Chapter 1

Hailey

COLE SMITH IS my nemesis.

It wasn't always like this. When I was eight, and he was nine, I actually considered him to be my best friend. But when he started junior high, he changed from the sweet childhood Cole I remember to the bully who's been tormenting me for the past six years.

I can't get away from him, though, because Cole Smith is also my brother.

Well, stepbrother-not that it makes much difference. Since his mom died, and my dad has a new family, we both just have the one home, and one set of parents between us.

Last fall, things finally let up for me when Cole went away to university. For the first time in as long as I can remember, things were peaceful. Quiet.

There were even moments where I almost missed Cole. If I'm being totally honest, he's not awful all the time. He can be funny. Every now and then I see a glimpse of the boy I used to be friends with. But more often than not, when Cole's laughing, he's laughing at me, not with me.

Still, though, I almost forgot how much I hate him until he returned for summer break.

In the three months he's been back, it's like he's been making up for lost time. He's on me even more than he ever was before. Constantly watching me, never letting anything slide, and picking on me at every opportunity.

Like right now at the dinner table. My mom and stepdad are completely oblivious, but Cole is glaring at me across the table, as if he's trying to intimidate me, while his ever-present best friend, Xander, is sniggering. I don't know what the joke is, but apparently I'm the butt of it.

I tried talking to my mom about Cole once, but she didn't take my complaint seriously. She seemed to think it was cute.

"He only teases you because he likes you," she told me. Like that makes any sense.

And by the way-gross. He my brother.

My mom, Greta, and Cole's dad, Barry, got married when we were both in high school, and then Cole and Barry moved into our house. My mom is a well-known actress, so ours was by far the better house. Now my tormentor sleeps in the

bedroom next to mine.

Greta gets up to get more wine, and Barry is looking at his phone, so when I reach for a bread roll and Cole knocks it out of my hand, they don't even see.

"Take it easy on the bread, chubs," he jeers, "or you'll never lose your viginity."

Xander snorts, and heat rushes to my face as the bread roll flies out of my hand. I look over to Barry to see he's just answering a call. He didn't even hear what Cole said.

Cole was always that kid who knew exactly how to get away with everything. "Ashole!" I snap, picking up my bread roll and throwing it at Cole's face.

He lifts a hand and deflects it into Xander's lap just as my mom spins around from the fridge and shouts, "Hey!"

"He knocked it out of my hand!" I protest. My mom rolls her eyes and Barry gets up to take his call in another room.

"C'mon, Hails," she says, exasperated. "You're eighteen, for God's sake. We're all too old for this."

I'm furious. I'm so sick of Cole's shet. I take my plate and announce I'm going to eat in my room. Greta rolls her eyes, and Cole and Xander snicker as I leave the room.

The subject of my viginity unfortunately came up earlier today, and now I'm pretty sure I'll never hear the end of it.

I was trying to spend a quiet afternoon working on my tan and reading my

book-things I'd gotten used to doing in peace with Cole away at school. But as soon as I'd settled in on my lounge chair, Cole and Xander came out to go for a swim.

They made a big show of splashing and yelling noisily, clearly trying to bother me, but I just took a deep breath and tried to ignore them, as my mother had so often advised me to do.

Eventually, disappointed that I wasn't paying them enough attention, they'd gotten out of the pool and each taken a lounge chair on either side of me, turning to face me with mischievous smiles.

"Whatcha readin' " asked Cole, smiling evilly. "Dirty book"

"No," I answered haughtily. Maybe a little too haughtily, considering that what I was reading was maybe not too far off. I was just at the part where the heroine was getting it on with her boyfriend's dad, so the timing was a little awkward.

While I was busy scowling at Cole, Xander was looking over my shoulder at my Kidle.

"When I take him deeper in my mouth, he swears; dirty words that make me moan through my full mouth. 'Baby girl, Are you still wet for me '," he read out loud.

Chapter 2

Hailey

I gasped, turning my Kidle over onto the lounge chair, as both boys burst into hysterics.

"Hailey!" exclaimed Cole. "You really are reading dirty book."

I reached out my hand and managed to grab my Kidle from him, blushing furiously.

"It's romance!" I argued, uselessly. "Dark romance.

Xander growled with pleasure, as if this made it all the better, and my face burned hot with embarrassment. I couldn't think of a quick retort because Cole was right. I am a vigin. Not that it's any of their business. But my evident embarrassment just confirmed that Cole was right, and that made them laugh all the harder. I got up and stormed off, my afternoon ruined.

"You lucky betch," says my best friend, Sasha, over Zoom. "I would like to be right in the middle of a Cole and Xander sandwich, please. They can bully me all they like. It would be a bullies-to-lovers story."

"Oh my God, stop." I roll my eyes. Sasha is wild, outrageous and outspoken, and her sense of humour is my favourite thing about her, but it's easy to focus on Cole and Xander's looks when you don't have to spend time with either of them.

