Another round of pounding against the door makes me sit up. So that’s what woke me. This time, it’s not enough to bang. “Hey! Let’s go! You’re holding us up here,” Colt barks.

“Let’s go! You’ve got work! And you’re going to be late.”

Work. Yet another thing I have no control over. How am I supposed to know when these two want to go for a workout if they don’t tell me beforehand? How can he accuse me of running late when I don’t operate on a schedule in the first place? This is too bizarre.

There’s no time to argue about that right now, not that I would. This job is all I have at the moment, and even though I don’t understand the circumstances, I don’t want to ruin things. That, and I’d rather not give my stepbrothers another reason to make me miserable.

“I’ll be right there!” I grab for the first clean things my hands fall upon in my dresser, then rush to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face before running a brush through my hair. The whole process can’t take more than five minutes, but the way Colt and Nix act when I run downstairs, you would think I kept them waiting for two hours.

“Sorry. I didn’t know you wanted to go this morning.”

Nix rolls his eyes and pushes away from the door, where he was leaning as he waited. “You can assume we’re going to go most days.”

“Could you maybe give me the heads-up the night before so I know what time to be ready? I don’t want to hold you guys up,” I add before they can blow up at me.

“Whatever. Let’s go. You already have me behind schedule.”

I know better than to ask exactly what schedule he’s talking about. I don’t think I’ve ever met two such self-important people.

It’s mercifully quiet in the truck, almost eerie. The guys have their little muttered conversation, but it’s not about anything important. I think they’re talking about sports, something I have very little interest in. They can talk about anything they want so long as it’s not me.

During the whole way, I have to fight to keep from staring at the back of Nix’s head. He’ll know I’m staring, and it will only make him mad. Nothing about his attitude toward me reveals anything about what happened yesterday. Maybe in his mind, it never happened at all. I can’t believe anybody could just forget something like that, no matter what he says.