Let It Burn Read Online Free PDF Page B

girls I took home. She often rated them on a scale she made up. I did not understand this scale and frowned upon her using it to further objectify my questionable relationships. Gigi got her fire from Mom though, and made her opinion known even if you didn’t ask. In fact, she had taken up for me with Finn, blasting him for fucking Ariel with my taste still in her mouth. Her exact words.
    “Fifteen minutes, dear brother. So... our latest conquest. Tell me all about it.” Sinking cross-legged into the wide chair set off from the couch I now took over, she smirked at me.
    “Abso-fucking-lutely not. Who said I made a conquest anyway?” Before I even finished the question I knew.
    “Who do you think?" Gigi tipped her head towards the door, "He loves to talk; as if telling a young, impressionable girl about how freely the two of you give out orgasms is a proper topic of conversation.” Apparently, I would have to have another talk with Finn about keeping his distance from my little sister. Or kill him.
    “Red, Finn may be that guy, but I’m not. Not really. So I let the easy women go to my head for a while. Can’t blame me entirely; I mean my job requires me to risk my life; I work with ninety-five percent testosterone overloaded idiots. To wind down, we hang out with loose women who want to nail a man in uniform. I may not always be thinking with the right brain, so I fall prey to it.”
    “Please, Cage. Don’t play the dumb guy card. You’re not a dumb guy. A guy who does dumb shit but not dumb, per se. Look...maybe you needed to get it out of your system, maybe all guys do? So at least give me something...you know I need to rate her.”
    “No. Why the ratings scale any, Red?”
    “Mostly because it’s fun. Cruel sense of humor your little sis has, dear brother. Generally, the score is so low you realize your mistake and don’t double dip. Also I use them, most of them anyway, as kind of a how-not-to be that girl.” Gigi’s pretty face scrunched up in a frown as if she hadn’t realized that part of her rating system.
    “That’s lovely,” I wiped a hand over my face in frustration, “once more, just for the fuck-all of it, break down Gigi’s rating scale. Make me understand.”
    Part of me did want to understand how she, and maybe the rest of the family, viewed my escapades. Especially after that explanation. I knew even my pop had taken notice of my single-yet-laid on a fairly regular basis lifestyle. Truth be told, what I let the guys at the station and even Finn, think about my status with chicks versus the reality were very different things.
    Because of that first run in with Ariel, who I had no idea made the rounds the way she did, they talked. The badge bunnies that were always on the prowl, talked. I just let them talk.
    While my so-called stud status was something I was uncomfortable with, it had taken on a life of its own now. Since Ariel, I had yet to even bang more than six chicks, a few more than once. They had me in high double digits, if not worse.
    When I tried to deny it, tried to tell Finn that I was hardly working my way through our area code the way he was, he didn’t believe me. Instead he thought I was perhaps underselling my numbers, not that we talked numbers exactly, and was more impressed than ever. Which told you a lot about Finn, actually.
    That dude hoped to live up to rock star dick dipping status, which just made me sick. I was hardly a Saint but there was no way I could do what he did so cavalierly. I mean, the girls he took home knew the score because he announced it like it was his mating call. More than once he had walked into O’Malley’s, covered in sweat and soot and loudly announced,
    “Who wants to sit on my face tonight, ladies?” Charming, right?
    Before Gigi could launch into her no doubt very detailed description of this rating scale of hers, a knock announced our lunch. Gigi got the door as I padded down the hall to grab some cash. I was smiling at Mr.