Caught Between My Bully and My Stepbrother novel · Chapter 22 of 32

Chapter 22: Both

Nobody said anything for a long second.

The space heater ticked.

Corey looked at Crew.

Crew looked at Corey.

It was the same look they'd given each other across a dance floor in September, except now it was a question.

"You okay with this?" Crew said to him.

"I'm okay if she is," Corey said. "Are you?"

Crew's mouth moved at one corner.

"I'm still allowed to hate it for a week," he said. "I don't think I'm going to."

"Hey," I said. "I'm right here."

They both turned back to me.

"I'm not a football," I said. "Nobody throws me. Nobody keeps score."

"Nobody's leaving this room tonight, so don't get weird about it. We're going to have this, and then we're going to eat fries."

"Okay," Corey said.

"Okay," Crew said.

"And I'm in charge."

"You've always been in charge," Corey said.

"Since September," Crew said.

"Good. Then say it."

Corey stood up off the bed.

He came and stood in front of me, close, not touching.

"I'm not waiting anymore," he said.

Crew came off the drafting table and stood behind me.

I could feel the warmth of him at my back.

Except this time I'd asked him to be there.

"Neither am I," Crew said, low, beside my ear.

I closed my eyes.

"Yes," I said. "Both of you. Yes."

Corey's hands found my waist first.

They were warm through the sweater.

The weight of them was the exact weight of every game day I'd watched him throw a ball, except now they were on me because I'd said yes.

"Take off my clip," I said.

Crew's fingers went to the claw clip at the back of my head.

He worked it free slow, and my hair fell down over my shoulders.

Corey watched it fall.

"Jesus," he said.

"You haven't done anything yet," I said.

"I know."

Crew's mouth brushed the back of my shoulder through the sweater.

I felt the heat of him all down my spine.

"Tell me what you want," Corey said.

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