Beware of Bad Boy (10 page)

“Well that’
d be number seven on the to-do list. Quit cheerleading,” I stated unbendingly.

That brought a frown to her face.
“My mom would be so mad. She loves cheerleading.”

“That’s been established, but do you love cheerleading?”

“Well, at first I loved it, especially the dance routines, but after a while, my mom made me feel like it was a duty. Since then, I’ve sort of resented it. She would seriously freak if I quit, Caleb.”

“How about this then
, you quit temporarily. Just to show to your mom it’s your choice to make. Then, if you want to go back to it for the fun of it, you can.”

She bit
her lip, considering my suggestion. “Um, okay. I guess I could try that. But, I’ll have to stop by practice to let them know I won’t be there for awhile.”

“Fine, but I’ll go with you,” I
told her, thinking Josh could be waiting around practice to try and get her alone again.

We entered the gym
and Gianna approached the squad to let them know what was up. A couple of them looked kind of pissed, but I wasn’t concerned. What I was worried about was Josh, who stood off to the side as if he’d been waiting for Gianna to show up. He stared Gianna’s way with an intense expression on his face. Lucky for him, he didn’t try confronting her, probably because I was there.

Taking the opportunity, I stalked over to him.
“Do you remember what happened Friday night?”

He scowled back at me
and bit out, “Yeah.”

“Now that you two are broken up, I’ll expect you to stay away from her.”

“And if I don’t?” he asked, his eyes darting around.

“I already owe you a beat
down for hurting her yesterday which believe me is still coming your way. If you do it again, I’ll put you in the hospital while I’m at it.” With that parting line, I walked to where Gianna waited for me, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

She
gave me a questioning look and I offered her a reassuring smile as we left the gym. Now, if only I could threaten every other guy who was interested in Gianna, I’d feel much better. Starting with Jared and Seth.

Gianna had a mischievous
gleam in her eyes as we got in my car. “Since I’m not going to practice, I know what we can do!”

Reaching over to buckle her in, I asked.
“What’s that?”

“We can go shopping for the lingerie and outfit I’ll be wearing on Saturday when I lose my virginity!”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“It’s sad when girls think they don’t have anything going on expect being pretty.”

-Keri Russell

GIANNA

W
alking across the parking lot to the mall entrance, I asked Caleb, “What should we do first? Lingerie or dress shopping?”

His jaw
was clenched and his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. He took a long time answering with, “Dress first.”

We
shopped my favorite stores and I tried on the sexiest dresses they had to offer. I made Caleb wait outside the dressing rooms, coming out to model each one. At the third store, I found a slutty black dress that covered my butt and the top of my thighs only. It also showed off an abundance of cleavage.

I snicker
ed before coming out of the dressing room to show Caleb. “So, what do you think?” Spinning around, I gave him the full effect.

Caleb
got a burning look of lust in his eyes while taking in my showing. After a long moment of silence, he rasped out, “It looks like shit.”

“You liar!”
I exclaimed. “I look damn right fuckable in this dress. Maybe you’re gay. Are you gay, Caleb? You can confide in me. As your sister, I accept you for who you are.”

“Stepsister,”
he corrected me. “And, no, I’m not gay. Do you want me to prove it to you?” Amazingly, the burning lust in his eyes went a few degrees hotter.

Hell
, yes, a big part of me wanted him to prove it to me. Unfortunately, Caleb was a player and I’d be one of many girls who’d hooked up with him. I sighed. “No thanks, I’ll leave that to your harem of skanks.”

I shouldn’t care who
the sexy bastard spent his time with, but I did. At least I’d ruin his good time Friday night.

“Jealous?” he taunted,
one pierced eyebrow raised. He probably practiced that look in the mirror until he’d perfected it.

“Yes,” I
admitted and his jaw went slack in surprise. “I’m jealous that my harem of men is so much smaller than your harem of skanks. But I’m just getting started in this player gig. It won’t be long till I have so many men that I’ll start forgetting their names, too.” Then, as if the idea just popped in my head, I said, “Hey, what do you think about me dating older men?”

I saw his sour look reflected back at me in the mirror I faced.
“I think I’d have to call the cops on them.”

“Have you dated any older women?”
I couldn’t resist asking.

The self-satisfied smile on his face made me want to slap him.
“Of course I have.”

