My Future Stepbrother

Chapter 96

As everyone clears out at the end of rehearsal I duck Chad entirely and get to the toilets to change.

I can’t wait to get out of these clothes. I feel like I’m suffocating, they’re so bloody tight. Why Brie thought anything that fit her would fit me is beyond me.

I manage to get out of the shorts easily enough but as I try to shuffle free of the sports bra I get caught up, I try to pull out of it but the sequins have knotted in my hair and now I’m stuck. I can’t get it down without tearing out half my hair or get it up because my arms are tied up.

I start to panic a bit, the claustrophobia is real right now people.

As I stand here, naked from the neck down except for my lace panties I do the only thing I can, scream for Brie.

After a minute there’s a knock at the door.

“Ally, are you okay?” Shit.

“Yeah, I’m just kind of stuck in my top, can you get Brie to come here and free me please?”

There’s a pause. “Some crazy Russian woman just came in and took her, I’m not going to repeat what she said but even with my limited understanding I know it was not nice. How can one tiny woman use so many swear words in one sentence?”

I try not to laugh considering I’m starting to feel like the oxygen in the room is thinning the longer I’m stuck like this. “Okay, can you grab one of the other girls? Or Harley? Hell, I’d even take Josh right now.”

He laughs. “Sorry they’re gone. Can I help?”

I look down through the mesh covering my face at my naked breasts. “Umm not really, I’m kind of...exposed. I’ll just wait for Brie.” My voice breaking slightly.

“Ally are you panicking?”

Yes. “No.”

He stays silent for a beat as he thinks. “Ally I’m coming in, just stay facing away from me okay?”

Fuck.

I use my hip to find the lock on the door and push it back to open it. I feel the door open behind me and freeze, even facing this way he can still see all the back of me and if he chooses not to be a gentleman, a quick lean over and he’ll see all of me. I’m completely vulnerable.

I can hear him breathing but he doesn’t say anything. I sense him step closer as he starts to untangle my hair gently. The tension in my hair relaxes finally and there’s a dull ache left where it was pulling for so long.

He delicately moves my hair so no more can get caught and pushes his hands up my arms until the top reaches my wrist and I can finally breathe. I pull the fabric down and hold it to cover over my breasts.

“Thank you.”

I don’t dare turn but I can feel how close he still is as his fresh minty breath fans against the back of my neck. His knuckles brush gently down my spine and a shiver follows their touch.

"Chad..”

His deep voice comes out even more huskily than usual at his next words. “I made you a promise Aleah, I said I wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardise our friendship.. and I won’t. As hard as it is for me. I made myself my own promise that day and I intend to keep it.”

I know I shouldn’t ask whilst we’re still here standing like this but I have to know. “What did you promise yourself?”

He breathes deeply. “I promised myself I wouldn’t touch you, I wouldn’t kiss you, no matter how much I wanted to, until you ask me to.”

I try to steady myself. “How do you know I ever will?”

I hear the door open as he steps back outside. “I don’t.” The door closes behind him.

Shit.

*********************

The ride to Kelly’s was quiet. Both of us slightly lost in thought. I couldn’t decide if Chad’s promise made things better or worse. If he stuck to it then it means I’d never have to be worried about him doing anything he shouldn’t again. That was good. If it was just a move he was using to try trick me into a false sense of security. That was bad.

We pulled up outside Kelly’s and there was a queue around the block. Not good when we were already running so late to start getting stuff done.

“Shit, want to go to yours instead?”

Um yeah, taking Chad back to the Manor right now, with Jayce, would not be good.

“Not really, everything’s mad there. Is there anything else close to here still open?” I ask hopefully.

He smiles. “Yeah actually, you like Italian?”

We park outside the cutest little Italian restaurant just down the other side of the bay. The large glass windows show off the charming interior; old wood tables covered in red checked table cloths filled most of the room, framed Italian posters adorned the walls and all the light inside emanates from candles. The doorway sits right on the corner of the building but Chad walks straight past it, down the alley towards the back.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to go in this way.”

He laughs, grabbing my hand and pulling me in through the side door with him. We walk through a small hall and come out in a big industrial kitchen.

There are pots simmering on every ring and I don’t think I’ve ever stood somewhere that smelt so good. My stomach is screaming out at me to dip into every pan and take what I can get.

I small plump man with a dark brown handlebar moustache stands in the middle of the room, firing off orders to the people around him in a mixture of Italian and English. His big round belly showing me the food here must taste as good as it smells.

Chad shouts over to the man. “Zio!”

The small man leans over the counter and spots us, a familiar smile spreading across his face.

He runs to Chad, the height difference between them comical as Chad has to lean down for the man to grab his face and kiss his cheeks.

“Nipote! Why did you not tell me you were coming?!”

Chad laughs. “Last minute thing, can we get a table?”

The man’s eyes move to me as his smile widens. “And who is this vision of beauty?” He asks, taking my hand and kissing the back gently. Jesus Christ am I blushing at a middle aged balding guy? I need to get a grip. Damn that bloody accent.