They were always the popular guys in high school, six feet tall since grade nine, all-star athletes, and since they were only one year ahead of us, all of my friends knew who they were. Between my mother's fame, and Cole's popularity, I had my share of fake friends throughout high school. Girls who only pretended to like me so they could be invited to my house. Luckily, I've had a true friend in

Sasha since kindergarten. But she's never pretended to be anything but totally hot for my brother-and his best friend.

I mean, I can admit they're both good-looking-almost unnaturally so. In our high school, they towered above everyone. Kids parted in front of them like the Red Sea when they walked down the hall. They were Gods.

Besides being tall, they're both muscular from years of playing sports. Both dark-haired and classically handsome. Cole's hair is thick, and runs to wavy if he doesn't style it. Xander's hair is straighter and darker. Cole has blue eyes and tanned skin; Xander has freckles over his nose and dark eyes. There are always girls vying for their attention.

Neither Cole nor Xander are vigins, I'm sure of that.

"Okay, let's just get started on our episode," I suggest, eager to turn the conversation away from Cole and Xander.

"Fine," Sasha grins. "Deny an old girl her pervy fantasies." Six months older than me, Sasha identifies as my elder. "Ready " she checks, and I nod.

She hits the record button, and two beeps indicate that we've begun.

"Hello, fans," she starts. "I'm Sasha ."

" . and I'm Hailey ."

" . and you're listening to the Smutty Books and Spicy Reads podcast."

We smile at each other as we pause, allowing a break for when we add our theme song later, in edits.

Sasha and I started our podcast a few months ago, and already it has become a hugely important creative outlet for both of us.

Since I first read one of my mom's Nora Roberts novels, and immediately passed it off to Sasha when I was done, we have been hardcore romance novel fans. But when Sasha discovered dark romance last year, everything changed for us. Dark romance was a revelation. Starting Smutty Books and Spicy Reads to connect to the bookish community and talk about the books we were so passionate about had happened almost organically. It just seemed natural to expand our book conversations, and now it was everything to me. I loved our podcast, and the weird and wonderful community we'd connected with through creating it.

"Tonight we're talking about bullies-to-lovers romances," continues Sasha, "and we've actually got the perfect real-life tie-in." She grins at me through her laptop camera.

"Oh no," I groan.

"Oh yes," she continues. "Listeners.listen up. My good friend Hailey here is in a most unusual position. She not only lives with one of the hottest fucking guys I've ever met, he's also joined at the hip to another equally hot best friend. A two- for-one."

Chapter 3

Hailey

"Stop, Sasha." I roll my eyes, but I'm not too worried about it. I do the editing, so she can say whatever she likes and I'll take it out later.

"The problem is that they're asholes who won't leave her alone. True, Hailey "

"Fine. True."

"They pick on her and she claims to hate them, but it's all a little flirtatious if you ask me."

"What!" I protest. "No way."

"Yes way," she continues. "I'm talking, snapping Hailey's strap, and trying to spy on her while she's getting dressed. I'm telling y'all, this is a classic bullies-to-lovers setup."

I scoff. "Okay, as if. First of all, there's two of them. So which one am I supposedly going to end up being lovers with I hope Xander, because, listeners Here's an important detail: Cole is my brother."

"Stepbrother," cuts in Sasha. "So.totally legal. And totally hot. C'mon, Hailey. At least admit that they're hot."

"No!"

She laughs. "Whatever. You already admitted to me that you would f k either one of them, given half a chance."

"Sasha!"

"Yes " Through the laptop screen, she bats her eyelashes at me innocently, knowing I can't deny I told her this.

It was months ago, while they were both away at school, and I'd temporarily forgotten what jerks they are.

.Sexy asholes that, yes, I occasionally have questionable thoughts about. Thoughts I wish I'd never shared with Sasha.

Whatever. I'm deleting all this later.

"Fine," I concede, "but to be clear, I was talking about a very specific situation. One where Cole isn't my brother and neither of them are jerks."

"Ha!" she laughs victoriously, just as the door to my en-suite bathroom swings open-the bathroom that connects my room and Cole's. I really need to lock that door more often.

I jerk my head up, annoyed at being interrupted, to find Cole and Xander bursting into the room, laughing.

"Holy, vigin!" Cole exclaims. "That's perverted. I'm your brother."

I'm speechless as they stride into the room, looking ccky and self-assured. "What the hel " comes Sasha's voice over the computer.

"Oh Sasha," says Cole, leaning in behind me and waving to her. Fool that she is, she waves back. I want to slap my face into my palm. "You guys doing your dirty podcast "

"Sasha," I groan. "I'm going to call you later." "No way-"

"Yes, bye." I cut her off and shut my laptop. "Will you guys get out of here "

They ignore me. Xander picks a book up from my desk and starts flipping through it, and Cole makes his way to my bookshelf and picks up something else.