Why did I even bother asking?
Of course he had
, I thought miserably. Now I was not only jealous of girls my age, but females
not
my age. He definitely deserved all of the revenge I dished out.

“
Enough talk of the dirty old women you’ve fooled around with. I’ve decided on this dress. I can totally picture Jared ripping it off me on Saturday.” Strutting back to the dressing room, I said over my shoulder, “Time to go shopping for what he’ll see after he rips this off.”

Caleb
wore a disgruntled look on his handsome face the whole time we were walking to Victoria’s Secret. I told him as we went inside, “I hope you’ll be more help here than you were dress shopping.”

Trying not to show my embarrassment at lingerie shopping with Caleb,
I snatched up the first items I saw. I was irritated at every stupid older woman and teenage girl Caleb had ever slept with. He was so stupid. Didn’t sex mean anything more to him than getting off?

I
put on the first item, a tight black halter babydoll with a plunging neckline. I’d never worn anything like it before. I’d never had a reason to. I had to admit, it looked sexy.

A
blush formed on my cheeks at the thought of coming out of the fitting room and showing Caleb. How humiliating. I needed to remember why I was playing this game. He was an insensitive jerk when he found out I was still a virgin. The thought of me becoming the female version of him disturbed him. Any mental stress I caused him was just a little bit of justice. Not only for me, but for all the girls he’d used for sex.

I step
ped out of the fitting room and moved to where Caleb sat leaning back in a chair. His eyes flared as he shifted in his seat. Yep, the embarrassment was worth it.

“So
, Caleb, do you think Jared will want me when he sees me in this?”

The fierce expression mingled with the possessive gleam in his hazel eyes alarm
ed me as he stood up and closed in. I backed up a few steps towards my fitting room, wishing a sales associate or someone would show up. I was almost to the safety of the dressing room when he pushed me inside.

“Caleb
, what are you doing?”

He lock
ed the door and dragged me to him. The kiss was far from gentle and when it ended, I was practically panting. “I guess this one’s a winner. Too bad you don’t mess around with virgins, huh?”

“Maybe you’ll get lucky and I’ll make a temporary exception for you,” he
purred, coming in for another kiss.

His arrogant remark
reminded me that every girl was
temporary
for him. Temporary for as long as it took to get in their pants. I reached around him to open the door and push him back out. “No thanks, I’ll pass!” With that, I slammed the door in his face.

CALEB

I couldn’t believe Gianna just did that. She’d pass? She’d pass over me for what, that douche Jared? I didn’t think so. I’d kidnap her Saturday night if I had to, to keep her from sleeping with him. She’d looked so hot in the dress she bought earlier. Jared wouldn’t be the only guy having sexual thoughts about her after seeing her in that scrap of fabric. Not to mention the lingerie she just tried on. Jared didn’t deserve to see her in any of it.

She
came out of the dressing room and paid for the lingerie. I’d have paid for it if she were planning to wear it for me. She purchased the first one she tried on that made me hard as rock.

We
left the mall in silence and I burned with jealousy at the thought of Jared touching her and the fact she’d chosen him to give her virginity to. It almost made me wish I were the type of guy to commit to a girlfriend. Then Gianna would be mine. I’d make sure of it.

Julie
opened the front door when we got home. “Where have you two been?”

Gianna shuffled in place, hiding the pink shopping bag behind her back. Taking pity on her, I told her mom,
“We were just spending some quality time together shopping.”

Julie’s demeanor shifted from suspicious to
delighted. “How fun! How was cheerleading practice, honey?”

“Um, great,” Gianna mumbled, running past both of us and upstairs.

“Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes, Caleb, so go wash up!” Julie ordered me before heading to the kitchen in her ruffled apron.

Wash up?
I’d never get used to this wholesome family routine. My mom didn’t care whether or not I came home for dinner and if I did we usually ordered in or ate out. Even when she was married to my dad she wasn’t the homemaker type.

I follow
ed Gianna upstairs and knocked on her door. “Come in!”

S
he sat cross-legged on her bed, texting. It bothered me to think she was exchanging cutsie little messages with Seth or Jared. “We need to talk.”

Her fingers stilled on her phone and she looked up at me.
“About what?”

“About you telling your
mom you quit cheerleading.”

An unsure expression
flashed over her features. “I guess I should. She goes to most of the football games to watch me so she’ll notice me missing from the squad this Friday.”

Her phone beep
ed and she looked down to read the text. Her laughter put me on edge. “Who’s that?”

