Page 8 of Filthy Beautiful
My brother would be away on tour a lot, and that poolhouse would be my freedom.
It didn’t turn out that way.
Instead, Cary’s band, Alive, came home from tour early—and he never went back out.
My brother’s bandmates, Dean Slater and Xander Rush, went on to form a new band, Steel Trap, with some other musicians. And whenever Steel Trap wasn’t away on tour, my brother’s poolhouse became Xander’s personal crash pad.
You know, for chilling by the pool and screwing all the skanks he hung out with.
But if I put that thought aside…
In the lush, sunny backyard, nestled back in the shade of the trees, the poolhouse looked so… inviting. So cute and cozy.
It was my brother’s guesthouse. Not Xander’s shag palace.
No matter what Xander seemed to think.
So why should I feel weird and sick about it?
It was late July now, the peak of summer, and my brother had a cute, cozy poolhouse. Why should I stay in this giant, empty house all alone… when I could be staying out there, by the pool?
I knew Xander wasn’t here. If he was, his black Corvette would be in the driveway. My brother’s garage was full of cars he never drove, and Xander, like me, parked outside.
He probably wasn’t even in town. Steel Trap was on tour this summer. And it’s not like Xander Rush owned my brother’s poolhouse or had some kind of squatter’s rights over it anyway.
He had his own condo downtown. He could shag his groupies there. He didn’thaveto stay here when he got back.
Fuck it.
It’s mine.
I went out through the French doors, up the little path that zigzagged through the trees, to the pool. And right past it, to the poolhouse. It was like a miniature version of the main house; taupe stone, ivy up the walls, French doors.
The perfect place to spend my summer while I sipped cocktails by the pool with my girls.
I reached for the doorknob, but then decided to knock. I was pretty damn sure Xander was out of town, but just in case… I wasn’t willing to risk walking in on whatever he did behind a closed door.
Ick.
No answer.
I tried the doorknob, which was locked. Fortunately, it had an electronic keypad and I knew the code.
I nudged the door open and took a look around inside. Living-room-slash-kitchen. The bedroom and bathroom up the short hall…
All neat and tidy.
One thing I could say about Xander Rush, he was a total neat freak. The place was OCD-level tidy. And not because Rose took care of it while he was away. She didn’t.
But tidy appearance or not… the place was a total man-cave-slash-sex-den.
Complete with porn mags on the bedside table.
Ugh.
Itlookedclean, but I’d definitely have to scour the place. Like disinfect from top to bottom, just in case. I did not need some secondhand STD. I could ask Rose to do it, of course, but she’d be far too nice about it.
This called for a deep purge situation, blowtorch style.
