Page 6 of Hot For Her Stepbrother

"Take me to your place so you can change, Summer. We have a long day ahead of us." He walks away after handing the skirt to me. I follow him after dragging the dirty thing over my legs, grimacing with the grittiness and grime touching my skin.

After I get my stuff and he locks everything up, we hop into his brand new BMW. It's nothing like what we sell, and a pang of jealousy hits me that he gets a reward after being released from prison. Yet, I remember, like a jolt of lightning hitting me from the stormy skies above, that he went to prison because of me for something he didn't do. He deserves whatever he gets for surviving that, and I deserve this shitty fucking karma for not doing what was right.

It takes about five minutes to drive to my shabby apartment, where I can see my sleazy landlord walking around to close the storm shutters. He grins when he sees me. I'm not sure what Bodey's doing, but he's still sitting in the car.

"Hey, Sums." Rinaldo grins with his eyes, too happy to look at me in my filthy state. "Make sure you close up those windows. I don't need any more complaints about water leaking to the first floor from your apartment."

I hate it when he calls me Sums. "If you fixed my air conditioner or bought a new one like you promised, I wouldn't need to keep the windows open. It's hotter than the devil's dick in that apartment."

"You know, there's a way I can find some money to fix whatever you need. I'll knock off a hundred bucks from your rent too."

"Save it, Rinaldo. I'm not letting you anywhere near me."

He shrugs. "Fine. Enjoy sweating your ass off in that apartment. But if it gets too hot, you can always hang out in my place. It's plenty cool in there unless you want to heat things up with me."

He wriggles his brows up and down with his invitation.

The way Bodey cocks his head to the side as he walks up behind Rinaldo makes me wonder what he's about to do when I see Bodey's massive hand grab Rinaldo by the shoulder.

"It's pouring rain, hot as fuck, and you're trying to get in her pants? Is that what I'm hearing?" Bodey asks. "Are you trying to coerce your tenant into sex with promises of doing your fucking job? I know that's not what I'm hearing."

"Uh, um, no. But take your hand off me, pal. You don't know who you're messing with."

CHAPTER 4

Bodey

"Please tell me who I'm messing with." I grin, violence brewing from the pit of my core.

"I'm uh, you know." The asshole ticks with his head to the side and slight raise of his shoulders. "I'm a made guy. The family. You can't mess with me. Scarponi will have your nuts in a vise."

"Scarponi?" He gives me a slight nod of his head. "Do you mean Louis Scarpella?"

"Yeah, that's it. The boss, see? He likes me in pristine condition, so take your hand off me."

"Pristine condition for what? To hit the streets and sell some ass? No one would buy you for free. I wonder why Louis didn't tell me that when I took over his territory, some balding fat pervert of a landlord attached to a rundown motel needed to be protected. Wait, are you paying for protection?" I ask him.

This property isn't in any of the books, but I'll gladly take it and flip it like I plan to do with the dealership.

"What?"

"You know, a grand a week to stay in business and make sure no one hurts you since you need to be in pristine condition," I tell him with a glance at Summer, who's taking joy in seeing thisshitball put in place. "Summer, go ahead and grab a few things. You're not staying here anymore."

"What? You can't do that. She has a lease. I'll take her to court if she breaks it," the scumbag shoots back.

My temper flares, and I wrap my hands around his throat, squeezing until he turns red. Just when he looks about ready to pass out, I release and allow him to breathe. "If you're protected and you've been paying protection, I haven't seen any payments made to Mr. Scarpella. That is ifyou're telling the truth."

"I may have misspoke," he admits.

I nod. "I don't like liars. You can pay me back for lying to me about Mr. Scarpella, or I can talk to Louis myself and see what he wants to do with you."

His eyes fill with fear. "Please, no, don't do that. Don't bother with Mr. Scarpella. Um, let's make our own little arrangement. I can pay you two hundred a week."

"No. I want Summer out of her lease as of today. Whatever deposit she put down, she'll get back within the next week, or I'll come back here to squeeze it out of you." A gentle squeeze of my hands around his throat as a friendly reminder. He nods vigorously. "Good, now apologize for making Summer uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry, Sums, really I am. You're just a beautiful girl, and I wanted to spend a little time with?—"

I shake him like a broken toy to get him to stop talking. "Summer, go and get some things together. You're coming with me. Hurry up."