"'Hands on the wall, love, palms flat,' he commanded me in a low, growly whisper." he starts reading out loud.

"Cole!" I make to get up, to pull the book away from him, but Xander steps between us with a cruel smile, stopping me.

"His words lit a fire inside me that burned right down to my core. My hands found the wall quickly and I gripped it. I was able to look at James only by looking around the corner.

My face is burning, I'm so furious I think I'm about to holler, and just when I think I couldn't possibly get any angrier, the most unthinkable thing happens.

Cole grips both sides of my book, and using his incredible strength, rips the spine in two.

I scream, as beside me Xander copies his action and rips the book he's holding in the same way.

They each toss their shorn halves to the ground, laughing and unrepentant, and walk, self-satisfied, out the hallway door, leaving me stricken.

My books.

I drop to the ground and pick up the torn pieces, unsure what to do. Irrational thoughts flood my brain, like, maybe I can glue them.

It's too much.

I cry for about two minutes. It's not about the books, really. I can buy new

ones. It's more about the atrocity of the action. The fact that they'retrying to get to me so much.

I come back to a thought I've had a lot lately.

Sasha once told me, ' What you permit, you promote.' Maybe if I stood up for myself more, they wouldn't push me around so much.

But what could I ever do to them that would equal what they've done to me

I think about it for a while, holding my torn book pieces to my chest and rocking back and forth, and then it comes to me.

When we were kids, Cole was a huge comic book nerd. I happen to know that he has a prized collection of comic books, some still in their original cellophane wrapper, in the closet of his bedroom.

I tiptoe through the en-suite bathroom and cautiously enter his dark room. Fine.

Fak with my books There will be hel to pay.

Chapter 4

Cole

"IS HAILEY SCREAMING " asks Greta, as Xander and I come down the stairs. She and my dad are in the front hallway, putting on shoes and each holding a bottle of wine.

"Nah," I answer without hesitation. "She's on the phone with her friend."

"Okay. Well, we're going across the street to the Bauers' . You two have fun."

"Will do." Going to the Bauers' means they will be out late; the Bauers are huge drinkers.

Xander and I head down to the basement movie room.

It's a nice house and I have to give my dad credit for marrying up. Before he married Greta we didn't even have a pool, let alone a movie room.

The movie room has theatre seating, a large projection screen, and lights that automatically dim when the movie starts. There's even a popcorn machine in the back.

We sit in the middle of the four rows of seats and I pull up the Apple TV menu and we start flipping through movies.

Xan rolls a joint and holds it up to me in question, checking that he can light it in here, and I nod as usual. Greta and my dad never come down here, even when they are home.

"Hailey's hot, man," he says, hauling on his joint and passing it over to me.

"I know."

In the year that I've been away, Hailey has really filled out. She was always pretty, but since I've come back home I can't get over how much she's changed. I can't stop thinking about her body.

He looks over at me and smirks, seeing the bulge in my pants grow. "Let's watch a dirty movie," he suggests.

"Yup," I answer without hesitation, flipping over to the browser window and opening incognito mode.

It's something we've done a hundred times in this movie room-that, and

more. Xander and I have been best friends since we were kids, and we're alike in every way, including having high sax drives.

We go to a site I have a subscription to and browse, settling on a thresome video.

"I really need to come," I tell him, meaningfully, and he smiles with understanding.

"Yeah " he asks.

I have a fantasy about Hailey asking me to help teach her about sex-turning to her big brother for advice and guidance, and obediently doing everything I ask-and I start thinking about it. I imagine her on her knees in front of me, begging for me.

Chapter 5

Cole

"Oh, yes," I breathe. I feel amazing, and I'm getting close.so close, when suddenly there's a flash of light that catches my eye and I hear someone gasp.

I turn my head to the left just in time to see Hailey, face white with shock, drop something heavy and step back through the door, letting it swing shut in front of her.

"Shet!" I exclaim, and Xander raises his head with surprise. "It's Hailey."

"What "

"At the door, Hailey just walked in."

"Are you serious " His face goes sheet-white, too.

We're not really ashamed of the fact that we fool around-it's the twenty-first century, after all-but we've never had to think about it, either. No one's ever caught us before.

I get up, awkwardly towards the door as if I just got off a horse.

I can't even believe I have to deal with this.

I yank the door open, ready to storm up the stairs behind her, but she's right there, standing stock still in the hallway, looking blank with shock.

"What the hel, Hailey " is the only thing I can think of to say. "Oh! I.I didn't-" she stammers, trailing off uselessly.

Even though our parents are out, I feel exposed in the hallway. I grab her arm and pull her into the room.

"Get in here," I hiss, pulling the door shut behind her. "What the hel, seriously "

That's when I finally notice the box she dropped on the floor. I look down at it. The top is open and it's full of comic books.

