The Life Of A Crazy Girl And Her 10 Brothers

Monkey Brain

Once we arrived at my house, Seth dragged me into the kitchen and I leaned against the bar as he made his way to the freezer, dumping some ice in a plastic baggie.

I pushed up my sleeves to inspect the damage and swore. That pile of ashes! The bruise had spread out and was covering a big portion of my forearm. The edges were colored faint green and the middle was an ugly purple.

Seth turned and his eyes lasered in on my arm. A moment of silence passed as he stared, eyes intent on the bruise. He reached over and delicate hands prodded gently at the bruises. "Does it hurt a lot?"

I shrugged. "Not if I don't think about it."

A small smile graced his lips and my eyes lingered before darting away.

"Why'd you bring Corey and Calix with you?" I asked.

"I called Corey on the way there, and Calix heard the conversation so he hitched a ride with him," he explained.

"What'd you say to them?" I said, referring to when Seth broke off from them.

It was his turn for his eyes to dart away. "Oh, uh," he hesitated, "just that they could take care of things after I got you out of there."

So Owen is probably getting jumped. Good for him. If only I could join in, I'd— I hissed at the sudden cold on my skin before relaxing into it.

"This has to stay for twenty minutes, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

The look on his face was of obvious disbelief before it shifted into something more careful. "You've been avoiding me all day."

Fuck.

Change the subject! "Some pedophile tried to have sex with me today and this is what you want to talk about?"

"Whenever I tried to talk to you, you either ignored me or turned around and left," he continued. "I thought we were doing good lately."

There was a long pause that I was going to let stretch until he couldn't take it anymore but then: fuck! Not the puppy eyes. Why Jesus? Is it me? Did I do something to offend you personally? Is it because I'm gay? Is that it, Jesus?

"Did...did I do something wrong?" he asked, earnest eyes peering at me.

Yes! You were born with that face!

"No, it's not you, it's me," I said, trying to remember the whole movie quote. "I just need to work on myself before I can get into any new relat—" I stopped.

You dumbass, I berated myself. You absolute dumbass. This is what you get for trying to quote a movie you don't even remember. It doesn't even apply to this situation.

He frowned. "Isn't that a movie quote?"

Shit.

I shrugged. "Maybe."

"Why can't you just be straight with me?"

My lips pursed together. "Because I'm bisexual. I've been out since forever, Seth; get with the program."

His jaw worked before he let out a rough sigh. "Stop playing with me." It took less than two strides and he was caging me in with both arms on either side of me. "Tell me why you've been avoiding me," he whispered.

Sexy voice, my stupid monkey brain was repeating in my head and then I made the mistake of looking into his eyes and oh fuck, oh Jesus. Sexy voice. Oh Christ. Help. Somebody, anybody help. Sexy voice. He's close. My face, he's close to it.

I wondered how I ever doubted my crush on Seth in that moment.

"If you don't hate me, then why are you ignoring me?" With every word, his face drifted closer and closer.

The space between us felt charged. Is this tension? Oh shit, is this sexual tension? Can I close this gap?

"Are you gonna stare at me with those big eyes," his eyes dipped to my lips, "or is that mouth gonna answer me?"

At that precise moment, my rational angel's hold on my horny demon slipped. Almost knocking into Seth's nose, I surged forward, letting the bag of ice fall to the ground. Gripping his collar, I dragged him down to look into shocked, brown eyes before crashing my lips onto his.

He froze for a second and then he was kissing back, equally fierce. My grip on his collar tightened as the faint taste of some fruity Chapstick brushed against my tongue.

When I nipped at his bottom lip, a rumble in his chest sprung forward and his hands slid around my waist, pulling me closer as he deepened the kiss. His tongue tickled the roof of my mouth for a split second before tangling with mine.

It went on like that for what felt like hours, hot and messy until I finally had to pull back for air. A sharp gasp tore through me as Seth bit the flesh between my neck and shoulder.

I stuttered out a, "fuck!" and he swore before tilting my head to plant hot, open mouth kisses on my neck. He suckled on my throat and my hands scrabbled at his shirt, desperate to feel his skin.

He groaned when my hands made contact with warm skin and a slender waist. It wasn't enough. Not enough, more skin.

I was tugging his shirt up when the front door slammed and I all but teleported three feet away.

Did I just—?

His face was flushed and his irises were almost gone, engulfed by huge pupils. His fingers twitched at his sides and his hand rose, reaching out toward me before Calix and Corey stumbled in, red faced and stunned.

Seth's eyes were not straying from me and Calix was staring at me like he wasn't seeing me at all. I still couldn't comprehend what'd just happened.

Gotta go. Abort mission.

I latched onto Calix's hand and we darted upstairs to my room without a word.

What just happened? Did I really—? My brain wanted to say there was no way, but the phantom memory of hot hands felt branded into my waist.

Am I deadass right now? I initiated the kiss and everything! Wait, but he kissed back though. What does that mean? He likes me? Like, a crush? Maybe not. Do I go around kissing people I don't have a crush on? I growled. Fuck, I do.

Noting Calix, who always had something to say, was silent, I whirled on him. I'd glanced at his dazed expression in the kitchen but I wasn't paying enough attention to notice something was off.

He had plopped on my bed, staring at one spot, eyebrows furrowed.

"What's wrong with you?"

He showed no signs of hearing me, but tilted his head slightly. "Corey just railed me in his backseat," he whispered.

I blinked. Huh. "What?"