1
JAKE
My whole bodyrelaxes as the house comes into view. Finally, I’m back home. Feels good. I can’t even explain what it feels like to be out after spending two years behind bars.
Now all I want to do is plonk down on the living room couch, watch some TV, and eat real food.
But when I step through the door, I end up face to face with my dad, scowling at me with his phone pressed to his ear.
He doesn’t have to say anything. His eyes carry his feelings well enough.
Disappointment.
And I get it. I do. Dad’s a bigshot attorney—partner at a prestigious firm. He wants a son who wears wool sweaters to office parties and has big plans to take over when he retires, not a reckless bad boy with an assault charge on his record and tattoos.
“You look like a goddamn biker!”he told me when he saw the first ones.“You’re not from a trailer park, Jake!”
We’ve had our disputes, and he may be a pain in the ass, but I’ll take Dad over a prison guard any day of the week.
“Yo, Pops—” I say, but he waves me off and heads into the other room, speaking quietly into his phone.
“Sorry, yeah, my uh…son just got back,” he says. “From college? No, from uh…well, let’s just say he went on alongvacation.”
Vacation? Don’t make me laugh. Iron bars, concrete floors, and being surrounded by the worst men of society isn’t a vacation.
I shake my head and rub my eyes, trying not to let myself get angry. For Christ’s sake, I just got back. Dad can’t take two seconds to chat with me?
It’s not like I got locked up for stealing or selling drugs or something. I was defendinghis wife, my mom, from a guy trying to mug her.
Technically, she’s his ex-wife now, but that’s beside the point.
In broad daylight, while we were walking down by the water, this dickhead tried to make off with Mom’s purse and phone.
The second he touched her, I just snapped. I laid him out with one punch. But that wasn’t enough. Mom was screaming bloody murder, and I went into a frenzy, kicking the guy in the guts while the cops ran up on me.
The judge ruled I’d used ‘excessive force’ defending my mom and put me away for two years. Hell, I didn’t even know civilians could be charged with that.
Sighing, I hoist my bag onto my shoulder and head for my room. But when I reach the second floor, an unfamiliar smell sweeps into my nostrils.
Perfume?
It’s delicate, not overpowering, and alluring. After two years of only smelling male body-odor and cafeteria food, it’s a welcome shock to my system.
I follow my nose down the hall to the bathroom I share with my step-sister, Piper, sniffing like a dog who smells somethingdelicious to eat. I peek around the corner, and what I see nearly knocks me over.
Piper stands at the mirror doing her makeup. She’s wearing pajama shorts that barely even cover her ass and a T-shirt that hangs off one shoulder like it’s two sizes too big.
For a second, my brain stops working.
This…can’t be Piper. She moved in just before I went off to jail, and she was an awkward sixteen-year-old with scrawny legs, acne, and a flat chest.
But thiswomanstanding in front of me is different. She’s filled out, blessed with sinful curves and a body that hits me like a punch to the gut. My legs even threaten to give out as I drag my eyes up to hers.
She’s gorgeous. But most of all, she’seighteen. Which means now she’s legal.
“What the fuck?” I blurt out without thinking.
She turns and recognizes me instantly. “Oh, hey, Jake. Back from the slammer?”