My comic books, I think, although they look messy. Mine are neatly filed away. "What is this " I ask.

Her face turns beet red. "Nothing." She takes a step back towards the door.

"Don't even think about it," I snap, and grab her wrist. Her eyes flick over to the movie screen, where they've started. "What's in the box, Hailey "

She purses her lips and gets a determined look on her face and turns her eyes back to mine.

"It's your comic books," she says, kicking the box angrily. Some of the books at the top slide onto the floor, and that's when I notice: they're all ripped up.

Fury burns through me, and I bend down, reaching into the box to find that it's just a pile of loose, shredded comic book pages. My comic books. Comic books

I've been collecting my whole life and intended to sell one day.

"You!" I roar, with so much anger that Xander gets up and hurries over, as if he might have to come between us.

"What's going on " he asks.

"She ripped up my comic book collection!" I seethe. I'm seeing red. Yes, we ripped up two of her books, but these are worth way more. My collection is worth thousands of dollars.

Was worth.

"You ripped up my books first, you ashole!" Hailey barks back at me, and I look up at her with so much rage that Xander steps between us, ready to hold us apart. Xander, the captain of his university's wrestling team, could take us both.

A loud cry from the movie screen breaks the moment, and all three of us snap our eyes over to it.

Hailey looks utterly disgusted. "You guys are so nasty."

She turns to leave but I grab her wrist again, digging my fingers in. I want to squeeze her as hard and painfully as I can.

" We're nasty We just watch movie, we don't have a podcast about it."

"Screw you!" She pulls her arm harder now, and I wrench her forward, until she's only inches away from me. Xander steps back.

"Those books you just destroyed are worth thousands of dollars."

"No, they're not!" She wriggles against my grip, and I have to admit I enjoy watching her struggle.

Chapter 6

Cole

"Yes, they are. Maybe it's nothing to a little rich betch like you. But now you owe me. How're you going to pay me back "

"You have more money than I do!" It's true. I've always saved money, while Hailey spends everything. But I don't have a filthy rich mother.

"This is going to cost you about five thousand dollars, Hailey." "There's no way. Forget it."

I lean in and hiss, "I can't forget it. Unlike you, that's a lot of money to me, and I'm going to make you pay."

I pull her over to the seating rows. I don't have a clear plan, I just want to piss her off, but she lets me push her down into a seat. She doesn't get up and run when I sit down beside her.

"Hailey," I say in a low, sing-song voice as Xan takes a seat on the other side of her. "Hailey, How dare you judge us for watching p0rn when you just read it all day "

"It's not-" she starts, but I touch my hand to her mouth, silencing her. "Shh."

It's oddly arousing to touch her. I never have, not like this, and I'm so close to the side of her face I can smell her. She smells like shampoo and girl.

"You think you can just come in here, drop off your little message and leave No way. You're going to pay for what you did." I get an idea. "We're all going to watch a movie together and see if you get turned on. Then we'll know for sure if you're a slvt." I lift my eyes to Xan. "Put on another thresome video."

He lifts the remote and Hailey's face turns a delicious pink as she flushes. I can almost feel the warmth coming off of her.

Xan picks another video and I lean back in my chair, feeling a pleasurable heat.

"You need to watch the whole video without looking away once," Xan says, and I love his ingenuity. I quickly nod in agreement.

Interestingly, Hailey doesn't argue. "Okay," she says.

I let my gaze trail down her body.

She turned on.

I turn back to the screen, but I'm acutely aware of Hailey beside me. Every breath, every blink of her eyes; all my attention is attuned to her.

The video is good, with no weird music or over-the-top screaming, and every time I look over at Hailey, her chest is rising and falling faster with her breath.

"How are you feeling " I ask her.

"Fine," she answers, with a touch of defiance, then, quietly. "Good." Xan and I grin at each other and high-five over her head.

I slip my arm around her shoulder and bend down towards her, breathing softly on her neck as I murmur. "I will admit that you're sexy, Hailey.

I slip a finger under the spaghetti strap of her tank top and toy with the idea of pulling it down. She slaps my hand.

"Stop it," she says.

"I can't." I shake my head. "This movie's getting me hot. I was just about to come earlier, but you ruined it."

"So I noticed." She flicks her eyes to me but doesn't turn her head, adding softly, "I don't care, you know."

I can't help but laugh. "You think I care what you think " She doesn't say anything.

"We just fool around sometimes when we want to get off. And I really needed to after reading your books. Now I'm frustrated because of you, Hailey."

On-screen, the woman moans loudly as one of the men moves over her and slides his diick into her.

"So what do you want me to do about it " she asks, and for a moment the room is completely quiet except for the huffing and puffing on-screen.

It's Xan who breaks the silence. "You can help," he says as he unzipped his jeans.