Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
“Excuse me. Just because you have a problem with it doesn’t mean everyone else does. Don’t like it, don’t look. Don’t snitch on me,” I hiss, feeling hurt and angry. It’s not like I’m hideous or something. Every day of my life I’d been hit on by men and turned them down, so I can’t be awful looking.
“Catherine, what the fuck is going on?” Shit.
“Chill out; her top broke,” Charlie tells my brother who comes over nearly as furious as me. Great. That’s all I needed to add to the utter humiliation and degradation.
“Both of you are ridiculous. Anyway, I’m going inside. I’ve got things to do besides hanging out with grumpy old men,” I huff, standing up from my chair with his shirt pressed to my chest. “Oh Mr. Bellamy. Here you go.” I throw his shirt at him, giving him one last glimpse before walking away and adjusting my top as I go into the house with a lot of attitude. His reaction wasn’t the one I wanted him to have. No, I wanted him to be mad, turned on, jealous. Not turn into another older brother disgusted in my behavior.
Charlotte comes in a minute later. “Girl, that man has a crush on you.”
“No he doesn’t.”
“Do you believe that bullshit about that cat?” Yes, I do. I saw the way he looked pissed off and disgusted. “He was busy watching your cat without a doubt. We have time to convince him before Mrs. Becker returns, so you can work on him.”
“If I have to work on a man, do I want to bother?” It’s a reasonable question that I already know the answer to because I have no interest in being cast aside.
“It depends. Let’s just have fun. If you have feelings for Mr. Bellamy in a few weeks maybe you can try flirting with him again.”
“Sound idea. Speaking of feelings, are the murderous ones for my brother under control?”
“They’re getting there. Call-a-hag works my nerves because he thinks I’m no good for you.”
“Yeah and you love to prove him right.”
“Damn right. It makes him angrier.”
“Let’s chill and ignore both of them,” she says.
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Girl, you’re going to have that man call the cops on you, but I spoke with him,” my brother says, storming into the house like I need to deal with his shit right now. Frankly, the opposite sex has pissed me off and broken whatever bit of self-esteem I had.
“Leave us alone. Don’t you have better things to do. Mom and Dad aren’t here until tonight sometime,” I tell him, hating that Gabriel didn’t like me.
“I know and that’s why I’m here. They don’t trust you on your own.”
“Bullshit. Cat’s going away to college so they have to trust her on her own.” My bestie has always got my back.
“Don’t believe me, then go ahead and call them. Either way, it’s clear you shouldn’t be unsupervised with this troublemaker around.” He’s referring to the whole peek-a-boo show I gave our neighbor, but frankly I’m glad she did it. It’s obvious that I’m practically in heat for the man, age or not, I want him to take me.
“Whatever. Cat, I’m going home. I don’t want to hang around this prick all day. I’ll come by another time when Captain Ruin all the Fun is gone.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yep. Good luck.” She gives me a hug and leaves.
I huff and scowl at my brother. “What is your problem?”
“I’m not the one who popped open your top. A sight I didn’t need to see. I’m so fucking grateful I’d been focused on something else.” Yeah, I bet. That’s probably how he noticed that she’s the one who undid my shirt in the first place.
“You’re still a jerk to my best friend.” As the words come out of my mouth, I know they strike a chord because he looks pathetically at the door as if she’s going to come strolling back in.
“Fine, I’ll try to be nicer. I’ve already apologized to the neighbor. Maybe you could manage the same thing.”
“You better apologize to her. As for Mr. Bellamy, let’s not and say we did. I’ve had more than enough embarrassment for the day.” I give him a hug because I love my brother. When Charlie’s not around, he can be a total sweetheart, but something about them two sends him into a grumpy asshole mode.
“Okay, I’ll be hanging down here until Mom and Dad get back. I have some work to do in dad’s office.” I wave to him and head up to my bedroom. When I get to my room, I notice the window’s blinds across from me are open.
Feeling insane, I lock my bedroom door, hoping my brother stays away. My window is also open, so I slip out of my bikini, slowly working the ponytail out of my hair. Shaking my hands through the strands, I run my fingers through it and then snag my brush off the dresser, slowly taking it through my length. When I peek over my shoulder. A moment later, I see him with a towel over his hair.