“This is Ally... Aleah, I mean. We have a bio project we have to finish.”

The man waves his hands dismissively. “Was never a fan of biology, chemistry however is a speciality of mine.” He states wiggling his eyebrows at me.

Chad rolls his eyes. “Please excuse my Uncle, sometimes he forgets what a happily married man he is.”

Chocolate eyes, charming smile and a tendency to be extremely suggestive around single women. I should definitely have guessed these two were related.

The man chuckles and turns to one of the waiters standing by the door. “Tony! Give them the booth by the kitchen.” He turns back to Chad. “You two hungry?”

Chad nods. “Starving. This one’s veggie though, so no food that once had a face.”

I follow the smiley waiter out and slide into one of the only two booths in the place. Clearly having it packed mostly with tables for two makes sense considering how bloody romantic this place is. It’s even more beautiful as I see it from the inside.

We power through as much work as we can before Chads uncle, who I’ve now learnt name is Matteo, comes out with plates full of different dishes. I barely give Chad enough time to give me my fork before I start devouring everything in sight.

“Oh my god. I can’t believe you go to Johnny’s when you can get this pizza instead. Its probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”

Chad laughs. “Actually when I was twelve I told Zio that I preferred Johnny’s pizza to his as a joke and he didn’t talk to me for a month. He only started letting me have it again last year.”

I chuckle. “So is he your mum or dad’s brother? Neither of them have the sexy accent like he does.”

Chad almost spits out his food. “Sexy? Really Aleah?! God you women and that bloody voice of his... He’s mums brother, twin actually. They only lived in Italy until they were six. She came here and dropped everything; language, accent, even started using her middle name as her first name, although if she gets super pissed at me she slips back into it when she shouts. Matteo kept his roots. Went back to live in Italy for fifteen years before coming back and opening this place. He keeps telling me I should take out a year before college and go out there.”

I marvel at the idea of being able to live in Europe, the idea of soaking in the culture and not to mention eating the  deliriously good food would be a dream come true. “You should go. If I had the opportunity to do something like that there would be no stopping me. Plus you can learn the language then, always a bonus.” 

Chad laughs. “Don’t tell him that, my grandmother would love you and he’ll end up getting us matching plane tickets hoping we come back betrothed or something. Plus, what makes you think I can’t speak it already?”

Matteo steps out of the kitchen and comes to us. “How is everything you two? Perfect as always?”

I giggle at that accent again, trying to cover my mouth as I finish my mouthful. “It’s the best food I’ve ever tasted. Thank you.”

Matteo smiles puffing out his chest in pride. “I like this one nipote. Don’t you let her go! It’s nice for you to finally bring a girl here, we’ve all been asking for long enough.”

Oh god. I push myself back into the bench and try to make myself very small.

Chad speaks quietly. “Um.. actually.. we’re not together.”

Matteo looks between us. “Are you crazy? She’s gorgeous! And she loves my food! If I was thirty years younger I would be trying to woo her right now.”

Can you smother yourself to death with a pizza? Asking for a friend.

“She has a boyfriend.” Chad states, trying to distract himself by pretending to look over our work.

Matteo looks between us, his face laced with pity as he looks at his nephew. He offers me a sympathetic smile and returns to the kitchen.

Okay, change of subject desperately needed.

“So I guess this explains how you always managed to fly through every Italian lesson. Kind of cheating being able to speak two languages fluently already, don’t you think?” I joke.

“Four.”

“Four what?”

“I speak four languages fluently.”

I look at him dumbfounded. “What? How?”

He shrugs. “Grandmother’s Italian, grandfather’s Spanish and I’ve spent every summer and Christmas in France from the day I was born. It all just sticks.”

Wow... “Okay. What the fuck is it with you basketball players hiding that you’re actually super talented elsewhere? That’s incredible! News flash but intelligence is just as sexy as dribbling a ball. More maybe.”

He scoffs. “You can’t say much. How many people know you can dance like that? Want to talk about sexy...”

I blush remembering Chads reaction to me dancing earlier.

“Touché.”

He smirks. “Won’t forget that in a hurry...”

Shit. I can’t start doing this with him again.

“Chad... Stop... Look, I’m already in enough trouble with my boyfriend after you posted that picture of us and now I’m going to need to go back tonight and tell him you watched me do something he hasn’t even seen and then took me to probably the most romantic restaurant I’ve ever been too. He’s having enough trouble with us being friends so please. Please don’t make it harder. We’re struggling to stay together enough as it is at the moment...”

Shit, don’t cry. Don’t cry. Aleah do not cry. Chad is definitely not the person you should be unloading all this stuff on to.

Chad slides out of his bench and sits next to me, using his hand to place my head on his shoulder. “Sorry. I won’t say anything about it again. Aleah.. it shouldn’t be hard to stay with someone. I’m not just saying that because it’s you, I just mean.. being with you should never be something a guy should make difficult. You’re too easy to love.”

I feel the tears pool in my eyes and know we need to go. I need to see Jayce.

“Can we go? I think we’ve done all we can tonight.”

“Anywhere you want.”

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