BASTARD: A Stepbrother Romance (These Wicked Games Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

“Mags…”
    “Stop calling me that!”
    “Mags? You love it when I do.”
    “No.” I yank free from him. “I did when I was twelve. I’m not a little kid anymore. A lot’s changed.”
    He touches my face, and goddamn my heart, I just want him to hold me. “I know.”
    The front door of my house opens and his hand drops as he looks up.
    I look over my shoulder and see Cynthia, my stepmom.
    “Maggie? Is that you? Why don’t you invite your friend up?”
    I turn back to Cade. “Hear that, friend?”
    “She doesn’t recognize me.”
    I turn and wave at her. “Be right in, Mom.” She loves it when I call her that.
    “Okay sweetie.”
    “Mom?” Cade asks when she goes back inside, an eyebrow raised.
    “Like I said, things change.”
    “I’m surprised.”
    “Oh?”
    “I didn’t expect her to change. But, she seems…” He shakes his head. “I guess I was wrong.”
    I laugh without humor. “I thought no one fooled you, Cade. She probably saw that nice, expensive vehicle,” I point behind him at the SUV, “and assumed you have money. And that she could get some.”
    “But, ‘Mom’?”
    “Without you here to protect—” I stop myself, but it’s too late. I rush on. “When you left, things changed, got worse, and I had to adapt. She likes it when I call her Mom. I don’t know why.” Except, sometimes I think I do. And I don’t like to think about it. Because it makes her too human. Makes it hard to think of her as the monster she is. “So I call her what she wants, because it makes my life easier. Not easy, but not as hard as it could be.”
    “But you’re getting along?”
    “You really have changed. You used to see through her facade.”
    He shakes his head. “No. I just still have hope.”
    “Well, you shouldn’t.”
    He locks me in his gaze. “Maggie.” Oh great, he never calls me that. “I can get you out of here. Into your own place. Let me help you.”
    “I don’t want your charity.”
    “But you need it.”
    I shake my head as I turn and walk away.
    “Mags!” he calls.
    I halt and turn to face him. “What!”
    “Come with me.”
    “What the fuck, Cade! I can’t handle this. And even if I could, you’re just going to leave me again. Forget all about me.”
    “Why would you say that?”
    “Because it’s true! You’re just going to fly back home to your penthouse or mansion or whatever the hell multimillion-dollar structure you call home, and leave me here with my absent dad and your psycho mom. Again.”
    “I didn’t leave you,” he says emphatically.
    “It sure as hell seems like it.”
    He is silent, staring at me. Then he blurts, “Then come with me. Live with me in San Francisco.”
    I shake my head slowly. “So you can freak out on me again? No thanks.”
    “Don’t want to leave your job? I know you’ve got a bright future ahead of you as Head Waitress, but I can find something at least as good.”
    “So I can work at Hooters in San Francisco?”
    “At my company.”
    I laugh bitterly. “The only thing I can do on a computer is get on the internet.”
    “Don’t sell yourself short. I know you, Mags. You have lots of things you’re good at.”
    I look away, shaking my head.
    He comes closer, and grabs my chin. “Look at me.”
    I resist.
    “Maggie.”
    I lock eyes with him defiantly.
    “You’re smart. You are great at talking to people. And at solving problems. You don’t have to be able to write code to make something life-changing.”
    “I can’t. I can’t leave Mom and Dad.”
    He lets go of me. ”Oh come on, that’s bullshit. What have they ever done for you?”
    “Fed me! Gave me a house. Didn’t leave me standing alone in a dark kitchen, waiting for them to get home, to see the surprise I had made for them. Didn’t make me cry myself to sleep for months. Didn’t make me think I wasn’t good enough to be in their lives.”
    “I di—”
    “Don’t!” I interrupt. “Stop with the bullshit.”
    He takes my hand. “Look. I