," he says.

'Yeah. How's Japan?"

'Oh, good, same as usual. The food here, wow. It's incredible as always. But you probably know why I really called."

I play dumb, and wait.

'Is everything okay with Evangeline?" he asks. 'Are you two getting along?"

'Yeah," I say. 'We're staying out of each other's way for the most part."

'Oh, okay." He sounds disappointed.

'She seems like a great person," I say, 'it's just our schedules aren't lining up."

'All right, just keep an eye on her? I'm worried."

'You wanna tell me what happened to her?"

'Nah, it's her story if she wants to tell it. She's going to bounce back—I never met a more resilient girl than my Evangeline."

He sounds so proud, and I feel like absolute shit.

'Look, I gotta run," I say. 'We're scrambling over in SE and I should visit the site again today."

'Sure thing. Thanks again for being there, Leonard."

'Anytime." The call ends and I exhale, slumping down to sit on the edge of the bed. What a fucking mess.

I do want to check on Evangeline before I leave. She got in late, driven by Carter, which bugged the hell out of me. But when I heard her drunkenly talking as they walked down the hall, I knew nothing would happen between them, and I was able to sleep.

I get dressed and go down the hall to knock on Evangeline's bedroom door.

'Mmmf," she says in answer.

'It's Leonard. Can I come in?"

'Mmmf," she says.

I'll take it as a yes. 'Okay, I'm coming in."

No sounds of protest, so I open the door. There's a glass of water and a bottle of acetaminophen on the nightstand next to her bed. My guess is Carter left it out for her. Points to him, I guess.

She's facing away from me, covers shoved down around her hips. She looks small and fragile like this, and a longing to protect her nearly causes me to stumble.

'You came in late last night," I say. 'Feeling okay?"

Evangeline rolls over and faces me with her eyes still shut, grumbling. 'I feel like shit, thanks."

'You should, going out and getting drunk like that. Lucky for you I trust Carter to take care of you."

She opens one eye and focuses a blue glare in my direction. 'And if you didn't trust him?"

'I'd have driven to that bar myself, and collected you."

'That might have been interesting," she says.

'Why?"

She shakes her head, then winces. She must have a splitting headache.

'You can go back to sleep," I say. 'I just talked to your dad so I thought I should check on you."

'I'm fine. I should get up." She sits up slowly, breathing through her nose.

I hurry closer and hand her the glass of water. 'Pain meds?"

'Yeah, thanks."

I check the dose information and hand her two pills, then hover like a nurse while she swallows them down. 'I'll bring you some toast."

She waves a hand at me in impatience. 'I can take care of myself, you know."

'I'll be back in a minute with some toast."

Leonard

After I've raised my voice twice at the inept assholes who fucked up an entire section of the build, Carter drags me outside.

'What the fuck is wrong with you?" he asks.

'They don't know a two-by-four from a screwdriver." I glower at the side of the building, as if I could see through it to every dumbass inside.

'They do, and you know they kept getting misinformation from Holding. Ease up."

'This job is never going to get finished?—"

'This isn't like you," he says. 'What the fuck is really wrong?"

I grit my teeth, shake my head. I want to fucking punch something.

'It's Evangeline," he says. 'That's what's wrong with you."

'I don't see her anywhere around here," I say.

He gives me a look, like I'm some sulky, smartass teenager he's trying to reason with. 'She's in your head."

'I talked to Mark again. He's glad I'm taking care of her. And I don't feel like I'm taking care of her when she's out there drinking and then calling you to come get her, and I know what you want to do with her."

'She was drunk," he says. 'I didn't touch her, no matter how much she begged."

She begged. Fucking hell.

Carter's green eyes dance with humor. 'Yeah, I know you like it when they beg. You should've heard her."

'Fucking shut the fuck up right the fuck now," I growl.

His grin fades somewhat, but not all the way. 'Look, dude, you're just mad because you still want her, and you're not letting yourself go for it. Stop getting in your own way."

'She's my niece."

'She's no such thing. Let yourself be happy, and then maybe you'll stop being such an asshole. Because guess what: I'm not backing off. I want her, and if she wants me back, then I'm going for it."

'You're a prick."

'A prick who's about to get laid. You could be one, too."

'Fuck you."

'Nah, I got Evangeline for that."

He dodges before I can punch him, but I didn't really want the hit to land, anyway. Seems like I'm all about pulling back these days.