I glared hot knives into him. “No.” I pushed the bowl away, making milk slop onto the table.
He thrust the bowl back toward me, his expression turning savage. “I’m your big brother now, right? So you’ll do as I tell you.”
“Oh yeah? So what was with you tonguing my vibrator yesterday? Is that something ‘brothers’ do here in backwoods hicksville?”
His eyes flashed, warning me not to provoke him. Jesus. You could cut the tension with a dull spork. I rolled my eyes and took another bite of cereal, giving him a flippant shrug. “You’re the one spying on me while I sleep like a fucking pervert.”
“You left the fucking the door open,” he snarled.
I batted my eyes at him, grin widening. “Yeah. And my room is at the end of the hall. You can get to the stairs and the bathroom without passing my door, so you would’ve had to have been specifically creeping on me last night to know I was topless.”
His eyes still cut deep, but a maniacal smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “You’re the one who was screaming my name last night. It woke me up, and I came by to check on you.”
He was lying…or was he? I couldn’t read him. I chewed my lip, searching his expression for any clue to what might be going through his head.
“What happened to your mom?” I asked so suddenly that I surprised even myself with the question. His tattooed fingers flexed around his spoon so tight, his knuckles cracked. “We don’t talk about my mother.”
“Why? Did she die or something?”
“Yeah,” he said flatly, not a trace of emotion in his voice.
“My dad died a while back.” I tried my best to sound sympathetic, which failed, going by the annoyed scoff Titus gave me.
“Great, we can start a club or some shit.”
“I’m just trying to be friendly and relate to you. We need to figure out how to get along. So maybe if you want to talk with me about your mother—”
I didn’t get so much as another syllable out. I regretted pushing the topic of dead parents the second his chair scraped back. His hand was around my throat before the last word even left my mouth. He jerked me so close, our heaving breath tangled and our noses almost touched. “You’re playing with the butcher, little lamb.”
I wheezed a broken laugh around his crushing grip. “I-is this the part where you cut me up and eat me then?”
Unholy joy zinged through me at the sight of his eyes widening and his nostrils flaring. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed by the sound of our parents’ door opening and closing again.
“Kids? Are you awake?” my mom asked. By the time both of them strode into the kitchen, we were back in our seats, eating our cereal like nothing happened.
My mom hummed happily at the sight of us before turning around to dig around in the fridge. “Look at the kids getting along, Ezra.”
“I told you they would,” he said with a fake-ass grin that lingered on me a little too long for comfort. When I shivered, Titus’s leg brushed up against mine. His warmth pushed away the coldness his father brought into the room.
My mom fixed them both pancakes, and then they sat down at the table, his father next to Titus and my mom next to me. “What’s your plan today, kids? Maybe you can show Lore around town, Titus?” she asked.
My stepbrother shook his head. “Can’t. I have to work today. Neighbor’s brakes need replacing. Along with a couple of other things.”
“You can take an hour or two to show her around, son,” Ezra said with a stern bite to his tone.
Titus lifted his eyes from his food, sending his dad a look so full of hate, it knocked the wind from me. “I said no.”
Intent on breaking up whatever dark dynamic Ezra Leeds had going on with his son, I interjected with an awkward laugh. “Come on. It will make your new sister happy.”
Titus returned his attention to his bowl of cereal. So, it took everything in me not to react when I felt his hand curve over my thigh and trail up toward my apex while his free hand chased some lingering marshmallows with his spoon.
His eyes cut to me, flashing dangerously even as he smiled so sweetly. Those lips weren’t to be trusted. “There are other ways of making my sister happy.”
He spoke with such casualness, you’d never guess he had his hand shoved up my skirt.
I spread my thighs, allowing him better access to my center as I returned his smile. “Is that so? I’m all ears, big brother.”
Titus had initiated a dangerous game of chicken, and I wasn’t about to lose.