Her fingers moving over the screen, she answered while responding
to the text. “It’s Cece. She’s being a weirdo.”

Annoyed for no good reason,
I stepped out of her room to go next door to mine. I couldn’t believe what a spaz I was becoming. I felt like a jealous boyfriend ready to throw down with any dude who flirted with her. I refused to become pathetic like Josh or Jared.

At dinner
that evening, World War C began. Gianna brought up the subject of quitting cheerleading soon after everyone had dug into their tacos and rice. She was right, her mom freaked.

Her mom started off
by trying to cajole Gianna into compliance. “Honey, why would you want to do that? You were meant to cheer. Just look at you. You’re beautiful, popular and so talented in dance.” Was this lady serious? The only part of her argument that made sense was the part about Gianna being a good dancer.

I finished off my first taco and waited for Gianna’s response.
“But mom, it’s not fun anymore. I don’t want to do it.” Gianna plate was still full, her food ignored.

“Cheerleaders are hot!” Chance interjected through a mouthful of rice.

Surprisingly, I was the only one who laughed. My dad threw me a look as if to blame me for the kid’s wisdom. I gave my dad an innocent look back and his attention returned to his wife.

Julie was too focused on Gianna’s submission to care about her son’s inappropriate comment.
“Honey, I got pregnant with you when I was sixteen years old and had to give up cheerleading. I missed out on so much. I couldn’t be a pregnant cheerleader.” Persuasion was turning into a guilt trip. How great of Julie not to abort Gianna so she could hop around with pom-poms.

Gianna wore a stubborn expression, leaning forward in a move of defiance.
“Mom, I don’t care what you did or didn’t get to do when you were in high school. It’s not my fault you got pregnant with me. I shouldn’t have to do something because you wished you could have. This is my life and I’m not cheering anymore!”

My dad shifted in his chair, obviously uncomfortable with the scene, but unwilling to interfere.

Julie slammed her fist on the table. “Gianna Hilary Thorpe! You will
not
quit cheerleading and that’s final!”

“If you don’t let me, then I’ll
go live with dad!” Gianna shouted, storming out of the dining room.

I swallowed down the last bite
of rice and gathered my dishes to rinse them off in the kitchen sink. As I stepped through the doorway, I heard Gianna’s Jeep screeching out of the driveway.

That went well.

*****

The
remainder of the week flew by. Gianna and her mom weren’t speaking to each other except to bicker. Every day Gianna and I sat with who I liked to call
the misfits
at lunch. Josh stayed away from Gianna, probably because I kept close to her.

Desiree
, the girl I had my upcoming date with, visited our lunch table on Friday and plopped herself on my lap. “Hello there,” I flirted.

She flipped her straight
blonde hair over her shoulder. “Where are you taking me tonight, Caleb?”

Flicking a look at Gianna sitting across from me, I leaned in to whisper something
dirty in Desiree’s ear. Gianna’s eyes narrowed in either jealousy or disgust when Desiree giggled. “You’re so naughty, Caleb.”

By her response, I could tell Desiree was
naughty, too. Unrepentantly, I grinned. “You’ll find out.”

Glancing around, I noticed we had the attention of the rest of the table. Gianna rolled her eyes and turned to say something to Kara.
Once my target audience was no longer rapt, I had the urge to move Desiree off my lap. The perfume she wore was fruity and she’d pumped one spray too many.

I nixed
the idea of sending her on her way when Seth came over to finalize plans with Gianna about their date. When he stroked her cheek, I had a new urge to snap his finger. Gianna moved her backpack. “Sit down, Seth.”

“Thanks, babe.”

Babe
? They hadn’t even had a first date yet.

I checked Seth out while he gazed at Gianna. His mom obviously
dressed him and his hair had too much product in it. I was definitely better-looking. Cooler, too, but that was a given. Was it just me, or did his voice squeak a little? No contest, I’d be able to take him in a fight.

A hand creeping up my thigh turned my thoughts back to Desiree. Her hair wasn’t very healthy-
looking; it didn’t have the shine Gianna’s did either. Her nose wasn’t cute like Gianna’s was. I didn’t have the urge to kiss her. She wore a lot of dark eye makeup and dressed to school like she was going clubbing. Girls shouldn’t try so hard and I liked it when they were more casual. There was a time for a miniskirt and there was a time for jeans.

“Caleb!”